Behind The Red Doors (Santori Stories #1)(23)
Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson

He was busy taking in the lavish surroundings. “Sorry, ma’am. I’ve never gotten into the habit of wearing a watch.”

She made a disappointed noise. “That’s too bad. You just might be late for something important someday.”

“TRY THIS ONE.” Faith smiled at her customer, a paunchy man who had come in supposedly browsing for a gift for his wife, but had wound up looking at pinky rings for himself. She had learned rather quickly that adding a few men’s items to the mostly female selection would be a boon. At the man’s request, Faith held up a small mirror so he could see how the ring would look when he shook hands.

“It’s not too pretentious?” he asked, biting his lip.

The showroom door opened and Faith glanced up. “Not—” Her voice disappeared in a squeak as her eyes sent a message to her brain that it wouldn’t accept. Carter? She blinked and her heart stalled painfully. Impossible. Why would he be here?

He hadn’t come to see her, judging from the look of surprise on his face that must have rivaled the look on hers. His lips parted and he stood with his hand on the doorknob, his gaze boring into hers. Time stood still as a dozen emotions collided within her. Hadn’t she fantasized of this moment, of running into him unexpectedly?

“Hello,” he would say.

“Hello,” she would say, and then tilt her head. “I’m sorry, I can’t seem to remember your name.”

And he would say, “Funny, I can’t seem to forget yours.”

And they would—

“Miss?”

She jerked her attention back to her customer. “Yes?”

“I said, you don’t think it’s too pretentious?”

“Er, no.” She looked back at Carter who was slowly walking toward her. She was torn between the crazy urge to run away and the crazier urge to run into his arms. “Would you excuse me for a moment, sir?” She stepped forward and into the curve of the U-shaped display case. Carter stopped opposite her. Faith was glad to have the two feet of glass barrier between them as she forced her mouth upward at the corners. “Hello, Carter.” His face was thinner, his hair longer, his eyes greener.

He gave her a curt nod. “Hello, Faith. I didn’t expect to find you working here.”

She willed her racing vital signs to slow. “This is my place.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Yours?”

“Yes. Mine and my partner’s.”

“Your partner?”

“My business partner, Jamie Ruskin. She’s my best friend actually. You didn’t meet Jamie…before.”

“Oh.”

She clasped her hands together. “So, are you looking for a gift?”

“Hmm? Oh, no.” He laughed and scratched his temple. “Actually, my captain sent me here, something about security for a special rock?”

Faith gaped. “You?” Then she caught herself. “I mean, I thought he was sending someone expendable—I mean…someone on light duty.” She swallowed and started again. “I would think you’d be too high-ranking for…security work.”

The hint of a smile danced on his mouth. “I thought the same thing.” He shifted awkwardly, favoring his left leg. “But I’m recuperating from an injury and I’m on light duty for a couple more weeks.”

She put her hands behind her back to keep from reaching out to him. “You were wounded?”

“Nothing serious,” he said, but she didn’t quite believe him.

His gaze tracked hers, and they were silent. Seconds ticked off, and she thought her chest might burst from the breath she held. At last she exhaled. “I don’t think this arrangement would be a good idea.”

“You’re right,” he said, nodding.

“You’d probably be bored silly here, and, well…it could be awkward.”

“I’ll explain to my captain that we’re…acquainted. He’ll find someone else.”

“Yes.” She crossed her arms over her chest and felt more in control. She glanced around to make sure that her assistant, Stacy, was handling the customers, then looked back to Carter. Alarm was beginning to set in that he looked so good to her, even better than she remembered. “So, how are you? Um, other than the wound, of course.”

“I’m great.”

Faith nodded. “That’s great.”

“You?”

“Oh, I’m great.”

He looked around the showroom. “It looks like things are great.”

“Yes. Things are…great.”

He glanced back and rubbed his chin. “When you mentioned something about a partner, I thought maybe you’d gotten married.”

She lifted one hand to toy with the initial pin on the lapel of her jacket. “No, I’m not married.” She laughed. “I don’t suppose you’re married?”

