never told me what three stars means.”
“That’s right. It’s none of your business,” she said cheerfully.
“Must be damned convenient to be able to turn your feelings on and off like a faucet,” he said sincerely. “I haven’t had the same luck.”
Lisa blinked and stared at him. His words shook her. “Oh, for crying out loud, I never—”
“Just because you’re gonna marry another man,” Brick said the words, and felt as if he were chewing nails, “doesn’t mean we can’t be friends, does it?”
The sudden look of confusion on Lisa’s face would have been amusing if Brick hadn’t been fighting for his life. “Friends?” she said tentatively, as if it were a new word.
“Sure. It’s a lot better than being enemies.” It’s a lot better than nothing, he added to himself.
“We’ve never really been friends,” Lisa said, her voice laced in skepticism.
Brick had to work to take that jab in stride. “With all your…dates—” Brick forced the repugnant word out “—it would be nice to have a friend around, someone you’ve known for a long time, someone who knows you, someone you don’t have to impress.” He grinned. “Someone you could tell what those three stars represent.”
Lisa laughed uncertainly and shook her head. “You’re crazy.”
“C’mon,” Brick said, putting a little dare in his voice. “If I were your friend, you’d tell me, wouldn’t you?”
Lisa hesitated, looking doubtful. She cocked her head to one side, and Brick wished he could take off her sunglasses to read her eyes. She gave a sigh. “All right. The three stars mean the man likes women and children, and he’s not opposed to the general idea of marriage.”
“What about money, appearance, age and sex?”
Lisa gave a little shrug. “They’re all secondary to the other three qualities. Age and appearance can be settled on the first date, money by the second, and sex…”
Brick’s gut tightened.
“Sex would be last.”
Sex with another man would be never, if Brick had anything to do with it. He rubbed his hand over his mouth in restraint. “It sounds like a plan,” he muttered.
“It is. This book I’ve been reading says you can get married in less than two years. It talks about keeping a practical attitude and using your resources.”
The book again. “Using your resources?”
Lisa nodded. “One of the most interesting facts it reported was that many married couples are introduced by mutual friends, so the author suggested that you tell all your friends that you’re looking and ask for recommendations.”
Lisa looked at him and a strange expression crossed her face. Brick experienced an even stranger foreboding. In the back of his mind he could almost hear the cock of a gun. She leaned forward, and her sunglasses slipped again to give him a view of the complete sincerity in her eyes. Her lips curved into a slow, siren smile designed to drop a man at fifty paces. And Brick was at one and a half.
“Tell me, Brick,” she said sweetly, “can you recommend one of your friends to father my children?”
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