shot a look of disbelief at her sister. “Are you joking? He has to be the sexiest man alive! Well, at least in the state of Texas!”
“We live in a mighty big state, Sophie. Just how would you describe a sexy man? Would you know one if you saw one?”
Momentarily ignoring Olivia’s barbed questions, Sophie snatched several pieces of clothing from the closet and carried them over to a king-sized bed.
“Apparently you need a lesson in identifying a sexy hunk from the regular crowd,” Sophie told her. “He’s tall, dark haired, has a killer smile and walks with just enough swag to let a woman know he’s full of confidence.”
“Hmmp. You mean with just enough conceit to let us know he’s struck on himself.”
Sophie glanced over to see Olivia shaking her head with disgust. Her sister’s cynical attitude irked her and saddened her at the same time. With gently waving hair that was a much darker brown than Sophie’s and beautiful features to match, her older sister could attract any man she wanted, but so far she viewed men and marriage as something worse than a chronic disease.
“Why do you have to be so jaded?” Sophie asked. “I wish now I’d never told you about my plans to go after Thom. It’s obvious you don’t understand how I feel.”
With a rueful sigh, Olivia pushed herself out of the chair and walked over to Sophie. “You’re right, I don’t understand. So why don’t you tell me how you feel about Thom?”
In an effort to gauge her sister’s sincerity, Sophie looked into Olivia’s brown eyes that were incredibly similar to her own.
“Do you honestly want to know?” Sophie asked. “Or are you just patronizing me?”
“I honestly want to know.” She reached over and plucked a black knit dress from the pile of clothing on the bed. “I need to understand why a young, beautiful woman like you feels the need to change yourself just to snag a man. If you have to be someone you’re not in order to make him like you, then you’re deluding yourself that it will ever work.”
Deflated by Olivia’s negative viewpoint, Sophie sank onto the bed. “I’ve had my eye on him for a long time,” Sophie told her. “And the more I’ve watched him, the more I’m sure he was put on this earth to be my one true love.”
Olivia let out a loud, mocking groan, then immediately plopped a hand over her mouth. “Sorry. I couldn’t help it.”
Sophie turned her misty gaze on a far corner of the room and swallowed hard. Not one of her seven legitimate siblings believed she was mature enough to take on a serious relationship with a man, much less think about marriage or a family. They all viewed her as the baby, the one offspring of Charlotte and Gerald Robinson who had been so sheltered, it would take years for her to grow up and acquire a head full of wisdom. Sometimes she even wondered how she’d gotten her job at Robinson Tech. Was it because she was well trained for the job, or because her father was the boss?
“Sure. I know. It all sounds silly to you,” Sophie mumbled.
“Oh, Sophie, don’t be so defensive.” Easing down next to her, Olivia wrapped an arm around Sophie’s shoulders. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I don’t think you grasp yet what love is. And I don’t want you to get hurt while you’re learning.”
Blinking at the tears stinging her eyes, Sophie looked directly at her sister. “I’ll tell you one thing. I know what love isn’t,” she said in a brittle tone. “It isn’t like this sham between our parents! Furthermore, I’d stay a spinster for the rest of my life if it meant avoiding the sort of marriage our mother has endured over the years.”
“Sophie!” Olivia scolded. “How can you say that? Dad has given Mother and all of us kids anything and everything we could possibly want.”
“So in other words, you’re saying Mother stays with Dad because of his money and this.” Sophie waved her arm, indicating the spacious room with its extravagant furnishings. “This high-class lifestyle he can provide her.”
Frowning, Olivia tossed the black dress back onto the bed, then looked toward the door as though she feared their mother might walk in at any moment. “That’s an awful thing to say, Sophie!” she said in a hushed tone. “Mother stays with Dad because she loves him!”
“Really? How could that be when she and the whole world know that Dad has had numerous affairs? You’re telling me that love can actually exist under those conditions?”
“Of course I am,” Olivia insisted. “Why else would she stay if she didn’t love him?”
Sophie had been asking herself that very question for some time now, and the more she did, the more she considered the idea that their mother might be hiding something from the whole family. But since that was only speculation, she was hardly going to mention her suspicions to Olivia. And she definitely wasn’t going to comment about their father anymore tonight. In Olivia’s eyes, Gerald Robinson could do little wrong. She’d chosen to forgive and forget about his philandering. Probably because Olivia happened to be one of their father’s favorites and he doted on her even more than he did Sophie.
Instead she switched the conversation back to her dream man.
“Thom is handsome and dynamic,” Sophie told her. “And I plan to make him mine by Valentine’s Day.”
“Exactly what does your plan entail?”
Sophie walked over to the cheval mirror and twisted her hair into a loose knot atop her head. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to change who I am. I’m only going to tweak the outside a bit. Maybe some highlights in my hair or some new clothes. Some sexy knee-high boots might do the trick.”
“And when you do catch his attention? Then what?”
Sophie smiled confidently at Olivia’s image in the mirror. “Then he’ll begin to look at all of me. Not just the outside.”
With a rueful shake of her head, Olivia warned, “You are headed for disaster, my dear sister. Thom Nichols wants two things from a woman. Sex and money. He’s hardly interested in finding the love of a lifetime.”
Sophie’s lips pressed into an angry line as she turned to face her sister. “Go ahead and be cynical and negative. Do your best to make me look foolish just because I want a man to love and for him to love me!”
Olivia threw up her hands in a gesture of surrender. “I give up. I can see this is something you’re going to have to figure out for yourself. And far be it from me to ruin your quest for love.”
“You’ll see,” Sophie countered with conviction. “By Valentine’s Day I’m going to have my man.”
“I hope you do get the right man—for you, that is. And I hope by Valentine’s Day you’ll begin to see the whole picture. Presently, this crush you have on Thom is giving you tunnel vision.”
Sophie frowned with confusion. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“The only man you see in front of you is Thom. You might allow yourself to look around a bit. You might find out that Mr. Right is someone else.”
Sophie scoffed. “I’m not shopping for high heels. I know what I want when I see it. I don’t
