Slade had knocked at her door earlier, but she had refused to answer. She had to get a hold on herself before she faced him. She put color into her pale cheeks with a brush, and a rose-colored lipstick actually made her look almost normal. She winced, avoiding the look in her eyes as she combed her hair. She had taken a warm, cleansing shower and changed into some of her more practical clothes: a peach shell and a pair of no-nonsense khaki pants. Now, she looked more like her old self, before the trauma of the cave-in. The only thing different was that her hair was longer, making her look more feminine. Cat didn’t want to cut her hair even though she knew she was going into the jungle again. No, I want it to grow. I don’t care. And she didn’t question why she violently fought the idea of a haircut. Wasn’t that what Slade wanted? A mining engineer, not a feminine-looking woman? He’d made that very clear earlier. A life for a life. Okay, she owed him, and she’d pay up. Kincaids recognized that some things in life were sacred; you save a man’s life, he owes you.
