She reached for the dishtowel, but he pushed her hand away. “It’s okay. I’ve got it.” He gave her a long look. “There’s no harm done.”
“Good. I’m so—”
“Please don’t say it again,” he said, cutting her off. “You don’t have to apologize, but even if you had something to be sorry for, you’ve done it enough already.”
“I’m s—” She had almost apologized for apologizing so much, but caught herself. Instead, she chuckled awkwardly and glanced toward the window.
“You don’t have to worry about those two getting along. They’re doing fine and working out their hierarchy in a constructive way,” he said as he tossed the dishtowel in the sink.
She placed her now empty mug next to it. “Speaking of the boys, I better get them home. I appreciate the coffee.”
“Anytime.” As they reached the back door, he placed a hand lightly on her shoulder. “It wasn’t my intention to have made you sad. Before you leave, can I show you something that might lift your spirits?”
Uncertain of what it was all about, she followed him into the clinic. He pushed open the door to the recovery area and stepped aside to let her look in.
“Oh, gosh...!”
At the sound of her voice, the golden retriever lying on her side raised her head and the five tiny yellow balls of fur snuggled against her stirred with a chorus of yips and yawns. As soon as Emma squatted down, the pups scrambled to their feet and over to her. In their eagerness to get her attention, they climbed and tumbled over each other, and her, causing her to lose her balance and land on her backside. The pups wasted no time and piled into her lap.
“Aren’t you guys the cutest?” she said, lifting one pup. He wiggled and slathered her face with lavish kisses before nibbling on her nose with his sharp puppy teeth. “Ouch!” Emma exclaimed, then hugged the pup to her and laughed.
“That’s nice,” Josh commented.
“What?”
“Hearing you laugh. It’s a nice sound. You don’t do it enough.”
When she looked up at him, there was an odd light in his eyes.
“Have dinner with me, Emma. I’d like to get to know you.” His smile was warm and encouraging. “How about it? Let me take you out one night this week.”
Her mouth was suddenly dry. She wanted to say yes. She really did. But the flutter in her belly made her nervous and the word was stuck in her throat. “Umm, I...”
He arched a brow and held his hand out to help her up. When she was standing, he didn’t let go but, rather, covered their joined hands with his. “I hope the word you’re searching for is yes.”
“Some communications professional I am,” she said with a self-deprecating chuckle. “Yes,” she finally said, and found herself drowning in his honey-flecked brown eyes. “I’d like that.”
“Is Saturday good for you?”
“Sure.”
“Terrific!” He nestled the puppies back with their mother, followed Emma out and helped her load Max and Theo into her X5. He waved to her as she pulled away.
As she drove home, she admitted to herself that she was looking forward to her meal with Josh. After all, he was intelligent, charming, funny and very appealing to the eyes. What did she have to lose?
Then she thought of Richard.
Josh was not Richard, she reminded herself again, and she had to stop making comparisons. Why shouldn’t she enjoy the company of a good-looking, fascinating man who seemed to be interested in her? The possibility that he was interested in her sent a little thrill up her spine. It made her feel wanted, and she liked the sensation. Richard had hurt her and he’d shaken her self-confidence. It was nice to feel wanted again.
FOR EMMA, SATURDAY arrived in some ways much too soon and, in others, not soon enough. The day dawned clear and unseasonably warm. The trees were shrouded in their fall splendor, and the ground was carpeted in the russets and golds of the leaves they’d already shed.
Later, as she rummaged through her closet, she tried to convince herself it didn’t really matter what she wore for her dinner with Josh. Then she berated herself for not having had the foresight to bring at least some of her dressier clothes from the city so she’d have more to choose from. It couldn’t be helped, she resigned herself. She would just have to make do with what she had.
She pulled out a flowing silk dress in shades of blue on a white background and a simple gray jersey one, and took both into the bathroom. Holding first one, then the other before her in front of the mirror, she settled on the pretty, feminine silk. She had no idea where Josh was taking her, but the silk dress would be suitable for a casual setting or something a little more formal. She was certain there were no restaurants in driving distance for which it wouldn’t be appropriate.
Hanging the dress on the hook behind the door, she stood in front of the mirror and deliberated what to do with her hair. As Josh had only seen it loose or in a simple style, she decided she would do something different. She arranged it in a neat chignon high on the back of her head. She left some tendrils framing her face to soften the effect.
Brushing on pale blue eye shadow made her eyes more blue than gray. She added a couple of strokes of mascara, swept some blush along her cheekbones and finished with a light coating of natural lip gloss.
She removed the dress from its hanger and slipped it on. Walking back into the bedroom, she searched through the bottom of her closet. She considered blue pumps and white high-heeled sling-backs. Deciding it was warm enough, she settled on the sexier sling-backs. With shoes in hand, she headed downstairs.
The dogs were sprawled side by side across the tile hearth in the kitchen. She loved how well they got along, as if they’d known each other their entire lives.
“All right, guys. Let’s go outside.” She headed to the back door, the dogs scampering after her.
Barefooted, shoes dangling from one hand, the rich silk of the dress fluttering around her legs in the soft breeze, Emma strolled along the stone pathway beside the gardens still ripe with the dazzling colors of her fall-blooming perennials, and tried not to feel nervous about her date with Josh.
* * *
EMMA WALKING IN her gardens in a sexy dress, the dogs by her side, was the first thing Josh noticed as his Yukon crested her driveway. The very appealing sight made him think of an impressionistic painting—a Monet perhaps. It was a vision of a lovely woman and two playful dogs against the canvas of luminous fall colors. He laughed at himself for romanticizing things, yet he put his Yukon in Park halfway down the driveway and soaked in the view. He knew the instant she noticed the truck. She halted, then waved and strolled toward him.
As soon as Josh got out, the dogs dashed over and he squatted down to rub and scratch to their delight. When Emma reached them, he glanced at her and held up a hand to shade his eyes from the early evening sun that was haloing her.
Giving the dogs a couple of final rubs, he rose and walked with Emma toward the cottage, the dogs racing ahead of them. As he followed her up the porch steps, he couldn’t help but notice her slender shape and long, graceful legs, and considered himself a lucky man. He hadn’t seen her in a dress before and he liked what he saw. “You look...sensational,” he declared. “You take my breath away.”
She glanced over her shoulder, surprise registering on her face. Her smile wavered then firmed, and he wondered what had caused the look of uncertainty.
“Thank you,” she said. Her gaze slid to the shoes she still carried in one hand. “I think it’ll work better when the shoes are on