Her eyes sparkled with laughter and fun, but as his gaze caught hers and held on, the laughter died and a moment of keen awareness took its place. A bird was chirping somewhere close by, and the scent of summer roses was heavy in the air. He wanted to touch her, kiss her, tell her everything. With a hiccuppy breath, she turned her head.

  “The roses are so gorgeous. They’re climbing roses, you know. Well, you wouldn’t, because they’re lying there in a heap, so this year I decided to rescue them.” She was babbling he realized, and felt hope. That attraction between them had been fierce. It had also been mutual.

  Maybe it was time to show her that he wanted more than friendship.

  “My hero,” she gushed.

  He laughed back at her, noticing that she didn’t pull her hand back when their fingers inadvertently touched. Darren felt a small electric storm; she seemed to be obsessed by the side of his head.

  “What? Do I have something in my hair?”

  “Do your ears stick out?” she finally asked.

  “I don’t think so.” He pulled a hunk of hair up at the side so she could see his ear.

  She looked closely and then nodded as though she’d won an argument. “Just as I thought. Nice ears.” She must have read the puzzlement in his face, for she laughed. “Sorry, professional curiosity.” Then she looked closer. “Do you dye your hair?”

  Damn it. He’d been so good about touching up his roots. He must have missed a spot.

  “Yes. I went prematurely gray.” He tried to smile. “We all have our vanity.”

  He jammed the hair back in place. He didn’t want to hear anything more about haircuts, or ears, or dye or makeovers.

  He knelt down and reached for one of the rose stems. The bottom was thick and gnarly with age, but lots of twiny, narrower green stems snaked around, laden with fragrant butter-colored blossoms.

  The stems were also covered in thorns. He dropped his painful burden and was about to suggest they find some leather gloves when she obviously discovered the thorns herself.

  “Ouch,” she said, shaking her index finger as though a bee had stung it. Then held it out. “Do you see blood?”

  On the pretext of bad eyesight, he took her hand in his. Her skin was so soft and smooth. He lifted her finger and could see the tiny red dot of the puncture. No blood. Lifting his gaze to hers, he pressed his lips against her fingertip. “All better,” he said, unable to keep the huskiness from his tone.

  She blinked, and for a second they crouched there among the roses, the sun beating down, her hand in his, the pulse in her wrist jumping beneath his fingertips. She licked her lips, and with his eyes still on hers, he leaned slowly forward.

  A little gasp stopped him, and she pulled her hand away, then said, “I need gardening gloves. Twine. Shears.”

  “Want me to help?” he said, wondering what would have happened if she’d let him kiss her. Wondering if he was the biggest fool in the world.

  “No. Thanks.” She rose. “No. I’m fine.” She glanced down at herself. “I should change, anyway. I’m not dressed for gardening. I saw the trellis and had to have it and then was too impulsive to wait five minutes before putting it up.” She was babbling again. He decided he liked the fact that she was starting to feel flustered around him. He wasn’t Dean the hopeless geek in need of a makeover. He was Darren, the hopeless geek who wanted this woman in his bed. Sure he could dress better and ditch the glasses and go back to his normal hair. But he was still the same man inside. And that’s who he wanted Kate to fall for.

  “Okay,” he said. “I was on my way for a run anyway.” And he retrieved his letter and set off, pounding the pavement with a light heart. He had a job, a life, time to work on his own programs and the challenge of wooing a beautiful woman. If the beautiful woman looked on him as anything but the “before picture” in one of those magazine makeovers, his life would be perfect.

  Warm air heated his lungs as he increased his pace. He jogged past a woman in a pale blue cardigan and a plaid skirt walking a tiny black poodle. The poodle told him off sharply, in yappy little barks. The owner looked reprovingly at Darren’s bare legs pumping down the quiet street. “Nice day!” he greeted the woman as he bounced past. “Humph” and “Yap, yap, yap” were the only replies.

  It was a beautiful day, and not a grumpy dog or its grumpy owner were going to stop him enjoying it.

