The Man Behind The Mask: How to Melt a Frozen Heart / The Man Behind the Pinstripes / Falling for Mr Mysterious

Maybe you should have a plan. She hated it that Brendan Grant had been right. He had that look of a man who was always right. Who was logical and thought things through and never did anything impulsive or irrevocable.

We would be a well-balanced team, she thought, before she could stop herself.

“I need a minute to think,” she said.

“Take your time.”

She wrestled Iggy back into his cage and lugged him out to the waiting room. She had three choices. She could bring him home to die. She could have the vet speed up the process, which would be more humane. Or she could find the money for the procedure.

Her cell phone rang and she looked at the number coming in.

“Hey, Luke,” she said, trying to strip the conflict she was feeling from her voice.

“It’s not Luke. I borrowed his phone.”

“Why?” It was him, the one who was always right. Maybe she’d call him that. Mr. Right. Then again, maybe not. She did not want to be thinking of Brendan Grant as Mr. Right in any context.

There was no Mr. Right! It was a fairy tale to keep females from empowering themselves! Ditto for thinking she was falling in love with him. Just another fairy tale.

“Because we’re standing out in Deedee’s yard and he handed it to me.” A pause, and his voice lowered. “And because I wasn’t sure if you would answer if you saw it was me.”

“What would make you say that?” she said cautiously.

“I thought you were avoiding me.”

Was she that obvious? It was embarrassing, really.

“Why would I be avoiding you?” she asked.

Silence. She thought of the boldness of taking his lips with her own, and shivered. She thought of the word love coming unbidden to her after she had kissed him.

He moved on without answering the question. They both knew exactly why she was avoiding him.

“I told Luke I’d take him for a milkshake. He did Deedee’s lawn and then started on her shrub beds. They’re pretty overgrown. He’s worked really hard. I can’t believe you’ve lived here six months and not been to the Moo Factory. His exact words were ‘we never do anything fun.’”

“We do fun things,” she protested.

“Oh, yeah? Like what?”

We played a few hands of poker, once.

She knew it said something simply awful about her life with her nephew that, aside from that, nothing came to mind.

“We rented Star Wars last week.”

“Really? That sounds like fun redefined.”

“Are you being sarcastic?”

“It comes naturally to me, like breathing.”

“We play Scrabble,” she said triumphantly. “When I can get him away from the computer.” Too late, she remembered they had invited Brendan to play Scrabble. He’d been unimpressed.

“Fun intensified.”

She remembered his face that evening Luke had suggested Scrabble. But she was on a mission now to prove they had fun.

“And Luke showed me how to play virtual bowling!”

“Wow!”

It let her know how wise her avoidance strategy was. He was sarcastic. It was hard to hold that fault in the forefront, though, in light of his good deed. He was taking her nephew for ice cream.

“I bet you threw the bowling ball backward.”

“How could you know that?”

“Psychic. That should help me fit right in on the farm.”

“Oh!”

“I warned you. Sarcastic.”

“How did you really know? About the bowling ball?”

“I’ve played that game.”

“Oh, so you threw the ball backward?”

“No.” Suddenly he seemed impatient with the conversation. “Anyway, I thought I should ask your permission before I took Luke for ice cream.”

It was so respectful it could make a woman forgive sarcasm. Or at least one who did not have her guard way up.

“That wasn’t necessary. Of course you can take him.” Ridiculous to somehow feel deflated that she wasn’t being invited.

Then Brendan said, “Luke would like you to come with us.”

Not him. Luke.

She looked at the sick iguana. And suddenly was overcome by weakness, not wanting to have to make this decision herself.

“I’m at the vet’s office with Iggy, an iguana who has eaten something.”

“Iggy,” Brendan repeated slowly. “I thought you told me you didn’t name them?”

“Who would get attached to an iguana?” she said, but the truth was maybe she already was. She didn’t want to bring him home to die. Or put him to sleep.

She told Brendan what was going on. It was his chance to say I told you so, but he didn’t, and she felt it was another test he’d passed.