“Then I guess it’s a good thing this is just a make-believe relationship.” He poured a glass of pop and handed it to her.
“Thanks.”
Again a fleeting smile lit her face, making him realize how solemn she looked most of the time. Why? Had her boyfriend’s defection plunged her into a lingering depression? Or was her problem more complex?
None of your damn business, he reminded himself.
“What brings you here tonight, Brody?” Mallory’s soft voice interrupted his thoughts.
He waved a slice of pizza. “I don’t like to eat alone.”
“I’m serious.”
Yeah, so he’d noticed. “I thought we ought to spend some time together, get used to each other. Otherwise, we’re going to have a tough time fooling anyone at the wedding.”
“Meaning?”
“Yesterday you practically had a panic attack when I reached over to wipe a smudge of chocolate off your chin. If you react that way at the wedding, nobody’s going to believe you’re in love with me.”
She fell silent, staring in apparent fascination at a string of mozzarella dangling from the lid of the pizza box like a miniature bungee cord. “My reaction had nothing to do with you. I’m just a person who needs a lot of personal space.”
“But you want everyone to think we’re involved, right?”
“That’s the plan.” She still wouldn’t meet his gaze.
“Then I think we need to practice.”
She looked up, startled. “Practice what?”
“Sitting side by side, for starters.” He shrugged. “We might be a little more believable as a couple if you didn’t flinch whenever I come within five feet of you.”
“I don’t flinch.”
“Oh, no?” He moved to her side and leaned casually against the arm of her chair.
She shrank away like a turtle retreating into its shell.
Brody stepped back, folding his arms across his chest. “I rest my case.” He returned to the love seat and helped himself to another slice of pizza.
“No fair. You startled me.”
“Exactly my point.”
She lifted her chin. Her gaze was direct and unwavering, her mouth a tight line of determination, but the rapid rise and fall of her chest betrayed her true state of mind.
“I’m no threat to you,” he said.
“I know that.”
“You don’t react this way to Kyle.”
“No, but c”
“What?”
“I’ve known Kyle a long time. I barely know you at all.”
“Then you’d better get to know me. Otherwise this isn’t going to work. Not if you shy like a nervous horse every time I get close. Come sit by me.” He patted the space next to him on the love seat. “I don’t bite. Think of me as someone harmless, an older brother, a favorite uncle, the boy next door.”
She froze, her eyes wide and blank.
“Mallory?” What had he said now?
She blinked twice, then slowly focused her gaze on him. “I’m being silly, huh?”
“Not silly. Cautious. And with weirdos like GI Joe running around loose, some caution is in order.”
“But you’re not GI Joe.”
“No.” Though he damned well wished he knew who was. “Did you ever play make-believe games when you were a kid?”
“All the time.”
“Well, that’s what this is. Make-believe. All you have to do is pretend to be interested in me.”
“Like you’re pretending to be interested in me?”
“Right,” he said, though he wasn’t sure as he gazed into her eyes if he was pretending or not. Despite her hang-ups, Mallory Scott was a very appealing woman, more so perhaps because she seemed totally unaware of how attractive she was.
Smiling nervously, she sat down next to him. Her breathing was rapid. Her hands shook.
Brody gave her an encouraging look. “Don’t hyperventilate. Just relax.”
She shut her eyes and her breathing slowed, but her hands still trembled.
Brody kept his voice low. “Okay, Mallory, I’m going to put my arm around your shoulders. Try not to tighten up.”
She made an obvious effort to relax, but her shoulder felt as rigid as a board under his hand. Maybe that was the problem. Her effort was obvious.
“This isn’t working,” he said. “Open your eyes. Let’s play the what if game.”
She eyed him uncertainly. “I don’t know that one.”
“It’s easy. I pose a question. You answer off the top of your head. Ready? What if you won ten million dollars?”
She grinned. “I’d retire to Tahiti. How about you?”
“I’d quit my job to train full-time for the Olympics.”
“In what sport?”
