Real Romance (5 page)

"Jo-anne?"

Joanne looked over with a distant smile.

"Something going on I should know about?"

"As my boss or my friend?" Joanne asked.

Marie tapped her fingers against her chin. "Why, Joanne Bright, to look at you one would almost think there was a man in your life!"

Joanne turned the most curious shade of peachy-amber.

"No need to sound so surprised, love. You're the one who turned him on to me."

"Chad?" Marie asked, trying to keep her jaw from dropping.

Sure, that had been her idea. But she'd never dreamed it would work. Chad and his late wife Emily had been together since grade school. He'd never in his life looked at another woman.

"What?" Joanne asked, setting both hands on her hips. "Did you think me incapable?"

Oh, no, Marie definitely believed Joanne was capable.

Marie felt her lips pull apart in a half laugh, half smile.

"Oh, Joanne," she said, rushing forward and taking her friend in her arms. "I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks, sweetie," Joanne said, returning the hug and patting Marie soundly on the back. "Now, it's your turn."

Marie pulled back, suddenly overcome with emotion.

"Oh," she said, tears spilling forth, "Joanne."

"Hey, hey," Joanne said, stepping forward and taking Marie in her arms again. "Everything's going to be all right."

Marie shook her head, her eyes hot, her lips trembling—grateful that, at this hour, no one else was left in the store.

"You just don't understand, Jo. I've had my chances. Two of them. And I blew them both."

"You, angel, didn't blow anything. It was those devils disguised as men who did the damage."

"They're all devils," Marie said, more tears bursting forth. "Demons... with the impulse to destroy."

"Well, maybe he's not like that."

Marie lifted her head from Joanne's shoulder and stared into her eyes with a betrayed look.

"He thinks I'm engaged, Joanne.
Engaged.
And today he had the audacity to call me pretty."

Joanne gasped and brought her free hand to her mouth.

"The gall!"

Marie softened her anguished face into a semblance of a smile.

"Sweetheart," Joanne said, dabbing Marie's damp cheek with a tissue. "You shouldn't blame the poor man for being persistent. You are quite a catch, after all."

"Joanne," Marie said, holding the older woman so tightly she nearly breathed her in, "you should have been a mother."

"Well, to see that old coot Chad in action," Joanne said, with a shy grin, "I would almost swear he's working on it."

David scanned the groom's checklist for maybe the twelfth time in the last two hours. He closed the wedding planner wearily.

"Ridiculous," he said, sighing out loud. If all the to-dos on that list were optical prescriptions to be filled, David would be grinding glass indefinitely.

And, from what David had heard, that would only be the start of it. After the wedding, then the honey-dos would begin. "Honey, do this..." and "Honey, do that."

David caught himself smiling and realized with surprise that he'd actually enjoy Marie ordering him around. He stretched back in his chair indulging in a fantasy about just what she might order him to do. But his fun was interrupted by his ringing cell.

"David, this is Caroline. Look, I have to wait at the doctor's office with Sally. Hope you can hold down the fort the rest of the afternoon."

David swung his feet to the floor and cleared his throat.

"Sure thing, Caroline. Been working like a madman, but another hour or two alone won't kill me."

"Thanks, David, I really owe you."

"No problem, boss. Say, how is your little girl anyway? That fever of hers any better?"

"Not really." Caroline huffed into the phone. "The nurse thinks she might have chicken pox."

"Chicken pox? Holy cow."

"Yeah, right, say a prayer. Please. I can't have chicken pox right now. The nurse says she'll have to stay out of daycare for at least two weeks. I knew I should have gotten her that vaccine, but Jim insisted..." Her voice dropped off and David could tell she was covering her cell while she talked to someone else. "...Oh. Oh, okay, just another minute," she was saying.

"David? You still there?"

David slid the wedding planner in his desk drawer and shut it.

"You bet. Hey, I'm awfully sorry about Sally."

"You and me both! Well, anyway, the receptionist says I have to get off the phone. I really appreciate your filling in."

"This afternoon's no problem, Caroline. Don't you worry."

"This afternoon? David, I'm talking about possibly the next two weeks."

Two weeks with no supervision and the whole place to himself? David grinned wickedly, because he knew she couldn't see it.

"You can count on me to keep things humming."

Marie stretched out her neck and rolled her head on her shoulders. She'd been having trouble getting into the swing of things all day, and now this. Her children's storyteller called in sick. Something about a chicken pox epidemic, and guess whose kids had it?

She shrugged and tried to work out the tension in her shoulders but it was useless. In less than twenty minutes, she'd have to put on her most sunshiny face and go greet the mini-masses.

Oh well, she thought, studying the shelves for something appropriate, that's what being a manager meant. When someone didn't show, you stepped in. The show must go on, and all that. Particularly with the sales the children's department had been racking up since Marie had initiated story hour.

Marie sat on the cushioned stool and watched as the kids filed in, grown-ups in tow. Mothers, mostly. But there were one or two dads. And, oh yes, how sweet—a set of grandparents.

"Well, boys and girls," she began, after checking the wall clock. "Does anybody know what month this is?"

"Novemberary!" somebody shouted.

Marie smiled warmly at the little boy in oversized britches. "Very good... You're Tommy, right?"

Tommy ran a hand through his curly red hair and beamed from ear to ear.

She'd thought she'd recognized him from last week when he'd come by to search for birthday books with his mother.

