Rumor Has It (7 page)

Eyes twinkling, Nick pulled his shirt on over
his head. The name of a trendy Washington nightclub was emblazoned across the front. He watched Katie's gaze follow the descent of the bright red fabric down his chest and over his belly. He thought she was going to faint when he tucked the bottom into his jeans. “Ideas for the dining room. Remember the dining room?”

Realizing she'd been staring, Katie blushed and fumbled with her portfolio. What was the matter with her, losing her wits and her manners over an attractive arrangement of muscle and bone. “Yes. I think I've come up with several good ideas, all of them fairly simple, all with a Victorian feel to them to tie in with the things you found in the attic.”

She pulled out the rough sketches she'd made and handed them to Nick. He leaned back and squinted a little. When he couldn't extend his arm any farther or lean back any more, Katie reached across the table and pulled the drawings toward her.

“Is this better?” she asked dryly. “Or should I go across the hall?”

Nick scowled. He reached into a drawer beside him and pulled out a pair of round, wire- rimmed
reading glasses. The look he gave Katie was half warning, half pleading. “Don't tease me.”

He was self- conscious about such a little thing as wearing reading glasses? Katie's hand auto matically went to her belly, smoothing over the soft cotton of her skirt and the scars that lay beneath it.

“This is too frilly,” Nick said, setting aside one sketch. He pulled his lower lip between his teeth as he considered the other two. “I like this one best.” He held out the sketch that pictured the finished room furnished with small Victorian side chairs tucked under small square tables draped in green and tan. The walls were adorned with the hats, walking sticks, shirt collars, and other things he had discovered in the attic.

“Is that the color you had in mind?” she asked, pointing her pencil at the hunter- green drapes she'd drawn at the tall windows.

“Is it dark green?” he asked with a crooked smile.

Katie nodded, biting her lip. Sometimes he was just too cute to be resisted.

He grinned. “Then that's it.”

“Maybe this is a silly question, but if you can't
tell whether or not it's dark green, how do you know dark green is your favorite color?”

Nick just shrugged and went on grinning. He took wicked pleasure in seeing Katie off balance. It was such a contrast to her usual state. She didn't enjoy it any more than a cat enjoyed a bath though. She was laughing at him, but he could see she was annoyed with herself for slipping off her pedestal of composure. Silver flashed in her eyes like lightning in storm clouds.

Shaking her head Katie took the drawing and jotted some notes on it, then tucked them all into her portfolio. “I can start keeping an eye out for furniture. We'll need six to eight weeks on the drapes, so let me know when you're ready to look at fabric. They'll be one of the bigger expenses. You might want to consider going without them on the second floor for a while. The woodwork up there isn't bad.”

He nodded. “With this curb and gutter surprise, I may have to hold off working on the second floor anyway. I think I can get twenty tables in the main-floor dining room. That wouldn't be a bad start.”

“I'm sorry this had to happen, Nick. Unfortunately
for you a change of ownership sometimes stirs up unknown problems. This building had been vacant for a long time.”

“It's just the breaks of business.” He reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “Thanks for caring, Katie. It helps to have good friends.”

His voice seemed as warm as the hand that held hers, yet shivers chased over Katie's skin, raising goose bumps. She liked it when Nick touched her. She liked it too much.

Clearing her throat nervously she slipped her hand from his and stood up. Nick rose as well.

“I'd better be getting back to the store. Maggie has a consultation at eleven.”

“Katie,” he said softly, catching her hand as she turned for the door. His heart thudded as she looked at him. There was a split second of astonishment in her eyes, as if she were surprised he wanted to touch her. The lady didn't know how much he wanted to touch her, Nick thought, gritting his teeth against a surge of desire. Sometimes she looked so vulnerable, so in contrast to the Katie she usually presented to the world that he wanted to hold her and protect her and make love to her. “I'm sorry about earlier. I was obnoxious.
This morning didn't get off to a great start, and when I heard that rumor about you and Ramsey… I guess I got jealous.”

“Jealous?” Katie asked with wonder. This gorgeous man was jealous because she had once dated a mere mortal?

