Some Kind of Angel Read Free

shoe caught on the fringe of an antique shawl spread over a cherry drop leaf table.  In horror, I watched my life flash before my eyes as a ninety-seven thousand dollar Ming vase tipped over and slid inexorably toward the floor.  Without disturbing a strand of hair on his lovely head, Michael reached around behind me and caught the vase.  At the same time, my shoe came loose from the shawl’s fringe.  Who was this guy anyway?
    Carefully, Michael tugged the shawl back toward the middle of the table so the fringe was no longer draped on the floor.  With the vase in his capable hands, he set it carefully back in its place.
    “You just saved my life.”   I sounded just like the panicked woman I was.
    “Careless of your owner to place a vase of such value on a table with a fringed shawl that can reach the floor.  Perhaps you should speak to him about it.”
    I slanted him a look.  Was he for real?  “Believe me, no one gives Bernard suggestions, not if they want to stay working here.  But please.  You must let me buy your suit.”
    “Nonsense.  Your funds must be limited if you have only been working here…a short time.”
    “How did you know that?”
      “You seemed unaccustomed to dodging around the tables.  That indicated to me that you were a bit new here.  Of course, you will not be buying my clothes for me.  But would you help me pick them out so I do not look like this?”  He made a deprecatory slide of his hand over himself that was utterly adorable.
    I plucked an Armani suit from the rack that had a bit of fraying around the end of the sleeves.  He could take it to the tailor next door and get it mended.  It had been sitting in the men’s clothes section of the shop for a month and no man had given it a second look.  I could give it to him for half price.  I had a feeling he didn’t have any more money than I did.
    He came out of the dressing room wearing the shirt and tie I’d picked out for him under the suit jacket.  I took one look and had to catch my breath.  Now I knew what Marian meant when she talked about slathering over a good-looking guy.  I had to swallow very hard.  He was absolutely freaking beautiful.  His broad shoulders snugged under the charcoal gray wool as if it was a bespoke suit fitted exactly to him, his narrow waist allowed the tailored pleats to lay flat against his belly just as they should, and his lean legs looked a thousand miles long.  His bare feet were incongruous under the once expensive suit, but they were as gorgeous as the rest of him.  It was definitely be-still-my-beating-heart time.
    “I hope Mr. Armani does not mind me wearing his suit.”  Michael pulled the side of his jacket open and pointed at the label.  “His name is inside the jacket.”
    I hid a smile.  “If he could see you in it, he’d love having you wear his suit.”
    “I assume the poor unfortunate man died and that is why his suit is available.”
    She didn’t hide her smile this time. “Mr. Armani is still very much alive.  He’s a designer of men’s suits.  He has hundreds like this one.  Now let me see what I can do about those sleeves.”
    I held up Michael’s arm, excited to be almost touching him, and looked at the edge.  It was pristine.  I stared at the sleeve and then at Michael.  “I could have sworn these sleeves were frayed.  That’s why this suit has been languishing in the store for so long.”
    “Perhaps it was another suit you were thinking of.”
    “No, it was this one.  I’m sure of it.”  I might be a klutz, but when it came to the antiques in this store I had an almost photographic memory.  When I first applied for the job and was honest with Bernard and told him I had no background in selling antiques, he said he would have no use for me.  Then I closed my eyes and gave him an accurate account of his front window display.  “There’s a Louie the fifteenth jewelry box in hammered bronze.  You have a price tag of three hundred