"Right! November! And who here in this very intelligent crowd can tell me what holiday comes in November?"

David followed the turkey noises to the back of the store. The older lady at the front desk—-Joanne, he thought, she said her name was—told him that Marie was doing story hour. David hadn't been exactly sure what that meant until he came upon Marie and the group of children following her.

David half hid himself behind a cardboard book display and watched in amazement as Marie led a line of unruly "turkeys" around the children's book department. Amazingly, it looked like even a couple of grandparents had joined in!

Marie stopped and pulled the glasses off her nose, laughing as a giggling band of children thrust themselves at her legs. She was enchanting, David realized. Absolutely charming...

And, he remembered, as someone rudely nudged past him, engaged to someone else.

David was just regaining his balance, when a second person pushed by him, completely upsetting his footing. David cast one desperate glance in Marie's direction and saw her meet his eyes with a horrified look, as he grabbed the softcover book display and carried it with him as he crashed to the floor.

For what seemed like endless seconds, David kept his nose buried in a mound of tumbled paperbacks, praying he'd awaken from this nightmare.

And then he felt her hand on his shoulder.

"David?"

It was Marie's voice. Marie's beautiful, soft voice. David swallowed hard and looked up.

"Oh my God, David! What happened? Are you okay?"

Well, at least he didn't look damaged. Only embarrassed, as well he should be. Pulling her latest merchandise to the floor. Really. What was it about this man that was just so...

Hunky, Marie thought, as he brought himself up on all fours and stared into her eyes. Heavens, he looked like a panther in that pose. And his smell...

Marie's eyes flashed at the suggestion, but then she shut them tight, recalling where she was.

"Here," she said, extending a hand, "let me help you up."

"Marie," he said, dusting off his jeans. "I'm so sorry. I'll pay for the damage. And help pick up. Whatever you want me to do."

She tried not to let herself think too hard about that, and picked up a couple of books to examine their spines.

"I think they'll live," she said, trying to sound flip while struggling to control the butterflies in her stomach.

"I ruined your story hour," David said, his face sagging as scattered hordes of children made their departure.

Marie tugged at the neck of her dress that suddenly seemed too tight.

"Oh, no. Really. Story hour was just winding down."

David righted the cardboard display and started restocking it with books, his muscular buttocks tensing under denim with each swinging movement of his arm.

Marie found herself unwilling to leave him there all alone, what with the buxom brunette in the corner who seemed to be making the same study of David's anatomy.

"Say," she said, once he had neatly finished up. "You're pretty good at that. Need a job?"

"I'm not unemployed, if that's what you're thinking."

"No, but..." It was hard to keep the smile from creeping onto her lips.

"What? What is it?" David gave himself a quick once-over, as if to verify that his clothes weren't on backwards.

"I was just thinking," Marie said, "that you must be doing a doggone good job with Jupiter for Caroline to give you all this time off."

David gave her a disarming smile that made Marie wish she hadn't started this banter.

Slow down, girl, she told herself, drowning in his deep blue eyes. You 're getting in way over your head.

"She's given me the rest of the afternoon," David said, diving into her with his stare. "Got plans?"

Marie wanted to say yes, prepared to tell him to go take a long walk off a short pier.

But then he crinkled his eyes and his playful lips turned up in another uneven smile, and she told him she left work at six o'clock.

Chapter Five

"Where are we going?" Marie asked, as David held open the door to Books & Bistro, letting her leave first. He had a bulging green backpack slung over his shoulder and was wearing the same blue parka she remembered from the park.

"It's a surprise," he said, with a mischievous smile.

Marie wasn't so sure she should be setting herself up for surprises with this man. He'd already surprised, her enough, with the way he sent her pulse racing, and her emotions all out of kilter.

She scanned the small gravel parking area. Inside the ultra posh Books & Bistro, Marie could almost envision herself being in any cosmopolitan city in the world. But once she stepped out into the fading Virginia twilight and caught a glimpse of the Blue Ridge Mountains, she knew she was very much at home.

Covesville wasn't really much to speak of. There was this strip mall and a few downtown restaurants, plus a park, the mountain lake, and the small but distinguished women's college that sat high on a hill in the center of town.

"Where's your car?" she asked, noticing he had stopped on the curb.

"No car," he said, bending to open a padlock attached to a chain wound round a brick pillar and through the back wheel of a glistening ten-speed bicycle. "We're going by bike."

Marie gasped and brought her hands to her cheeks, staring down at her short cashmere dress.

"Don't worry," he said, throwing her a wink. "You'll be riding on back. I won't see a thing.

"Say," he said, shooting a glance at the bookstore. "Isn't there someone you need to call?"

"Call?" Marie asked, still wondering how she was going to modestly lift her leg over the high bar of that man's bicycle.

" Fiancé, maybe?" David said, feeling he had to ask.

Okay, he told himself, let's get this all out in the open. Acknowledge what you know. Woo her in a gentlemanly fashion. Then, after she's had a glass of wine—or two—ask her how serious she is about this guy, anyway.

"No," Marie said, giving a little cough. "No one to call.

"Now," she asked, buttoning up her lambs wool coat. "How do I mount this thing?"

David took a deep breath and strapped his backpack to a rack above the rear wheel. He wasn't altogether sure he'd be able to pedal straight with her riding his seat, her cushiony bosom pressed up against his back...