Get a grip, he told himself. She was off-limits, and he had no business fantasizing about her. What the hell kind of a friend was he to lust after Tommy’s sister?
Berating himself didn’t do any good. He wanted her. Simple as that. There, he finally admitted the obvious. Now what was he going to do about it? Nothing, he decided. Not a damned thing. Even if she weren’t his friend’s sister, he wouldn’t get involved with her. A relationship between the two of them was impossible. It would never work out, and she’d end up hating him. She wanted what she had never had, a family and kids, lots of kids, and he didn’t want any of that. He’d seen too much to ever let himself become that vulnerable. Even though he came from a family of eight, he was still a loner, and that’s the way he liked it.
He never should have kissed her. Bad idea, he decided. He hadn’t been prepared, hadn’t realized how good it was going to be. God, he was arrogant. He actually thought he could remain distant and professional, but when she wrapped her arms around him and he felt her soft lips, thoughts of being professional went flying out the window, and he’d turned into one of those perverted teenagers outside. All he could think about was getting her flat on her back.
Maybe Morganstern was right after all. Maybe Nick was too close and personal for this assignment. His boss had been referring to his friendship with Tommy though. What would Pete think if he knew that his agent was lusting after the friend’s sister? Nick already knew the answer to that question. Pete would have his hide.
The phone rang again. Nick answered it, listened for a minute, and then said, “Yes, Monsignor. I’ll be sure to tell him. Thanks for calling.”
Laurant was standing in the closet doorway, shifting from bare foot to bare foot as she searched through the clothes crammed together on the single, bowed rod.
When Nick hung up, she asked, “Was that Monsignor McKindry?”
“What? Oh, yeah, it was. Tommy left his Daytimer in the kitchen, and Monsignor said he’d mail it to him.”
“Did he mention when Tommy and Noah left?”
“Yes,” he answered. “At the crack of dawn. Laurant, for the love of God, put some clothes on.”
She kept sorting through her clothes as she answered him. “As soon as you give me a little privacy, I’ll be happy to get dressed.”
He could hear the embarrassment in her voice. “Okay, okay,” he said, feeling like an idiot. Heading for her shower, he added, “Don’t leave the bedroom until I’m dressed, and keep the door locked.”
“Joe’s downstairs.”
“Yeah, well, I still want you to wait for me.” His voice didn’t leave room for argument.
She ran after him. He was peeling his T-shirt off as she reached behind him to grab her hair dryer and brush from the counter behind the sink. Her hand accidentally rubbed against the base of his spine, and he reacted as though she’d just burned him with her curling iron. He flinched.
“Sorry,” she stammered.
He sighed as he tossed the T-shirt into the sink. “I made you feel awkward again, didn’t I?”
They were standing toe to toe, facing each other. She clutched the robe to her chest with one hand and gripped the hair dryer and brush with the other hand.
“Is Mr. Wesson listening?” she whispered.
He shook his head. “The pin’s on the dresser with the earpiece.”
“I don’t want it to be awkward, but it’s just that we kissed. I know we were supposed to, but I . . .”
“What?”
Shrugging, she said, “It just made things awkward again. That’s all.”
“We both got . . .”
“What?” she whispered.
“Hot.”
She’d been staring at his toes until he’d said that word. Her eyes flew to his.
“Yes, we did. What do we do about it?”
“Get past it,” he suggested. “I know one way.”
The sparkle in his eyes should have been a warning. “How?” she asked.
“Take a shower with me. That should get you past your shyness.”
She was so shocked by the suggestion she laughed, which was exactly what he wanted her to do. The tension vanished. His grin was comical. “You’ve got that leer down perfectly,” she told him as she turned around and left the bathroom.
Because the mirror was still clouded with steam, and the bathroom was sweltering, Nick told her to leave the door open. She waited until she heard the shower running, then hurried to get dressed and dry her hair. Since they were going shopping for an engagement ring, she decided to dress up a little, and she put on her white pleated slacks and a peach silk blouse. Then she found her white canvas slip-ons in the back of the closet.
