Jesse dropped me off in front of his building. “Think you can stay outta trouble while I put Ginger to bed?” I promised to do my best while he parked his beloved Camaro in a garage a few blocks away. I was embarrassed for the doorman to see me, but I told myself that my disheveled appearance could be taken for European insouciance. My legs ached like hell, but if I held my big black bag over the worst of the stocking tears, I might pass for normal. That was the moment I realized I’d left my bag in the car. Fighting the urge to run after Ginger’s retreating tail lights, I headed into Jesse’s building, nodding at the doorman’s raised eyebrows, slinking towards the lounge area in front of the elevators, and trying to remember if I’d ever seen anyone seated there before. The sofa, director’s chairs and glass coffee table looked like props from a human-sized diorama, and as I slid onto the couch I wondered if I’d broken some unspoken protocol by disturbing it with my presence. I put my head into my hands, took some deep breaths, and rubbed my eyes. The sofa shifted slightly as someone sat down next to me.

“Hello, beautiful,” said a familiar voice. I lifted my head and looked at the man beside me. His green eyes were set off by a golden tan and hair as black as patent leather. He was turning forty-six in April, I knew, and the smile lines around his eyes were deepening.

“Martin,” I said, my heart dropping to my feet. It would probably tumble out of a hole in my stockings. “What… why… what are you doing here?

CHAPTER 10

Martin smiled, bringing out the slight dimple in his cheek. “I barely got to speak with you this morning, and my day was scheduled like a marathon,” he said. “I was worried about you. I guess I wanted to see for myself that you were all right.”

I was ashamed to sit there in front of him, a raw and battered mess who had sunk below any standard of respectability. I wished he would stop staring at me, but the look in his eyes was concern, not condemnation. I was hypnotized by the sight of him. My former fiancé looked handsome in an old-fashioned black tuxedo that Tyrone Power might have worn. “I’ve been waiting outside the building for the past hour, hoping to see you.”

“Now you’re stalking me?” I tried to sound lighthearted, even amused.

“Maybe I am.”

“So you put on a tux and hid in the bushes outside Jesse’s building?”

“The tux is because some very nice but misguided people decided to give me an award. I know, it’s hard to believe. I certainly don’t deserve it.” He smiled at me again.

“One of your charities?”