Trial Courtship. Laura Abbot

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СКАЧАТЬ to the entry, disarmed the alarm and opened the door. “I’m so sorry. The time got away from me.”

      Tony just stood there, staring. An amused grin spread over his face. Finally he spoke. “First Never-Never Land, and now heaven?”

      “No, not the Elysian fields, just a workplace where we wear seasonal costumes—in this case, Christmas.” She adjusted the halo, which had tilted during her rush to the door, and stepped aside. “Come on in.”

      He entered and looked around dazedly. “This is quite a place.” He removed his gloves, stuffed them in his coat pockets, then picked up a jack-in-the-box from a floor display. He turned the handle and laughed aloud when a clown jumped out to the tune of “Pop Goes the Weasel.”

      “Make yourself at home. I need to change.”

      He set down the toy and reached for her hand. “Not for me you don’t. I’ve never had a date with an angel.”

      The warmth of his hand enclosing hers sent a shock through her, along with decidedly unangelic thoughts. “Giorgio might not understand.”

      “Giorgio?”

      “The pizza chef.” She withdrew her hand.

      Tony seemed puzzled. “Pizza?”

      “Yes, Nicky and I thought that would be best.”

      “Sure, whatever you say.”

      She suspected that, despite what he’d said earlier, the idea of a third party wasn’t appealing. Just then Nicky sidled up alongside her. She put an arm around him. “Tony, I’d like you to meet my nephew, Nicholas Porter. Nicky, this is Tony Urbanski.”

      Nicky averted his eyes as he shook hands with Tony.

      She started toward the rear of the store. “If you two will excuse me, I—”

      Nicky trailed her. “I thought you said we were going to dinner with a friend,” he whined.

      Andrea faltered. He was not happy. And Tony had to have overheard. “Tony is a friend.”

      They reached the office. Nicky stood, sullen, his hands deep in his pockets. “But he’s a man.”

      “Does that bother you?”

      He shrugged. “I dunno.”

      She placed her palms on his shoulders. “Tell you what. Why don’t you give him a chance? We’ll check him out together. What do you say?”

      “I guess.” He turned away and started stuffing books into his backpack.

      In the storeroom as Andrea removed the costume and hung it back on the hanger, she couldn’t help thinking about Nicky’s possessiveness and the approving glow in Tony’s eyes when she’d opened the door. She would most definitely need a guardian angel tonight!

      

      WHEN TONY HAD FIRST seen Andrea—her flaxen hair loose around her shoulders, the diaphanous gown barely concealing her lush body—he couldn’t help but think of ravishing that angel right there on the floor. A Never-Never Land fantasy, all right.

      He wandered around the store. Train sets, jigsaw puzzles, magician’s kits, an entire section of games—he’d had no idea there was this much stuff available for kids. Hell, he’d been lucky to have a secondhand Tonka dump truck and a rusty red wagon. He picked up a pioneer character doll and examined the price tag. The merchandise wasn’t cheap either. It must cost a fortune for parents to put on Christmas these days.

      He replaced the doll and strolled to the substantial reading corner. He ran a finger along the spines of the books—Babar, Curious George and Horton the Elephant. He supposed most adults had associations with these characters. Not him. He couldn’t remember anyone reading to him, except his teachers, after his mother died when he was five. All that came to him was a dim recollection of sitting on her lap playing with the shiny buckles on her overall straps while she told him about a big, bad wolf who “huffed and puffed” and blew down the houses of three little pigs. He’d found the notion of pigs living in houses startling. He and his parents lived in a metal trailer. Could the big, bad wolf blow it down?

      He picked up Goodnight Moon and thumbed through the pages. He might’ve been better off to stay at the office, instead of submitting to the very thing that hours earlier he’d vowed to avoid. The possibility of a relationship.

      “Ready?”

      He hadn’t heard Andrea approach. He closed the book and returned it to the shelf. “Whenever you are.”

      “Nicky, let’s go.”

      While he held Andrea’s coat for her, he watched the kid drag his backpack toward the door. “Where to?”

      “Giorgio’s. It’s just down the block. That way you won’t have to move your car.”

      “That’s fine with me.” He and Nicky waited outside while she set the alarm. “What grade are you in, Nick?”

      “Fourth.” He glared holes through Tony. “Nobody calls me Nick.”

      “Mind if I do? Nicholas sounds too formal, and you don’t seem like a Nicky to me.” He studied the boy—stooped shoulders, longish black hair, goggle glasses, scuffed loafers. “Yeah, definitely more a Nick.”

      “What’s a Nick like?” Tony could tell the kid had debated with himself whether to ask the question.

      “You know. Tough. Grown-up.” For a fleeting moment, Tony thought he saw the boy stand straighter, but then the shoulders drooped again.

      “I dunno. I guess ya can call me whatever ya want.”

      “Fair enough.”

      When Andrea emerged, he threw an arm around Nick’s shoulder and cupped her elbow as they walked down the sidewalk. “Nick and I have been talking. We may have to order an extra-large supreme.”

      “But Nicky doesn’t like vegetables on—”

      “Andie, I’ll try it.”

      The smile she turned on Tony warmed him clear through. Under her breath, he caught her words. “You’re a miracle worker.”

      The restaurant, with its red-and-white checked tablecloths, hanging ropes of garlic and candles flickering in empty wine bottles, was stage-setting Italian, right down to the Neapolitan music piped through the sound system. Giorgio himself, a voluble little man, greeted Andrea and Nick familiarly before ushering them to a booth, where Nick promptly plopped down beside his aunt. The boy wasn’t too young to be territorial. At least Tony’d have the pleasure of looking at her during dinner. But he’d rather have been able to touch her.

      After they placed their orders, Tony turned to Nick. “So what’re your favorite sports?”

      The kid looked blankly at him. “I dunno.”

      “You don’t know?”

      “Tennis, I guess.”

      “You СКАЧАТЬ