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afternoon, suddenly went flat.
    Should have considered the possibility that he was involved with someone else,
she told herself.
It's been six months, after all. What did you expect? That he had been pining away over there in Aurora Springs, missing you?
    When her mother had phoned to tell her that she'd heard that Cooper was on his way to Cadence, she'd been unable to suppress the little jolt of hope and excitement. He was coming after her at last.
    Except that he hadn't come after her. The drive from Aurora Springs took an hour and a half, at most, and probably a good deal less in Cooper's sleek, high-powered Spectrum EX. Guild bosses didn't worry a lot about posted speed limits. Cooper had no doubt been in town for hours, but he hadn't called or come by the shop. Now she knew that he had probably gone straight to his lover's place.
    But if that was the case, why wasn't he with her tonight? It was after eight o'clock. Maybe she was married.
    Pull yourself together, woman. You're here on a mission.
    Still, she found she had to give herself a couple of minutes to adjust to being this close to him again. She had not actually forgotten the impact he made on all her senses. She relived it frequently late at night when she was alone in her bed. Nevertheless, when she had learned he was due to arrive in town today, she had convinced herself that, after all these months away from him, she would be able to handle the sexy thrill.
    It was downright annoying to discover that she had not developed any real immunity to Cooper in the past few months. But being on her own here in the big city and running a business had taught her a few new social skills.
    "How did you know I was in town?" Cooper asked.
    "The Old Quarter here in Cadence is my neighborhood now," she said smoothly. "Let's just say I have my sources."
    "Right." He nodded, evidently satisfied, and picked up his sandwich. "Your mother phoned and told you I was on my way here to Cadence."
    "Well, yes, as a matter of fact. She called me this afternoon to warn me."
    He looked amused. "She thought that my impending arrival warranted a warning?"
    "She's my mom. She didn't want me to be taken by surprise if you decided to show up at my shop."
    "Should have remembered that moms are inclined to do things like that." He drank some beer and lowered the bottle. "So, how's life in the big city?"
    His mesmerizing blue eyes were even more riveting without the transparent shield of his glasses, she discovered. Or maybe she had just forgotten how compelling they were.
    "Life here is great," she said briskly. "A whole new world, in fact. I always knew that Aurora Springs was staid and conservative compared to a city like Cadence, but I didn't realize just how old-fashioned and behind the times the place really is until I got here."
    "Been an enlightening six months for you, has it?"
    "It certainly has. Did you know, for instance, that the local Guild is making a major effort to go mainstream like the Resonance City Guild? There's talk of turning it into a corporation."
    He shrugged. "Mercer Wyatt will probably be able to make the Cadence Guild resemble a mainstream business enterprise. But I can guarantee you that when it comes to the inner workings at the top, things aren't going to change much."
    "How do you know that?" she demanded. "Look at the Resonance City Guild. They say the former boss, Emmett London, managed to turn it into a respectable corporate entity before he resigned. It even has a representative on the Resonance Chamber of Commerce, for goodness' sake. Talk about mainstreaming."
    "I've got nothing against taking the Guilds mainstream. Up to a point. Got a few plans of my own for Aurora Springs."
    That stopped her. "You do?"
    "Yes." He raised his brows. "But that doesn't mean anything will actually change much in the executive offices."
    "Why not?"
    "Because," Cooper said with an air of great patience, "although you can change some aspects of how the Guilds function and how they