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  But…where was Del? His steps slowed as he realized the birthday girl wasn’t in the crowd.

  “Sam! Hey, Sam, glad you could make it!” Peggy spotted him and stood up, one hand waving madly. “Look, everyone, it’s Sam.”

  He ducked his head and made for the table, miserably aware that half the people in the place had turned to look at him. Damn! What a dumb idea. Why hadn’t he talked himself out of this? It was true he hadn’t been recognized in some years now, but this would be the perfect place for it. He came to such restaurants and bars so rarely that he actually couldn’t remember the last time he’d been out for a purely social function.

  He forged through the room to his group’s tables. Peggy already had requisitioned an extra chair and everyone at her table scooched over so he could join them. Peggy had placed the chair beside hers. Directly across the table from him sat Grover and one of the strangers.

  Only when she lifted her head and looked across the table at him, she was no stranger. The girl with the long, wild cloud of hair and the incredible figure had Del’s small heart-shaped face, Del’s velvety brown eyes and the cleft in Del’s stubborn little chin.

  Holy hell. He felt as if he’d been sucker punched right in the gut. Thank God he hadn’t asked Peggy where Del was.

  “Hey, Del,” he said, making a superhuman effort to pull himself together and act normally. “Happy Birthday. Again.”

  “You missed the cake,” someone said.

  “That’s all right.” He was still looking at Del, unable to process how his efficient vice president had become this…this hot.

  And hot she most definitely was. Instead of her standard old baggy shirts, she was wearing that little black dress with spaghetti straps. She filled it out beautifully, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t due to surgical enhancement, either.

  “Nothing to say about Del’s transformation?” Peggy asked. “The rest of us almost walked right past without recognizing her.”

  “I’d have done the same.” He forced himself to tear his eyes away from Del. “It’s a good thing she doesn’t come to the office looking like that or we’d have clients crawling all over each other requesting a consultation with her.”

  The waitress approached then and he ordered a beer. Del got another drink, too, another of the green things in a big hurricane glass with a shamrock swizzle stick. But no one else did.

  “Better not,” said Sally from payroll. “I’ve got to drive and I need to get home to feed the dogs, anyway.”

  “My wife held dinner for me,” the personal-security consultant said.

  One by one, various people made their excuses and left until all that remained were Walker and his top-heavy date, Peggy, Del and him. After a few more moments, Peg also stood. “My youngest had a soccer game tonight. I figure I’ll make it just in time to pick him up if I scamper now.” She leaned down and bussed Del on the cheek. “See you Monday, birthday girl. Bye, boss, bye, Walker. Jennifer, it was nice to meet you.”

  “Oh, you, too.” The redhead spoke with a breathy baby doll voice that sounded too silly to be real. It was the first thing she’d said since Sam had arrived, and he couldn’t help turning incredulous eyes to Del.

  When she met his gaze, there was amusement in the chocolate depths. He could almost hear her saying Is she for real? Suddenly he felt a lot more comfortable. She might have transformed her exterior but underneath she was still the person with whom he shared an almost uncanny nonverbal communication.

  “Bye.” Del spoke in unison with him. As Peggy maneuvered through the crowd toward the door, there was an awkward silence.

  “So, Walker, we hired an assistant undercover consultant today.” Del was quicker at making an effort to salvage the conversation than he was. “She’s got a lot of experience with undercover work, which should complement Doug’s capabilities.” The undercover team typically assisted with bodyguard and surveillance work and often worked closely with Walker on abduction cases.

  “A woman?”

  Del nodded. “A very competent woman.”

  “Great,” Walker said. “Since we got that little girl back from the relatives in France who stole her from the mother, we’ve gotten more work than Doug and I can comfortably handle. Someone with additional undercover expertise is just what we need. And it’s probably a good idea to add a woman to the team.”

  “Oooh, you work undercover?” Jennifer turned on a high-voltage smile as she batted big blue eyes at Walker. She punched him playfully on the shoulder. “You didn’t tell me that. How exciting!”

