“Mrs. Cavenaugh! Have you been spying on me?” Erin inquired with mock dismay.

The older woman shook her gray head savagely. “Just looking out for your best interests, honey. That’s all!” Then, with a dismissive shrug of her thin shoulders, she added, “Call it spying, if you will. But somebody’s got to take care of you. I saw the way that ex-husband of yours treated you—and I want to make sure that you don’t get hurt again…”

Erin tried to protest, but the severity of Mrs. Cavenaugh’s wizened blue eyes held her tongue.

“Now…this Webster fellow, I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

“And?”

“Unless I miss my guess, which isn’t very often, I’d say he’s fallen head over heels for you!”

“You can’t be serious!”

But the knowing and pleased look on Mrs. Cavenaugh’s weathered face added silent conviction to the little old lady’s words.

“I…I had better be running along,” Erin said a little breathlessly as she thought about Mrs. Cavenaugh’s words. Could she possibly be right? Erin picked up her purse and her briefcase and called over her shoulder, “Don’t worry about the mess in the hallway, Mrs. Cavenaugh. I’ll have the janitor clean it in the morning….”

“Oh, Erin,” the lady at the bottom of the stairs beckoned.

“Yes.” Erin turned to look back down at her, and she could tell that the woman was struggling with some sort of decision.

“I thought that maybe you’d want to know—Lee was here today, asking about you.”

“What?”

“He left you a note, I think.” Her blue eyes beseeched Erin. “Everything’s okay, isn’t it?”

Erin hesitated only slightly. “Of course,” she managed, but she heard the hollow sound of her own words. As she mounted the final stairs to her apartment, she heard Mrs. Cavenaugh’s door close and the sharp sound of a bolt being turned in the lock. All of the airy feeling that had cascaded over her from Mrs. Cavenaugh’s suspicions about Kane’s feelings for her had vanished at the mention of Lee. As she thought about it Erin wondered how the little old lady had even seen Kane, but there was something in Mrs. Cavenaugh’s pale blue eyes that bothered Erin. The dear little woman really believed that Kane was falling in love with her. But how would Mrs. Cavenaugh even suspect?

Erin shook her head and pulled the pins from her hair as she closed the door to her loft. If only she could believe that Kane could love her or at least learn to love her. Erin’s vivid imagination began to run wild.

But just as her heart began to race in anticipation of Kane’s love, her rational mind cooled her response. What about the wariness she had sensed in the steely depths of Kane’s gray eyes? Why did she always feel that he was studying her—trying to read her mind? Why did she feel that he didn’t completely trust her? Her blood cooled and a shudder raced up her spine. The situation was impossible.