A Little New Year's Romance (2 page)

I could make it that way, if I so desired
.

What? “That’s absurd! Not to mention impossible.”

That tinkling giggle came yet again.

What was so funny? She was being serious, but that blasted voice wanted to play games.

I don’t play games
.

“Yeah? So what is it, then? Do you just enjoy torturing me, or something?”

I’m not doing anything like that, and you know it
.

“Then what do you want with me? Come on. Spill it.” She was getting weary of this nonsense.

I told you. I want to help you
.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. And help is on the way, right?”

Indeed it is. Closer than you realize
.

Okay. She’d had well more than enough of this. “Who are you? Tell me right now.”

You know who I Am.
A quick pause.
Ah! Help has arrived!

“What?” She spun around as the radio from a slowly passing car blared out Auld Lang Syne. No one was close by. An unbidden thought crossed her mind. Maybe she really did need help, after all. She turned back to gaze at the angel again.

I’m waiting
.

That was the only prompt she needed. Before her brain could react, her heart spat out a prayer for assistance and guidance—for her life to have some meaning. For a split second afterward, she was glad that wall had come crashing down. A second later, though, she busied herself with rebuilding it.

Too late. You let me in. Now I’m here, and I’m going to help you
.

“Yeah. And your help has arrived, hasn’t it?” There was that sarcastic tone again.

Yes
.

A simple, one-word answer. How interesting. She waited for a response, but none came.

“What? Are you tired of your fun and games?”

Still no reply.

Humph! That was fun. Not.

She’d been there long enough. Too long, really. Time to go. Night was beginning to fall and she had a long ride home. She paused for a few more seconds, eyes still fixed on the angel figurine.

Turning to go, she stepped away from the window—and bumped headlong into a wall she didn’t recall being there before.

She took a moment to blink the confusion from her eyes. When the ability to see clearly had come back to her, she noticed that the wall was wearing an expensive looking suit and tie underneath one of the softest coats she’d ever felt. Was that cashmere? That’s when the light scent of a rain-washed forest hit her nostrils. Her brain recognized it as a man’s cologne.

She stepped back, daring to look up. The man was tall—probably six-feet-four-inches—though not what she’d call handsome. But there was something about him that demanded her attention. Was it the dark brown eyes that seemed to regard her with curious attention? Was it the way he styled his short black hair, or the squared, clean-shaven jaw line? Maybe it was all of these.

“I’m sorry, sir. Please excuse me.” Her voice was only marginally louder than it had been mere moments earlier.

He barely shook his head, and smiled down at her. She detected an amused gleam in his eyes.

Unaware that her jaw seemed to fall off its hinges, she decided her first impression of him was not only wrong, it was the complete opposite. This man was exactly what she’d always thought of as stunning.

CHAPTER TWO

Daniel’s mind went blank when the woman stepped away from the window and collided with his chest. Sure, he’d had people running into him almost every day on the streets of New York City, but none of them were drop-dead gorgeous like this woman.

For a second, the natural irritation of being interrupted had swept through him. Then he’d seen her face, and his brain—his entire world—was suddenly suspended, as if time had stopped for several moments.

She’d looked up at him, and he was unable to speak. Sandy brown hair barely touched her shoulders and framed a perfectly oval face that must have been lovingly sculpted by a team of angels. Lips that seemed to beg for his kiss. But it was her eyes that stole the words from him. They were the color of rain clouds on a stormy day, and held a deep sorrow that cut him to the core of his soul.

He barely heard her mumbled apology, though all he could manage was a small shake of his head to indicate that he wasn’t offended by her stepping into his path. Somehow, his mouth formed a smile and he hoped it looked sincere and delighted, rather than simply polite.

Then her face changed. She appeared to be caught by amazement for a moment and he knew that his grin had the effect he’d hoped it would.

A thought struck him.

