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  The answer to all of those was a resounding yes. Plus, there was a tiny seed of evil in her that wanted Alec to see that beneath this capable, practical, unremarkable exterior there had always been a bimbo-in-training. If only he’d known.

  Filled with an energy borne of new purpose, Daisy took off her glasses and smiled at her friend. “Let’s do it.”

  Walking in heels like these was strictly a job for professionals, Daisy concluded as she picked her way down the pockmarked sidewalk, her hands full of shopping bags acquired during an afternoon spent in Paloma’s finest shops. She looked down in an effort to keep from tipping over like a top-heavy doll, saw her toes, and was shocked all over again when she saw that her toenails were painted that bright, bright crimson that Virginia’s manicurist had said was called Matador Red before she’d trilled ay-ay-ay like a flamenco dancer and applied it.

  But a pedicure wasn’t all Daisy had done.

  At the urging of Virginia—and courtesy of the dozens of cell phone calls her friend had made to manicurists, hairdressers, dress shops, shoe stores and an establishment that made Victoria’s Secret look like they sold granny gowns—Daisy had done it all. And all of it, right down to the last lipstick, had been Virginia’s treat. Daisy smiled when she remembered Virginia waving away her protests, saying, “I’ve always wished I had a daughter I could spoil rotten. Now I feel like I do.”

  The sun was long gone from the streets of Paloma, and the evening crowds were starting to emerge from hotels and houses and boats to make their way toward restaurants and bars and cafés. Daisy looked to her left and caught a glimpse of herself in the window of a dimly lit bar and had to remind herself again that what she saw really was her own reflection.

  Her heels were very trendy, strappy and high. Her silky, light-blue skirt was tiny but gorgeous and exposed her legs to midthigh, making them look so long she almost didn’t recognize them as her own. A sleeveless cashmere shell in the same color as the skirt fit her like a glove except that it was pulled tight across her normally normal-size breasts, which had been increased by one size courtesy of her new lingerie.

  Daisy stopped to peer in the window and touched her hair self-consciously. It was still dark, still curly, but now it had a certain unkempt, just-rolled-out-of-bed look that made her feel like she should yank a brush through it to bring it under control. And the salon had provided not only a manicurist and a hairstylist, but a makeup artist who’d done a perfect but subtle job. Of course, when she tried to do it herself with all the same products tomorrow, she’d probably end up looking like Howdy Doody. But so what? Even if it was only for just one night, feeling like Cinderella for a while was worth it.

  A quick glance at the huge clock mounted atop the main mast of a ship-shaped restaurant called Pitcairn was all it took to let her know her makeover had taken much longer than she’d anticipated. Maybe she could just grab a bite to eat here, she thought as she eyed a couple emerging from the restaurant hand in hand. She hated eating alone, but she was starving. And it wasn’t as if she had plans or anything, in spite of what she’d told Alec earlier. Another white lie—but hey, at the time she’d have said almost anything to get out of having to sit across the table from him all night and pretend she wasn’t still suffering from a terminal case of puppy love.

  Daisy’s stomach growled. Oh, what the hell, she thought and then she slipped inside and asked for a table for one.

  She ignored the snotty look the barely legal hostess cast her way and followed the girl’s chirpy little voice when she said over her shoulder, “Follow me, ma’am.”

  Ma’am? Good heavens, did she really look that old? A little deflated by the thought, Daisy nevertheless followed in the girl’s wake and took a seat at a small table, dropping her bags on the floor as she did.

  “Enjoy your dinner,” the teenager said with syrup in her tone before she flounced away.

  Daisy smoothed the napkin over her lap as she took in the restaurant’s Polynesian theme. From the bamboo chairs to the lush foliage to the sarongs on the waitresses, this place had South Seas written all over it. She twisted around in her chair and moved a heavy branch of a rubber plant to get a better look at the unusual sunken bar…and looked right into Alec’s amused gaze.

  “Big plans, huh?” he asked, grinning like the devil.

