Charity's Angel Read Free Page A

few weeks he'd have forgotten the whole idea.

Chapter 2

    C harity started the day by sleeping through her alarm—something she never did. In the rush to get to work at something close to on time, she'd broken a fingernail, burned the toast she didn't have time to eat and unthinkingly grabbed the most uncomfortable pair of shoes she owned.
    She smiled at the couple across the counter and resisted the urge to look at the clock, knowing it had been less than five minutes since she'd looked at it last. Trying to ease her cramped toes inside the pearl-gray pumps, she listened as the man explained that he and Rosemary were getting married, and he wanted the perfect engagement ring.
    Ordinarily this was the part of her job that she liked best. She'd worked at Hoffman's Jewelry for three years, and while Diane might see it as a stodgy little store, Charity enjoyed the customers.
    Today, however, she was distracted by her aching feet and her empty stomach. Having missed breakfast, it had been inevitable that she hadn't had a chance to grab more than a container of yogurt for lunch.
    Not to mention that the conversation with Diane kept playing in her head. She wished her sister hadn't used the words quarter of a century to describe her age. It sounded so antique. In less than five years she'd be thirty, then forty would loom up faster than she knew, and then where would she be?
    Charity set a tray of wedding and engagement rings on the counter, smiling at the young couple. Really, today of all days, she was in no mood to deal with happily engaged people. Especially when they looked so young that she had the feeling the groom's mother had had to drive them to the store.
    Twenty-five wasn't that old, she told herself briskly. The prime of life.
    Or the beginning of the downhill slide.
    She suppressed a shudder as the bride-to-be reached for the gaudiest ring on the. tray. A huge diamond surrounded by emeralds, it was one of the most tasteless pieces in the shop. So tasteless that it had been sitting in the case, unsold, for as long as she could remember.
    Within half an hour the ring had been lovingly boxed and presented to the young man. Wasn't it fortunate that the ring just fit Rosemary's small hand, he'd said with a smitten glance at his fiancee. Personally Charity thought the ring looked like a cheap
    Christmas ornament, but she kept the opinion to herself.
    After Rosemary and her fianc6 left, the store was momentarily without customers. Charity signaled to Sally, the only other employee, to take her break. With the manager, Al Kocek, hiding in the office, probably sleeping, and Sally on break, Charity was alone in the store.
    She eased her right foot out of its shoe, sighing with relief as she flexed her cramped toes. Rubbing a polishing cloth idly over one of the glass cases, she found her thoughts drifting to the conversation she'd had with her sister the day before.
    Maybe Diane was right. Maybe she should make an effort to get out more, to meet interesting men. But she'd have to do something about her image. She wasn't sure what it was that made men see her more as a sisterly confidante than a lover, but there had to be a way to change the picture.
    Maybe she should try a red leather miniskirt. She could have her hair permed into wild curls and buy a pair of those huge dangling earrings that her brother always said looked like cheap fishing lures. Three-inch spikes to give her a little more height.
    She narrowed her eyes, trying to bring the picture into focus, but all she saw was a short, well-rounded blonde who looked as if she was dressed for a Halloween party.
    She sighed, dismissing the idea without regret. She might as well face it. She was never going to look like a femme fatale. She wasn't even going to look like a femme semi-fatale. She was cursed with a wholesome look, and she was just going to have to live with it.
    It was easy for Diane to talk about getting out more. Men stumbled over themselves to take her out,