CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Claire had nothing to wear.

No matter how much she shoved the clothes around in her closet she couldn’t find anything but the simple, casual, and inexpensive clothes she’d always worn. There was nothing new or exciting she’d bought on impulse, but never had an occasion to wear. Probably because she didn’t do impulse.

She’d always been the practical, logical one. Derek was the one who leaped without looking, never calculating the risk to himself or anyone else. Not practical Claire. She’d thought being that way would save her from all the financial problems and erratic job history of her older brother. It hadn’t. A college degree hadn’t kept her from being laid off twice.

She closed her closet door. She hadn’t purchased anything but the basic necessities for the past three years. Any extra money had gone to her mother’s medical care, then to maintaining the car and house. She glanced around her bedroom with its pale yellow walls and white trim, the gauzy white curtains at the French doors. Luckily she’d furnished the house when she had been pulling down six figures at her first job, but even then her mother had insisted on buying well-made pieces on sale and doing the draperies and pillows herself.

Claire sighed. She had nothing to wear that hadn’t been worn several times, and none of it light and bright. Call her crazy, but she wanted to look nice and not have Gray ashamed of her when they went out to lunch. She knew Gray well enough to know he wouldn’t think less of her, but she’d be miserable the entire time.

How was she going to face Gray tomorrow? He never looked less than perfect. Calling and canceling was out, especially after what happened the other day after she’d refused his offer to go swimming. What was she going to do?

The ringing of the doorbell pulled Claire from her unhappy thoughts, and she went to answer the door. Wouldn’t it be nice, she thought, if it was her fairy godmother who would change her out-of-style drab clothes into the latest chic fashions? Her shoulders slumped lower. If she’d ever had a fairy godmother, she’d long since deserted her.

Opening the door she saw Brooke. Her spirits plummeted even lower. The younger woman wore a beautiful white sheer blouse. She would never have to worry about finding something to wear. “Hello, Brooke.”

She stalked past Claire, pulling a sheet of folded paper from her bag. “Got it and your tab is mounting. He’s such an ass.”

Claire eyed the beautiful blouse again. She’d never worn anything like it, hadn’t really thought about it until Gray. “Brooke, where did you buy that blouse?”

“Saks. But I set him straight,” she said, continuing into the family room to toss her purse on the sofa.

Claire grimaced. “Do you think they might be having a sale?”

“Probably.” Brooke folded her arms. “He can be so insulting. Thinks he’s God’s gift to women.”

“Do you think we could go and find out?”

“I guess.…” Brooke slowly unfolded her arms and stared at Claire. “You want to go shopping?”

“Gray is taking me to lunch tomorrow after I show him around Bliss.”

Brooke screamed, then grabbed Claire, and jumped up and down. “Mama always said, still waters run deep.”

Claire flushed and barely kept from tucking her head. “We’re just friends.”

“Yeah, right.” Brook grinned devilishly. “I can’t begin to tell you how many times I used that line with my mother and she never bought it either.”

“It’s the truth,” Claire said, defending herself. “I just want to have a nice dress.”

Brooke’s expression became serious. “You may find something since they’re already bringing in the fall merchandise. I went by the other day just to torture myself.”

“How much do you think I’ll need?”

“You can probably get a nice sheath for around one-fifty.”

Claire’s eyes bugged. “One-hundred-and-fifty dollars!” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I can’t afford that.”

“We can always use my plastic.”

Claire opened her eyes. “Thank you, but I’m not charging anything. I’ll just have to cancel.”

“Are you crazy?” Brooke yelled, snapping Claire’s head around. “Gray is one of the most eligible bachelors in the state, not to mention he’s rich, handsome, and has a great bod.”

“That’s not why I’m having lunch with him.”

“I know that and Gray is smart enough to know that as well.” Brooke caught Claire’s hand and dragged her toward her bedroom. “Enough talk. Let’s look in your closet.”

“I already looked,” Claire said as they entered her bedroom.

Brooke dropped Claire’s hand and began going through Claire’s meager selection of clothes. Less than a minute later she turned with a look of stunned amazement on her face.

“I’ve never gone out much so there’s never been a need to buy clothes except for work. Mama was sick the last months of her life and when I wasn’t working I was home,” Claire said, feeling the uncomfortable need to defend her pitiful wardrobe.

“You don’t buy clothes because you need them,” Brooke told her. She kneeled to inspect the six neatly stacked boxes of shoes on the floor. Finished, she pushed to her feet. “We’re going to the store and getting you a dress and a pair of high-heeled sandals if I have to knock you over the head to do it.”

Brooke was so serious and outraged on Claire’s behalf she couldn’t be offended. “You’re a good friend, but I’m not taking your money. Maybe there’s another way.” She picked up the phone on the nightstand. “Can you please give me a minute to make a phone call?”

“I’ll file the release and work on the product labels,” Brooke said, and left.

Saying a quick prayer, Claire took a deep breath and dialed her brother’s work number. The receptionist at the used car dealership where he worked connected her immediately.

“Derek Bennett. If you want a car you’ve called the right man.”

“Hello, Derek.”

There was a slight pause. “Hi, Claire. I thought you were a potential customer.”

Hearing the disappointment in his voice, her hand flexed on the phone. “Sorry.” She took another breath to steady her jumpy nerves. Maybe this time it would be different. “I … I … was wondering if you could wire me a hundred dollars of the money you owe me.”

“Damn, Claire. I already told you I don’t have it. Don’t you think if I had the money you wouldn’t have to ask? I hate borrowing money from you.”

Claire’s hand gripped the phone cord, but she refused to back down. “I really need it, Derek. You promised you’d repay me this time. Remember?”

“So I’m a little late,” he said, his irritation obvious. “Not everyone can be perfect, you know. You were Mama and Daddy’s favorite. You’re the one that went to college.”