  Her heart hammered in her chest as her body went simultaneously hot and cold. “My plans are for after dinner,” she lied, then let the branch snap back into place and turned around. She must be jinxed. There was no other explanation for how the last person she wanted to see in the world had been seated two feet away from her.

  The plant rustled behind her. “Are your after dinner plans as exciting as your dinner plans?”

  Daisy closed her eyes and counted to ten. When she got to fifteen, she turned around and smiled into his handsome face and his gorgeous indigo eyes. “I’ll tell you all about it when I get home in the morning. How’s that?”

  If she’d expected a snappy response, she didn’t get it. Instead, his eyes darkened as they roamed over her face, then his inspection moved southward where he lingered briefly on the deep vee of her cashmere sweater. When he looked up into her eyes again, his amusement was history.

  “My God,” he said finally. “What did you do?”

  Embarrassment flared first, followed quickly by anger. Like the naïve fool that she was, she’d thought for one heady moment that he might notice the changes she’d made today and give her an actual compliment. “Thanks a lot, Alec,” she said tersely and turned back around.

  “No, no,” she heard him protest from behind the heavy rubber plant. “You just…” She heard him sigh, heard his chair scrape against the worn hardwood floors, then she flushed hotly when he appeared beside her table.

  Of its own volition, her hand went to her hair to smooth it. But she needn’t have bothered because he wasn’t looking at her hair. He was giving her a once over so thorough it sent her blood zooming through her from fingertips to toes.

  “You look great,” he said when his gaze returned to her face. “Really, really amazing.”

  “Right,” she scoffed and opened up the menu to hide her face which was burning with a spicy brew of resentment and mortification.

  Another chair scraped and she snuck a peek just in time to see Alec taking a seat across from her. The tip of his index finger appeared at the top of her menu and he lowered it until he could see her clearly. “Looks like you had a busy afternoon,” he said with a smile she couldn’t quite read.

  “Well, it takes time to turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse.” She didn’t even try to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

  “I already told you I thought you looked great,” he said and reached for the wine list the hostess had left behind. “Stop fishing.”

  Maybe she was fishing, she thought as she pretended to read the menu. And so what? Even though she didn’t want anything from Alec anymore, didn’t she deserve a few compliments after years of feeling like just another Doric column at Mackenzie Architectural?

  “I don’t remember asking you to join me,” she said, feeling cranky and wanting to take it out on him.

  “You didn’t have to. I knew you wanted me to sit here.”

  “Oh? And how did you know that?”

  He shot her a serene smile. “I could tell by the way you were playing hard to get.”

  She bit back a scathing response when she saw the waitress approaching. The woman looked so familiar, Daisy found herself squinting in the dim light to try to place her. Daisy was saved the trouble, though, when the woman smiled broadly and said, “Hey, hi! You’re Mrs. Baldwin’s friend. I see you’ve got one of your new outfits on.”

  Ah, the dress shop. “Yes, I do,” Daisy said, and when Alec looked up, his eyes filled with interest, she smoothed the soft cashmere against her stomach self-consciously. “Thanks again for your help today.”

  “My pleasure,” the salesclerk/waitress said. “Did you know Mrs. Baldwin is here, too?” She
gestured toward the front of the restaurant. “Right over there with that handsome husband of hers. But I see you’ve got that covered, too.” She gave a not-so-discreet little jerk of her head in Alec’s direction.

  A little shiver of pleasure wiggled up Daisy’s spine at the thought of being able to call him her one and only. Then reality crept back in. “He’s not my husband,” she told the woman. “He’s my boss.”

  “Lucky you,” the waitress said, shooting Alec an appreciative glance.

  In return, he flashed her a brilliant smile that he’d probably been using since the cradle to unhinge women of all ages. In any case, it completely undid the poor waitress for a minute before she snapped out of it and remembered what she did for a living. “Oh,” she said as she lifted up the bottle of wine she’d been holding and showed it to Alec. “I almost forgot. Compliments of the Baldwins.”

