Page 25 of One Texas Night...
After, she rejoined her dad. “Phillip just called and asked me to dinner. I knew you wouldn’t mind, so I told him to come join us. He’ll be here shortly.”
“Good,” Herman said. “I’ll check on the stew.”
“While you do that, I’ll set another place at the table,” she stated, heading to the large kitchen with her dad.
Thirty minutes later she heard the door chimes and opened the front door to face a tall, broad-shouldered man with blond hair and blue eyes. His smile revealed flawless white teeth.
“Come in. Dad and I are in the family room.”
“How’s the Houston job going?” Phillip asked, walking beside her.
“Very well. I’ll be through and home soon.”
“Good. Did you find lots of interesting items?”
“Yes. I can show you some pictures. Dad, here’s Phillip.”
The two greeted each other and soon they were sipping wine and talking. As the men discussed the recent estate sale they had both attended, she studied Phillip. He’d be considered a handsome man by any female. Why didn’t she have the same electrifying reaction to Phillip she did to Jared? She was far more compatible with Phillip. He was interesting, handsome, successful—all descriptions that would fit Jared—but there was no heart-stopping, breathless reaction when they touched or kissed. Phillip was nice, pleasant, but she felt nothing toward him except friendship. She reminded herself that he was the type of man she wanted to marry—reliable, safe, responsible. A man who didn’t want to take wild risks and enjoy adventures that could be life threatening and—
“Allison?”
She realized both men were staring at her, and her dad repeated her name.
“Sorry. I was thinking about some notes I made today and wondering what I did with them. I didn’t hear what you said.”
“I asked you to take Phillip to my office and pull up the pictures you sent. He may be interested in buying something when that collection goes on the market.”
“Sure,” she said, standing at the same time as Phillip. In minutes he sat at her father’s desk, and she had pulled a chair beside him while Phillip scrolled through the pictures on the laptop. She lost herself in describing the pieces as Phillip read her father’s notes.
Herman stepped to the door. “Dinner’s ready. You two come eat, and then you can come back and finish looking. Did you find anything, Phillip?”
“Yes, sir. There is a seventeenth-century German clock I’d like, especially if Jared agrees to sell it for the price you’ve placed on it.”
“I think he’ll accept whatever Dad suggests,” Allison said, walking beside Phillip to the kitchen, where steaming bowls of stew awaited on the table. A platter with hot golden corn bread was in the center of the table.
Allison only half listened to the conversation through dinner while they talked about the antiques from the Delaney collection. She heard her phone ring once, and Phillip paused. “I think I hear a phone. It’s not mine.”
“It’s mine,” she answered. She flapped her hand, as if to dismiss it. “It isn’t important. Sloan would call Dad’s line.”
Phillip looked at her with curiosity and then turned to continue his conversation with her dad.
By nine o’clock Phillip said he had to leave, and she followed him to the door.
“When will you be back in Dallas to stay?” he asked.
“Probably not for two more weeks,” she answered. “I’ll try to make it sooner.”
“Call and let me know. There’s a play coming up that should be good. It was successful on Broadway, and this is its first time in Dallas. It will be here early April.”
“Great. I’ll let you know as soon as I do when I’ll be home.”
“Thanks again for dinner.”
“That was Dad’s doing. Glad to see you,” she said.
“It’s good to see you. ’Night, Allison,” he said and brushed a light kiss on her cheek.
She watched him get into his car and waved at him before he drove away. Closing and locking the door, she remembered Jared’s kisses that ignited desire until it was a raging blaze. Why couldn’t she feel that with a man like Phillip, the kind of man she intended to marry? She was sure there were women who would love to go out with him, and found him exciting and fun.
