alone now, could he? He strolled from behind the bar. “Or it could be—”
Nicole threw the bolt and opened the door on a very attractive, very ticked-off brunette wearing gold jewelry and sunglasses.
His sister, Tess.
Oh, hell.
He had a tux fitting at ten-thirty which he had just totally blown off.
Of the two women, Tess looked more surprised. But she also recovered faster. Growing up with an alcoholic mother and an abusive father did that for you. Both DeLucca kids had plenty of practice in hiding their feelings and thinking fast on their feet.
His sister stuck out her hand. “You must be Nicole. I’m Tess. Is Mark here?”
Nicole froze like one of those ice sculptures they set on the buffet tables in the Algonquin Hotel dining room. “Yes, he is. Is he expecting you?”
“He should be,” Tess said. “The rat.” She looked over Nicole’s shoulder at Mark. “You are not getting out of this. I don’t care how uncomfortable it makes you or what you think of this marriage. If you hurry, they can still squeeze us in.”
Oh, yeah. Tess was one tough cookie, all right. Only he knew what a softie, what a sucker she was.
He owed her. Always had.
And maybe now was a good time to prove to his blond boss—hell, to prove to himself—that he could walk away at any time.
“Okay,” he said to his sister. “I’m gone,” he told Nicole.
“But—”
Looking into those wide blue eyes, he felt a very unfamiliar and totally unwelcome need to explain. To apologize. To reassure.
He squashed it.
Nicole Reed didn’t need him or his explanations.
Besides, Joe would be along in a few minutes to help her open.
“I work four until close,” he said. “Maybe I’ll see you then.”
“It was nice meeting you,” Tess added.
He followed her out to her car.
Nicole folded back the grimy shutters, watching through the window as Mark drove off with the gorgeous brunette with red nails and attitude.
Things could be worse. At least this time she knew what kind of man he was before her heart got involved.
Mark DeLucca was not the type of guy who could make her happy. He was a player. Like Charles. Like Zack. Like every other guy who had ever strung her along and used her. Only this guy wasn’t even bothering to string her along. He had enough women on his line already. That Kathleen Turner wannabe on the phone. The exotic-looking brunette in the car.
Nicole couldn’t compete.
She shouldn’t want to compete.
Her relationship with Mark was strictly professional, employer to employee.
She slid into a booth, kneeling on the bench seat to unlatch the heavy shutters.
Employee. Right.
Only she hadn’t been in the kitchen flirting with Louis. She hadn’t quizzed Joe about his personal life or blurted out the pathetic story of married-Ted-the-insurance-sales-man-and-his-three-children to Deanna.
Oh, no. Nicole tugged at the dirty shutters. Because that wouldn’t be humiliating enough. No, she had to go and expose herself to Mark DeLucca instead.
Outside the windows, the sky was overcast. The lake reflected shards of light like an open drawer of tarnished flatware. Nicole closed her eyes and rested her forehead against the cool glass.
She was such a loser.
“Miss Reed? Nicole?” It was Joe, coming through the open front door. She’d forgotten to lock up. “Is Mark here?”
Strictly professional, Nicole reminded herself. She scrambled around on the seat.
“No, he, um, left.” Oh, that was smooth.
Joe’s cheerful, chubby face creased. “His car’s our front.”
“Yes. He got a ride.” She gritted her teeth. “From Tess somebody.”
“Oh, yeah?” Joe grinned. “Wonder if she roped him into helping with the wedding.”
Oh, God. It hurt. Nicole hadn’t expected it to hurt. Not this soon. Not this much. She barely knew the man. She didn’t even like him.
“I think so. Yes,” she said stiffly.
Joe moved behind the bar. “Hard to believe they’re getting married in just three weeks.”
“Very hard,” Nicole agreed.
Mark didn’t look like a soon-to-be-married man. He didn’t act like an engaged man.
All her instincts rejected the possibility that he belonged to another woman.
Of course, her instincts generally sucked.
“I’m sure they’ll be very happy together,” she said. “They seem very—” sexy, careless, confident, all the things she was not and never would be “—well suited.”
“You know Chief Denko?”
Nicole blinked. “Who?”
“Jarek Denko. The chief of police. Tess’s fiancé.”
“Wait. I thought—” she took a careful breath “—I thought Mark was her fiancé.”
Joe laughed. “Mark? Nah. Mark is Tess’s brother. She’s making him give her away at the wedding.”
Relief bloomed in Nicole’s chest. She was almost dizzy with it.
The brunette was Mark’s sister. Mark wasn’t engaged.
Maybe just this once her instincts weren’t entirely wrong.
Tess pulled into the lot beside Mark’s Jeep Cherokee. Her wiper blades shuddered and streaked against the windshield.
“Thanks,” she said. “I hope your boss isn’t going to be too upset with you for taking off.”
Mark grinned. “Maybe you should write me a note.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Tess said tartly. “When are you going to get married and let some other woman take care of you?”
His last experience with a married woman hadn’t left him feeling cared for at all. But Mark didn’t tell his sister that. He never talked to anybody about that.
He teased, instead. “Don’t