  A makeover.

  He grinned. One day soon he was going to let Kate make him over, but not until she saw him for the man he was inside. He wanted his princess to kiss the frog before she knew there was a prince inside.

  It was a challenge. The biggest of his life.

  9

  SMILING AND CHATTING, blow-drying, snipping, perming and streaking, Kate made it through another long day.

  They were just closing up, when the owner of the New Image salon took Ruby and Kate aside in the little storage room and slipped envelopes into their hands. “I wanted to give you a little something for your birthday, Kate, but really these are bonuses, so you get one, too, Ruby.

  “We’ve done so well this year and you two worked harder than anyone. This is a little thank-you for all your hard work.” Mona Warkentin wasn’t a woman who gave compliments, or gifts, readily, so Ruby and Kate were in shock as they hugged the woman with the upswept platinum-blond hair and stumbled out of the salon.

  They piled in Ruby’s car and hastily tore into the envelopes. “How much did you get?” Ruby asked.

  “Five hundred bucks.” Kate felt the shock of the windfall. “You?”

  “Same.” Ruby looked as surprised as Kate.

  “Wow, what are you going to do with yours?”

  “The same as you.” Ruby’s white teeth gleamed. “Girl, we are going shopping.”

  And so Kate found herself at the mall, being bullied and pushed from clothing store to clothing store and shoved into one eye-popping dress after another.

  “But, Ruby, I can’t afford this,” she argued staring at the reflection of herself in a skimpy little skirt and tube top that left little to the imagination. She ought to put the five hundred bucks into her decimated savings account, but right now, her dreams seemed hopelessly unattainable.

  “Oh, I wish I had your body,” Ruby groaned. “This morning you couldn’t afford it. Now you have five hundred bucks and you’re not doing anything sensible with it. You are buying yourself a birthday present. A great dress.” She glared at Kate before adding, “And shoes!”

  “Oh, all right,” Kate said, unable to resist the temptation. Maybe a shopping spree would cheer her. “This one’s a little flashy, let’s see what else there is.” Combing through the rack, she pulled out a simple green cocktail dress. She knew the minute she tried it on it was the one. A greeny-blue silk sheath with a gauzy shawl that floated a little when she hooked it over her elbows. The dress fit where it touched, flattering her figure and allowing her hair to rule uncontested. “You like it?” she asked Ruby.

  A low wolf whistle was the answer.

  She turned around once more in the mirror, admiring the way the light caught the silk and turned it iridescent.

  She felt good in this dress. A line echoed through her head: Women of taste. That’s what Dean had written in the note with the silk camisole: it was what women of taste wore. So was this dress. Wearing it made Kate feel classy. It was the kind of dress you could wear with real silk lingerie and not feel like the wrong part of the outfit was on the outside.

  Of course, this one classy little dress cost as much as she spent on clothing in a whole year, but Ruby was right. The money was an unexpected bonus, and what had all her scrimping and saving got her, anyway?

  She took a deep breath. “I’ll take it,” she said to the salesclerk.

  While Kate was trying not to think about how much money she was forking over, Ruby disappeared into the change room with a kaleidoscope of dresses.

  Soon her friend emerged in gold lamé that appeared to be a size too small for her. “Wow!” said Kate.

  An earthy chuckle escaped her friend as she strutted in front of the triple mirror. “I look like a chocolate toffee, just waiting for some lucky man to unwrap the gold foil.”

  “Or an expensive hooker on a Saturday night.”

  Another lusty chuckle. “Just see if I don’t get Marvin to notice me in this.” Marvin was the latest object of Ruby’s lust. He worked in a music store across the street from the salon.

  “And just how are you going to get Marvin to see you in this dress? Wear it to work?”

  “Uh-uh. I’m asking him to a concert. One of those bands he’s always yammering about is coming to town.” Her smile was wide and white. “He won’t be able to resist.”

  Kate had a superstition about clothes. An outfit was lucky or unlucky. And the trouble was you could never tell which until you’d worn the thing. Usually, if you wore a dress and had a great time, you would ever after have a great time every time you wore that particular outfit.

