Free Stranger in the Moonlight by Jude Deveraux

was the perfect height for him. Her white blouse clung to her, and the black pants curved around her bottom half.
    His silence at her hint made her tell herself that Travis really didn’t know how to act around a woman. “So what are you planning to do today?” she asked.
    This morning, Travis’s first thought had been to call his mother and tell her he was in Edilean. He should arrange to meet with her somewhere private where they could talk about the divorce, the man she wanted to marry, and what she planned to do with her life. He should then spend the next three weeks getting ready for the divorce case that would, no doubt, make all the newspapers.
    But as he looked at Kim, he tried to think of a reason to take as long as he could to postpone all the bad that was coming. “What were you going to do today?”
    “Church if I got out of bed early enough.” She looked at the clock. She still had time to get ready and go, but that would mean leaving Travis behind. She thought it was entirely possible that when she returned, he’d be gone. He’d probably talk to his mother, be reassured that Joe Layton was a good man, then Travis would go back to . . . to wherever he lived. To whomever he lived with but wasn’t married to.
    She searched her mind for a reason to make him stay—and for her to be with him. “I’m sure you want to see your mother, but maybe you should see Mr. Layton’s new hardware store before you do.”
    Travis smiled as though she’d said something brilliant. “I think that’s a great idea. You can tell a lot about a man when you see where he works.” Which is why Travis’s office had no personal items in it, he thought but didn’t say. “Would you mind going with me? If you’re too busy to go, you could draw a map. I could—”
    “I would love to!” she said. “We’ll take my car. Could you excuse me for a little bit? I have to make a phone call first, then I’ll be ready to go.”
    The minute Kim closed her bedroom door, she called Carla, her assistant.
    “Hello?” Carla asked, obviously half-asleep.
    “It’s me,” Kim whispered as loudly as she could. “I need you to finish the Johnson rings today.”
    “What? I can’t hear you.”
    Kim went into her closet and shut the door. “Carla, please wake up. I need you to finish a couple of rings for me today.”
    “Kim, it’s Sunday. I was at the wedding until after midnight. I drank too much.”
    “I did too,” Kim said, “but those rings need to be done today. The wedding is tomorrow.”
    “But you were going to do those and—”
    “I know,” Kim said. “I’m a rotten, lazy boss, but something’s come up. An emergency. I need for you to come over here to do them. They’ve been cast. They just need sanding and polishing.”
    Carla groaned. “That’s hours of work, and it’s Sunday.”
    “Time and a half.”
    Carla was silent.
    “Okay,” Kim said. “Double time. I just need them done today. All right?”
    “Sure. Fine,” Carla said. “But I want Friday the eighteenth off and double time for today.”
    Kim glared at the phone. Oh how she used to dream of being the boss, of setting her own hours, and having employees to follow her orders! “All right,” Kim said. “You know where the key to the garage is, so come over here and get it done.”
    “Do you have a hot date?” Carla asked. “Dave planning to pop the question? You design your own ring yet?”
    Kim wasn’t about to tell Carla about Travis. “I have to go. And remind me to order more rouge tomorrow.”
    “For your face or the jewelry?”
    Kim grimaced. Carla’s humor often left people groaning. “See you tomorrow,” she said, then hung up. Minutes later, she was in the living room. Travis was in the big navy blue chair with the matching ottoman and reading the Sunday paper. Jecca had chosen that chair. “It’s for the man in your life,” she’d said.
    “Which one?” Kim had asked sarcastically.
    “The one that’s going to come along