"You're absolutely right," he told her hastily. "What I'm doing here is helping my sister out. You see, it's her agency. I happened to answer your call."

He looked so sincere. Charity's anger faded a bit, but she was still wary and a bit unnerved. She was usually so careful. She'd certainly let her guard down this time. Thinking he was a friend of Mason's, she'd acted as though he were practically part of the family.

She shouldn't have opened up that way. Her hands were trembling. She didn't often open up to strangers-people who wouldn't understand. It upset her to think she'd let this man see her unprofessional side.

"I thought there was something familiar about your voice," she conceded, hiding her hands in the folds of her sweater . "You're the one I talked to."

He nodded, noting the move and wondering about it. "You interested me. My sister's agency could use the work. I thought I'd come over and..." He shrugged, trying to make light of the situation. "And see if I could get a laugh out of the whole business.''

That was the wrong choice of words. Her head snapped up and her dark eyes sparked again.

"Very funny. A laugh, is it?" She tossed her golden hair, feeling frazzled, feeling tugged and pulled in all directions at once. Suddenly she was near tears and desperate that no one should know. This was important to her. Was that so hard to under stand? This had to do with her family and her place in it. It had to do with her self-image and the way she wanted her family to see her-and a lot of other things she couldn't articulate, not even to herself.

"This isn't a joke," she said softly, swallowing hard. Her voice came out sounding little-girl-lonely.

"No, no," he said hastily, stepping closer, surprised by the emotion he could read in her face. She wasn't going to cry, was she? What the hell would he do if she did?

"I didn't mean that."

She looked up at him with more reproach than anger, blinking rapidly, swallowing her emotions and calming herself. "Why didn't you say who you were right from the start? I think that was very callous of you to let me ram ble on and on when you knew very well... Why didn't you tell me from the start?"

"I wish I had," he said simply. He smiled at her, inten tionally using the blue-eyed charm that usually worked so well with other women. "You do need a husband," he re minded her softly. "And here I am."

She did need a husband. She hesitated, looking up into his eyes. They were awfully blue. Too blue to look away from. She knew suddenly and with certainty that letting this man into her life was going to be dangerous. She stared at him, searching his gaze, wondering.




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