“Yeah,” he murmured, easing his arms around her. “Jealous. That surprises you?”

“Sort of,” she whispered, almost unable to hear her own voice for the pounding of her heart. She met his lips when he dipped his head down to steal a kiss. “Nick?”

“Hmm?” he stole a second kiss and breathed in the soft scent of honeysuckle that clung to her dark hair.

“I like your glasses.”

His smile was tender and endearingly appreciative. “Thanks.”

He kissed her again, slowly, deeply, his tongue searching out hers for gentle play. There was no ice in this princess, he thought as he drank in her sweet warmth. Behind the cool and competent lady was a woman with needs and secrets in her eyes, a woman he wanted more than he had a right to.

Katie clung to him, using his wide shoulders as an anchor in the storm of desire that flared between them and threatened to overwhelm her. How could it be so strong, so tempting? she wondered. It was unlike anything she had ever known, and she wasn't sure how to deal with it.

“Katie,” he whispered, dragging his mouth along her jaw to her ear. His hand slipped under her sweater and found her small round breast. He cupped it, kneaded it.

“Nick, I have to go,” she said, backing away from him, a faint note of panic in her voice. She needed time to think, something she obviously couldn't do in Nick's arms. She bent to pick up her portfolio, wondering when she had dropped it. Her hair spilled over her shoulder. She threw it back with a hand that wasn't quite steady. “I have to go.”

“Katie, wait,” he said, following her down the steps. He wasn't at all sure he knew what had just happened, but it didn't take a genius to see Katie didn't want to discuss it.

Katie forced herself to stop on the landing before the last flight of stairs. She was acting like a crazy person because his kiss had made her feel as
if she were going to go up in flames. She turned to face Nick, trying hard not to look the least bit confused.

Nick stopped on the step above her, bracing his hands against the wall on either side. “Are you free Saturday night? I thought we could go dancing. There's this club in D.C.—”

“No, I can't, Nick. I'm sorry,” she said, disappointment forming a knot in her throat. “I don't dance.”

He teased her with a smile. “Everybody can dance. All you need is a fabulous instructor like myself.”

She glanced away from his eyes, forcing the corners of her mouth up in a phony grin. “That's probably true, but I'm tied up on Saturday.”

“Oh.” He stepped down to her level and wound a finger into her long hair. “Are you mad at me?”

Katie looked up. His eyes were so brown and so sincere. He was so sweet, it made her heart ache. “Why would I be mad at you?”

His broad shoulders lifted in a shrug as he dismissed the notion. He bent his head and pressed a
kiss to her lips. “You're so pretty,” he murmured against her mouth.

A magnetic pull was urging her toward him again. Before it could overrule her good judgment, Katie put a half step of distance between them. “There's a concert Sunday in the park. We have a pretty good chamber orchestra… if you like that kind of thing.”

“I do.” He smiled, relaxing. “It's a date.”

Maggie was ready to go out the back door as Katie came in the front, which suited Katie fine. She needed a little time to herself. She hung the Gone to Lunch sign on the front door, took the phone off the hook, and went to sit on a box in the stock room where she could stare out the screen door at the beautiful spring morning.

Decision time, Katie, she told herself. The kind of desire she'd felt in Nick's arms didn't come along every day. In fact, she'd never experienced it before. But what was she supposed to do about it? Did she do the safe thing and break it off with Nick now, or did she let him become the first man to get close to her since her accident? She knew
what her heart wanted, but her heart wanted a lot of things it could never have.

Nick seemed so special. Everything clicked when they were together. Just like in the movies— she heard bells, she saw fireworks. Those were things she had always been too practical to believe in before. She wanted to go on seeing him. She wanted more. She wanted to go dancing with him. She wanted to be whole. Instead she was scarred and incomplete. He would have seen that, if she hadn't backed away from his lovemaking in the kitchen. He would have seen that the pretty package that attracted him was a battered, empty box under the feminine wrapping.

Lifting her heavy mane off her neck Katie sighed up into her bangs. Life had seemed a lot simpler before Nick Leone had come along with his mysterious past and velvet brown eyes. But she realized it would seem a lot lonelier without him.

