But then Lara found herself attracted to Pete Ryan, the head foreman on one of Lara’s building jobs, a handsome, strapping young man with an Irish brogue and a quick smile, and Lara started visiting the project Ryan was working on more and more often. They would talk about construction problems, but underneath they were both aware that they were speaking about other things.
“Are you going to have dinner with me?” Ryan asked. The word “dinner” was stretched out slowly.
Lara felt her heart give a little jump. “Yes.”
Ryan picked Lara up at her apartment, but they never got to dinner. “My God, you’re a lovely thing,” he said. And his strong arms went around her.
She was ready for him. Their foreplay had been going on for months. Ryan picked her up and carried her into the bedroom. They undressed together, quickly, urgently. He had a lean, hard build, and Lara had a quick mental picture of Sean MacAllister’s heavy, pudgy body. The next moment she was in bed and Ryan was on top of her, his hands and tongue all over her, and she cried aloud with the joy of what was happening to her.
When they were both spent, they lay in each other’s arms. “My God,” Ryan said softly, “you’re a bloody miracle.”
“So are you,” Lara whispered.
She could not remember when she had been so happy. Ryan was everything she wanted. He was intelligent and warm, and they understood each other, they spoke the same language.
Ryan squeezed her hand. “I’m starved.”
“So am I. I’ll make us some sandwiches.”
“Tomorrow night,” Ryan promised, “I’ll take you out for a proper dinner.”
Lara held him close. “It’s a date.”
The following morning Lara went to visit Ryan at the building site. She could see him high up on one of the steel girders, giving orders to his men. As Lara walked toward the work elevator, one of the workmen grinned at her. “Mornin’, Miss Cameron.” There was an odd note in his voice.
Another workman passed her and grinned. “Mornin’, Miss Cameron.”
Two other workmen were leering at her. “Morning, boss.”
Lara looked around. Other workmen were watching her, all smirking. Lara’s face turned red. She stepped into the work elevator and rode up to the level where Ryan was. As she stepped out, Ryan saw her and smiled.
“Morning, sweetheart,” Ryan said. “What time is dinner tonight?”
“You’ll starve first,” Lara said fiercely. “You’re fired.”
Every building Lara put up was a challenge. She erected small office buildings with floor spaces of five thousand square feet, and large office buildings and hotels. But no matter what type of building it was, the most important thing to her was the location.
Bill Rogers had been right. Location, location, location.
Lara’s empire kept expanding. She was beginning to get recognition from the city fathers and from the press and the public. She was a glamorous figure, and when she went to charity events or to the opera or a museum, photographers were always eager to take her picture. She began to appear in the media more and more often. All her buildings were successes, and still she was not satisfied. It was as though she were waiting for something wonderful to happen to her, waiting for a door to open, waiting to be touched by some unknown magic.
Keller was puzzled. “What do you want, Lara?”
“More.”
And it was all he could get out of her.
One day Lara said to Keller, “Howard, do you know how much we’re paying every month for janitors and linen service and window washers?”
“It goes with the territory,” Keller said.
“Then let’s buy the territory.”
“What are you talking about?”
“We’re going to start a subsidiary. We’ll supply those services to ourselves and to other builders.”
The idea was a success from the beginning. The profits kept pouring in.
It seemed to Keller that Lara had built an emotional wall around herself. He was closer to her than anyone else, and yet Lara never spoke to him about her family or her background. It was as though she had emerged full blown out of the mists of nowhere. In the beginning Keller had been Lara’s mentor, teaching her and guiding her, but now Lara made all the decisions alone. The pupil had outgrown the teacher.