of shopping and sightseeing. Maybe she’d even succumb to the impulse to go down and see the giant Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. She’d forgotten how much she liked New York—it was such a human city, so un-elvish, that she actually found herself preferring it to L.A., where not even the special effects were real, let alone the people. Too many bad associations there: tragedy and betrayal and her long painful climb back to life.
Besides, Eric will be here for at least another year. . . .
That was certainly one of the attractions. They’d made a good start last night. He wasn’t as indifferent to her as he’d tried to pretend. And he wasn’t out to kill her, either on his own behalf or someone else’s. In Ria’s opinion, both of those things made a good start to a relationship.
The windows of her sitting room at the top of the Sherry gave her a magnificent view over the Park, an unexpected oasis of green in the steel and concrete forest of the City. The trees were winter-bare, the grass a faded brown-green, but at night the lights shining down into the park gave it an air of mystery—a man-made fairyland, in sharp contrast to the inhuman beauty of Underhill. Ria preferred it.
She was lingering over a last cup of coffee, a legal pad on her lap, when her phone rang. Few enough people knew where she was that she had no hesitation about picking up the phone instead of letting the front desk take the call.
“Hello?”
“Ria? It’s Eric!”
Eric! She allowed herself a small smile of triumph. The first one to pick up the phone lost. And your loss is my gain.
“Eric,” she purred. “How wonderful to hear from you so soon. Did you sleep well?” she asked, layering a double meaning into the innocent phrase.
She heard a rueful chuckle on the other end of the line. “Not really. I’d like to talk to you.”
And do more than talk, I’ll wager. Should she lead him on for awhile to demonstrate her power? Or would immediately giving him what he wanted be more effective? Deci­sions, decisions.
“Of course. Why don’t you come over here? I’m at the Sherry-Netherland. The view of the Park is spectacular. I’ll order a fresh pot of coffee. Or would