  While Daisy turned toward the Baldwins and acknowledged the gift with a smile and a little wave, the waitress opened the bottle. After Alec sampled it, he nodded his approval.

  “I was going to say we should thank them on our way out,” he said as the waitress filled their glasses. “But it appears we’ll be saved the trip.”

  Daisy turned her head to follow his gaze and saw the Baldwins headed their way.

  “Hello, you two,” Virginia said in a sing-song voice as they approached. She leaned down and gave Daisy a kiss on the cheek. “You look stunning.”

  “That’s what I told her,” Alec said. “But she didn’t believe me.”

  Joseph laughed. “Tell her again. Women need to hear the good stuff a couple of times before it sinks in.”

  Alec looked over at her, his smile soft, his eyes deep pools of blue. “I’ll give that a try, sir.”

  Oh, Lord, she thought as she melted into that gentle smile that threatened to melt her hard-won protective core. Mustn’t be alone with him. Not for a moment. “Would you two like to join us?” Daisy asked, pasting on a smile she didn’t feel. “We’d love it, wouldn’t we, Alec?” she asked and dared him with narrowed eyes to dispute her claim.

  Alec considered the question. He wanted to say, “Actually, no. That would completely ruin my evening. And with you suddenly looking like you just stepped off a runway, I find it particularly inconvenient, thank you.” But, instead, he mechanically repeated her, “We’d love it.”

  “That’s so sweet of you,” Virginia said as she reached out and patted his hand in that grandmotherly way he’d only ever seen in the movies. “But we’re just on our way out. Enjoy your dinner, you two.”

  And with that, Alec’s favorite clients departed and he found himself blissfully alone with his very flustered and very beautiful former assistant.

  Everything about her was changed, from her hair—tossed into a wild, messy style that made him think about what it would be like to wake up next to her after a long, steamy night—right down to the clingy, designer clothes of which he most thoroughly approved. The truth of it was, he thought as he settled back into his chair and continued to admire her, sometime in the last six hours, Daisy Kincaid had morphed into a temptation he wasn’t sure he could deny himself.

  “What?” she asked, tugging at her dark hair.

  “Nothing,” he said and was very happy she couldn’t read his thoughts.

  “You’re staring.”

  Get used to it. “Sorry,” he said and picked up a menu. “Ready to order?”

  Exasperation rang in her voice when she said, “You’re really not leaving?”

  He smiled at her, looking even more beautiful now that she was annoyed. “I wouldn’t dream of letting you eat alone.”

  “Dream away,” she said, nodding encouragingly. “I don’t mind.”

  Oh, no. No way was he walking away from her tonight. “Nothing doing. You’re in for the pleasure of my company for the rest of the evening.”

  After a moment, she picked up her own menu. “Lucky me,” she muttered as she began to study it intensely.

  He watched as concentration made her subtly lipsticked mouth pucker into a perfect bow. If he didn’t kiss her by the end of the night it would be an act of will, he thought as he dragged his fingers through his hair and wondered why he suddenly felt like his life was slipping beyond his control.

  Was it because the Baldwins had held his feet to the fire to bring Daisy back onto the project? Or was it because Daisy had recently revealed several troubling aspects of what he presumed was her true nature—stubborn and sexy foremost among them? Or maybe it was because now he had to deal with this…this metamorphosis that was making it impossible to think of anything but taking her back to their hotel room and making love to her until he got her out of his system.

  And he would, he knew. He always did. All he could give any woman was a week, maybe two, and then he started to feel smothered and he stopped calling and it was uncomfortable for a while and then it was over. That’s how it normally went.

  But this didn’t feel normal—and not just because he couldn’t pull his standard disappearing act on someone who worked for him and who shared his hotel room. No, this didn’t feel normal because Daisy was different from other women. He liked Daisy. He liked being with her, liked talking to her. Hell, right now he was enjoying just looking at her.