Nick made the bed while she brushed her hair. The coverlet was all lopsided when he was finished, but she didn’t criticize his effort.
Nick wore jeans and a white polo shirt. He clipped the leather holster to his belt. Then he pinned the red disc back on, added the earpiece, and shoved his wallet in his back pocket.
“Okay, so what’s the schedule?” he asked after he gave her a quick once-over.
“Some breakfast first because I’m starving, then the grocery store for Joe. After that, I want to check on my store to see if they’ve started on the floors yet. If they haven’t, I’ll work there all afternoon.”
“Then the jewelry store,” he suggested as he slipped on a pair of leather loafers.
“I’ve got to pick up the bridesmaid dress too,” she remembered. “And I should spend an hour or two at the abbey. I’ve got to get started on the attic.”
They spent the morning doing errands. It was all so ordinary, tasks that couples did together all the time, but there wasn’t anything ordinary about their situation. She was constantly looking over her shoulder, even when they were in the grocery store getting supplies for Joe. Laurant was stopped by a friend or neighbor on almost every aisle, and each time, she introduced Nick as her fiancé.
He put on quite a show. He was attentive and affectionate, and it was all so natural, she had to remind herself that it was just an act.
She relaxed only when they were inside the car. She felt safe then. Nick drove through McDonald’s to get breakfast and headed home again. He turned on the radio, and they listened to Garth Brooks croon about a love lost and found again.
She was eager for Nick to see her store. She helped him carry the groceries inside, and left them in the hall for Joe to put away. Then they got back in the car again. Since they were going up to the abbey after they purchased an engagement ring, he decided to drive to the square.
He stopped at the fountain so that he could see all the buildings ahead of him. None of them were historical treasures by any means, but the old structures were charming. Most of the facades needed work, but nothing major.
“Do you see what it could be?” she asked.
“Yeah, I do,” he agreed. “Why would anybody want to tear this down?”
“Exactly,” she said enthusiastically. “Years ago, this is where everyone did their shopping and their socializing. I want it to be like that again.”
“Sprucing up the stores won’t be enough,” he said. “There’s got to be something inside to draw the people in.”
“The president of the college is considering moving the bookstore into the corner building on your right. It’s more than big enough, and they’re running out of room on campus. The kids would have to come into the square to get their books.”
“That will help.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “And they can walk. The campus is only a couple of blocks away. Let’s go,” she urged. “I want you to see my store.”
Her enthusiasm made him smile. He parked in the center block, near the jewelry store. He put his arm around her as they walked along the street.
She couldn’t show off her store after all. The first coat of polyurethane had just been applied to the floor. Since the windows were coated, Nick couldn’t even look through to see the lovely marble countertop. He would have to wait at least four days until the second and third coats had been applied and dried.
They backtracked to Russell’s Jewelry Store. Nick impressed the socks off of Miriam Russell when he picked out a two-carat diamond ring—the biggest in the store. Laurant didn’t want that one though. She liked the one-and-a-half-carat, marquise diamond. Since it didn’t need to be sized—it fit her finger perfectly—Nick said it was meant to be.
She held out her hand, waving her fingers so the light would catch the sparkle in the diamond, ooh-ing and ah-ing like a woman in love. She worried she might be overdoing it a bit, but Miriam seemed to be buying the act. Her hands were clasped together, and she was beaming with satisfaction.
When Nick handed Miriam his American Express card to pay for the purchase, her expression sobered. She asked Laurant if she could have a word in private before she ran the charge. She led Laurant to the back of the store while Nick waited at the counter. He didn’t know what they were discussing, but whatever the topic was, it embarrassed Laurant. Her face turned pink, and she kept shaking her head.
