The Almost Wives Club: Kate Read Free Page A

was a grown woman. She’d leave if she wanted to.
    “Did we both strike out tonight?” a male voice said as she was about to rise.
    She glanced up. It was the lone guy from the bar. He’d come up so stealthily she hadn’t seen him move. He wore a cocky grin that combined both sympathy and devilry. She couldn’t help but return the smile. “Looks like it.”
    And suddenly he was sitting in the chair recently vacated by Ted. “Can’t leave a beautiful woman sitting alone. Somebody might get the wrong idea and start bothering her.”
    “I was about to leave,” she said, dropping her smile and pulling out her most frigid tone.
    He narrowed his gaze and assessed her as though he were her GP and she was at her annual check up. “When is the last time you did something unexpected? Spontaneous?”
    “Like getting hit on by a stranger? Please. I’m getting married in three weeks.”
    “Congratulations. Look, I’m a guy who hates to eat alone and your date just left.”
    “My fiancé.”
    Again with that cheeky grin. “He’s a lucky man.”
    “I really don’t think—”
    At that moment a salad was slipped in front of her, while, at the same moment, a server appeared behind the stranger’s seat and placed Ted’s prime rib in front of him as though men playing musical chairs in Truffaut was a common occurrence.
    “Can I get you anything else, sir?” the server asked.
    The stranger sent her an amused glance. Then said, “A fresh wine glass would be great.”
    “Certainly, sir.”
    She had absolutely no idea what to do.
    The man from the bar glanced at her. “Fate has a funny way of stepping in, have you ever noticed that?” He placed his napkin—make that Ted’s napkin—over his lap and thanked the waiter who appeared with a fresh wine glass and then filled it with Ted’s wine.
    She thought it was the pushy guy from the bar who’d stepped in, not fate, but she also realized that there was nothing he could do to her in a busy restaurant, and there was a certain rakish charm to this guy. She’d seen a movie once where Cary Grant had swept a naïve heiress off her feet with moves something like this one. Since she wasn’t an heiress she didn’t figure she had too much to worry about. And having a gorgeous stranger as a dining companion was more interesting than eating in a crowded restaurant by herself.
    Was there a tiny part of her that felt as though eating with a sexy stranger was a sweet revenge on a man who would dump her between courses? Oh, yeah.
    “I’m Nick, by the way,” he said, cutting into Ted’s prime rib.
    “Kate,” she said and stuck her fork into her salad. “I hope my fiancé’s prime rib is cooked to your satisfaction.”
    Probably she was more angry at Ted than she’d realized but, she figured, if he was going to abandon his prime rib and his fiancée, he couldn’t blame another man for moving in.
    “It’s perfect, thanks. Your guy has good taste.”
    He sent her a sexy glance out of gorgeous hazel eyes and something about the way he looked at her, with sympathy and understanding as well as amusement, sent a flutter of awareness through her. She’d better make it clear that she was not on the menu.

Chapter Two
    He had excellent table manners, her new dining partner, she’d give him that. Also, he kept up an easy flow of conversation as though they’d known each other for years. While she sat there, half dazed, he chatted about current events, the weather, a movie he’d seen that she’d been reading good reviews about.
    He moved seamlessly onto books and she was shocked at how similar his tastes were to hers. He spoke like a sensible man and she thought how much she’d enjoy his company if she actually knew him.
    “Oh, this beef is fantastic,” he said. “You have to try it.”
    “No, really,” but a forkful was suddenly in front of her mouth and it did look good. She leaned forward and, as he slipped the food into her mouth, their gazes connected. Too sexy for