A Whirlwind...Makeover. Nancy Lavo
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not.” Dan scooted the plate of pie between them. “Time for dessert. Eat up.”
She didn’t need a second invitation. Seemed the tiny salad hadn’t filled her up. She and Dan talked and laughed as they demolished the pie.
“So, you think this Colton guy has got it for you? Think his heart zinged?”
Maddie snorted. “Not likely. He can’t even remember my name. Kept calling me Molly or Mandy.”
Ouch. Dan wasn’t surprised to hear Maddie didn’t turn the golden boy’s head. Guys like Colton went for bomb-shells, not bombs. And the shapeless black dress and Wild Kingdom hairdo Maddie wore were bonafide bombs. Still, Dan felt an urge to soften the blow. “Don’t be discouraged. He probably had a lot of distractions, this being his first day and all.”
“He had a lot of distractions all right—short, skinny female ones.” She lifted her chin a fraction. “But I’m not discouraged. I hope that after he gets to know me he’ll see that I have some great qualities. It’s the inside that counts.”
That had to be the bravest speech he’d ever heard. And the dumbest. Old Colton didn’t look like the type to seek out great qualities. Fact was he didn’t look the type to see beyond his own mirror.
Dan didn’t know why the idea of Colton raining on Maddie’s parade bothered him, but it did. It was obvious her self-esteem was already at rock bottom. He hated to think what the inevitable rejection would do to her. “He’d be lucky to have you.”
She flashed him a smile so rich in emotion, so totally beautiful he swore he felt his heart zing. “Thanks.”
She glanced down at her watch then picked up her purse—a hideous, scarred black leather bag large enough to carry a week’s worth of clothing. She stood. “I need to get back to the office.”
Dan stood. “It was nice meeting you.”
“I had fun,” Maddie said. “And thanks for the pie.” She grinned. “I believe there was enough chocolate in it to tide me over till my candy-bar break at three.”
She turned and took two steps from the table before stopping and turning back. She lowered her voice so no one at the surrounding tables could hear her. “What you said earlier, about my hands being great—that was really nice. Thanks.”
Dan unlocked the door to his office and stepped inside just as the phone rang. He crossed to the desk, a strictly utilitarian steel model he’d picked up in a secondhand office furniture store, pressed the flashing button on the phone and picked up the receiver. “This is Dan.”
“Dan, ol’ buddy. Ryan here. I called to see if you’d had enough of the wilds of Texas? Are you ready to return to civilization?”
Dan settled back into his swivel chair and propped his cowboy-booted heels on top of the desk. He chuckled. “Not a chance.”
“Come on, man. You’ve been there, what, two weeks now? Surely that’s enough time for you to come to your senses.”
“I have come to my senses. That’s why I’m back in Texas.”
Ryan’s tone changed from teasing to lecturing. “I know you think you’re burned out, but you’re not. You have an incredibly successful career up here. People do not burn out on incredibly successful careers. Besides, you love New York. Everybody loves New York.”
“You’re right. I love New York. But I needed a break. I needed to get away.”
“Fine. Take another week. Then get on a plane. There’s a big shoot in Milan in two weeks. We’ll do it together.”
“No can do.”
“Why not? What are you going to do buried down there?”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure yet.”
“Okay. I won’t press you.” Ryan paused. “So, tell me, are the women down there as beautiful as you remembered?”
Dan smiled. Before he’d packed up and moved back to Texas Dan had bragged that Texan women were the most beautiful in the world. And he’d meant it. He couldn’t think of another group of women anywhere in the world who invested the kind of time and effort in themselves that Texan women did. Young or old, fat or skinny, it was as though they had an innate understanding of their worth.
Except Maddie.
Five feet and eleven inches—four inches of badger hair not withstanding—Maddie didn’t seem to have that Texas confidence. If anything, she undervalued herself.
Instead of carrying her commanding height with pride, she rolled her shoulders forward as if trying to shrink from sight. He couldn’t tell if she had a figure: no body, no matter how bad, deserved to be draped in the long, flowy black thing she’d been wearing today. It looked more like a bad slipcover than a dress. The meager attention she gave her hair and makeup said she didn’t see the point in trying. She felt she was hopeless.
Dan’s practiced eye told him nothing could be farther from the truth. If you could get past the thick black eyebrows that were separated by a scant half inch of flesh, Maddie had an excellent forehead, well-defined cheekbones, and a strong but feminine nose. She had a mile-wide smile with straight white teeth and the full lower lip that women were willing to suffer collagen injections to achieve.
The memory of Maddie’s mouth made his mouth water. How many times had he forced his focus away from her lips so he could concentrate on what she was saying?
Maddie had all the right stuff. And so much more.
Years of working with the world’s most acclaimed beauties had taught him that good physical attributes rarely added up to true beauty. More often they equaled cold hauteur and empty vanity, women who would cheerfully spend an evening with only a mirror for company.
He’d gotten to the point recently, when looking through the camera lens, that he couldn’t find the shot he wanted because he couldn’t find the beauty. His last shoot ran a record nine hours. The fault hadn’t been a temperamental model. It had been him.
He’d become cynical and he knew it. And when the cynicism became debilitating he’d packed up his camera and walked away. He was tired of looking for beauty where it didn’t exist. So he’d come home.
Funny that his first glimpse of beauty should be in the most unlikely person. In the short time he’d spent with Maddie he’d seen something he’d begun to doubt existed. A beauty that transcended good bones.
Of course, first impressions could be deceiving. Beneath her refreshing openness could be an empty shell like that he’d seen in so many others.
Maddie Sinclair intrigued him. He’d just have to get a second impression to find out.
“Are they as beautiful as I remembered?” Dan said, repeating his friend’s question. “Let me get back to you on that.”
Chapter Three
Maddie picked up her yellow legal pad and freshly sharpened pencil and walked to the door of her office. She’d left it slightly ajar so she could see when Colton started down the hall for the Monday morning staff meeting.
She assured her troublesome conscience that she was not stalking the man—she simply wanted to be handy if he needed reassurance during the first difficult days of his new job. Not that she honestly believed he’d ever suffered even a moment of self-doubt in his gorgeous life. Whereas mere mortals were composed of ninety-something percent water, Colton Hartley was pure unadulterated confidence.
Maddie knew her own confidence level frequently dipped into the non-existent range. That’s probably one of the myriad reasons she found Colton Hartley so attractive. He was everything she was not.
She had hoped to serve as his guide over the next few days, but unfortunately he’d made it very clear last Friday afternoon when she’d