What was such a beautiful woman doing here, gazing in the front window of Tiffany’s? He’d never known a woman who
didn’t
go into a store, even if she had no intention of purchasing anything.

As though she’d read his mind, she turned her head toward the store window, and he followed her gaze. A crystal angel stood on the other side in the midst of what he guessed were cotton balls arranged to look like clouds, although their size seemed more suitable for playing soccer. Was that what she’d been staring at? He couldn’t blame her—the figurine was exquisite.

He returned his attention to her, but her interest remained on the angel a moment longer before she looked up at him again.

“Apology accepted, though not necessary.” Removing his bare hand from his coat pocket, he held it out to her. “Daniel Trotter. And whom do I have the pleasure of meeting today?”

The rosy color already blooming on her cheeks intensified noticeably.

“Allison Benton.” Her voice sounded almost musical to his ears.

She grasped his hand, and a shock of electricity went straight to his heart. Why did he feel as if he’d been hit with a fully charged, industrial strength taser? The expression on her face told him that she’d had a similar—and maybe the same—reaction.

“Simply gorgeous.” He hadn’t intended to speak aloud.

The pink in her cheeks deepened further. “No. I’m not—”

“I meant the angel in the window,” he said, thinking quickly. “Though the description fits you, as well.”

She diverted her attention to the buttons on his coat. “Thank you, but I don’t think I deserve such a high compliment.”

“I’d enjoy nothing more than to continue talking with you. However, I’m late for an appointment.” The desire to see her again was too powerful for him to ignore.

She simply smiled in return.

Not knowing why, he pulled a card from his pocket and handed it to her.

“If you’d like to talk more—and maybe give your life some meaning—I’ll be at this address at one o’clock tomorrow afternoon.” He wasn’t sure where those words came from or why he said it that way, but it seemed like the right thing at the moment.

She accepted the card and bent her head to peer at it.

As much as he didn’t want this encounter to end, he knew it was time to go. If he was any later in getting to the meeting, it would need to be rescheduled. He couldn’t afford to let that happen.

While she was distracted, he strode away. Moving at a rapid pace, he uttered a quick prayer, asking God to bring Allison to see him the next day.

For the few moments he’d spoken with her, his heart had felt at peace. He knew there was a reason they met, and that she was meant to be in his life—hopefully for the remainder of it.

~~*~~

She stood there for several moments staring at the card in her hand. At first she couldn’t read it. She was still reeling from the aftereffects of the lightning bolt his handshake sent through her body. It was a small miracle that her hair hadn’t caught fire from it.

What he’d said afterward only added to her astonishment and confusion. Not the part about being at the address on the card, but the part about giving her life some meaning. How could he have known that she’d just prayed for that? And he used the exact same phrase. How was that possible?

A recent memory floated to the surface of her brain.

Nothing is impossible
.

Shaking her head to rid herself of that thought—and to gain a little clarity—she looked at the card one more time. The address was somewhere in the Bronx, and even though she’d had occasion to be there from time to time, she’d never been near Baychester Avenue.

Her attention was lured to the sketch at the top. It resembled a church. Oh, sure! Just what she was wanting to avoid. But something about the man—did he say his name was Daniel?—squashed that thought in less than an instant.

She looked up to ask him why he’d handed her the card, and what she should expect if she were to meet him the next afternoon. He was no longer there. How had he slipped away without her noticing? Turning in every direction he could have gone, she was disappointed to realize he was nowhere in sight. Had her attention been on the card that long?

Glancing at her watch, she knew she didn’t have time to catch her usual subway train. Great! Now she’d need to take a cab. The perfect ending to a bad day.

Well, maybe it wasn’t
all
bad. She had just met a man who embodied nearly every physical attribute she’d ever dreamed of. Even though he was in a hurry, he said that he wanted to see her again, so the day wasn’t completely terrible.

Walking toward an area where she knew she could hail a taxi, she felt the corners of her mouth curl up into a grin. People might wonder what she was thinking, but she didn’t care.