  “Not really.” Walker looked as if he was strangling in a tight necktie, except that he wasn’t wearing one.

  Sam took a closer look at Walker’s date. Was she even legal? Beneath the boatload of makeup, the woman looked unbelievably young.

  “What kind of work do you do, Jennifer?” Del stepped into the silence once again.

  “Oh, I’m a model,” she said. “Or at least, I wanna-be. Right now I take classes at the Barbizon School of Modeling and I work in the makeup department at Bloomie’s.”

  A model wannabe? Jeez, there had to be a twenty-year age gap between Walker and his date. What the hell was the man trying to prove? Then Sam jumped as a small but lethal foot wearing a very pointy shoe kicked him in the shin. He turned and glared at Del but she was smiling at Jennifer.

  “Modeling can be hard work.” Del did her best to sound admiring.

  “Uh-huh.” Jennifer leaned forward. “I bet it’s really fun being a secretary for these guys.”

  “Del’s not a secretary,” Walker said. “She’s my boss.”

  “Wow!” The redhead clearly didn’t know where to go with that statement. Eyeing Del critically, she said, “You know, if you’re in management, you really should learn how to maximize your assets. I could fix you up with a makeover in no time flat. You’d be even more of a knockout with a push-up bra and—”

  “Well,” Walker said heartily. “Jennifer and I need to get going. Del, hope it was a good one. See you Monday, you guys.” And with what was clearly the haste of a man in full retreat, he dragged his date out the door.

  Sam watched them go. “Maximize your assets?”

  Across the table, Del couldn’t contain herself any longer. She snickered, then began to laugh. Her amusement was contagious and after a moment, he joined her.

  “A makeover,” she managed. “If she could only see my usual attire. She’d run screaming.”

  “It’s probably past her bedtime,” he said as their laughter subsided.

  “Be nice.” But Del’s shoulders still were shaking with laughter. “What in the world is Walker thinking?”

  Sam raised his eyebrows. “Do I really have to explain?”

  “Besides the obvious,” she said severely. “What could they possibly have in common?”

  He only looked at her. “What else do they need?”

  Even as the words hit the air, he realized the comment was a mistake. There was a moment of silence that, to him anyway, felt charged with erotic particles of sensual speculation. Though he’d often wondered about Del the woman, he’d never shared with her this kind of vivid awareness, a pull that made him want to reach over and set his mouth on hers.

  Sam cleared his throat. “We seem to have been deserted,” he said.

  “The group doesn’t usually stay late,” she told him. “A drink, sometimes dinner and that’s about it. Most everyone has a family to get home to.” She twisted around and found the strap of her purse, which had been hanging on the back of her chair. “I appreciate you coming by, but don’t feel you have to stay.”

  “I don’t,” he said, trying not to stare at the way her little dress shifted every time she moved. Suddenly, going home to his empty apartment seemed unbearable. “But I’m starving. I haven’t eaten. Would you like to have another drink with me while I get a bite of supper?”

  “Are you sure? This isn’t just birthday pity?”

  He felt the corners of his lips curving up
ward. “Nope. This is hunger speaking. I eat alone too much. Why don’t you stay?” He shouldn’t be encouraging her to linger. He was used to eating alone and the last thing he needed was for his vice president to think he was coming on to her. But he found he was waiting eagerly for her answer.

  She hesitated a moment longer, then finally shrugged. “Sure. I don’t have anything to rush home to.”

  “No pets?”

  “Not even fish.” She slanted him a wry look. “My boss is very demanding and I never know when I’m going to be needed for odd hours and overtime.”

  “Hey,” he said, “you never said you minded. In fact, you often work harder and stay later than I do.”

  She shrugged again, making the little dress cling to her curves enticingly. One strap drooped off her shoulder and she impatiently hitched it back up. “Like I said, nothing to rush home to.”