You didn’t want to go to college. They had to beg you to finish high school. “I don’t want to argue.”

“Who’s arguing? I just get tired of people always coming down on me cause I’m going through some bad times. If I had it, I’d send it to you. You know that.”

She wished she could say she did, but since she wasn’t absolutely sure, she didn’t say anything.

“You believe me, don’t you?” Derek asked.

“Yes.” She didn’t want to get into a disagreement over it. “Thanks anyway.”

“No problem. Once you open that shop you told me about, you should be raking in the dough. I told the guys here that my little sister was opening her own business. I’m proud of you. Gotta run. Bye.”

“Bye,” Claire murmured, but Derek had already hung up the phone. What was she going to do?

Brooke took one look at Claire’s face when she entered the room, and immediately stopped affixing labels on the three wick candles and stood. “Come on, we’ll just go check out a couple of shops. I’d call Lorraine, but she said Hamilton was coming home and she was going to spend the day with him.”

“I can’t afford much.”

“It doesn’t cost anything to look.”

Claire soon discovered that while it didn’t cost to look, she couldn’t afford the clothes. There had been several dresses that she would love to have had, but they were way out of her price range. Those in her price range, she didn’t want.

As they left the fourth boutique in Towne Centre, she decided that she’d had enough. “Thanks, Brooke, but I don’t want to visit another store. We’ve wasted enough time. We have inventory to complete, labels to print and affix.”

“What about the dress for your date with Gray?”

“Getting ready to open Bliss on time is more important.” Leaving the shopping center, Claire headed for Brooke’s car. Opening the door to the Jag, Claire sank heavily into the passenger seat.

“Claire—”

“Please, Brooke, can we just drop it?” Swallowing the lump in her throat, Claire was thankful when Brooke started the car without another word.

*   *   *

This could blow up in her face, but she was doing it anyway.

Brooke walked into Gray’s office and hoped she hadn’t read him wrong the couple of times she’d seen him. He had the kind of presence women and men noticed and reportedly the kind of intelligence that had taken Livingston to even greater profits since he was CEO. “Thank you for seeing me.”

He came around the beautiful oak desk with the easy grace of a man sure of himself and one used to wielding authority. “You said this concerned Claire?”

Brooke relaxed a little bit more. She hadn’t read him wrong. There was genuine concern in his deep voice and on his handsome face. “She doesn’t know I’m here and she wouldn’t be pleased if she found out.”

His piercing black eyes went glacial. “I have no intention of lying to Claire.”

His temper made her feel even easier. So whatever was going on between them wasn’t one-sided. It would be fun to see which one stopped fighting it first. “Neither do I. I admire Claire and consider her my friend. She has a sense of honor and fair play that you don’t find in many people these days.”

Hitching up his tailored slacks, Gray perched on the corner of his antique desk. “Go on.”

“I don’t suppose you’d give me your word that what is said between us goes no further than this room.” The arch of his brow was Brooke’s answer. She sighed. “Thought so, but I can’t let her be hurt.”

Gray came to his feet. Brooke leaned back in her chair, the image of an avenging angel coming to mind. His five-thousand-dollar tailor-made Brioni suit didn’t do anything to make him look less lethal. “Is Claire in trouble?”

“No, no. It’s nothing like that.” She shoved her hand through her hair, then decided to go for it. “Suppose a certain woman had a date with a sophisticated man-about-town, but say this certain young woman’s closet is as bare as Mother Hubbard’s cupboard? This certain young woman is too stubborn and too independent to let her friends play fairy godmother, but this certain young woman really wants to go out with the sophisticated man. The friend of this certain young woman is afraid she’ll cancel the date.”

Gray studied her, then said, “That would be a tragedy. I can assure you I’ll do everything possible to prevent it from happening.” He held out his hand to her.

Taking it, Brooke rose. “She’s very proud and a good friend. I haven’t had many female friends.”

“You picked a good one.”

“I think so, too.”

He nodded. “I’ll take care of it from here. And as you wanted, our conversation will not leave this room.”

She smiled up at him. “I knew I wasn’t wrong about you.”

*   *   *

Claire was standing in her closet when the phone rang. She’d carried in a box of soap and hadn’t been able to resist going through her clothes again. Perhaps she and Brooke had overlooked something. The phone rang a fourth, then a fifth time.

“You want me to get that?” Brooke yelled from the other room.

Claire jumped guiltily. Brooke had returned a short while ago after running an errand. She was working while Claire loafed. “No, I’ll get it,” she called, then crossed to the phone on the bedside table. “Hello?”

“Hi, Claire, it’s Gray. You sound off. Is everything all right?”

“Fine.” She tried to infuse some enthusiasm into her voice. “I was just thinking about tomorrow.”

“What a coincidence. That’s the reason for my call.”

Claire perched on the edge of the bed. He was going to cancel. “Yes?”

“Something has come up at the plant in Columbia and we may have to change plans for tomorrow.”

She hoped her disappointment didn’t come through in her voice. “I understand. You’re a busy man and have a company to run. You can drop by some other time.”

“I told you you’re going to give me a complex,” he said, then continued, “I still want to see the shop and have lunch, but I have to leave directly afterwards to inspect the plant. Would you mind if we eat someplace my jeans won’t look out of place?”

A relieved grin spread across Claire’s face. “That’s fine. There’s a nice little seafood place nearby.”

“Great. See you tomorrow at eleven.”

Smiling, Claire hung up the phone. Casual she could handle. Then another thought struck. She hurried out of the room and didn’t stop until she found Brooke.

“That was Gray on the phone and we’re doing casual for lunch, which I can handle, but I think I want to wear a little makeup and do something with my hair. Can you help?”

“Can a duck quack?” Brooke asked and both women burst into peals of laughter.