  Unfortunately, the reverse was also true. No matter how great the clothing, if you had a lousy time the first time you wore it, it was jinxed. If she paid a lot of money for something and really wanted it to be a lucky dress, she tried to manipulate fate by wearing it to something she was almost guaranteed would be fun.

  Like her birthday party. All her friends along with their significant others would be there. She lifted her chin. If she didn’t have Brian hanging on her arm, she was bound to have a good time.

  She and Ruby grabbed a quick dinner in the food court, giggling like kids over their new purchases. Especially over how Marvin was going to react when he saw Ruby in the gold lamé.

  A pang of loneliness struck, and Kate wondered if she should wait and wear her new dress another time. Or manipulate fate a little herself.

  “Who are you bringing to your birthday party?” Ruby asked her, following her thoughts nicely.

  “I’m thinking of asking my upstairs neighbor.”

  Ruby blinked. “You haven’t been getting up close and personal with those cherubs, have you?”

  “No! He’s a friend, that’s all.” But for some reason, she couldn’t meet Ruby’s gaze. Instead she looked for something else to snag her friend’s attention and quickly found it in a coat shop off the food court. “Oh, that leather jacket would look great on you…look, the red one.”

  KATE WOKE TO FIND HER birthday had fallen on a gloriously sunny day. She stretched and got out of bed and padded into the kitchen to start coffee. Then she showered while it was brewing. Halfway through her first cup, the phone rang.

  She lifted the receiver and held it a few inches from her ear, having an idea what was coming. “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you!” bellowed in her ear as her tuneless but enthusiastic younger siblings and her mother sang their greeting.

  “Thanks for deafening me on my twenty-fourth birthday,” she said, laughing, after they’d finished.

  “Twenty-four. I can’t believe you’ve grown so fast,” sighed her mother, immediately making her feel half her age.

  “And what are you planning for the big day?”

  “I have to work and then I’ve got my party tonight. We’re going out to a restaurant.”

  “Oh, that’s grand, love. And you’ll come here for your birthday dinner on Sunday.”

  “Yes, of course. I can’t wait.”

  “Well, I know you’ve got to get off to work, so happy birthday again, darling.”

  “Thanks, Mom. See you then.”

  She hung up, smiling, and then paused as she heard someone knocking on her front door. Her bathrobe wasn’t elegant, but at eight in the morning, she didn’t imagine that mattered. She peeked through the door, wondering who it could be, and saw Dean.

  “Hi,” she said, surprised. She’d thought about inviting him tonight, but had decided against it on the grounds she didn’t know him all that well and didn’t want him thinking she was after a present when he found out it was her birthday.

  “Happy birthday,” he said, and she blinked in surprise.

  “How did you know?”

  “When I picked up the mail I noticed a few of those special-occasion envelopes. I held one up to the light and it was a birthday card.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “It wouldn’t have said which day unless you steamed open the envelope.”

  “You have no faith in my powers of detection,” he said with mock hurt. Then he dropped the pose and grinned down at her. “I called the salon and asked your friend Ruby.”

  “You called Ruby?”

  “Sure, why not?”

  “You don’t even know her.”

  “I’d like to. I’ve heard you talk about her, and she sounds like a nice woman.” He held out a brown paper bag. “Can I come in?”

  “Is that what I think it is?”

  “Fresh bagels. Still warm.”

  She opened the door wide.

  “Pour coffee,” she said over her shoulder as she strode for her bedroom. “I’ll get dressed.”

  “Don’t bother on my account,” he said, and she laughed. Already it was turning out to be a good day.

  When she got back he’d poured coffee, there were fresh bagels on a plate and cream cheese. He’d even picked up fresh-squeezed orange juice.

  “You are turning out to be the best neighbor a girl ever had,” she said, saluting him with her orange juice.

  He didn’t say anything to that, merely presented her with a small rectangular box wrapped in floral birthday paper and with a tiny mauve bow on top. With it was a card.

