‘It sure was, but it left her with a very bad taste in her mouth for mei gwok.’
‘So how come you know her?’
Cohen smiled, ‘I set up the merger deal that put her in the driver’s seat. I’m one Yankee she likes,’ he said.
Hatcher was more determined than ever to meet her. He started back across the room with Cohen at his side.
‘Give me some names,’ he said.
‘Names of who?’
‘The guys who ripped her off,’ Hatcher said impatiently as they approached her, ‘One or two names, c’mon, hurry.’
‘Uh . . . Howard Sylvester, . Allen Mitchell. uh...’
‘That’s good enough. Introduce me as Chris London.’
She got even more beautiful as they got closer, her tall, lithe body encased in a dark green silk sheath that etched each perfect line of her body and seemed to add luster to her almond, almost cocoa-colored, skin, and glitter to deeply hooded eyes that were as green as the dress. Her jet-black hair was tied in a long ponytail that curled over one broad shoulder and fell between her breasts. She wore no rings, her only jewelry being a pair of pear-shaped diamond earrings and a diamond necklace with an emerald and ruby pendant that lay in the hollow of a throat as delicate as a swan’s. She smiled brightly when she saw Cohen.
‘China!’ she cried, ‘at last, someone to talk to.
Cohen kissed her on the cheek, then turned to Hatcher. ‘Miss Chien, Daphne, I’d like to introduce a friend of mine, Chris, uh ‘ he faltered, forgetting the second name.,
‘London,’ Hatcher said quickly.
The smile vanished. She nodded curtly. ‘Monsieur,’ she said in a French accent and a low voice that made one strain to hear her and turned away. Hatcher pressed o,.
‘I’m a lawyer,’ Hatcher went on. ‘In fact, I represent some old associates of yours.’
She turned back toward him, her chin pulled down, staring coldly at him from under ebony eyebrows.
‘Oh?’
‘Yes, Howard Sylvester and Allen Mitchell.’
Nothing changed in her face, but Cohen almost swallowed his tongue. He could see his friendship with Daphne Chien vanishing with every word Hatcher spoke. Hatcher stepped close to her, took her elbow very gently and steered her toward the terrace.
‘You see, they’ve put together quite a dossier on your knock-off business, prior to the merger? They feel that they have a fairly strong case against the new Blue Max. . .
Their voices died out in the crowd as Cohen stood watching them. Her eyes were the eyes of a killer, and then suddenly they both stopped and faced each other. Hatcher leaned over to her and spoke very quickly. Her mouth dropped open, she seemed to lose her composure for just a second, then there was an
