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could ring up a sale.
    “How’s it going?” she asked.
    “Rotten,” he admitted, not bothering to leave the counter area.
    “Why don’t you take a break?” Jean suggested. “We’ve handled bigger crowds than this.”
    He smiled at her. “No. I might miss out on yet another humbling experience.”
    Jean chuckled. “You’re doing okay.”
    “Jean, I haven’t done just okay since I sold encyclopedias door to door.”
    “Come on,” Jean said scoffingly. “Encyclopedias? You?”
    “Me,” he confessed with a wry smile as he remembered the summer before college, when he’d lugged samples of the heavy books in a desperate attempt to earn tuition money. His father’s military income hadn’t stretched to funding higher education. He’d finally wised up on the encyclopedias, and gotten a full-time job after classes. He’d nearly killed himself, but he’d had the money for school. Chuckling, he added, “Believe me, Jean, doing okay with that was actually doing great.”
    “Well, relax, Dallas. You’re simply helping out here, right?”
    Gazing into Jean’s shrewdly questioning eyes, he only smiled. Obviously, she wasn’t buying Cass’s story that he was filling in while he was down here. Considering the way he was doing so far, he wasn’t about to admit the truth. “That’s me. Good old ‘fill-in’ Carter.”
    “When donkeys fly,” Jean muttered.
    After Jean went back into the fray, he leaned on the counter and surveyed the crowded shop. The customers were animated, their festive voices belying the gloomy day outside the door. One big party, and he was the wallflower, he thought in frustration.
    His gaze turned to Cass, who was showing several wreaths to a group of people. Her profile waspatrician and delectable. Her shining ash-blond hair was swept back from her shoulders and arrowed down to the middle of her back. Her stance was at once straight and relaxed, the tailored plaid shirt and blue trousers she wore showcasing her figure.
    She was gorgeous, and that, he admitted, was becoming a very big problem. The time he’d spent in her company had only made him more aware of her small but perfect curves, the scent of wild flowers in her hair, and the easygoing confidence she exuded. It was obvious that she was comfortable with the woman she was, and accepting of others. He considered the ardent career women he had dated in the past. Conversations with them had consisted of debates over whether women were getting a fair shake in the marketplace; relaxation had meant doing something very up-scale, like the Club Med; and sex had been a serious competition for equal satisfaction, with each going to his or her side of the bed afterward to sleep in solitary peace. That kind of woman had made sense, in an odd way. He’d been burned badly once, after which companionship without commitment had appealed as much to him as it had to the women with whom he’d been involved. But for a long time now, he had preferred being alone rather than attempting what he had known would be another sterile relationship.
    Cass was different from those women. Very different. She had a joy in her that left him wondering if he’d missed some joke. He could easily imagine her sopping wet and grinning with satisfaction as she held up a crab … or naked andlaughing in bed. She was an oasis in a very dry desert, he admitted. With each moment he was becoming more and more attracted. He’d begun to fantasize about kissing her, and the idea was so tempting that he could almost taste it.
    Dammit, he thought. He couldn’t afford to waste time daydreaming about her, like some kid with his first crush. He was too old for crushes. But the more time he spent with her, the more he wanted her. He’d have to do something about that. Later, he acknowledged. He should be taking advantage of this golden opportunity to push her toward his objective. And he should be doing his damnedest to figure out some way to win in this deal with