Mr Destiny (8 page)

“So,
Tony,
“ Kate said, hoping if she gave in and called him by his name, it would hurry things along. “I guess I'll see you tomorrow
night, then. Around?”

“Seven o'clock,” he said.

“Seven tomorrow night. Got it,” she said.

He still hadn't taken his eyes from her face.

Kate couldn't help herself.

She stared right back.

“I really do appreciate this,” he said.

“No problem,” she said, “since you really were telling the truth. I am the only person who can help you get your mother out
of her bedroom.”

He kept staring.

She kept staring.

“And then I'll never bother you again.”

“Just like you promised,” Kate reminded him.

More staring.

He smiled. “And then you won't wear the dress. And you won't have a big wedding. But you will still marry Harold.”

Kate nodded. “That's still the plan.”

“And that's still a damn shame,” he said. “Because you really do look beautiful in that dress.”

Do something, you idiot!

Get him out of here.

Finally, Kate forced herself to look away.

Only when she broke eye contact did he turn and walk out of the dressing room, never looking back—the exact same way he hadn't
looked back that day in Central Park.

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

What have I gotten myself into?

Kate didn't have time to ponder that question.

Alex and Eve rushed into the dressing room only seconds after he left.

“Didn't I warn you not to mess with destiny?” Alex squealed, all excited. “This guy is so into you, we could feel the vibes
from outside the dressing room entrance.”

“The two of you were eavesdropping on us?” Kate wailed.

Alex looked at Eve.

Eve blushed.

Kate sent both of them a mean look.

“I wouldn't call it eavesdropping,” Alex said. “Eve and I were just making sure you were okay. Right, Eve?”

Eve nodded. “It never hurts to be too careful, Kate. You really don't know this guy. What if he'd…you know? Tried to get physical
or something.”

Yeah, what if?

She quickly pushed that thought aside.

Alex said, “I can't believe you didn't ask him what you were going to do if the grandmother declared you
were
the woman he's supposed to marry.”

Kate paled. “Don't even talk like that.”

Alex smiled her know-it-all smile. “Why? The grandmother predicted he would meet you in Central Park, didn't she? Maybe the
old blind girl really does have the gift of seeing into the future.”

“That's insane,” Kate said.

Alex laughed. “Insane? Are you freaking kidding me? Insane doesn't even touch this whole situation. That's why it's so obvious.
This man is your destiny, Kate. That's why fate keeps throwing the two of you together.”

“I'm not even going to dignify that remark with a response,” Kate said. She slammed the dressing room door.

“Well, you don't have to get all pissy about it,” Alex called out as Kate slipped carefully out of the dress. ”
I'm
not the one who made the stupid prediction.”

Kate didn't answer.

She waited until she was sure Alex and Eve had left the dressing room area. Then she held the dress close to her breast one
last time.

What had Tony said?

You really do look beautiful in that dress?

No!

Don't even go there.

And she couldn't believe she was actually thinking of him as “Tony.” As long as he'd only been that “cop” or that “guy,” she'd
had no personal connection to him.

Tony.

God help me.

Kate placed the dress back on the hanger. She changed back into her street clothes. Then she jerked the dressing room door
open, marched through the archway, and back out into the viewing area.

“But Kate,” Eve said, sending Alex a nervous look. “Aren't you going to try on the bridal suits now?”

“No,” Kate said. “I don't want to think about real weddings, predicted weddings, or any other kind of weddings right now.
All I want is some kind of alcoholic beverage in an ice-cold glass.”

Eve looked at Alex.

Alex looked at Eve.

“Does either of you have a problem with that?”

Alex closed her eyes and put her fingertips to her temples. “Hush,” she said. “Madam Alexis is suddenly receiving a very important
message. She predicts there are three delicious apple martinis in our immediate future.”

“Screw you, Alex,” Kate said.

She motioned for Eve to go in front of her, then started walking toward the front of the shop.

Bringing up the rear, Alex was still laughing even after they made it out the front door of the shop and onto the sidewalk.

A corporate attorney,
Tony thought as he reached his car. He'd parked in front of the gallery on Broadway, around the corner from the bridal shop.

Yeah, he could just imagine what her fiancé had said when Kate told him about their meeting in Central Park. As if an uptown
girl like Kate would be interested in some cop from Queens.

I bet Harold had a real good laugh over that one.

At least the guy was away on business. Having some big-shot attorney show up with Kate to look down his nose at him and his
nutty family wouldn't have been a good thing for anyone concerned.

Or maybe I'm being too judgmental.

For all he knew, Harold could be a really nice guy.

Tony looked over his shoulder, then pulled the GTO out into the busy stream of traffic. Unfortunately, the thought of Kate's
fiancé being a really great guy bothered him even more than assuming the guy was your typical pompous ass.

Damn
, Tony thought.
I'm jealous.

But how was that possible?

He'd only met Kate twice.

It's that damn prediction.

