Read Sullivan's Woman for Free Online Page B

hair behind her shoulders, then pointed. “There we are, The Best Boutique. I wonder what Julia will have to say about this. She’ll probably think you’re keeping me.” She bit her lip to suppress a giggle, then slid her glance back to his. “Have you any smoldering looks up your sleeve, Colin?” Mischief danced in her eyes as she paused outside the front door of the shop. “You could send me a few and give Julia something to talk about for weeks.” She swung through the door, her lovely face flushed with laughter.
    True to form, Julia greeted Colin with scrupulous politeness and only the faintest glimmer of curiosity. There was a speculative glance for her former clerk, then recognition of Colin widened her eyes. She lifted a brow at Cassidy’s request for the oyster silk dress, then proceeded to wait on them personally.
    In the changing room Cassidy stripped off her jeans and marveled at the irony of life. Little more than twenty-four hours before, she had been standing outside that very room with discarded dresses heaped over her arms . . . without a thought of Colin Sullivan in her head. Now he seemed to dominate both her thoughts and her actions. The thin, cool silk was slipping over her head because he wished it. Her heart beat just a fraction quicker because he waited to see the results. Cassidy fastened the zipper, held her breath and turned. Her reflection stared back at her with undisguised awe.
    The dress fell from a severely high neck in a straight line, softened by the fragility of the material. Her arms and shoulders gleamed under the thin transparency of its full sleeves. Her hair glowed with life against the delicacy of color. Cassidy let out her breath slowly. It was a wish of a dress, as romantic as the material, as practical as its line. In it she not only looked both elegant and vulnerable but felt it. With taut nerves she moistened her lips and stepped from the changing room.
    Colin was charming Julia into blushes. The incongruity of flirtatious color in the cool, composed face turned Cassidy’s nerves into amusement. There was the devil of a smile in Colin’s eyes as he lifted Julia’s hand and brushed his lips over her knuckles. Cassidy schooled her features to sobriety. A hint of a smile lurked on her lips.
    â€œColin.”
    He turned as she called his name. The smile that lit his face and brightened his eyes faded, then died. Releasing Julia’s hand, he took a few steps closer but kept half the room between them. Cassidy, who had been about to grin and spin a circle for inspection, stood still, hypnotized by his eyes.
    Very slowly, his eyes left her face to travel down the length of her, then back again. Cassidy’s cheeks grew warm with the flurry of her emotions. How could he make her feel so vitalized and then so enervated with just a look? She wanted to speak, to break her own trance, but the words were jumbled and uncooperative. She found she could only repeat his name.
    â€œColin?” There was the faintest hint of invitation in the word, a question even she did not understand.
    Something flashed in his eyes and was gone. The intense concentration was inexplicably replaced by irritation. When he spoke it was brisk and dismissive.
    â€œThat will do very well. Have it packed up and bring it with you tomorrow. We’ll start then.”
    Cassidy’s mind raced with a hundred questions and a hundred demands. His tone stiffened her pride, however, and hers was cool when she spoke. “Is that all?”
    â€œThat’s all.” Temper hovered in his voice. “Nine o’clock tomorrow. Don’t be late.”
    Cassidy took a deep breath and let it out carefully. In that moment she was certain she despised him. They watched each other for another minute while the air crackled with tension and something more volatile. Then she turned her back on him and glided into the changing room.

Chapter 3
    Cassidy spent