  “Oh, Dean,” she said.

  He smiled and motioned her to open it.

  When he’d caught sight of the topaz-and-gold earrings in the jeweler’s window, Darren had immediately pictured them against her hair. He must be some kind of masochist. Now he had a new prop for his night fantasies. Kate, smiling at him, topaz glinting from her ears, swinging against that fabulous hair, while her breasts begged to be released from the silk camisole.

  Her cry of delight brought him back to the present. Carefully, she removed the earrings from the small box, swinging them to and fro to watch them catch the light.

  “Oh, Dean, they’re beautiful.” In her impetuous way, she yanked out the gold hoops she was wearing and put the new earrings on. Then she dashed to the mirror hanging in the hallway to admire them.

  “I can’t believe it. I love them.” She danced over to him, tossing her head to make the little jewels swing. She leaned down to give him a kiss. He could tell she was aiming for his cheek, but as he moved left, she moved right, so instead of a kiss on the cheek, they ended up mouth to mouth.

  He heard her sharp intake of breath when she found herself kissing him. Her lips were soft and full and tremulous against his, and the touch of that tender flesh against his mouth sparked right through him. Something lit up deep in his vitals and he had to fight all his instincts not to drag her hard against him.

  With a nervous giggle, she pulled away, her color heightened and her eyes searching his with a startled expression in their depths. He gazed back into her eyes. The tiny flecks of gold sparkling in the green iris made the winking topaz seem dull.

  He refused to break eye contact first. Let her see all the things he couldn’t tell her. She turned to busy herself with bagels and cream cheese, while they chatted about the latest book she was reading, a runner-up for the Pulitzer, which he’d read when it first came out. In the background, the news played softly. After a bit, she said, “How’d you like to pretend to be my boyfriend at my birthday party tonight?”

  “I don’t know if I could ever stop,” he replied. His tone was bantering, but he turned his head as he spoke and caught a gleam of interest in Kate’s eyes that made his heart jump. The moment stretched as awareness flickered between them.

  He smiled to let her off the hook from answering and then rose. “I’d better let you get ready for work. I’ll see you later.”

  “Yes. Sure,” she answered, still staring at him with a look of complete surprise on her face.

  He was almost at the door when she said, “Dean?”

  “Uh-huh?”

  He watched her lick her lips, still staring at him. “Did you feel something just then?” she asked in a hushed tone.

  Oh, yeah. “When?”

  “When I…When you…”

  “When we kissed?” he said, finishing the sentence for her.

  “Yes.” Her color was heightened, but her tone of stunned shock cut right through him. He’d chinked her armor, and he wasn’t a man not to go after what he wanted when he sensed an opening.

  “I felt this,” he said, walking back toward her. He put his hands on her shoulders, gave her a moment to evade and, when she didn’t, lowered his mouth to hers.

  This time there was no accidental brushing of lips. He kissed her with everything he had. She was sweet and special and making him lose sleep, and he let her know it, taking her mouth with gentle persuasion and making it his.

  Oh, she tasted good. Like orange juice and fresh, sweet woman. Her hair was a tangle of wet curls clinging to her back, her body slim and supple as he ran his hands down her spine.

  He kissed her until she swayed against him, and he felt her hands climb his chest and link behind his neck. He kissed her until they were both breathless, and he knew he had to stop soon or neither of them were going to make it to work today.

  “Happy birthday, Kate,” he said at last, pulling away.

  Her lips were parted and her eyes glazed. He’d like to think it was all from passion, but with an inner chuckle, he suspected it was partly shock.

  “I’ll see you tonight,” he said, and left. She still hadn’t managed to articulate a word.

  “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME Dean called here?” Kate demanded later that morning when she ran into the back with Ruby to grab a quick coffee between clients.

  “Why didn’t you tell me Angel-Butt had such a sexy voice?”

  “You’d better not call him Angel-Butt at dinner tonight.”

  Ruby turned to her, the stir stick stopping in mid-stir. “You invited him to your party?”