A few minutes later, after Nick signed the purchase slip, he picked up the ring, put it on Laurant’s finger again, and then leaned down and kissed her. It was a gentle, undemanding kiss that left her thoroughly shaken. He had to nudge her away from the counter.
As they were leaving the store, Miriam called out, “Remember what I said, Lauren. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.”
Clearly mortified, Laurant hurried away. Nick caught up with her. “What was that all about?”
“Nothing important.”
“She’s gonna keep her fingers crossed for you?”
“It’s nothing, really.”
“Come on, Laurant. Tell me.”
She stopped trying to outrun him. “Fine, I’ll tell you. That little conference we had in the store was all about Russell’s return policy. She thinks I’m going to botch this one up. Those were her words, not mine. You do realize, don’t you, that when this is over and you’ve gone away, they’re all going to think I screwed up again. This isn’t funny, Nick, so you can stop grinning.”
He wasn’t at all sympathetic. Laughing, he said, “You’ve got a real strange reputation here, don’t you? Exactly what is it you do to the men who try to get close to you?”
“Nothing,” she cried out. “I don’t do anything. I’m just . . . discriminating. There’s a small group of women in town who have nothing better to do than gossip, and if one of them happens to see me talking to an available man, she assumes all sorts of things that aren’t true. Before I know what’s happened, that nosy editor, Lorna Hamburg, is printing it in the local paper. It’s ridiculous,” she added. “When I’m not seen socializing with the same man, everyone assumes I’ve gone and botched it again.”
“She actually prints stuff like that in the paper?”
“She runs the society page,” she explained. “It’s all gossip and rubbish. There isn’t a whole lot going on here, and so she . . .”
“Embellishes?”
“Oh, God, speaking of the devil,” she whispered. “Let’s get out of here. Move it, Nick. She’s spotted us.”
Lorna Hamburg caught sight of them a block away and came running. Long, curly, platinum hair dwarfed her already small features, and huge pendulum earrings dangled from her lobes and flapped madly to and fro with each step. She carried a leopard print canvas bag the size of a suitcase looped over her left shoulder, and as she ran, she tilted to that side, like a drunk who couldn’t walk a straight line.
She was sprinting now to intercept them, her fuchsia-colored, four-inch heels clipping along the sidewalk. The sound was like teeth chattering.
“Man, can she move,” he remarked.
As she bore down on them, Nick couldn’t help but notice her eyebrows, or rather the lack thereof. Lorna had plucked hers out and used a pencil to draw a straight line above her deep-set eyes.
Thanks to Nick’s lack of cooperation in running for cover, Laurant was stuck.
“I thought FBI agents were supposed to be fast,” she muttered as she patiently waited to introduce him to the woman she secretly called
Gazette
Gorilla.
“Keep the goal in mind. This is a golden opportunity. Now stop frowning and look like you love me.”
Nick was disgustingly charming, and that only encouraged Lorna to be pushier than ever. She demanded an on-the-spot interview. Whipping her eight-by-ten notebook out of her bag, she wanted to know all the details of how the two of them had met.
Within fifteen seconds, Nick knew two things about the woman. One, she detested Laurant, and two, she wanted him. It wasn’t an arrogant assumption. Nor was it a shrewd observation. Hell, the way she was looking at him while she repeatedly moistened her lips with her tongue darting in and out made it real apparent. Disgustingly so.
The knot in Laurant’s stomach twisted tighter and tighter as Lorna’s questions became more and more personal, but she didn’t reach her unraveling point until Lorna asked if she and Nick were already living as man and wife.
“That’s none of your damned business, Lorna.”
Nick squeezed her shoulder and then said, “Honey, show Lorna your engagement ring.”
Laurant was still fuming as she lifted her hand and waved it in front of Lorna’s face.
“That must have cost a fortune. Everyone in town knows you work for the FBI,” she said then. “Why, I must have gotten six phone calls about you already. It’s true,” she added when he looked skeptical. “It’s the gun, you see. People wondered about it. They’re much too polite to ask you, of course.”