  He had to concentrate to form a coherent answer. “Me, neither. I appreciate the company.”

  And he did. He was enjoying himself. While Del was efficient and not afraid to make her opinion known at the office, they rarely had time for personal exchanges. He’d learned more about her already tonight than he had in the past seven years.

  “So why the transformation?” he asked. “You look great, but it’s definitely a change from your usual garb.”

  “My mother sent this dress for my birthday,” she told him. “Usually, the things she sends are so outrageous I wouldn’t even wear them when I was alone. This wasn’t too bad so I took a self-timed digital picture to send to her.”

  “Very thoughtful,” he pronounced. “Why does she send you outrageous things?”

  Del’s eyes darkened as she took a sip of her drink. “Because that’s exactly what she’s like. Outrageous.”

  Two

  “I’d like to meet her.”

  Del shook her head definitely, sending her hair slithering over her shoulders, and he was instantly distracted. What would it feel like to have that hair sliding all over him?

  “Not in this lifetime,” she said. She picked up her drink and took another long pull on the straw. “I only see her about once a year and trust me, that’s more than enough.”

  There was the faintest note of bitterness in her tone. He wondered what her childhood had been like, to produce a reaction like that. If he asked her outright, she’d probably refuse to talk about it. So he went around the subject. “Do you have brothers or sisters?”

  She shook her head again. “No, I’m an only. I was an accident.”

  “Your mother didn’t want kids?”

  “She was afraid they’d ruin her image.”

  Ah, so the woman was vain. Hard to imagine how she could have a daughter like Del, who purposely played down her looks. “And did you?”

  She giggled. “No, but I certainly tried.”

  Had she just giggled? He couldn’t believe it. There wasn’t a woman on the planet less likely to utter a girly laugh than Del. “How much have you had to drink?”

  “This is only my third,” she said with great precision. “They’re shamrock daiquiris and they’re very good.”

  “Only your third? In a little while, those are going to hit you right between the eyes.”

  The waitress came by a moment later and he ordered a second beer and his meal. Del insisted on ordering another of her green concoctions, but he silently motioned the waitress to go light on the alcohol. Then he pointed to a small booth in the corner which had just emptied. “We’re going to move back there.”

  He rose and grabbed his beer bottle.

  Del stood as he rounded the table, picking up her drink and her bag. “Why are we moving?”

  He pulled her chair back and took her elbow to guide her through the maze of tables. “That table’s too big for just the two of us.”

  This close, he could see that the black dress was short. Very short. It exposed what looked like miles of long, slim leg. And she was taller than he was used to because she wore a pair of little strappy shoes with high heels.

  Oh, man, he loved high heels on a woman with terrific legs. And Del did indeed have terrific legs. Long, muscled thighs, firm calves and slender ankles—he’d better get his mind off Del’s legs before he embarrassed himself.

  “Remind me,” he said, “to thank your mother for this outfit sometime.”

  There was a moment of startled silence. Then Del said, “Do you like it?” She tilted her head back to peer at his face and almost lost her balance. “Whoops.”

  Sam put his arm around her waist—why hadn’t he ever realized how delicate and slight she was?—and hauled her over to the table in the corner. He set her down on the seat. “Yeah,” he said, hoping he hadn’t overstepped the boundary between them. “I like it.” Like was a vast understatement. The top clung to the curves of her breasts and dipped down to reveal the shadowed cleavage between them. All he wanted to do was lean down and place his mouth right there above the gentle swellings, to taste her fine-grained skin and feast on the scent that would be simmering there.

  Telling himself that would be the stupidest move he’d ever make in his entire life didn’t seem to help. But he forced himself to set down his beer and slide into the seat opposite hers. It was a snug fit for a man as big as he was. His legs tangled with Del’s beneath the table.

  “Sorry,” she said, and she sounded breathless. “They must have decided to fill up this space with a downsized version of the real furniture.”

