Rumor Has It Read Free Page A

No less than a foot taller than she was, he loomed over her. He was nearly as tall as her brother, Rylan.
    I don't want to be attracted to him,
she told herself, trying to be practical. She was perfectly content going out with Michael Severs, a civil engineer, on an occasional date. They were goodfriends. Michael was nice and undemanding, while simply looking at this man had her rattled.
    “…what kind of store?” Nick's voice broke into her wandering train of thought.
    “Wallpaper and custom draperies,” she said, cursing herself up and down. She was certain her lack of composure wasn't showing outwardly to any degree; she had too many years of practice at projecting a controlled image. But inside she was off balance, and she didn't like it. With a strength of will that belied her size she calmly proceeded with the conversation. “My partner and I are interior- design consultants.”
    “No kidding? That's great,” Nick said, deciding to seize the opportunity as he accepted the business card she had plucked out of her skirt pocket. He studied the thing as if it didn't look like Chinese doodling to him. The fine script of the company name was a blur without his reading glasses, but there was no way he was putting them on now. “You're exactly the person I need.”
    Katie refrained from saying he was more in need of an optometrist than a decorator. He was holding her card upside down.
    “Please, Mr. Leone, don't feel as if you're underany obligation to make use of our services simply because we brought you a bouquet.” She began inching toward the door. “I'd better be getting back. Again, welcome to Briarwood—”
    “Don't rush off,” Nick insisted, blocking the open doorway with his body, his hands braced against the jamb. He had a feeling that if he let her get away now, he might not get another chance. She was the first person he'd met who actually wanted to end a conversation, and he had a hunch it had something to do with the warm stirring of attraction between them. She was trying to give the appearance of being as cool as marble on the outside, but he sensed an underlying tension, which more than intrigued him.
    Katie found herself staring at his chest. It was even more magnificent up close. Her heart gave a traitorous
ker- thump
she was certain he had to have heard. She took a step back and glanced up at him. “Really, Mr. Leone, I should—”
    “—have a seat, a cup of espresso, and talk a little business,” he said, finishing the sentence for her. Without waiting for her to acquiesce he took her by the arm and led her to a card table by one of the tall windows on the south side of the room.
    Katie sat on an old folding chair and waited for him to return from the back room. The last thing she needed was to become involved professionally with the man. He struck her as being dangerous— in a way that had nothing to do with espionage and everything to do with disrupting her well-organized life. She would have to shove the job off on Maggie. She didn't feel she could refuse his business out of hand—that would be unpardon-ably rude. She caught herself hoping he had avant- garde taste. Then she would have a legitimate reason to turn him down. She and Maggie specialized in historic preservation and renovations.
    “I'm turning the place into a restaurant,” Nick said as he returned with two demitasse cups. He put one cup down in front of Katie and took the seat kitty- corner from her, setting his own cup down so he could gesture with his hands. “A nice place. Nothing elegant but really nice. Good Italian food. I've been thinking along the lines of antique furnishings. What do you think?”
    As a sinking feeling of inevitability tugged at her, Katie worked the corners of her mouth up into a polite smile. “That sounds lovely.” She decidedto forgo subtlety in the hopes of finding a quick fix to her dilemma. “What does your wife think?”
    Nick laughed out loud. It was a rather obvious question