He didn't take advantage of her weakness this time. He draped an arm around her shoulder and guided her up the ramp to her car. "You're cold, honey. You'd better go home."

Beside her car now, she turned to him again. His hands settled upon her waist, hers rested upon his arms. He'd come to make sure she was safe, she thought with wonder. He cared about his cat but was afraid to show his emotions. No doubt he was a two timing philanderer, but he had some endearing characteristics, nonetheless.

Anyone else would have been too overwhelmed by the trauma he was going through to be concerned for a woman dumb enough to traverse the beach after dark. Kate swallowed the thickness in her throat and asked, "Where will you stay?"

 Jordan nodded toward the motel across the street. "I'll bunk over there for a few days. My fa-, er, the company is in the process of buying a condo up the beach a ways. When the deal is complete, I can stay there if I need to."

For some reason, Jordan didn't want her to know about his wealthy father. She must know he worked at the mall project, but if she knew his father owned the company, she'd probably be less sympathetic toward him. It wasn't pity he wanted, but he'd never been offered any kind of solace or comfort from a woman other than Emma, his sister-in-law. Somehow, from this woman, it still wasn't the same. Maybe pity was all she was offering.

Jordan opened the car door and she got behind the steering wheel.

"I-I was looking for Puss," she said.

"What?"

"I wanted to find Puss."

"Why?" he asked softly.

"She won't know where to go now." He wondered if she wanted to find the cat for him. Although he tried to act unconcerned, she'd witnessed that moment of pain when he thought Puss might be inside the burning building.

He reached across her and pulled the seat belt into place. He brushed his lips gently across hers and straightened. "Don't worry about Puss. If she's alive and well, she can take care of herself."

"She's alive," she stated emphatically.

He rolled her window down before closing the door. He reached in and tucked windblown straggly strands of hair behind her ear. He didn't know why he couldn't get enough of touching her. She confused him, sometimes deliberately provoking him, at others making him laugh. It had been a long time since he'd laughed with a woman. She was so cute when she tried spouting those weak Victorian expletives, which weren't really expletives, at all. Resisting the urge to kiss her again, he said, "Goodnight, my little Victorian princess."

Reluctantly, he stood away as she shifted the car into reverse. He stared after her, feeling a sudden emptiness he'd never experienced before and watched until he could no longer see her taillights in the distance.