  He worked his legs around so that he could stretch them out on either side of hers. Not great, but bearable. Particularly when she moved and the outsides of her slim thighs brushed against the inside of his. Oh, yeah. Definitely bearable.

  The waitress came by with his meal.

  “Eat some fries,” he said to Del.

  “I already ate.”

  “Let me guess, a salad?”

  She glared at him. “A chef salad, with ham. How did you know, anyway?”

  “Because that’s what you always get when we take clients out or order in.” There. He might not have known her birthday but he did know something about her after all. “Eat some fries.”

  “You’re just trying to keep me from getting too drunk,” she accused.

  “Yeah.” He didn’t see a reason to deny it.

  “But I want to get drunk, Sam. I need to get drunk tonight if I’m going to meet a man.”

  He’d just taken a swig of beer and he damn near spit it out. “What? Who are you meeting?” He wasn’t letting her meet anyone she didn’t know really, really well in the condition she was in.

  “No one in particular.” Her voice was sulky. That was another first. Del in a mood. At work, she was quiet, reasonable, occasionally insistent and rarely annoyed. But the sexy little pout pushing out her full lower lip was one expression he’d never seen before.

  “Are you telling me you’re planning to pick up a guy in a bar tonight? No.” He shoved his food away. “No, no, no.”

  “Whoa. Wait!” She grabbed the table and clung as he attempted to haul her to her feet. All that did was ensure that the table came with her as he started to drag her toward the door. “Sam, stop it! You’re making a scene.”

  If there were any words he dreaded more, he couldn’t imagine what they’d be. He let her go and straightened the table. Once she’d taken her seat, he also sat again, but he leaned across the small space, shaking a finger in her face. “You are not leaving this bar or any other with anyone besides me tonight. Got it?”

  She blinked at the large finger waving beneath her nose. “That’s a good way to get bitten,” she said mildly.

  “Wha—? Oh.” He gave her his most menacing look although he was prudent enough to remove his finger from close proximity to her mouth first. “You’re trying to change the subject.”

  “Yup.” She nodded, leaning across to take one of his French fries. She nibbled it delicately and the motion of her soft pink lips made him swallow involuntarily.

  “Why?” He didn’t get
it. “With all the scary stuff that can happen to a woman today, why would you take a chance like that, picking up a stranger?”

  “It’s very simple, Sam.” She picked up her green drink and took a sip. “Do you know how old I am today?”

  He shook his head. He’d honestly never thought about her age. She was just Del. “We started the company seven years ago,” he said, thinking aloud.

  “Right. And I was just out of college. Today I am twenty-nine years old.”

  “Congratulations?” He was mystified at her apparent annoyance.

  “No!” She was glaring at him again. “I am twenty-nine years old and I’ve never had a boyfriend, much less a lover, in my whole life. I’m an old maid. And I refuse to let another year go by without finding out why sex is such a big deal.”

  She might as well have hit him over the head with a plank. “You’re…you’ve never…”

  “No.” Her voice got softer and the animation drained from her features. “I’ve never.”

  “Why?” Why the hell would a woman who cleaned up as nicely as Del did still be a virgin at the age of twenty-nine? He was totally out of his depth. He heard the words and knew he needed to respond like a friend, but his body was responding as if he were a stud dog and a bitch in heat had just sashayed into his run. Ruthlessly, he shoved away the surge of desire that rose. “You’re a beautiful woman, Del. I can’t believe you’ve never had a guy interested in you.”

  She shot him a skeptical look, her finely arched eyebrows rising. “Don’t be ridiculous. You know as well as I do my normal mode of clothing isn’t exactly a man’s fantasy.”

  “So? You could have found someone if you’d wanted.” I can’t believe she’s still a virgin! “You hide your looks like some people hide their money.”

  “That’s just it,” she said. “I never wanted.” She hesitated, then took a deep breath. “My mother was a party girl when she was younger. There were always men and booze and sometimes drugs around. She’s been married several times since my father was killed when I was a toddler but not one of the marriages has lasted.”