Free Long Time Coming by Sandra Brown

spring formals already. Besides, I don't have many customers who wear a size two. It was dumb of me to buy it in such a small size. I'm glad to sell it at any price."
    So Marnie had purchased the dress and was now modeling it for her son before her escort arrived. She was as jittery as a girl on prom night.
    "I just wish I had more, you know, up here," she said regretfully as her hand made a sweep across her chest.
    "Really Mom, whether or not a girl has boobs isn't a big deal to guys anymore."
    She met David's eyes in the mirror. "Now try repeating that with a straight face."
    He was grinning sheepishly when the doorbell pealed. "Truly, Mom, you look great!" he shouted over his shoulder as he bounded out of the room and raced for the stairs.
    She had loyal David's admiration, but what would Law, who was accustomed to escorting much younger, much curvier women, think of the uptight prude tonight?
    He looked positively scrumptious. Better than Death by Chocolate, her favorite dessert.
    He was wearing a military tuxedo. The epaulets enhanced his broad shoulders. The short white jacket hugged his narrow waist. And what the dark slacks did for his buns was as sinful as asking for extra almonds on Death by Chocolate.
    He whistled as she came down the stairs. "Doesn't she look terrific?" David asked.
    "Not bad," Law drawled in a voice that made her exposed knees go weak and her exposed décolletage flutter.
    "We'll be back around … when, Law?"
    "Don't wait up," Law told David with a broad wink.
    "I won't leave the porch light on either," he said.
    "You will so!" Marnie sternly instructed. "Leave all the outdoor lights on and keep the doors locked. Don't answer the door unless—"
    "Mom!" he said, rolling his eyes ceilingward. "I'm not a kid, you know."
    "I know." She placed her hand on his arm and gave it an affectionate squeeze. "G'night."
    "G'night, David." Law escorted Marnie out the door and down the walkway.
    "Say, Law?"
    "Yeah?" He stopped, turned. David motioned him back. They had a brief whispered exchange before David stepped back into the house and latched the door as he'd been told.
    Law was grinning as he helped Marnie into the low seat of the Porsche. "What was that about?" she asked when he slid behind the wheel.
    "Man talk."
    "I want to know."
    "No, you don't," he said, chuckling.
    "Yes, I do."
    "You sure?"
    "Yes."
    He pulled up at the stop sign at the end of their block and looked at her across the console. "He told me that if I wanted to take you to bed I had his permission. He promised not to punch me out."

    * * *
    "Go ahead, try it," Law was urging her to eat a raw oyster.
    "They're repulsive. No thanks."
    He tipped the shell to his lips and swallowed the slimy thing whole. She shuddered. He laughed. "They're good for you, supposed to increase your virility."
    "That would be lost on me, since I'm not virile in the first place."
    "I noticed that," he said, his eyes taking in the low-cut top of her dress.
    Blushing, she tried to distract his fixed stare. "Better watch it. Suzette will get jealous."
    "Who?"
    Marnie nodded in the direction of the sultry voluptuous blonde. She was wearing a red leather mini-dress and decorating the arm of a recently divorced NASA administrator.
    "Oh, her," Law remarked indifferently, bringing his head back around to Marnie. "She's just a groupie."
    "I was talking with her earlier. She says you stood her up last week."
    "That's right."
    "Heartless jerk."
    "It was your fault."
    "Why are all your recent travails with women my fault?" she asked.
    "I had a date with her the day I met David. I didn't feel much like going out that night."
    "I see."
    "You don't have to smile about it," he grumbled, noticing that her lips had curved upward. In fact, since picking her up, he had divided his attention between her mouth and her neckline in such a way as to make her stomach jumpy.
    "It gives us peons enormous pleasure to watch the mighty topple," she teased. "How'd you get to know Suzette