Kate Hoffmann - Brian

She hung the phone up and went back to the television, pacing back and forth in front of it. "Stick to your guns," she muttered. "Don't imagine something that isn't there. This is all about control."

Lily groaned and sat down on the end of the sofa to wait for her food. If she was in complete control, then why did she want another night with Brian Quinn, and several more after that? And why did she feel like gobbling down an entire pie? Lily covered her face with her hands, groaning softly. "What have I done?"

Lily sat in her office at Patterson Properties and Investments, staring out the window at the Boston skyline. She pushed up from her desk and peered down on the streets in the financial district, watching the traffic crawl along. Though Boston was beautiful, it wasn't Chicago. Lily sighed. She'd only been in town for only three days and she was already homesick.

After her breakup with Daniel, she'd decided to make some big changes in her life. She'd stumbled upon an old house for sale in the WickerPark neighborhood of Chicago and without really thinking about it, put in an offer. The act of purchasing a home had been her first step toward independence. From the time she'd left college, Lily had always rented, believing that her perfect mate would come along, they'd get married and buy a house together.

But now, she had a mortgage payment all her own and a house in need of a new roof. A promotion at work and a big raise would go a long way toward paying the bills. If she did a good job for Richard Patterson, Don DeLay would have to see her value to the firm.

The house in Chicago hadn't been the only change. Her mind flashed back to Brian Quinn. Her little one-night stand had been part of the plan, too-a part that she was fast growing to regret.

Lily turned away from the window. Why couldn't she put Brian Quinn out of her mind? Yes, the sex had been good… all right, great. Incredible even. But she had to believe that part of the excitement came from the spontaneity of the moment. Making love to him in the back of the limo had been dangerous and wicked, completely out of character for her.

After it had happened, she been pleased with the results. It had been everything she'd needed-at that moment. And she'd expected to relive the moments over and over again in her head, the memories of the passion so strong. But she'd never expected this nagging temptation, this need to see him again.

A knock sounded on her office door and Lily jumped, then calmed herself. She'd been so edgy! Was this a side effect of unbridled lust? "Yes?"

Marie, the administrative assistant assigned to her, poked her head inside. "Mr. Patterson will see you now, Ms. Gallagher. In his office."

"Thanks, Marie." She smoothed her skirt and tucked her notepad under her arm, then walked out of her office and down the hall to the elevator. When she stepped inside, she leaned back and fixed her gaze on the numbers above the door. This was exactly how an ordinary woman turned into a brazen hussy, she mused. All she could think about was sex, sex, sex. Had there been an attractive single man in the elevator, who knows what might have happened?

"I need a hobby," she said. "Something to distract my mind. Pottery or kick-boxing. Maybe I could take singing lessons. I've always wanted to learn how to sing." She paused and glanced up at the security camera mounted in the corner of the elevator. "And maybe I should stop talking to myself now."

The elevator doors opened and Lily hurried out, making her way through the executive suites to the end of the hall. Richard Patterson's secretary stood as she approached. "Hello, Miss Gallagher. Is there anything I can bring you?"

"Coffee would be nice, Mrs. Wilburn," Lily said. "Cream and one sugar." She rapped on the door, then opened it and walked inside.

Richard Patterson nodded at her from behind a massive desk that was scrupulously organized. He pointed to a guest chair. "Good morning, Lily. I assume Mrs. Wilburn got you situated yesterday."

"She did. I have an office, an assistant and I met with your key people." Lily paused. "It looks like your public relations department has done a terrific job for you. But I still don't know what I'm doing here. You already have highly qualified people to do your PR. Why do you need me?"

He leaned back in his leather chair, bracing his elbows on the arms and steepling his fingers in front of his face. "There's a situation developing that may cause a bit of a crisis and I need someone experienced to handle it when it does. Someone from the outside, someone objective, to steer us through."

Lily studied his tense expression. "What kind of situation?"

"I'm working on a development project on the waterfront."

"The Wellston project," Lily said.

Patterson nodded. "As you know, getting a real estate project off the ground, especially one of this magnitude, can be almost impossible. There are layers and layers of red tape to cut through and if I can't cut through it all in an expeditious manner, I lose my investors and the project falls apart. The Wellston project was about to implode when I found a way to make it go."

"And?" Lily asked, a sick feeling growing in her stomach. "Or maybe I shouldn't ask?"

"I think it's best if you know everything. Let me just say that whether or not we broke laws is subject to the interpretation of those laws. We had to do some things that might not have been completely ethical. There are suspicions of impropriety. And certain people in the media have been gunning for me ever since I got approval on the Minuteman Mall project. They won't consider the… nuances involved in making a deal work. If the details of this story break, my investors will pull out and I'll be ruined. Patterson Properties and Investments will go under, taking hundreds of jobs with it. I need to make sure that story doesn't come out. I saw the way you handled that bribery scandal for that developer in Chicago. Can you do the same thing for me?"

Lily groaned inwardly. She was considered an expert in crisis public relations, but it was always easier when the client hadn't broken any laws. Heck, a nice juicy sex scandal was a snap compared to the looming threat of a trial and prison time. If she had to choose between morality and legality, morality was the far easier problem to solve.

"You need to know three things," Lily said. "First, I won't break any laws for you. Second, I'm not going to lie for you. I may not be forthcoming with the truth, I may refuse to answer questions, but I won't lie."

"And third?"

"If I take this job, you'll take my advice. You'll do exactly as I advise. I'm not sure if I can avert disaster here, but I can certainly try my best to make your problems seem less… newsworthy."

"All right." He picked up a file folder from the center of his desk. "The first guy I need you to neutralize is Brian Quinn."

Lily's breath froze in her throat and her eyes went wide. "Brian Quinn? How do you know about him?"

"He's been nosing into my business affairs for the past six months. He's a hotshot investigative reporter at WBTN and he thinks if he can dig up dirt on me, he'll have a story worth six or seven rating points. The guy needs to be stopped. Do whatever it takes."

Lily snatched up the file folder and looked at it, flipping through a lengthy report. "What is this?"

"I hired a private investigator to tail him. There's plenty there. He has quite a reputation with the ladies, a different girl every week. His father owns some seedy pub down in Southie. We might be able to use that as leverage, maybe cause some problem with the old man's permits. His father was also arrested a year ago for murder."

"Oh, my God," Lily said. "Murder?"

"It's all in the file. The P.I. has been trailing him for about a month now. I should have another report in a few days. The investigator is digging into his past. I've had my people pull news clips for you and tapes of his reports. Get to know him, I want strategies on how to counteract his interference. You don't need to okay anything with me. Just get the job done." With that, Patterson stood, effectively ending their meeting.