Maybe it was time she took a chance. She'd been so careful for so long. She couldn't read Nick's mind. She couldn't know if he was interested in her on a long-term basis. She couldn't know if he would be able to overlook her scars,
or if children were important to him. But she didn't have to read his mind to know he was a nice man. She didn't have to read his mind to know he wanted a deeper relationship. She wanted one too.

Maybe it was time to stray a little from the path she'd so carefully mapped out for herself five years ago. To pass up the chance would be the coward's way out, and if there was one thing Katie had tried hard not to be in her life, it was a coward.

Nick sat on the steps and let his gaze roam around what would one day be the main dining room of his restaurant. He needed to install new light fixtures. The floor had to be sanded and re-finished. He didn't even want to think what needed to be done to make the back room into a functional kitchen. Upstairs there were dropped ceilings to be removed, walls to be knocked out.

Forty- five hundred bucks. He groaned. He'd already borrowed all he could. He would have to fork over the money for the curb and gutter now so he could get the permit, and then make the
money back some way so he could afford to do the necessary remodeling.

There was one sure way he could make enough money in a relatively short amount of time. All he had to do was pick up the phone and say yes to Jack Clark's standing offer. They would have to haggle a little over scheduling, and Nick would have to negotiate for a percentage of the gate, but it was the best solution. It was the only solution.

“Looks as if I'll be doing some dancing after all, Katie,” he said, wondering what proper Katie would have to say when he told her he was going to solve his financial problems by going back to his old job as the Highwayman—the hottest male erotic dancer on the East Coast.

K
ATIE HAD COMMITTED
her Saturday morning and afternoon to working on the town project. Saturday night was going to be devoted to recuperating from working on the town project. She decided the best thing she could do was work so hard, she would have little energy left over to devote to wondering if Nick had found someone else to go dancing with him.

The town project was known as the Drewes mansion. Myra Mason- Drewes had willed the estate to the city. It had been badly in need of repair and, even though Myra's wish had been that the
estate be restored, the town council nearly had decided to tear it down. Katie and a group of other citizens concerned about historic preservation had talked them out of it.

Professionals had been called in for the nuts and bolts restoration work, but costs had been kept low by having townspeople devote their time and talents to the simpler tasks. By late summer the Drewes mansion would be added to the walking tour of Briarwood that included a number of other historic buildings. The tourism committee was planning a gala party to celebrate the opening and raise funds to help cover some of the costs.

The sounds of hammers pounding and power saws whining above the country music coming from a portable radio in the kitchen brought a smile to Katie's lips as she dipped her paintbrush into the bucket again. By the end of the day all the noise would probably give her a headache, but she wouldn't think about that now. She was going to enjoy the feeling of camaraderie that came from working beside people she had known all her life. It was one of the joys of living in a small community. She also thoroughly enjoyed the actual work of fixing up the house. Preserving a
piece of the past was a labor of love, as far as Katie was concerned. She threw a happy smile at Maggie, working nearby on painting window trim.

“Katie, the walls in the dining room are ready to paint. Should we go on ahead and start?”

“Sure, John. Just make certain all the drop cloths are in place,” she called back without taking her eyes off the window frame she was painting. The woodwork in the parlor had been stripped of nineteen coats of paint, including layers of hot pink and lime green. Her brush spread a layer of rich cream over the wood. Eventually all the rooms in the colonial home would be returned to their original color schemes.

“I hope y'all appreciate just how much I hate painting trim,” Maggie said to no one in particular. She stuck her tongue between her teeth as she ran a narrow brush along the wood between two panes in the twelve- over- twelve- pane window. She glanced over her shoulder to the next wall where Katie was working. “However, I don't mind being the lookout. Guess who's coming up the front walk, Kathryn.”

“Tom Selleck.”

“Close, but no mustache. It's none other than the mysterious Mr. Leone, heartthrob of Fairfax Street.”

Heartthrob. What an inadequate word, Katie thought. Beneath her baggy pink T-shirt her heart was throbbing all right, but that was the least of what Nick could do to her with nothing more than a glance.