They crossed the street and found the entrance to the Hart Building, a massive nine-story complex that housed committee and subcommittee hearing rooms as well as fifty senators’ suites. An underground subway extension connected the Hart Building to the Dirksen Senate Office Building, and she could feel the nonstop train traffic vibrating beneath the sidewalk. Life underground. It snowed in earnest now, a good inch on the ground. Flakes pelted her face, salted her hair. Cold air bit through her leather jacket. She shivered as the rush-hour traffic weaved past her. She wished she’d worn her down parka instead of the leather coat. As if he read her mind, he took off his trench coat and wrapped it around her shoulders. “Thank you, but—” He grabbed her hand as she tried to take it off. “No protest. Use it!” He didn’t turn her hand loose right away, and his touch immediately warmed her fingers. Though they were walking in thirty-degree weather, his hands felt like they’d just left an oven.
