“I like it. Are you sure Skye won’t mind us wearing black?”

“She’ll love it. Then we’re agreed?” Izzy asked. “We’ll get this and surprise Skye right before the wedding.”

“Uh-huh.” Lexi sipped her tea, her gaze intent. “Dana, are you all right?”

“Fine.”

“You don’t look fine. You look…tired. But not in a happy, I’ve-been-having-sex kind of way.”

“Maybe I need a new moisturizer,” Dana said. “Or highlights.”

Lexi wrinkled her nose. “Don’t toy with me. You’d never get highlights. But I think they’d look nice. Is something wrong?”

Dana glanced at Izzy, who shrugged. Dana didn’t know if that meant Izzy hadn’t told Lexi about their conversation the last time they’d been in the salon or if Izzy didn’t know how to distract Lexi.

“Not wrong, exactly,” Dana mumbled. “Just…confusing.”

“How?” Lexi asked, lowering her voice. “This is about Garth, right?”

Dana shrugged. “Mostly.”

“Because you’re not running this time?” Lexi asked.

“I don’t run.”

“You don’t stay,” Izzy said. “It’s practically the same thing. You pick guys who aren’t interesting to you, then leave when you get bored. You go safe. Garth is anything but safe. Of course it’s uncomfortable. You’re stepping into the unknown.”

“This is a good thing,” Izzy said, coming up next to her. “The other guys were never what you wanted.”

Dana really didn’t like being the center of attention. “How do I know Garth is?”

“He’s a step closer,” Lexi said.

“And you know that how?”

Lexi smiled. “Because your eyes light up when you talk about him. Because he makes you crazy and you can’t wait until you see him again. Because when the phone rings, there’s only one person you want it to be.”

Dana swallowed. She would never have thought to explain her relationship that way, but when Lexi said it, everything made perfect sense.

She leaned against the gilded chair by the chaise. “I’m confused,” she admitted. “Some things are clear. I know he’ll do whatever it takes to get the revenge he wants. But at the same time, I don’t think he’d hurt any of you, anymore. So that’s good, right? But it means he changed and I don’t believe people change.”

“Maybe you’ve been wrong,” Izzy told her. “Stranger things have happened.”

Dana nodded. “Maybe. I just…” She cleared her throat. “How much of what’s going on is about me and him and how much of it is just about keeping me safe? Are we together or is it convenient?”

“Have you tried talking about this?”

Dana stared at her.

“Right,” Lexi said. “Why would you do the rational thing?”

“Oh, please.” Izzy rolled her eyes. “Because you discussed everything with Cruz while you were pretending to be engaged. There were no surprises, no misunderstandings.”

Lexi sniffed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about and that isn’t the point. Dana, you should talk to Garth. Ask some of these questions.”

“What if I don’t like the answers?”

“What if you do?”

That almost scared her more, she thought, not wanting to admit it even to herself. “I’ll wait until this is over,” she said. “Right now he’s too distracted. I wouldn’t want to get in the way.”

Izzy made a clucking sound.

Dana turned and glared at her. “You so want to take that back.”

“Why?” Izzy put her hands on her hips. “I call ’em like I see ’em. You’re scared. Taking down Jed could take weeks or months. Are you really going to wait that long to figure out what’s going on?”

The only problem Dana had with that plan was admitting it to her friends. “There are other considerations.”

Izzy rolled her eyes. “Name one.”

“Izzy, stop,” Lexi said.

They both looked at her.

Lexi smiled at Dana. “The problem isn’t Garth’s busy, the problem is you don’t want to know the answer to the question. If he’s interested, you have to deal with an adult relationship with a man you can’t control. You have to risk your heart and that’s terrifying. If he’s not interested, you’re in trouble because you’ve passed the point where you can protect yourself. You’re emotionally engaged and there’s no win in that. At least from your perspective.”

Dana stared at her friend. She heard a faint buzzing in her ears. She had a feeling that it was her protective wall crashing around her, leaving her fully exposed.

Izzy moved close and wrapped her arms around her. “Wow,” she whispered. “Don’t you hate it when Lexi gets it right?”

“More than you know.” Dana hugged Izzy back. Lexi grabbed her hand.

Izzy drew back first. “Don’t get mad, but are you in love with him?”

“I don’t know.”

“That’s honest,” Lexi said. “Could you be?”

“Maybe. I want to be sure.”

“That doesn’t happen,” Izzy said. “I wish it did, but love requires a step of faith. Make that a leap.”

“It’s worth the risk,” Lexi told her.

“It was for you.” Dana squeezed her hand, then released it. “You don’t know that it will be for me.” Put it all out there for a man who may or may not be interested in her. “I want to believe,” she said slowly. “But his world is too different. I don’t know if I belong there.”

Izzy shook her head. “Sorry, but it’s not that complicated. You can belong if you want to. If he’s worth it.”

Is that what it came down to? Was Garth worth it? Or was she really afraid that the question on the table was more along the lines of her being worth it to him?

GARTH KNEW THAT DANA would get home after him. Something about Skye’s wedding or dresses. He wasn’t sure exactly, but he knew it wasn’t a subject he wanted to talk about. Girl stuff.

He’d decided to surprise her with dinner from their favorite Italian restaurant. Mario, the head waiter, had given him easy instructions for heating the entrées. The salads would stay in the refrigerator until they were ready for them. He’d chosen a great bottle of wine and there was tiramisu for dessert.

She was back. Physically she’d been back for a while, but she wasn’t…distant anymore, and he wanted to celebrate that.

