Cowboy Enchantment - By Pamela Browning Page 0,1
was, all right. She was Erica Strong, a woman on the fast track to make partner at MacNee, Levy and Ashe, a Wall Street investment firm. She wore power suits and shoes that cost hundreds of dollars, lived in an expensive apartment soaring high above Central Park and flew business class, not coach. She employed a cleaning lady and flitted in and out of company parties at the Waldorf. Since she wasn’t much of a cook, she often ordered in from Curry in a Hurry, the Indian restaurant down the street. She should have been on top of the world.
But she was miserably unhappy.
After two cell-phone calls for her, the cab started to inch along. Finally it picked up speed and shortly thereafter swerved to a stop in front of the tall gray building that housed the offices of MacNee, Levy and Ashe, cutting off a limo whose driver opened the window, leaned out and cursed. Erica pressed a bill into the cabbie’s hand, told him to keep the change and realized he wasn’t listening. Instead, he appeared stupefied by the gorgeous blonde who was striding toward them on seemingly endless legs.
The blonde happened to be Erica’s sister, Charmaine, and when she spotted Erica climbing out of the taxi all wet and bedraggled, she waved. Charmaine protected herself with an elegant umbrella and perhaps an invisible waterproof armor. She wore a spiffy new raincoat of a particularly flattering cut, but then, Charmaine always looked wonderful. She was a world-famous model.
“Erica, hon! Haven’t seen you in ages!”
“I thought you were still in Hawaii.”
“We finished shooting early, and I got back last night.”
Erica, who’d twisted her ankle while jumping over the gutter, limped toward the portico. “Don’t hug me, Char, you’ll get all wet,” she warned. A passerby jostled her so that she narrowly avoided toppling into the street.
Charmaine laughed, a sound like little bells. Irritating little bells. But then, why wouldn’t she be happy? Charming Charmaine lived a charmed life.
“I’m supposed to get wet, silly. This is a raincoat. But let’s hurry inside. I have to tell you something.”
The elevator was mirrored all around, which only irked Erica all the more. The mirror unnecessarily reminded her that Charmaine was tall, svelte, lovely. She, Erica, was short, angular and skinny. Besides, her hair was a lank brown, which could easily be fixed, but if she bleached it, the upkeep would take time that she didn’t have to spare, and as for a perm…well, she’d never had decent results, no matter what the ads said. Next to her sister, who had a stunning tan, she looked pale and wan. Why, she was paler now than she had been moments ago when they’d stepped into the elevator. She was paling by degrees, and soon she would be transparent.
“You look terrible,” said her sister, who had the regrettable tendency to be blunt.
“Thanks. That helps so much,” Erica retorted on a wry note. Her throat felt raw and her nose was congested, which could only mean that she was coming down with a cold. Another one.
Charmaine’s reply was instant and breezy. “Oh, I’m here to help. Wait’ll I tell you why I rushed over to see you.”
The elevator disgorged them onto the floor that housed McNee, Levy and Ashe, and on the way to her office, Erica brushed past two assistants and one records clerk without saying hello. She waited until Charmaine had followed her into her inner sanctum before slamming the door harder than she intended.
“Well, Char, you’d better make it quick. I’ve got an appointment fifteen minutes ago.” She shoved her glasses up higher on her nose, more a habit than a necessity.
Charmaine looked nonplussed. “What’s eating you, Erica? You seem awfully frazzled.”
Erica flung herself on her office chair and dug the bottle of aspirin out of her middle desk drawer. “It’s the same old, same old, Charmaine. Too much work, too little time. If I’d known it was going to be like this, I would have told Harvard Business School to take their MBA and shove it.”
Charmaine seemed thoughtful as she removed her raincoat and hung it on the coat tree behind the door. “What if I told you I have the solution for everything that’s bothering you?”
It was clear to Erica that Charmaine didn’t have a clue. Well, no one did—not her friends, not her other sister, Abby, not anyone. Truth was, Erica wanted to shuck her life like a snake sheds its skin. She wanted to stop being Erica Strong, investment