Free Enchanted Dreams by Nancy Madore Page A

with keen interest. But this was really no surprise, she reminded herself. Hadn't she predicted this very outcome that first night?
    "You're thinking that this is a sign that I am beginning to do the guy thing and lose interest in you."
    "What I was thinking was that I wish you would change the subject."
    "You see!" he exclaimed. "That's what I mean. If this didn't really upset you, your eyes would be flashing with excitement right now while you pointed out how right you were."
    Maryanne was momentarily taken aback. He was perfectly right. And she was impressed with him all over again in spite of what had happened. She sighed. It was so disconcerting to know that as she grew more attracted to him, he would only grow less attracted to her. The waitress came and they ordered drinks.
    Maryanne was becoming more composed.
    "Okay," she conceded, pulling her thoughts together. "Although I am hardly upset, as you suggest, I will admit that I was thinking that the disenchantment has already begun. Just as I predicted that it would. Just as I knew it would. I never for an instant believed it would be otherwise. So why should I be surprised or upset?"
    "All because I looked at another woman?"
    She shrugged. "That and other things."
    He looked at her sideways, confused. "Other things?"
    She was careful to phrase her words so that she didn't give her true feelings away. She would discuss it with him—she found that she was intrigued by the prospect of doing so—but she would never let him see how much he had hurt her. She could never let him know that she'd been fooled by him, even for a single moment. That would be the worst thing she could do.
    "When I met you here tonight, every detail of our meeting was precisely the same as it was the first time, right down to how late I was." Except that I worked ten times harder to impress you tonight, she added to herself. "I planned it that way so that I could compare how you behaved tonight with how you behaved back then. Suffice it to say, you were more considerate, attentive, and much more intrigued with me when I was a stranger. So yes, I would say that it's already starting."
    He stared at her, momentarily speechless. In the meantime, their drinks arrived. He sipped his thoughtfully.
    "Maybe this…thing that happens with guys isn't what you think. Maybe it seems one way to you, but that's not the way it really is. I know, for example, that I have been thinking about you nonstop all day. Every minute that I waited for you in the front of this restaurant tonight was pure agony. My feelings for you are stronger than a month ago, so the only thing I can think is that somehow my behavior is not showing you how I really feel."
    "That may be true," she said. "But what does it matter? I'm not a mind reader, so your behavior, not what you're thinking, is what has an effect on me." She suddenly remembered the way his eyes had moved over the woman earlier. It was precisely how they had traveled over her the first time he saw her. And now, for all of her efforts that day, he had yet to really look at her.
    "Well, I'll just have to be more aware of it and try harder," he said. He took another sip from his drink. But he was suddenly anxious. "Will you allow me that—the chance to become a better man?"
    She felt a tug at her heartstrings in spite of her unhappiness. Yet she couldn't help wondering why men clung so tenaciously to women when their instincts were telling them to let go. And she couldn't help being irritated with him, either. Why was he so intent on selling her something he had no ability to deliver? This could have been so much more fun if he had just allowed her to remain indifferent. But he had to push her for more and now she had stupidly allowed herself to fall for him. She found his disenchantment utterly despicable. And the worst part was, her disenchantment was the one thing that had the power to intrigue him all over again!
    She was once again struck by the utter hopelessness of