next to the noisy kitchen.
“Instead of enjoying a quiet break,” he said, eyeing her critically, “you look as if you just heard terrifying news.” His tone was only half kidding. “Would you like me to get in touch with Hawk and tell him you’ve changed your mind?”
Yes. The word immediately slammed into her mind. But Kate gritted her teeth, damned if she would chicken out.
She gave her head a quick shake. “No. I’ll confess I’m a little nervous.” She tried on a smile; it didn’t fit. “But I have no intention of backing out of the date. I’m going to go and I’ll enjoy the evening, as well.” What a liar, she chided herself.
Vic’s slip tightened as if to suppress a smile. She could tell he knew exactly how ambiguous she felt about spending the evening with Hawk…or with any other man, come to that.
Fortunately, Vic changed the subject and Kate managed to maintain her composure until quitting time.
Monday, 7:25 p.m.
Kate stood next to the hostess station, chatting with Bella. She was early. She had arrived at the restaurant soon after seven. She was also nervous. She felt foolish about her anxiety, but there it was, like it or not.
Bella was seating customers. Kate was casting quick glances at the doorway, chiding herself every time she did, which by now was too often.
Kate glanced up as Bella returned to the station, just in time to see the young woman’s face light up with a bright smile.
“Hi, Hawk,” Bella said, quickening her step to launch herself into his open arms.
For an instant, a heartbeat, Kate felt the strangest emotion. She couldn’t describe it exactly, but then, she didn’t want to examine it, either, refusing to even think the word envy.
She allowed another word into her mind. Breathtaking. Hawk looked absolutely breathtaking. This evening he was dressed casually elegant in dark gray slacks, a crisp white shirt, no tie and a navy blazer.
Kate was relieved that she had taken extra time with her own attire. She had chosen a frilly-collared, long-sleeved sage blouse, a long, swirly nutmeg skirt and three-inch heels. While the days were still warm and even sometimes hot in October, the evenings dropped into the fifties and even the forties, so she had brought the same smooth fleece shawl that she had worn at work the previous night.
Bella swung out of Hawk’s arms as a party of two entered. Hawk switched his dark gaze to Kate.
“Hi.” His voice was soft, enticing.
Kate had to swallow before she could manage a rusty-sounding response. “Hi.”
He slid a long glance the length of her body. “You look lovely.”
She swallowed again. “Thank you. “Y-you look lovely, too.” Good grief, Kate thought, feeling foolish. Had she really said that?
Hawk strolled to the hostess station, a smile flickering on his temptingly masculine lips. “Hungry?”
Watching his lips move, Kate felt as if the bottom had fallen out of her stomach. And in that moment she was hungrier than she’d ever been in her adult life. Yet the last thing on her rattled mind was food.
“Yes.” She tried to unobtrusively wet her parched lips. “Are you?”
His eyes narrowing, he watched the slow movement of the tip of her tongue. “You have no idea,” he murmured, reaching out a hand to take hers.
“W-where are we going?” Kate felt a flash of annoyance, not at Hawk, but at herself for the brief stutter again. Damn, she didn’t stutter. Never had, not even briefly.
Hawk grinned. “Right here. Vic’s creating something special for us.”
“Here? We’re staying here for dinner?” Kate had to laugh. “Why?”
His brows drew together in a dark frown. “You don’t like Vic’s cooking?”
“I love Vic’s cooking,” she protested. “It’s just, well, I thought you would want to…”
“What I want, Kate,” he declared, “is for you to feel comfortable with me, and I figured you would here.” He smiled, then added, “With Vic to defend you.”
“Right,” Vic drawled, leading them to the same corner table for two that Hawk had been given a few days before. “As if I could defend her against you. I’m a chef, not a warrior.”
“Cute. You’re the one who works with knives.” Hawk shot Vic a wry look as he held a chair for Kate. “Wine?” he asked, folding his long body onto the chair opposite her.
Pondering their odd exchange, Kate nodded. “Yes, thank you.” She glanced at Vic. “What do you recommend with the meal? White or red?”
“White for you,” Vic said. “I think nothing too dry, nothing too sweet. You’re both at my mercy with the meal tonight.”
Hawk smiled dryly. “Right. I’ll have the red. Room temperature.
“You know each other very well, don’t you?” Kate said as Vic retreated to his kitchen.
“Hmm.” Hawk nodded, taking a sip of his water. “We roomed together at college.”
“Did you serve in the military?” Her question, seemingly coming out of nowhere, brought his eyebrows together in a brief frown.
“Yeah, after college I served in the air force. What made you ask that?”
Kate shrugged. “Vic called you a warrior, so I assumed that’s what he was referring to.”
His brows smoothed as he gave a soft chuckle. “I flew a Black Hawk chopper, but that wasn’t what Vic was referring to,” he said. “The warrior reference was to my heritage. You see, my father is Scottish, but my mother was a full-blooded Apache Indian.”
“Was?”
“Yes, my mother died giving birth to my younger sister, Catriona.” His smile was bittersweet. “I was two and never got to know her. All I have of her are pictures of her lovely face.”
“I’m sorry,” Kate said, at a loss for any other words of sympathy.
The bitter tinge vanished, leaving only the sweet. “Kate, it was a long time ago. I’m thirty-six years old. Though I’d have loved to have gotten to know her, I’m over it.”
Somehow Kate doubted his assurance, but she didn’t push. “Catriona. That’s different,” she said, changing the subject.
“It’s Scottish for Catherine.”
“What about your father?”
“He, with help from my mother’s parents, raised me and Cat. After college I joined the air force. And after Cat graduated two years later, she moved to New York, and then Dad moved back to Scotland, where he owns several business holdings.” A server appeared and Hawk took his glass. “He and his second