“All of ’em. I dream big.” He squeezed her shoulders. She tensed, but only for a second. “Okay, second question. What if aliens took over the earth?”
“Aliens?” She laughed. “I’d cancel their green cards and send them back to their home world. What would you do?”
“Me? Well, since I have it on authority that aliens are allergic to tropical breezes, I guess I’d retire to Tahiti.”
“No fair! Think up your own answer.” She leaned forward to scoop up a slice of pizza. Brody, who’d had the same idea, was a fraction of a second slower. Her hand closed on the pizza and his hand closed on hers. Mallory stiffened again and uttered a nearly inaudible gasp.
As her startled gaze met his Brody murmured an involuntary, “Oh!” Which didn’t fall under the heading of witty repartee, but then, the unexpected physical contact seemed to have short-circuited his brain.
“Brody?” she whispered, looking as confused as he felt. Her fingers trembled in his.
“Hmm?” He blinked, fighting to clear his head. For some reason, he couldn’t seem to think and look into her eyes at the same time, a circumstance he found unsettling. Very unsettling. A man could drown himself in the depths of those eyes.
“Brody?” she repeated in a shaky voice. “Is this part of the game?” She dropped the pizza and tugged her fingers free of his, breaking the spell.
“What?” He stood abruptly. “Part of the game? No, I think the game’s over for tonight.” He cleared his throat. “I just remembered I promised someone I’d do something.”
Mallory’s face went blank. Then she shifted her gaze, veiling her expression behind a thick fringe of eyelashes.
Oh, great. Now he’d hurt her feelings. And no wonder. I promised someone I’d do something. Talk about pitiful excuses.
Mallory rose. Her cheeks were faintly pink, but she looked him right in the eye. “I’m sorry if I offended you, Brody. Of course it was part of the game. I never really meant to question your motives. It’s just c” She dropped her gaze. “I keep forgetting. I mean, you don’t seem c”
Gay? Good reason for that. He took a deep breath. I should tell her, he thought. But then she’d never be able to relax enough to carry off the charade. And Kyle had told him how important this was to her. Hell, another week and he’d be out of her life forever. Surely he could keep his mouth shut and his hormones in check that long.
“Brody?”
He looked at her. Big mistake.
She captured his right hand in hers and gave him a formal handshake. “Thanks for dinner. I really appreciate what you’re doing for me.”
Yeah, but did she have any idea what she was doing for him?
No, he decided, she didn’t have a clue. Her eyes were wide and guileless, her soft pink lips curved in an innocent smile. God, but he was tempted to kiss her. What could it hurt?
Unfortunately, he didn’t have a chance to find out, because his beeper went off. “May I use your phone?”
She nodded and handed him the portable.
“GI Joe?” Her voice shook.
“Either him or the damn burglary ring,” he muttered as he punched in the number for the police department.
“I read about them in the Gaze
tte. They’ve hit a dozen places in the last few months.”
“Yeah, the robberies started right after I moved down here.” The dispatcher answered and transferred him to Officer Armstrong.
“Got another one for you, Detective.”
Regan Armstrong always made detective sound like a dirty word. From what he’d observed, she was a good cop, but no one would nominate her for Miss Congeniality.
“Big house at 1508 Chisholm Drive. Owner’s been out of town on business. Just got back tonight to find he’d been robbed. They took jewelry, cash, guns, electronic equipment. The usual.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Mallory munched at the slice of cold pizza Brody had left behind and indulged in a little introspection, an activity she normally avoided as assiduously as she avoided Mrs. Gooding, her proselytizing next-door neighbor.
Brody Hunter confused her, something men usually didn’t do. If they were “safe” men like her dad or Kyle or Evan, she treated them pretty much the same way she did women. And if they were “dangerous” men like a couple of the oversexed testosterone factories who hung out at Aerobics Plus, she simply kept her distance. No confusion there.
