First Impressions

spotted Cy and Laurie crossing the room toward them. To kill the first bubble of laughter, she cleared her throat violently.
    “Shane, how nice to see you.”
    Looking up, Shane managed to feign surprise. “Hello, Cy. Hello, Laurie. How’ve you been?”
    “Very well,” Laurie answered in her carefully modulated voice. She’s really very pretty, Shane thought. Even if her eyes are just a fraction too close together.
    “I don’t think you know Vance,” she continued. “Vance, this is Cy Trainer and Laurie MacAfee, old school friends of mine. Vance is my neighbor.”
    “Ah, of course, the old Farley place.” Cy extended his hand. Vance found it soft. The grip was correctly firm and brief. “I hear you’re fixing the place up.”
    “A bit.” Vance allowed himself to study Cy’s face. He was passable, Vance decided, considering he had a weak jaw.
    “You must be the carpenter who’s helping Shane set up her little shop,” Laurie put in. Her glance slipped over his work clothes before it shifted to Shane’s sweater. “I must say, I was surprised when Cy told me your plans.”
    Seeing Shane’s lip quiver, Vance set his foot firmly on top of hers. “Were you?” Shane said as she reached for her water again. Her eyes danced with suppressed amusement as they met Vance’s over the rim. “Well, I’ve always liked to surprise people.”
    “We couldn’t imagine you with your own business, could we, Cy?” Laurie went on without giving him a chance to answer. “Of course, we wish you the very best of luck, Shane, and you can count on both of us to buy something to help you get started.”
    The laughter was a pain in her stomach. Shane had to press a hand against it while Vance increased the pressure on her foot. “Thank you, Laurie. I can’t tell you what that means to me . . . I really can’t.”
    “Anything for an old friend, right, Cy? You know we wish you every success, Shane. I’ll be sure to tell everyone I know about your little shop. That should help bring a few people in. Though, of course,” she sighed apologetically, “the selling’s up to you.”
    “Y-yes. Thank you.”
    “We’ll just be running along now. We want to order before it gets too crowded. So nice meeting you.” Laurie sent Vance a brief smile and drew Cy away.
    “Oh, God, I think I’m going to burst!” Shane drank down the whole glass of water without a breath.
    “Your boyfriend got just what he deserved,” Vance murmured, glancing after them. “She’ll regiment everything right down to their sex life.” Thoughtfully, he looked after them. “Do you think they have one yet?”
    “Oh, stop,” Shane begged, savaging her lip in defense. “I’ll be hysterical in a minute.”
    “Do you suppose she picked out that tie he’s wearing?” Vance asked.
    Giving up, Shane burst into laughter. “Oh, damn you, Vance,” she whispered when Laurie turned her head. “I was doing so well too.”
    “Want to give them something to talk about over dinner?” Before she could answer, Vance pulled her across the narrow booth and planted a long, lingering kiss on her lips. To keep Shane from ending it too soon, he caught her chin in his hand and held her still. He drew her away for only seconds, tilting her head, then pressing his mouth to hers again at a fresh angle. He heard her give a tiny moan of distress. Though she lifted a hand to his shoulder to push him away, when he deepened the kiss, she allowed it to lie unresisting until he took his lips from hers.
    “Now you’ve done it,” she said when she gathered her wits again. “By noon tomorrow it’ll be all over Sharpsburg that we’re lovers.”
    “Will it?” Smiling, he lifted her hand to his lips, then slowly kissed her fingers one by one. It satisfied him to feel the faint tremor of arousal.
    “Yes,” Shane answered breathlessly, “and I don’t . . .” she trailed off when he turned her palm up to press another long kiss in its center.
    “Don’t what?” he asked softly, taking his lips to the inside of her wrist. Her pulse pounded against the light trace of his tongue.
    “Think it’s—it’s wise,” she managed, forgetting the restaurant and Cy and Laurie and everything else.
    “That we’re lovers or that it’s all over Sharpsburg?” Vance enjoyed the confusion in her eyes and the knowledge that he had put it there.
    Her pulse beat jerkily. He was different. Reckless? she thought, and felt a fresh thrill race down her spine. Smooth? How