That was it.

Everyone had been talking about him meeting a blonde with green eyes for so long, when he finally did meet her, it was only
natural he'd be a little disappointed to learn she was already engaged.

Hell, he was only human.

Plus, he wasn't seeing anyone at the moment.

The truth was, he really hadn't even been dating anyone for almost a year now. Not a conscious decision— he'd just been busy.
First, the new promotion with the mounted unit. Then the crazy work schedule that he'd volunteered his guinea pig services
to try—an experimental schedule that changed his hours and his days off weekly. Second, the never-ending renovations on the
apartment building he was trying to maintain, which was why the crazy schedule worked so well for him. Always, life in general.

Maybe after Kate came to the restaurant and ended his quarrel with his mother, he would make it a point to start looking around
for a lady who would want to spend a little quality time with a mere cop from Queens.

Yeah, that's exactly what he'd do.

He'd take control of his own destiny.

But no more blondes.

Period.

After tomorrow night, the
blonde
chapter of his life would be closed forever.

He would sincerely thank Kate for her help in proving Nonna's prediction wasn't going to happen. Then he would sincerely wish
her a long and happy life with her big corporate attorney husband, Harold.

Corporate attorney.

Tony shook his head.

Busy man. Busy schedule.

Had the guy's profession been responsible for Kate's lack of enthusiasm and the reason she refused to answer his question?
Had she already taken a backseat to his clients more times than she cared to admit? Was she maybe even worried that his career
would always come first—even in their marriage?

That's her business.

None of mine.

She'd told him so herself when he'd been brave enough to ask if she loved the guy.

Still, it was a cop's nature to analyze people and dig beneath the surface to uncover what really made them tick. And that
made Tony wonder how Kate's away-on-important-business fiancé would react when she told him the cop had shown up in her life
again.

Would Harold be jealous, too?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

All Tony knew for certain was that Kate deserved to have that special sparkle in her eyes on her wedding day.

I am certifiable.

Why should I care?

The woman is virtually a stranger.

He couldn't explain why Kate's happiness mattered to him, but it did. Maybe because he liked her. She was one of those people
you just liked from the moment you met them. There wasn't any explanation for it. He could just tell she was really good people.

She'd been compassionate enough to help him out and agree to show up at the restaurant tomorrow night, hadn't she? What were
the odds most women would be understanding about his ridiculous praying mother who had herself locked in her bedroom? Slim
to none. Those were the odds.

A judge's chamber.

The groom's idea, no doubt.

In and out. Quick and easy. Harold probably wanted a short honeymoon, too. One he would spend with his cell phone to his ear
most of the time.

Damn.

He was doing it again.

He didn't even know this guy.

He didn't really know Kate either, but could the guy really look at Kate and not know what a lucky man he was?

Get over it.

She was engaged. She would marry her corporate attorney. There was nothing he could do about it. It didn't even matter that
they were attracted to each other.

Sure, he'd sensed that Kate was attracted to him.

He'd known it that first day in the park. And again a few minutes ago, when they kept staring at each other so intently back
in the dressing room.

But I'd never act on it.

It just wasn't his style.

I'm one of New York's Finest, dammit.

Going behind some guy's back and making time with his fiancée was
not
going to happen.

Kate was off-limits.

Still, the thought of her marrying Harold bothered him.

Did her big important corporate attorney soon-to-be husband truly deserve her?

For Kate's sake, Tony hoped that he did.

G
ood evening, Mr. Wellington.”

Harold nodded curtly to the male desk clerk who promptly handed over his messages.

He'd always preferred male desk clerks to female clerks who felt the need for idle chatter that grated on his nerves almost
as much as it bored him. He glanced through the messages, then headed across the exquisite lobby of The Peninsula to the elevators.

The admiring glances from several female guests as he walked past were wasted on him. Armani, Gucci, the Rolex, he had it
all. He knew not one of the women had missed any of those luxuries only a man of his wealth and position could easily afford.

Mindless sheep
, he thought briefly.

That had been his father's opinion of women in general.

To date, he'd never been able to make a strong case to contest his father's theory.

Most women were followers, not leaders.

Most women were always scrambling around to have the latest trend in every facet of their meaningless lives. Clothing. Shoes.
Jewelry. Even frantic to get the newest “new millennium” trend that had become so popular with women today—Botox or plastic
surgery in all the right places.

“I feel sorry for the rest of you sons of bitches,” his father had often boasted when he was alive. “I married the only genuine
woman God ever put on this earth.”

Harold hadn't been able to contest that statement of his father's, either.

Until the day he met Kate Anderson.

It was as if his father himself had yelled out from his grave, “That one!”

Kate was so much like his mother it sometimes scared him. She was beautiful, warm, and caring. Completely trusting. She'd
make a devoted wife and a gracious hostess. She'd also make a wonderful mother.
If
he did decide later that he wanted any obnoxious offspring cluttering up his carefully planned-out life.