But Brody was different. He acted safe, but she reacted as if he were dangerous, and she couldn’t figure out why. She knew he wasn’t going to make a move on her, yet for a second, when she was shaking his hand and thanking him for his help, she’d thought he was about to kiss her, a prospect that should have terrified her. But didn’t. And that was the most confusing part of all.
“Rise and shine!” Kyle, the morning person.
Mallory grunted into the phone.
“That’s your imitation of a pig, right?”
“Good grief, Kyle. How can you be so cheerful at”—she peered nearsightedly at the digital alarm clock on her bedside table—“six-oh-seven in the morning?”
“You don’t want to be late, do you?”
“Late for what?” she asked, her voice heavy with suspicion.
“I took the liberty of scheduling some appointments for you.”
Great. After two days of conferencing with parents at school, all she needed were a few more appointments. “What kind of appointments?”
“For starters, you’re going to get your hair and nails done at Mr. Edouard’s. Then a facial, a session in the tanning booth, and a bikini wax at Kiki’s.”
“Nix the bikini wax. I’m going to a wedding, not posing for the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated.”
“But it’s free. Kiki tossed it in as a bonus. With summer coming, her girls need the practice.”
“Let them practice on somebody else!”
“Okay, okay. If you’re adamant, we’ll scratch the bikini wax.”
“Great. Mr. Edouard followed by Kiki. That’s going to take all morning.”
“Pretty much. We can shop this afternoon.”
“Shop?”
“For a dress. You don’t intend to wear pants to the rehearsal dinner, do you?”
Actually, she had planned to do just that. “What’s wrong with pants?”
“They don’t show off your legs, and your legs are one of your best assets.”
“They are?” Mallory flipped the covers aside and examined the appendages in question. They were okay. No cellulite and only a few stubbly patches she’d missed with her razor.
“So? What do you say?”
“I don’t know, Kyle. I haven’t bought a dress in a while. No need for one. Slacks are more practical for work, especially when I have playground duty.”
“Come on, Mallory. Be impractical for once in your life.”
She grinned at the telephone receiver. Kyle didn’t have a clue how truly impractical she could be. He’d never seen the contents of her underwear drawer. “Okay, you’re on.”
“You won’t regret it, Cinderella. By the way, did I mention we’re meeting Brody for lunch so you two can iron out the final details of your dates?”
Lunch with Brody. Suddenly Mallory wasn’t sleepy anymore.
THREE
Brody was saving a booth for them. She spotted him through the window of the diner as Kyle pulled into a parking spot. The man is gay. Funny how she had to keep reminding herself.
His broad shoulders and muscular arms showed to advantage in a blue knit shirt. Add to that a killer smile and he was enough to set any woman’s heart aflutter.
The lethal smile put in a sudden appearance as he caught sight of them, and Mallory’s heart shifted into overdrive.
“Brody’s here already,” she told Kyle, then blinked in surprise at the rush she felt just saying his name. “I thought you said he was habitually late.”
Kyle grunted. “He is. That’s why I told him to meet us at a quarter to twelve.”
Mallory got out on the passenger’s side. “But it’s a quarter after.”
“Right. Listen, I’ve got to run a quick errand. Just order me a BLT and coffee, would you?”
She hung on to the door handle as if it were a lifeline. “You’re not coming in?” Mallory was proud of the fact that her panic wasn’t reflected in her voice.
“I’ll be right back. I have to drop off some stuff at the cleaners.”
She wanted to offer to accompany Kyle just so she didn’t have to face Brody alone. He’s no threat, she told herself. Intellectually, she acknowledged the fact, but emotionally c
Not all men were boy-next-door types. And just because a man looked dangerous, it didn’t mean he was. Mallory took one deep, calming breath. Then she slammed the door shut, waved Kyle off, and turned toward the diner.
Porky’s had been a fixture in Brunswick since before Mallory was born. Though it was popular nowadays with all age groups, it had started in the fifties as a teen hangout.
Mallory felt a little like a teenager herself, as insecure as if she were on her first date. The guy is doing you a favor, Mallory. He has no expectations. Zero. So relax.