“Me? No.” He joined her laughter.

“I didn’t think so.”

After a few seconds Carter stopped laughing, but she didn’t seem to notice. A slow burn started in his stomach that she was so amused by the idea of him settling down. You are not commitment material.

“But I am living with someone,” he blurted.

She stopped laughing and her remarkable ice-blue eyes widened. “Really? That’s…great.”

Vindication barbed through his chest. So what if it wasn’t true—Faith didn’t have to know. “Yeah, we’re really committed to each other.”

“Oh.”

In for a penny, in for a pound. “In fact,” he said, peering into the cases around him, “I’m planning to pop the question on Valentine’s Day.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Why wait around when you find the right woman?”

She smiled. “Why indeed. Congratulations.”

He deflated a bit. What had he expected—that she would burst into flames of jealousy? “Er, thanks.”

Across the showroom, a young woman lifted her hand. “Faith?”

Faith nodded, then looked back. “I need to get back to work, but it was good to see you, Carter. I hope everything goes well with the wedding.”

Carter swallowed and tried to smile—even though it was all make-believe, the word wedding still hit him hard. He watched her walk away from him, tall and statuesque, with enough curves for a man to get his hands around. Her black, black hair, startling against her fair complexion, skimmed her shoulders. Her nose and cheekbones were model-perfect, her lips wide and berry-red. And those eyes…a man could grow old and never tire of looking into them. And now that he was faced with the thought of walking out of here and possibly never seeing her again, his big dumb feet wouldn’t move. On the other hand, he couldn’t think of a good reason to stay. Feeling much the way he did the night he’d watched her drive away in the cab, he turned and started toward the door, massaging his left thigh, which had begun to throb.

The customer that Faith had been attending when he had walked in was moving toward the door at the same time, but his body language was all wrong—walking too fast, seeming too intent on the exit. All of Carter’s senses went on alert. He looked back to see Faith’s gaze jump from the man back to the counter where he’d been seated.

“Sir,” she said, her voice just short of panicked. “The ring! Stop!”

Instead the man made a run for the door. Carter moved out of instinct, sprinting the few steps it took to overtake the man, then tackling him in front of the door. When they landed, white-hot pain ripped through Carter’s leg, stealing his breath. He gritted his teeth and pushed himself to his good knee while wrestling the man’s hands behind his back. “I’m a police officer. Be still, dammit, or I’ll shoot you.” He didn’t even have his weapon on him, but the threat worked.

“Don’t shoot,” the man cried. “The ring’s in my pocket. Take it back, please. Don’t arrest me.”

Carter held him down with one hand and felt in the man’s jacket pocket with the other. He pulled out the ring and handed it to Faith, who stood nearby, white-faced. “Call the police,” he said.

“Stacy is doing it right now,” she said in a strained voice. “You’re hurt.”

He shook his head. “Nah.” Truth be known, aside from his burning leg, he felt pretty darn good—it was the adrenaline rush. And it wasn’t every day that a man got to be a hero in front of a girl he…didn’t hate. “If you get up,” he told the man, “I’ll shoot you.” With a bit of teeth grinding, Carter stood and took a few deep breaths until the worst of the pain subsided. He lowered his voice for Faith’s ears only. “Tell me your security is better than yelling ‘stop’ as the thief runs out the door.”

Faith nodded, but bit into her lip. “It is, but I’m starting to think it could use some tweaking considering the crowds the Valentino diamond might be bringing in.”

“This Valentino diamond, that’s the guard assignment?”

“Yes. I thought it would help increase foot traffic before Valentine’s Day.”

The disturbing sensation he felt when he thought he was walking out of her life was still fresh. He had an inexplicably perverse desire to spend more time with her, and the opportunity to do it was staring him in the face. Before he could consider the ramifications, he said, “Maybe I’ll take that assignment, after all. I could review your general security measures while I’m at it.” He attempted a casual shrug. “That is…if you think it wouldn’t be too awkward.”