#DANIELLE STEELS A PERFECT STRANGER MOVIE PROFESSIONAL#

She didn't 'corrupt professional relationships,' she had told him with an arch little smile that half made him want to slap her, and half made him want to tear off her clothes. He had invited her to dinner that night, and she had insisted on paying her half of the check. Alexander had watched her throughout the proceedings, fascinated and amused, and more attracted to her than he had been to any woman in his life. It had been a mighty battle though, and Joan of Arc couldn't have pleaded the case with more enthusiasm and flair. The first time he had seen her had been as the attorney for the opposition in a case that had settled out of court. The golden hair and the eyes the color of the Atlantic Ocean just before a storm, dark gray, tinged with blue and green. He knew it shouldn't after two years, but it did. How awful his mother had said when she called him the night the papers came and found him blind drunk and laughing because he didn't want to cry. Coincidence, Rachel had called it matter- of- factly. The anniversary of their marriage, and that of their divorce. Would some part of him call out in remembered pain on a given morning in October, for the rest of time? Would he always be reminded? It was strange really how both of their anniversaries had fallen on the same day. He had wondered on his way home from the office if he would always remember the day so exactly. Rachel.dazzling lawyer.noble friend.intriguing female.until she hurt him.until she left.until their divorce, exactly two years before, to the day. He expected to see her with the luscious pile of thick blond hair knotted on top of her head and the deceptively prim suits she wore to court. Whenever he came through the front door in the evening, he somehow still expected her to be there. It was less depressing than coming in through the main hall. Now when he came home, he always used the garden entrance. He turned away then, glancing only briefly into the small wood- paneled dining room across the hall, and then walked slowly upstairs. The plants, which hung thickly in front of the windows, were looking dry and lifeless, and he noticed, as he switched on the lights in the kitchen, that some of them had already died. There were copper pots hanging from a wrought- iron rack near the stove, but the cleaning lady hadn't shined them in ages, and there was no one else to give a damn. He let himself into the house through a back door in his garden and he stood in the downstairs hall of the pretty little Victorian town house, staring into the emptiness of the once cozy kitchen. A moment later the electronic device would automatically close the garage door. He sighed softly, picked up his briefcase, and got out of the car.

For the hundredth time he pushed the thought of her away from his mind. For the hundredth time that day his mind drifted once again to Rachel. Inside the garage Alexander Hale turned off the motor, and then sat there for a moment staring into the familiar darkness of his garage. The unseen child stared hungrily at the beautiful black car for one more moment and then slowly went home, with visions of the black Porsche still dancing in his eyes. then he saw it, a sleek black shadow speeding around the bend, and then in a smooth maneuver sliding into the garage. The boy stood there, in the shadows, counting. It was a favorite ritual and the boy was disappointed when the man in the black Porsche came home late or not at all. Unknown to the man who had pressed the remote control device on his dashboard, the little boy watched him come home every night. He loved watching the door open like that, knowing that the beautiful sports car would be around the corner in an instant. From across the street a little boy watched it, fascinated.

The garage door opened eerily, its mouth yawning expectantly, a large dark toad about to gobble an unsuspecting fly.

Danielle steels a perfect stranger movie