There was something about her, he admitted to himself. Something challenging. She was unique. Not just because she never met a hair product she didn’t hate, but also because she was stubborn and determined. She expected more of people and didn’t mind letting them know. She was loyal and honest. He could trust her. There weren’t a lot of people he trusted.

The phone rang. He reached for it, checking caller ID as he picked up the receiver. It was the front desk downstairs.

“You have a visitor, Mr. Duncan,” George said. There was a pause, then when his voice came again, it was slightly muffled. As if he’d turned away. “It’s Miss Applegate. Shall I send her up?”

Fawn? He glanced at his watch and calculated how much time he would reasonably have before Dana came back. “She can come up, George. Thank you.”

He hung up the phone.

His first feeling was guilt-as if by inviting Fawn into his condo, he was doing something wrong. He reminded himself that Fawn was an ex-fiancée, that before the party he hadn’t seen her in years and talking to her now meant nothing. Which was all true, but truth wasn’t always a defense where women were concerned.

Fawn knocked on his door. He crossed to it and let her in.

She smiled as she entered, all big blue eyes and a slightly lost expression. “I wasn’t sure you’d see me,” she admitted as she set her designer bag on the table by the door.

“There’s no reason not to,” he told her. “Come on in.”

She followed him into the living room, then crossed to the window before turning to face the room. “I like what you’ve done to the place.”

He looked around. “Is it different?”

“Very. When you and I were together, you’d just bought it. Remember? It was all cold grays and blacks. That guy who’d owned it before, he was a lawyer. He sure thought he had something to prove. Like everything had to be modern for anyone to think he was sophisticated.”

Garth shrugged. “Maybe he had a point.”

“This is better,” she said. “Warmer. It has a homey feel.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” She smiled. “You look good.”

Not words he wanted to hear. “Fawn,” he began.

She shook her head. “I know, I know. You don’t have to freak out or anything.”

“I don’t make a habit of freaking out.”

“So that hasn’t changed, either?”

She stared at him with an intensity that could have left him shaken, if he hadn’t known that lost-waif look was her trademark. That, her beauty, and a pedigree for the taking. There weren’t any problems, unless you minded the stealing.

Looking at her, Garth wondered if they could have ever made each other happy. The marriage would have been more business deal than relationship, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t have worked. He’d never expected anything beyond what she’d offered. Had never thought about falling in love. His mother had, and look what had happened to her.

“You want to know why I’m here,” she said into the silence.

“That would be nice.”

“I wanted to say I’m sorry about what happened the other night. I came to apologize.”

“You didn’t do anything to me.”

“Then to thank you. That woman who was with you-”

“Dana.”

She nodded. “Dana. She was…intimidating.”

“She has a way about her.”

“Is she a cop?”

“Deputy.”

She tilted her head. “And you’re together?”

“Yes.”

“I wouldn’t have thought she was your type.”

He thought about how Dana made him laugh and frequently threatened him. How she thought she was so damn tough, but she had a heart easily bruised. He thought about all she’d been through as a kid and how it had made her who and what she was today.

“My type has changed,” he said.

“Oh. So there’s no chance you’d want to go out to dinner, for old time’s sake?”

An unexpected question. “I thought you were going back into treatment.”

“I suppose. I’d rather not. I’d rather be with you.” Fawn moved toward him. “It used to be good, Garth. Didn’t it? Don’t you remember?”

He stood his ground. “Not as much as you’d think.”

She licked her lower lip. “I don’t tempt you at all? I used to tempt you.”

There were a lot of things he could say. That her father had offered him a massive sum of money, not to mention a company, to take her off his hands. That she would always look good on his arm and that she was the kind of woman who distracted other men and made doing business easier. But those would only hurt her.

“This isn’t about you, Fawn. I’m with Dana. I want to be with Dana. You should go.”

“But Garth, if you just gave me a chance…”

“Not tonight, honey, but it was really sweet of you to stop by.”

The words came from behind him. Garth held in a groan. Did she always have to be so damned prompt? He turned and saw Dana standing by the door.

He ran the conversation over in his head. He knew he hadn’t said anything wrong, but he was a man so there was every reason to think he was in a boatload of trouble.

“Hi,” he said awkwardly. “Fawn stopped by.”

“I see that.” Dana smiled at the other woman. “Are you staying long?”

Fawn’s expression turned wounded. She looked like a just-kicked puppy. Her wide eyes filled with tears. “I won’t stay where I’m not wanted,” she whispered, her voice thick with suffering. “I guess he’s yours. You won.”

“And here I didn’t know there was a competition,” Dana said, opening the door. “Have fun in rehab.”

Fawn gave a little choked sob, then hurried out of the condo. The door closed, followed by the sound of a lock turning.

Garth wanted nothing more than to duck and cover. He told himself he’d absolutely, positively done nothing wrong. And still there was a sinking sensation in his gut.

Dana shook her head. “That woman needs to get a job at Walmart and learn what it’s like to pay the bills in the real world. Only then will she have the slightest chance of becoming an actual person.”

“She just stopped by.”

“I heard.”

“I didn’t ask her to.”

“I never thought you did.”

He stared at her, not sure it was really going this well. “You can ask George.”

“I don’t have to. I believe you.”

“Yeah?”

“You look hopeful,” she said.

“I’m feeling hopeful. I didn’t think…You’re not mad?”

“No.” She crossed to him. “What, exactly, did you see in her? Aside from the pretty? Okay, and the cultured. Tell me her father offered at least fifty million.”

“It was more.”

“You’re an idiot.”

He could live with the insult. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“And now?”

He touched her face, then kissed her. “I’m much smarter now.”

“I thought so.”