Santa Fe Fortune & How to Marry a Matador

recycle.
    “No worries at all,” he told her with a sincere twist to his lips. “Nancy’s trained me right. I’m used to this.”
    “It’s true,” Megan assured her. “Dan’s a real sweetie about picking up. He always tries to make Friday evenings so he can help out.”
    “I thought you didn’t usually do much with the gallery,” Gwen said, surprised.
    “Popping by once in a while and schmoozing with the art scene isn’t much of a hardship.” Dan exited to the back room, and Megan smiled after him fondly.
    “He’s really pretty cool for an old guy.”
    Gwen couldn’t help but grin at Megan’s youthful assessment. Dan didn’t seem old to Gwen at all. He was aged just right. He was a great guy too. Just look at all he’d done to help her and how smoothly he’d help negotiate that deal. It hadn’t been under the most stellar circumstances, Gwen thought, a wave of shame overtaking her. She was ashamed of herself for acting out so badly, and all because some woman had made eyes at someone who wasn’t even her man!
    “Coffee all right?” Megan asked with big, wide eyes.
    “Yes! Just fine,” Gwen said, taking a sip.
    Dan came back in, and Megan gathered her things. “Still okay if I knock off now?” she asked him.
    “Of course,” he told her. “You’ve more than earned your bonus.”
    “Bonus?”
    “Don’t think you won’t be rewarded for all the help you were today.”
    “Why, thanks,” she said with a wide, happy grin.
    Megan whistled merrily and pranced out the door with all the vim and vigor of someone who’d never known the hard burdens of life.
    Gwen set down her coffee as Dan lowered the blinds. “Are you sure there’s not something I can do?”
    “You can tell me how excited you are to have sold all your canvases,” he called back with a smile.
    “I am excited,” she answered honestly. “No, excited’s not strong enough. Try over the moon.”
    “Ecstatic, huh?” he said, pivoting toward her.
    “Yes, that too.” Gwen took a deep breath, gathering her nerve. She’d made such a spectacle of herself, she couldn’t just sit here and act like it hadn’t happened.
    “Dan, I need to apologize for my…clumsiness tonight.”
    “It was an accident, surely.”
    “Absolutely! Never even saw it coming,” she said, quickly biting her lip.
    Dan studied her a prolonged beat.
    “I guess what’s important is that everything worked out.”
    “It did indeed! Wait until I tell my sister.”
    “Marian? I’m sure she’ll be very proud of you.”
    Gwen faltered a moment, unsure of how much she should say. Now that the deal was nearly closed, she reasoned it wouldn’t hurt anything to let Dan in on her motivation behind this venture. He’d been such a champion and so totally upfront with her about so many things, where was the harm?
    “Marian’s actually the reason I came here,” she said.
    “Beg pardon?”
    “She’s in very bad straits, Dan. Financially, I mean. Totally at risk of losing her house.”
    “That’s terrible.” His eyes flashed with alarm. “Does she have a family?”
    “Five kids and one on the way. No husband. The ex is actually sort of who helped cause this mess.”
    Dan’s expression grew cloudy. “Why am I not surprised?”
    “In any case, she needed a certain amount of money to get out from under the thumb of her creditors and to make do until she’s able to start working full-time.”
    “Twenty thousand dollars,” Dan said, more a statement than a question.
    “Exactly.”
    He took her in again, his gaze filled with admiration. “You’re a very special person, you know that?”
    She warmed under the heat of his stare, but her heart, reawakened by the sudden burst of caffeine, said beware.
    “I think you’re special too, Dan. I could have never imagined coming here and meeting such a wonderful person. You’ve made my stay in Santa Fe very memorable.”
    “I’ll never forget these past few days either,” he said. Gwen could tell by the look on his face he wanted to step forward and close the distance between them. Yet she viewed a telling restraint in his eyes. He’d been thinking just what she had. This unforgettable interlude between them was nearly done.
    The bell tinkled above the entrance, and Dan turned toward the door in surprise. Elena stood there in casual elegance, a designer scarf draped strategically around the sleek line of her neck. “Don’t tell me I’m interrupting,” she said, her words a sledgehammer to