drop over to Chez McGowan.
Come around back.
He grinned at the note. "Don't mind if I do."
She sat on the slate patio, at a teak table under a bright blue umbrella. A trio of copper pots, filled to bursting with mixed plantings, cheered the three stairs of the veranda. With her ball cap on her head, her legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles of her work boots, and roses rioting behind her, he thought she looked both relaxed and extraordinary.
She smiled-relaxed and easy-when he sat across from her. "I'm basking," she told him, and gave Spock a rub.
"I noticed. When did you get this?" He flicked a finger up at the umbrella.
"It came in today, and I couldn't resist setting it up. After I did, Shanna hauled over the planters. I picked them up on one of my sorties, and figured I'd get around to doing something with them, eventually. But she saw the table here, and ran out to the nursery, picked up the plants and did the job, just because. I'll have to move them when we do the exterior staining and painting, but I really love looking at them now."
She shifted, reached down and pulled two beers out of the ice in a drywall compound bucket. "And now, even better, you can bask with me."
He twisted off the tops, then clinked his bottle to hers. "To the first of many basks under blue umbrellas. I take it you had a good day."
"Ups and downs. It couldn't get worse than it started, though there were bumps. My excitement over the flooring was short-lived when I discovered they'd delivered the wrong hardwood. Then claimed I'd called in to change the order from walnut to oak, which is just so much bullshit, and will delay the third-floor work schedule a full week. I did finish the closet in the third bedroom, and got a start on the one in the fourth. The vendor messed up the cut on a panel of the steam shower doors, which means a delay there, but the soaking tub I've had my eye on for the third bath, second floor, just went on sale. The insurance company is balking at giving me another loaner after getting hit with two claims in two days, and will surely raise my rates. I decided to bask instead of being pissed."
"Good choice."
"Well, delays and glitches go with the territory. The roses are blooming, and I have a blue umbrella. So enough about me. How was your day?"
"Much better than average. I solved a major problem in the work, and it rolled from there. Then I found a very nice invitation in my refrigerator. "
"I figured you'd see it first thing, after you surfaced. I actually came upstairs first, but if I've ever seen anyone in the zone, you were." Curious, interested, she cocked her head. "What was the problem solved?"
"The villain. Early version of him was Mr. Eckley, my tenth-grade algebra teacher. I'm telling you, the man was evil. But as the character developed, I knew I didn't have the right look-physically. I wanted leaner, a little meaner, yet handsome, maybe slightly aristocratic and dissipated. Everything I tried ended up looking like John Carradine or Basil Rathbone."
"Good looks, both. Hollowed cheeks, piercing eyes."
"And too obvious for the character. It kept bogging me down. Today I hit on it. I'm not looking for dissipation, cut cheekbones and intensity. I'm looking for a thin coat of polish and sophistication over a whole lotta smarm. Not the lean and bony Carradine, but something slighter, edging toward effete. The contrast between looks and intent," he explained. "Between image and purpose. It's a lot more evil when a guy coldly destroys while wearing an Armani suit."
"So you based him on a Hollywood agent?"
"Pretty much. He's Number Five."
She managed to swallow the beer, barely avoiding a spit take. "Mario? Are you serious?"
"Completely. One look at him out front today, and the scales fell from my eyes. He's got it all-the build, the posture, the five-hundred-dollar haircut and that sheer, shiny layer of oil. I don't know why I didn't see it when I met him before. Too locked into Mr. Eckley, I guess."
"Mario." She jumped up to grab Ford by the hair and crush her lips to his in a hard, smacking kiss that sent Spock into his happy dance. "This actually makes that clusterfuck this morning worthwhile. Thank you."
"I didn't actually do it for you. Any enjoyment you get from it's just a