Return to You

doing to him? He was losing his focus—he couldn't afford that.
Not now when everything he ever wanted was at his fingertips.
    Space. He needed to get out of here.
    "I'll stay out of your way," he said, taking
several steps back. "Gotta go. I'm on a tight schedule."
    He strode off, though he made the mistake of
looking back. She hadn't moved at all but she was staring at him.
He figured it was just as well that he couldn't read her
expression—he didn't want to know.
    He was better off not knowing.
    Keeping his eye on the path back to the
farmhouse, he willfully steered his thoughts to the movie. The
movie was what mattered. It was the key to his future. Not
Olivia.
    Not anymore.

     
     

Chapter Thirteen
     
     
    Lainie gripped her blouse closed. "I don't
know if this is a good idea."
    "It's a great idea." Olivia nodded. "Even if
I do say so myself."
    "But—"
    "There is no but." Olivia pushed her hands
aside. "You want to attract Everett Parker, and this is the only
way to make it happen. I explained it to you before. You need to
pique his curiosity. If he thinks he can't figure you out, it'll
drive him crazy."
    "Or cost me my job," Lainie mumbled, but she
let Olivia unbutton the rest of her blouse.
    "Now put this on." Olivia shoved a bra into
her hand and walked out of the dressing room.
    Lainie looked at it and
sighed. It was very
pretty. And white—she could handle white, even if the lace was
barely there.
    She wondered why Olivia didn't make her put
on that red bra from the first time she walked into Romantic
Notions. Olivia probably knew red would have been too
intimidating.
    She took off the practical cotton she always
wore, folded it, and placed it on top of her blouse on the chair.
With a shake of her head, she hooked the bra up behind her and
snaked her arms through the straps.
    "Are you decent?"
    Before she could answer, Olivia burst into
the room. She froze in the doorway, her eyes wide. "You're
gorgeous. I can't believe you hide yourself under those boring
clothes."
    "They're serviceable, not boring."
    "You could have any man you want. Why you
want Parker, God knows." Olivia shook her head, her long hair
swishing around her shoulders.
    Lainie scowled. "Don't talk about your
father that way."
    Olivia grinned. "You sound like a stepmother
already. I draw the line at sweeping out the chimney though."
    She felt a violent blush creep up her chest
to her ears. "Olivia, I—"
    "I'm just teasing, Lainie." Olivia took her
hand and turned her around to face the mirror. "Now, let's give
your confidence a boost."
    Lainie said the first thing that came to her
mind. "What have you done to me?"
    The smile dissolved from Olivia's lips. "You
don't like it?"
    She stepped closer to the
mirror. It was too much to hope for that she looked like that. The woman in the
mirror looked luscious.
    "Listen, this was just an idea. If you don't
like it—"
    "Not like it?" Lainie touched the pink bow
between the lacy cups. "What are you taking about?"
    "You do like it." Olivia frowned. So much
it frightens you. That's the problem, isn't it? That you're
scared?"
    "I love my job. This is a gamble. A big one.
If I make a move and fail, I'll lose the one thing the gives my
life meaning. But if I don't try, I'll be alone forever. Of course
I'm scared."
    Olivia took her hand and held it tightly.
"If he can't see how wonderful you are, he doesn't deserve you, you
know."
    Lainie looked up at Olivia. "You think
so?"
    "I may not have known you long, but I'm
never wrong about these things." She patted Lainie's shoulder.
"Now, stop worrying. We have a seduction to plot."
    Lainie smiled. "I don't know what I did to
earn your friendship but, no matter what happens, you can count on
me forever."
    She looked away, her eyes suspiciously
bright. Then she cleared her throat and held the blouse out. "So we
want to be subtle, remember? A sudden metamorphosis will be too
blatant to attract a man like Everett Parker. So we need to take
small steps—a change here, a change there." Olivia gave her a
Machiavellian grin. "It'll drive him crazy. He'll wonder if he
never noticed you before, and that'll drive him even more insane,
because my father doesn't miss anything."
    Lainie nodded as she slipped back into her
blouse. "I don't understand how new underwear is going to make a
difference if he's not going to see it."
    "Oh, but he is going to see
it."
    "I don't understand. You just said I had to
be subtle. Undressing for him hardly seems subtle."
    "Let me