“She’s still my dream,” Emma admitted with a chuckle and then snapped her fingers. “Say, did you bring any work home with you? Anything you’d like me to display? I have a room for local artists, but especially for you, I’d always find a special spot.”

“Maybe. I did bring some work with me. I figured I’d be sitting with my grandfather a lot, so I might as well set up an easel while I was home… In the meantime, what’s new with you? Married now, kids or anything?”

“Engaged. To Reed Kelly.”

“You’re kidding! Reed, the horse breeder? The racehorses-”

“Yup, that’s him.”

“He was older than us in school, so I didn’t know him well, but I always thought he was such a great guy-”

“He is, he is…” Yet Emma felt a sudden odd itch in the middle of her back. Nothing painful. Just as if a mosquito had suddenly nailed her.

She purposefully ignored it and talked a few more minutes with Mary until she had to leave, and heaven knew Emma had mountains of work still waiting for her. Messages had accumulated in her office-three from her mother. A fund-raiser her mother wanted to attend, a ribbon cutting on a new boutique, a reception for a visiting senator. Nothing Emma wanted to do. All, she suspected, that she’d get roped into. Josh was framing a set of canvases in the back room-stealing her favorite job, or so she teased him.

She’d just run outside to accept a delivery from UPS when she spotted Garrett hiking down the walk of the real-estate office across the way. He turned in the direction of her gallery-probably because his car was parked on Maple-yet he seemed to glance in her direction almost instinctively.

His smile was immediate. His stride quickened. By the time he’d crossed the street, she had the oddest sensation that he’d been taking her in, head to toe. As a boy, he’d always had those bedroom eyes-but teenage boys always had their minds on one thing. It was completely different feeling assessed-and appreciated-by a man who knew women, who knew how much fun-and how dangerous-the right kind of chemistry could be.