not wearing a ring on her left ring finger.” Hawk lifted his brows. “Is she attached?”
Vic shook his head. “No.”
“Why do I have the feeling that if I said I wanted to ask her to have dinner one evening with me, you’d tell me she’ll refuse?”
“Because she very likely would.” Vic gave him a half smile. “She always does.”
“She doesn’t like men?” Hawk felt a sharp pang of disappointment.
“She used to,” Vic answered cryptically.
Hawk’s eyes narrowed. “Are you going to explain that murky statement, or am I going to have to call you out?”
Vic grinned. “Pistols at dawn, eh?”
“No…” Hawk drawled. “My foot in your rear right here in front of all your customers. So you’d better start explaining.”
“There was a man…” Vic began.
“Isn’t there always?” Hawk said in disgust.
“The same as there’s always a woman with bitter men,” Vic said. “Isn’t there?”
“I wouldn’t know.” It was not a boast. Hawk had never been in love. He had no experience of how a relationship gone sour could rip a person up.
“You’re a lucky man.” Vic sighed. “Well, Kate knows in spades. She was head over heels with a guy, enough to let him move in with her after they got engaged.”
“He dumped her for another woman?” Hawk asked at the thought of any sane man dumping Kate.
“No, worse than that. Not long after he moved in with her, he became abusive.”
Hawk stiffened, his features like chiseled rock. “He what?” His voice was low, icy with menace.
“Not physically,” Vic said. “Verbally, which is just as bad, if not worse. Bruises heal pretty quickly. Emotional scars take a lot longer.”
“The son of a bitch.”
“That’s my take on him.”
Hawk was quiet a moment. “I’m still thinking of asking her to dinner one night.” He frowned at Vic. “What do you think?”
“Well…” Now Vic was quiet a moment. He shrugged. “It can’t hurt to give it a try.”
“You wouldn’t mind?”
“Why would I mind?” Vice shook his head. “I think it would do Kate good to get out…She hasn’t been since she tossed the creep out.” He grinned at Hawk. “And I know you’d never do anything to hurt her.”
“How do you know that?”
Vic’s grin grew sinister. “Because if you did, I’d have to kill you.”
Hawk roared with laughter. “Get outta here and get me something to eat…and make it good.”
Standing, Vic leveled a stern look at Hawk. “You know damn well everything I cook is good. Excellent, even.”
“I know,” Hawk admitted. “So, go cook.”
Moments later he was served a glass of red wine. Soon after the wine, the server set a steaming plate of pasta before him, with a short, folded note on the side. Hawk opened the note and chuckled. Vic had written just seven words.
Kate’s days off are Monday and Tuesday.
Chapter Two
Kate didn’t have time to think of anything except greeting and seating customers for over an hour. When she again returned to her station, she was both disconcertingly disappointed and pleased.
She needed a breathing break. What Kate didn’t need were the thoughts of the attractive Hawk McKenna, which immediately flooded her mind.
He was just another man, she told herself. And yet he invaded her mind and senses the minute activity around her slowed. Shaking her head, as if she could physically shake the thoughts aside, she busied herself by fussing with the station. She straightened the large menus and made a production out of studying the names not crossed off on the long list of reservations. The few parties left on the list were not due to arrive for a while.
Sighing, she glanced up from the list, right into the dark eyes of the very man she had been trying her best not to think about.
She managed a professional smile. “How was your dinner, Mr. McKenna?”
He gave her a slight frown. “I thought we had agreed on Hawk and Kate.”
“Okay. How was your dinner, Hawk?”
“Superb, as Vic’s dinners usually are.”
Kate felt the effects of his breathtaking smile all the way down to her curling toes.
“That’s true,” she managed to articulate around the sudden tightness in her throat. “Vic is a very talented chef. One of the best.”
“I know.” He nodded, a shadow of his smile lingering at the corners of his too-attractive mouth. “He was taught by another very talented chef…” He paused for effect. “His mother.”
Kate laughed. It felt good to laugh with him. Too good. She quickly sobered. “I know,” she said, sneaking a glance around him in hopes of finding a waiting patron. The entryway was empty.
“You expecting someone special?” he asked, obviously not missing her swift look behind him.
“No.” She shook her head. “Why?”
Hawk studied her a moment. Kate felt strangely trapped, as if pinned to a board like a butterfly or some other species of insects.
“You’re afraid of me, aren’t you?” He was frowning again, this time in consternation.
“Afraid? Me?” She gave a quick and hard shake of her head. “That’s ridiculous.” She raked a slow look down the length of him, the long length of him. “Should I have a reason to fear you?” Kate was babbling, and she knew it. She just didn’t know how to stop. “Do you mean me harm?”
“You’re right. That is ridiculous, Kate.” There was a note, a bit angry, a bit sad, in his soft voice. “I mean no harm to any woman. Why would you even think that?”
Kate bit her lip and closed her eyes. “I…I don’t know…I…”
“Yes, you do.” He cut her off. He drew a deep breath.
“That bastard really did a number on you, didn’t he?” His voice was low, as if to make sure no one could overhear him.
Kate froze, inside and out. How did he know? Who told him? Vic, it had to have been Vic. The mere thought of Jeff, his nasty temper and his accusations
