The Beauty Queen's Makeover

One eyebrow rose. “The Katie I knew wasn’t a glass-is-half-empty person.”

That arrow sliced clear to her soul and drew blood. “I resent that. It’s not pessimism, it’s realism.”

“You say tomato, I say toe-mah-toe. You say potato—”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake.”

“No, for mine.”

He looked so sincere, and her steadfast resolve began to waver. It had all seemed so simple before he showed up in the flesh. He’d accepted her turndown; she was okay with that. But now, seeing all that attractive flesh, engaging in stimulating verbal sparring, she wasn’t sure about anything. Except that suddenly the loneliness she hadn’t even acknowledged loomed black and frightening. She hadn’t realized how isolated and alone she’d felt since her accident.

He was there and she found his larger-than-life personality so very appealing, so very difficult to resist. Even for her—the ice queen. But she knew not resisting was a prerequisite for disaster. If she made the mistake of letting him close, the ugliness from her past was certain to come out and she simply couldn’t bear that after working so hard to bury it.

“Look—” he ran his fingers through his hair “—all I’m trying to say is that you can’t stand at a fork in the road indefinitely. Sooner or later you’ll get run over.”

This time she couldn’t suppress a smile. “Don’t tell me. Let me guess. You do motivational speaking on the side.”

He grinned. “Busted.”

“I knew it.” That boyish expression combined with his square-jawed, lean good looks, and perseverance and genuine likability propelled her stomach into a triple backflip.

“Actually I’m just a hardworking attorney who’s only interested in motivating you to go out with me.” Again he twisted and clarified.

“I don’t know, Nate.”

“I do.” He reached out a hand, but didn’t touch her. “Look, Katie, whether you believe it or not, I know how to take no for an answer. But I hope I won’t have to.”

She shook her head. “I just can’t go to lunch with you and Sandra.”

“Okay. Then how about just me?”

“What? I thought you needed to try and get her to cut the professor some slack.”

“That’s not what I meant. I’ll see Sandra and try to get her to back off. Then we can have dinner tonight. Please?”

No was on the tip of her tongue, but Kathryn hadn’t counted on his ability to captivate her. Suddenly she was the one who didn’t understand the N and the O.

“All right. Dinner,” she said. “But, Nate, could we—”

“You order room service. I’ll be here about seven?”

She nodded. “Seven.”

When he was gone she closed her door and leaned against it. How was she grateful? She mentally ticked off the ways. He was sensitive to her need for privacy with these baby steps forward. But he didn’t know some of her hesitation was because this was her first step with a man since that awful night in college. He’d worn down her defenses with his charming verbal assault and she hoped she didn’t regret her decision. Still, she trusted him and for the life of her she couldn’t explain why.

But she didn’t need a mirror to know she was grinning from ear to ear. Defenses be damned. For the first time in a long time she was looking forward to an evening with a very charming and attractive man.

Nate was anticipating dinner with Katie that night and nearly missed the turn for the Italian restaurant where he’d agreed to meet Sandra Westport for lunch. He’d thought getting her phone number would be difficult until he talked to his paralegal, Rachel James. Nate had given her some time off to assist Professor Gilbert in locating a former student who might be able to help save his job at the university. She didn’t know it yet, but her time off would be with full pay even though suspicious Sandra had enlisted her support in her crusade for the truth. Whatever that was. At least Rachel had a phone number for the woman.

He parked and went inside, the smell of garlic and spices making his mouth water. Skipping breakfast did that to a guy. When he explained he was meeting someone, the hostess showed him to an outside table where Sandra was already waiting, sipping an iced tea.

While he’d been nosing around Saunders U, he’d seen her. Their paths had crossed in the last couple weeks and fortunately she hadn’t remembered him from college. But he couldn’t forget the beautiful blond, blue-eyed cheerleader who’d hung out at the Alpha Omega fraternity house with David Westport, her boyfriend. He wondered how much she remembered from that time. Did she know that he’d rigged the house’s security cameras to film in the bedrooms? And would the curious woman going after a good man like the professor believe Nate had been duped into using his expertise to do it?

Joining that boys-will-be-boys society was something else he wished he could forget. How in God’s name had his past become so littered with regrets? Where was the guy with dreams of using his knowledge and skills for people in trouble who desperately needed it? Officially that’s what he did, but only someone in trouble who could afford his exorbitantly high fee. How had he gone so far off his original path?

He pushed the thoughts away and braced for hurricane Sandra. He held out his hand. “Sandra? Nate Williams.”

Her eyes widened. “Nate Williams? You loaned me your handkerchief.”

“When you were crying,” he remembered. “I hope everything is better now.”

“Williams,” she said. “That’s what the W was for. I’ve been calling you Mr. W.”

“That works. Thanks for meeting me.” He sat.

“Fortunately you caught me on a Friday. The only other days I come into Saunders are Monday and Wednesday.”

That was still enough time to do the professor damage, unless he could convince her to abandon her crusade. “Have you already ordered?”

She shook her head. “Not yet. But I know for a fact that the food is great. David and I have eaten here and I highly recommend the pasta primavera. Unless a macho guy like you needs his daily ration of raw meat.”

He wondered if the barb indicated she was aware of his high-profile profession. When she didn’t say more, he ignored it. And he was grateful she apparently didn’t remember that in his fraternity days he was the overweight geek in the corner, hibernating and hoping no one would notice him. These days he always made healthy food choices. It was easier with money. Almost everything was.

“That sounds good to me.” He ordered for them, then met her gaze. “How are you and David?”

She looked radiant. “We couldn’t be better.”

“Tell me about the two of you.”

“We have a family. Twins. Molly unfortunately inherited my naturally curly hair and Michael favors David with his black hair.”

“That’s great. Twins must be a challenge.”

“Yes. But I love it. Takes some doing to juggle motherhood with my job at the newspaper. So right now I just do small-town stuff. David coaches Little League and soccer for our kids’ teams. Once an athlete, always an athlete. Passing those good physical genes on to the next generation. Although how that translates into Ping-Pong is anyone’s guess.”

“Excuse me?”

She laughed. “The twins have their hearts set on being the first brother-sister Ping-Pong team in the Olympics.”

“Goals are good.”

“And to pay for those goals we own a small grocery in the North End of Boston. Which is probably way more information than you wanted.” She took a breath. “And what about you?”

“I’m a lawyer. My office isn’t far from where your store is.”

“So you’re an attorney,” she said, studying him closely.

“Yes.” He tensed, waiting for the “aha” moment. The instant when she recognized him from some press conference for a high-profile case he’d handled or a news segment analyzing his courtroom performance. He hoped Nickelodeon trumped nightly news in her house. When she didn’t say anything, he allowed himself to relax.