“Yoo-hoo!” His date waved from her car as she double-parked. Then Missy…Muffy… No, Molly.
Now, though it felt cruel to think it, she seemed like nothing more than a toy, and he couldn’t imagine what he’d been thinking to ask her out. Maybe thinking hadn’t been involved. After all, they had nothing in common, nothing to talk about. She was nothing like…
Danielle.
“Hey there,” Molly purred, reaching them. She glanced at Danielle curiously but without any animosity, probably figuring Danielle far too plain, too quiet, too reserved for Nick’s taste.
She couldn’t have been more wrong. To Nick, Danielle’s soft expression, her beautiful and not made-up eyes, her tasteful clothes, was a package proving to be more desirable than he could have imagined. “Molly.” He stepped closer, trying to head her off. “I’m sorry,” he started regretfully, reaching out for her hand in order to avoid-
Nope, no avoiding it. Molly drew him in, squeezing him in a hug that smothered him in perfume and undoubtedly left lipstick where she’d planted her red mouth to the side of his.
Over her shoulder, he caught a glimpse of Danielle, who was doing a great impression of someone who could care less, but in her eyes was a hurt that tugged at something deep inside of him.
“Wait until you see what I’ve got on beneath this dress,” Molly whispered in his ear.
Feeling stupid and awkward, he pulled back. “I’m sorry,” he said again, looking into her eyes, watching as they filled with disappointment. “But-”
“You’re canceling.” Molly sighed. “Is it the hairdo?” She patted the over-the-top curls. “Too wild, huh? Or maybe the nails-” She held out metallic blue nails imprinted with little white letters that spelled erogenous zones of the human anatomy.
“It has nothing to do with how you look. You look…” Ah, hell. He was no good at this. “Molly, it’s just that an old friend stopped by, and she needs some help, and-”
“Oh, I understand.” Molly eyed the silent Danielle again, then smiled. “We’ll reschedule, then?”
He looked into her hopeful expression, crossed his fingers and nodded. “Another time.”
“’Kay.” Leaning forward, giving him an ample view of her generous breasts, she kissed him one last time. “See you soon,” she whispered with promise in her sultry voice. “Ta!”
Nick waited until Molly had gotten into her car and driven off before turning to Danielle. “Uh…do you want to follow me? Or drive in my car and we’ll come back for yours later?”
Her smile was brittle, her voice downright chilly. “Definitely, I’ll follow.” She pulled out a set of keys and didn’t look at him. “Didn’t mean to mess up your plans for the evening-”
“Danielle, I’m sorry. I’d forgotten-”
She turned to him. “Look, let’s get this over with, okay? The sooner the better, and then you can catch up with your…girlfriend.” She tried to go around him but he blocked her.
“She’s not my girlfriend.”
“Whatever.”
She stopped trying to get around him and glared into his face. “That shade of lipstick really doesn’t become you.” Then she sashayed past him, her slim hips and curvy little butt wriggling with attitude and bad temper.
TED BLACKSTONE couldn’t believe it. She’d left him. Danielle Douglass, the woman he’d thought so perfect for him, a complement to the rest of his life, had up and walked out.
No one had ever walked out on him.
He’d grown up with the power of influential parents, and while he’d never actually spent much time in their company-they’d been too busy making money-he’d always enjoyed the fruits of their success.
Later, as a formidable investor in his own right, he’d had the world at his own fingertips. Fabulous house, great car, nice bank account…but still, as always, he’d been…lonely.
Until Danielle.
She’d looked at him with worship. He was her world, and God, he’d loved it…and her. After he’d neatly folded her life into his, he’d finally felt satisfied. At peace. He’d had it all, even a champion show dog for added pride and glory.
He loved glory.
Oh yeah, things had been good. But then he’d made a few bad judgements on the market. He’d been forced to dip into his trust fund, and then, out of desperation, had kept dipping. In the blink of an eye his fat bank account had gone on an alarming diet, and his car and house were in jeopardy.
To top off the indignity of it all, Danielle, his beloved Danielle, had left him, stealing his prized show dog-the only investment he had left that was worth anything-in the process. He wanted it all back.
Especially Danielle. And what Ted Blackstone wanted, he always got.
7
DANIELLE FOLLOWED Nick in her borrowed car, doubting herself the entire way there. In fact, she didn’t even know where
Nick Cooper. It was still hard to believe. He’d been the most interesting person in her high school, not because of status, or jockhood, or that he kissed like absolute heaven. Which he did.
But because he hadn’t cared what others thought of him. It was a rare person who had that much confidence, and that he’d had it so young had really struck a chord with her.
He still had it in spades.
And he had something else that never failed to amaze her.
Kindness.
“Doesn’t say much for me,” she muttered. “That a sweet word and a light touch leaves me following after him like a dog.”
Sadie shot her a baleful glance out of her dark eyes.
“Sorry.” Danielle stroked the dog’s massive head. “It wasn’t just the kindness anyway.” She sighed and downshifted as she followed him into a town house complex that was very classy, very New England. “You might have noticed how remarkable-looking he is.”
Sadie yawned.
“Right.” They were on a secluded side street, lined with oak trees and wildflowers and groomed lawns. There were no fenced yards in sight, which probably meant dogs weren’t welcome.
Nick parked, and she stopped next to him, but didn’t get out of the car, not yet.
He came around and leaned on his passenger door, long legs crossed, hands in his pockets. Lazily, he thrust his chin toward the lovely two-story town house in front of them. “That’s mine.”
“It’s…nice.”
He shook his head and laughed. “You should know, you have a caged-in look about you.” Casual as you pleased, he smiled. “So why don’t you tell me what you think is going to happen up there?”
“Absolutely nothing.” She bit her lower lip. “Right?”
Pushing away from the door, his smile still in place, though now his eyes held a grimness she didn’t understand, he opened her door.
She expected him to pull her from the car. Maybe sidetrack her with another smile and a touch of his warm, strong hands.
She didn’t expect him to hunker down at her side, right at eye level and just look at her.
Staring in front of her out the windshield, she ignored him.
But unlike Ted, who’d always seemed to have a lot to say, Nick said nothing.
She fiddled with her seat belt. Touched her backpack. Chewed her lip.