  The waitress returned and they ordered their food before surrendering their menus and the wine list. Then, with nothing to hide behind, Daisy looked up at him with an expression that plainly said, “Now what?” Her fine eyebrows were arched over brown eyes outlined in a dark, smoky color that made them look positively luminous; her skin was flawless in the candlelight; her full lips were tipped up slightly at the corners.

  Now what, indeed, he thought, because at that moment, all he could think about was how much he wanted this woman in his arms, in his bed…

  “So,” he said as he shifted in his chair to take the pressure off the places that needed to depressurize, “tell me what you’re going to do when this job is over.”

  She sat back and regarded him quizzically, as if it was the last thing she’d expected him to say. “I don’t know. Find another job?”

  “You could always stay,” he said, then wished he could take those words back because right now, he wasn’t so sure having a temptation like her hanging around the office was such a hot idea.

  But he needn’t have worried because she was already shaking her head. “Not a chance. Besides, I have a plan.”

  “Another plan?” The blush that stained her cheeks let him know that she’d caught his reference. The last time she’d had “a plan,” they’d ended up making out on a public sidewalk. He felt a tide of heat rush through him at the memory.

  “Not like that. A real plan. A career.” She shook her head. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter…” And then her words trailed off, the conversational equivalent of closing a door.

  “Tell me,” he said and the intensity in his voice surprised him. Check out Mr. Self-Involved, he thought. Caring about the future of this troubling woman.

  “I don’t think so,” she said, staring down into her wineglass. “I mean, I’ve never told anyone before. Not even my brothers.”

  “Look, after your tour of duty is done here, you’ll probably never see me again,” he said. Maybe. “So who’s a better choice than me?”

  She took a deep swallow of wine, then looked into his eyes, wordlessly daring him to mock her. “You’ll think it’s silly,” she said. “But it’s always been a dream of mine to own a bed-and-breakfast.”

  It would be perfect, of course. She’d been organizing, hosting, entertaining and charming Mackenzie clients for years. But why hadn’t she told him about it before? After all, if he’d known, he could have done something. Hell, he would have…what? What would he have done? Probably, he thought as equal measures of guilt and regret pressed down on him, he wouldn’t have done anything at all.

  Alec sat back in his chair and marveled that so much had changed between them in such a short time. “You’d be excellent at that,” h
e said as he smiled into her wary gaze. “Do you need an architect?”

  She smiled back, tentatively at first. “I will, I suppose. Someday. But that’s like, step 175. I’m still at step one.”

  “What step was graduating from college?”

  “Okay,” she said, her smile growing wider. “Then I’m at step two.”

  He leaned forward. “And negotiating that sweet deal to be the comanager of a job that involves rebuilding a couple of swank B & B’s right here in Santa Margarita?” Strange how that fact failed to give him the same twinge of anger it had just a day or two ago. What was up with that?

  She chuckled. “Touché,” she said and made a check mark in the air. “Step three.”

  “All right then. What’s next?” he asked, and watched, mesmerized, as her smile ratcheted up to full wattage.

  Eyes sparkling, she asked, “Do you really want to know?”

  “Absolutely,” he said, and refilled her wineglass.

  Dinner passed quickly. Daisy, more animated than he’d ever seen her, told him about her dreams, shared her ideas and described some truly innovative concepts for the bed-and-breakfast she’d been planning, it turned out, ever since she was a young girl. Her level of enthusiasm was so infectious, he could feel himself smiling foolishly at her while she spoke.

  By the time they walked out of the restaurant, Alec felt as though he knew Daisy better than he knew just about anyone. Under normal circumstances that fact alone would’ve scared him out of his mind. Instead it just felt right.

  The cool, damp sea air swirled around them, making Daisy’s skirt flutter distractingly about her legs. “Walk me home?” she asked.

  And even though his golf cart was parked just around the corner, he took the heavy shopping bags from her hands and said, “Lead the way, innkeeper,” and loved the feeling of her laughter shimmering through him.