“Hi.” He met her at the door, looking so pleased to see her that her heart did a couple of cartwheels.
“Hi, yourself.” She smiled slowly, her nervousness forgotten as their gazes met and held for a long moment. “Kyle will be here in a minute. He had an errand to run.
“I saved us a booth. This way.” He ushered her down the narrow aisle, one hand at the small of her back.
Her skin tingled at the contact.
They had barely taken their places on the red plastic benches across from one another when a hair-netted middle-aged waitress showed up, a stub of a pencil poised above her order pad.
“There will be three of us altogether,” Mallory told her. “Another friend will be joining us shortly.”
“Separate checks?”
Mallory looked at Brody.
He grinned. “Nah. The friend invited us. We’ll stick him with the bill.”
Mallory laughed. “Sounds fair to me.”
They placed their orders and the waitress moved on.
Mallory took a sip of water, a stalling tactic while she tried to think of something to say. “Did you catch the burglars last night?”
He made a disgusted noise. “I wish.”
“No leads?”
“Not a one. I didn’t honestly expect any. These guys are slick operators. Fourteen robberies to date, but we don’t have a clue who’s pulling the jobs. No fingerprints, no eyewitnesses. We can’t even figure how they’re fencing the stuff. And as if that weren’t enough to run us ragged, we’ve got that damn rapist to nail. Five victims we know of. And probably twice that many who haven’t come forward.” He broke off abruptly. “But enough of my frustrations. What’s happening at school these days?”
Mallory struggled to keep her face calm, her voice even. “Not much. We’re on spring break.”
Brody’s pager went off, and a rueful expression crossed his face. “Wish cops got spring breaks.” He stood. “I’ll be right back. I’ve got to call in.”
The diner was filling up rapidly. The murmur of the customers’ voices
competed with Travis Tritt on the jukebox and the frequent call of “Order up!” from the kitchen.
Sipping her water, Mallory studied her reflection in the stainless-steel napkin holder. She looked fine. Reassuringly normal. Gradually, her heart rate slowed and the panic subsided.
In fact, if you discounted the distortions caused by the slight curve of the metal surface, she looked better than normal, which was good news since she’d been a little dubious about the notoriously scissor-happy Mr. Edouard. But between him and Kiki, she’d turned out all right. At least no one had screamed and run at the sight of her yet.
“Mallory?”
She whipped her head around at the sound of a familiar voice. Evan, She hadn’t talked to him face-to-face once since he and Lindsey had announced their engagement. She wasn’t prepared for this. Not now. Apprehension was a cold knot in her chest. Where the heck were Kyle and Brody?
Evan Corby, handsome as ever, smiled his winsome, little-boy smile. “How have you been? Haven’t seen much of you lately.”
What did he expect? She sighed. “Have a seat.”
Instead of sliding into the booth on Brody’s side, he squeezed in next to her, capturing her hands between his own. “You’re coming to the rehearsal dinner, aren’t you?”
She nodded. “Lindsey would put out a contract on me if I tried to skip out.”
“Good.” He gave her hands a little squeeze, smiling tenderly. “I’ve missed you.”
Confused, Mallory studied their entwined hands. They’d never held hands before. Why start now? Lindsey was right. He was acting strangely. “Evan,” she started uncertainly, “what’s going on?”
“Nothing. I’m just happy to see you.”
Mallory tried to tug her hands free, but he tightened his grip. She frowned. “I, on the other hand, am not particularly happy to see you. Have you forgotten the fact that you dumped me flat after eleven years? That you didn’t even have the decency to tell me yourself? That I had to hear the news of your engagement from my mother?”
“Mallory,” he coaxed, employing the same smile he’d used to con her into cleaning his apartment, walking his dog, and picking out his mother’s Christmas present. “Don’t be angry. I couldn’t help falling in love with Lindsey. I didn’t plan it. In fact, I’d always assumed that someday we’d c” He let it trail off, then sighed deeply. “A part of me will always love you.”
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