Coming upon the spot where a cab or two sometimes lingered, she marveled that luck seemed to be with her. One was there as if waiting just for her. She climbed into the back seat and gave the driver her address.

A feeling of contentment washed through her. That was odd. She hadn’t felt this way for longer than she cared to remember. It was nice, though, and she decided to enjoy it as long as she could.

Before long, the ride was over and she was standing outside her apartment building. The driver must have taken the most direct route. Never had she been able to get home in such a short time. She paid him, adding a generous tip, then began to turn away.

“If I may, ma’am…?”

She turned back to face him, wondering what he could possibly want to ask her. For the second time that day, a man was handing her a business card.

“I don’t normally do this, but you look like a nice person, and I know all the shortest routes in this city. When you need a taxi, I’d be happy to take you anywhere you need to go.” The smile on his face seemed genuine.

Knowing how difficult it could be to get a cab in New York, his offer was hard to refuse.

She took the card, noting his name.

“Thank you, James. I’ll definitely keep this.” After a quick pause, she added. “In fact, I do have to be somewhere at one tomorrow afternoon.”

“If you’d like, I can be here to pick you up at, say, twelve-thirty?”

She glanced from the card back to him. There was a youthful appearance to him, as though he were working as a cabbie to pay off his college tuition. “That would be perfect.” Then a question came into her mind. “Why do you want to do this for me?”

“I dunno, ma’am. It just seemed like the right thing to do.” The color in his face deepened enough for her to notice. “Besides, it’s not every day when a beautiful woman hops into my car.”

~~*~~

There was nothing Daniel could do to keep Allison’s beautiful, troubled eyes from his mind. They haunted him from the time he walked away, throughout the meeting, and as he left. Heading back the way he came, he knew she wouldn’t still be standing in front of the window at Tiffany’s, but he paused there for a moment anyway.

He turned his attention to the angel displayed behind the glass. What was it about the figurine that caused the woman to stare at it with such interest? Yes, it was beyond beautiful, but it seemed as if she’d been completely mesmerized, so there must be more to it than how attractive it was.

Although he’d only met her briefly a little more than an hour before, he felt the desire to purchase it for her. It was the kind of impulse he’d learned long ago not to ignore. Oh, he knew where—or rather, Who—the signal was coming from. That’s why he always listened and obeyed.

Walking into the store, he made his way to the first salesperson he could locate.

“Excuse me. I’d like to purchase the crystal angel in the front window.” He noticed the name tag on her blouse.

The young woman smiled politely. “I’m sorry, sir. We just sold the last one about half an hour ago. I can try to order another for you, but they’ve been a big seller this season.”

“That’s okay, Taylor. I’ll take the one in the display.”

“Are you sure?” The expression on her face made him wonder if he’d suddenly sprouted an extra set of eyes.

“Yes. I’m sure.” He hoped his smile would put her at ease.

“Interesting. Most people wouldn’t ask for the display piece.” It was as if she were stating a well known fact. “I guess they think of it as a
used
item, or something.”

He chuckled. “In this case, I think the one in the window is exactly what I need.”

Her eyebrows scrunched together as she tilted her head to the left.

“You see, there’s this beautiful woman who was admiring it about an hour ago. I’d like to get it for her.”

“Oh! I know who you’re talking about!” Her eyes widened. “She’s come by almost every day for the past two weeks to stare at that display.”

His left eyebrow headed up toward his hairline. “Is that right?”

Her head bobbled in a vigorous nod. “I could tell by the look on her face that she really wanted it. In fact, I decided today that if she came back one more time, I’d just give it to her and tell the manager to take it out of my paycheck.”

He smiled. “That’s very kind of you.”

“Well, now it seems I won’t have to—and the lady still gets the angel she wants.” Her eyes met his. “Miracles happen every day, don’t they?”

Before he could respond, she’d walked to a cabinet under the window display, removed a box, and began packing the angel into it.