Worth the Risk_ A Contemporary - Megan Hart Page 0,110

able to make a phone call or two. Was it that busty blonde who likes to ride horses? Or the skinny chick who always smelled like gardenias?" She paused, as though a horrible thought had just come to her. "Please don’t tell me it’s Wendi."

Tom set his jaw. "You know better than that."

Emma sniffed. "Thank God. So who was it?"

Tom shook his head. Emma knew way too much about his social life. He supposed that was the problem when you not only hired your niece as sous-chef in your restaurant, but let her live in your house, too.

"It doesn’t matter, Emma. She wasn’t interested in me."

Emma stepped back, looking impressed. "Was she blind? I mean, look at you! Every woman who walks in here wants to be on you like butter on a cob of corn!"

"Thanks, Em," Tom replied dryly.

"She really didn’t go for you, huh?" Emma appeared sympathetic. "That’s a first."

Her casual assessment of his love life suddenly annoyed him. "You make me sound like some kind of Don Juan."

"And you’re not?" She raised her eyebrows at him and looked so much like his older sister he might have laughed…had he not been in such a bad mood.

He scowled instead, showing her his back. "No, I’m not. Dating a lot of woman just means I haven’t been lucky enough to find the right one yet, that’s all."

"Sorry." Emma paused. "I was trying to make you feel better, not worse."

Tom forced a smile on his face for the effervescent young chef. It wasn’t her fault Lila Lazin had rejected him. Nor was it Emma’s fault he couldn’t get Lila out of his mind.

"Thanks, Emma. But I’m fine."

Emma patted his shoulder kindly. "If you say so. If you say so."

Why was everyone so crazed by five o’clock? It made Lila sullen. She lost her parking spot to a pair of middle-aged women driving a Mercedes. She’d had to fight traffic all the way from her office, and now the parking lot was a zoo. Lila swung around the lot again, finally parking so far away from the mall she practically needed binoculars to find the building.

She had some time to kill before the meeting at Rivka’s gallery and there was no sense in running all the way home. She’d hit the bookstore. Stephen King’s latest novel had just been released, and Lila was aching to get her hands on a copy. She was a manic King fan, devouring his books in hours.

So intent was she on cutting through the crowd toward the bookstore, Lila nearly tripped over a parcel someone had carelessly left on the floor. Biting her tongue as the pain in her toe moved her to curse, Lila stepped back and focused her attention on the package’s owner. The petite, platinum blonde glared at her with barely veiled distaste and cradled her violated parcel like it was a wounded child.

"Hello, Lila," the man with the blonde said, his voice so cool it made Lila’s arms perk with goosebumps.

"William." She sounded stiff. Her stomach twisted. He looked as handsome as ever, his sandy hair perfectly styled and his fit body perfectly clothed. He still looked as though he could have stepped off the cover of GQ.

"Haven’t seen you for a while, Lils." William seemed oblivious to the fact his every word was a sword in her side. He’d even called her Lils, which he knew she hated.

"Well, you wouldn’t have, would you?" Lila was glad to hear that, while William’s appearance might be tearing up her insides, her voice remained steady.

William laughed, a completely insincere booming sound. "This is my wife, Pansy." He tugged forward the petite blonde, who stared at Lila as though she had just vomited on Pansy’s elegant suede boots. "Pansy, this is Lila Lazin."

"Charmed." Pansy briefly touched Lila’s fingers with her own.

"Congratulations," Lila managed to say.

"Thanks." William patted her arm. "You ought to think about tanning. You look like death warmed over."

Then he was gone, taking Pansy with him. Heedless of the crowd surging around her, Lila stared after them until finally someone bumped into her. Realizing she was making a spectacle of herself, Lila sank down onto the nearby bench and forced her hands to stop shaking. The pain had bloomed again with vicious brilliance.

"You’re a nice girl," William had said to her—the memory as clear as spring water. He had taken her to dinner at their favorite restaurant. She had thought he was going to propose. Instead, he had broken her heart. "Nice, but