“Are you going to listen to the good angel or the bad angel?”

“Mia.” Vaguely embarrassed at being caught daydreaming over a pair of shoes, Nell laughed. “You startled me.”

“Great sandals. On sale, too.”

“They are?”

Mia tapped the glass just below the Sale sign. “My favorite four-letter word. I smell possibilities, Nell. Let’s shop.”

“Oh, but I really shouldn’t. I don’t need anything.”

“You really do need work.” Mia tossed back her hair, took Nell’s elbow in a firm grip, much like a mother with a stubborn child. “Shopping for shoes has nothing to do with need, and everything to do with lust. Do you know how many pair of shoes I own?”

“No.”

“Neither do I,” she said as she strong-armed Nell into the shop. “Isn’t that wonderful? They have those slacks in a candy-cane pink. They’d look fabulous on you. Size six?”

“Yes. But I really need to save for a good food processor.” Despite herself she reached out to finger the material of the slacks that Mia pulled off the rack. “They’re so soft.”

“Try them with this.” A brief hunt turned up what Mia considered the perfect top, a clingy white halter. “Don’t forget to lose the bra. You’ve got little feet. Six there, too?”

“Yes, actually.” Nell took a discreet peek at the price tags. Even with the sale it was more than she’d spent on herself in months. She was stuttering protests as Mia shoved her behind a dressing room curtain.

“Trying doesn’t mean buying,” she whispered to herself over and over as she stripped down to her practical cotton panties.

Mia was right about the pink, she thought as she slipped into the slacks. The bright color was an instant mood lifter. But the halter, well, that was another matter. It felt . . . decadent to wear something so close-fitting without a bra. And the back—she turned to look over her shoulder. There basically wasn’t a back.

Evan would never have allowed her to wear something so revealing and casually suggestive.

Even as the thought popped into her mind, Nell cursed herself.

“Okay, back up and erase,” she ordered herself.

“How you doing in there?”

“Fine. Mia, it’s an adorable outfit, but I don’t think . . .”

Before she could finish, Mia whisked open the curtain and stood, the sandals in one hand while she tapped her lip with the finger of her free hand. “Perfect. Girl-next-door sexy, casual, chic. Add the shoes. I saw this little bag. Just the thing. Be right back.”

It was like being marched through a campaign by a veteran general, Nell thought. And she, a mere foot soldier, couldn’t seem to do anything but follow orders.