17
AN ODD BLENDof nerves and excitement swirled inside Shari to the same rhythm that her purple silky hem swirled around her legs as she shifted in front of the dressing mirror in her bedroom. Sun spilled into her window. It looked as though B.J. was going to have a beautiful day for her wedding. After a month of hard work Shari was ready to face the day. In fact, she ought to thank B.J. If it hadn’t been for her, Shari wouldn’t have ended up becoming intimate with Luke, and she couldn’t imagine now what it would be like not to have him in herlife.
She twirled once more in front of the mirror. The bold purple dress was perfect. One of those bland pastels would have made her feel like a woman trying to fit in with the rest of the crowd. The woman in the mirror set her own style, with the bright dress, strappy sandals and colorful shawl. She’d styled her hair in long, loose curls and put extra effort into her makeup. All that working out had given her tighter muscles but also a glow of health. She looked her best and knewit.
When her doorbell rang, she was ready even though Luke was a couple of minutesearly.
She opened the door and nearly fell over. She wasn’t the only one who’d gone to extra effort with their appearance. Luke wore a summer-weight gray suit that had “designer” written all over it, but discreetly—in small letters. Under it he wore a crisp white shirt saved from being dull by a tie patterned in crayon-coloredzigzags.
He’d had his hair cut and styled; he was clean-shaven. She thought he looked gorgeous when he was slopping around in jeans and two-day stubble. Dressed up he made her tongue hang out. “I thought you were wearing atux.”
“Too hot. Besides, they might make a mistake and accidentally marry me toB.J.”
“I like the tie.” Secretly she thought he couldn’t look better in atuxedo.
“Thanks.” He stepped closer and every neuron in her body snapped to attention. How did he do that to her so effortlessly? “You look so good in that dress, all I want to do is take itoff.”
She giggled and stepped back. “Play your cards right and maybe later you’ll get achance.”
The look he sent her said there’d be no chance about it. “I got you something,” he said and, digging into his pocket pulled out a small square box wrapped in silverpaper.
Her brows rose as she took it. She tore off the wrapping and opened the white box with the name of a Belltown jeweler stamped on the front in gold. Inside was a silver necklace with square tiles in a flowing mosaic of purple, red and yellow, and earrings tomatch.
“Oh, they’re gorgeous!” she cried, her hand flying to her bare throat. She hadn’t been able to find jewelry to match her dress and wrap, but this set was perfect. She held them against the shawl and the color match was almostuncanny.
“Wherever did you findthem?”
“A jeweler Iknow.”
She removed the silver drop earrings she was wearing, and put on the new ones. Then she held out the necklace toLuke.
He stepped behind her. “Lift your hair.” His voice was soft and sensuous, whispering against her hair. Her skin prickled as she complied, her own curls feeling sensuous as they tumbled over her hands and wrists. He fastened the clasp and his fingertips brushed the back of her neck, making her shiver. Before she dropped her hair he placed a quick kiss on hernape.
She almost danced to her bedroom to check out the new jewelry in the mirror. She struck a pose with the shawl, and suddenly remembered how she’d left the bag with her dress and shawl in his car overnight when they’d been in such a hurry to get to chapterseven.
She hadn’t retrieved them until the following afternoon. He must have taken the shawl with him to search for… Her fingers rose to her throat to touch the cheerful links, again noting they weren’t merely a close match to the colors in the shawl, but an exact match. Had he had the pieces speciallymade?
It was such a sweet, thoughtful gesture, and the fact that he wasn’t boasting about his thoughtfulness made it all thesweeter.
He was, she was beginning to think, a keeper. Now she simply had to get him believingit.
“These are so perfect,” she said as she waltzed back out of her bedroom. “Thanks.” And she kissed him until her own toescurled.
“Well? Are you ready to face B.J. and friends?” sheasked.
“One devoted love slave coming up,” he said, and held out his hand forhers.
As they drove to the wedding she said, “I liked your feature in the weekend paper, by the way.” She’d read it this morning with her breakfast and chuckled all the way through, imagining Luke onassignment.
He groaned. “I never, ever thought I’d write an article that included the benefits of breast milk. Hell, I never wanted to know what Montgomery’s Tubules were. Now I’ll never look at a breast in the sameway.”
Shelaughed.
“No, really. I’m serious. Let’s pull over and I’ll show you. Your naked breasts will inspire nothing but a learned opinion on their perfection as ‘receptacles of nourishment,’” he said, quoting hisarticle.
“How did you end up doing it?” It wasn’t at all his usual type of article, though she had to hand it to him, he’d done a pretty good job of getting the breast-feeding club’s points across, without sounding like a guy. He’d written about everything from the natural antibodies in breast milk to inverted nipples, and managed to do it with a certain dignity. But she couldn’t imagine why the paper hadn’t assigned a woman for thejob.
“The truth is kind ofembarrassing.”
