Free Yesterday's Love by Sherryl Woods Page B

sign of remorse. Instead, to his absolute fury, her eyes were sparkling with childlike excitement. His breath caught in his throat. Her sheer delight was almost contagious.
    â€œGuess what?” she asked breathlessly, oblivious to his foul-tempered mood. She’d had the most wonderful morning. It had made her forget all about the uncomfortable evening she’d spent under the hopeful eyes of her parents. Today’s sky had been a shimmering, cloudless blue. The recently tilled and planted fields were turning green and had the most marvelous, earthy smell. It had been absolute heaven to drive along and look at the change that spring had brought to the landscape. It had been all she could do to resist the urge to stop and pick wildflowers, but an image of Tate’s disapproving scowl had kept her speeding along the country roads.
    â€œWhere have you been?” Tate practically shouted at her, making her wince, even though she’d been half expecting such a tirade.
    She decided it would be better to ignore the question and his tone. He’d obviously had a bad morning, but, once he’d heard about hers, that grumpy mood would vanish.
    â€œWait until I tell you about this terrific new antique shop I found,” she announced enthusiastically. “The owner used to be a teacher, just like me, and he spent his summers driving around the country hunting for antiques. Now that he’s retired, he decided to open a shop in his home. And he had the most marvelous old dresser. It’s a mess right now. It must have fifteen layers of paint on it, but the construction is solid—I think it’s cherry—and it has the most beautiful beveled mirror. I’m having it picked up tomorrow. I can hardly wait to get to work on it. Oh, Tate, wait until you see it.”
    She gazed up at him expectantly, her smile wavering ever so slightly as she noticed that his scowl had not vanished as she’d hoped. “Is something wrong? I thought you’d be excited.”
    â€œYou know I don’t give a damn about antique dressers and beveled mirrors,” he snapped. “When you make an appointment for two o’clock, you’re supposed to arrive at two o’clock. Not two-forty-five.”
    â€œOhhh. So that’s it. Well, I’m here now, aren’t I?” she said brightly, flashing him another brilliant smile and sitting down. The man definitely needed to get his priorities in order. In fact that was what had troubled her all last night. He was so single-minded. He didn’t have an impulsive bone in his very attractive body.
    To make matters worse, he fit in so neatly with her family and, much as she loved them, they weren’t wildly impulsive either. More than anything they wanted to see her settled down with someone like Tate. If her parents had their way, they’d offer him a dowry just to reassure themselves that he’d take her on. She’d seen that thank-goodness-we’ve finally-found-someone look in their eyes even if Tate had been oblivious to it. He’d been so busy talking about strip zoning or something equally boring that he hadn’t even noticed her mother practically measuring him for a tuxedo.
    â€œVictoria,” Tate began sternly, then sighed with frustration when he realized there was nothing he could say that would change her. “Oh, never mind. Let’s get this over with.”
    But instead of proceeding in the brisk, businesslike manner he had in mind, Tate found that attempting to conduct a serious interview with Victoria was like trying to keep a toy train on a crooked track. She kept veering off in crazy, unexpected directions that at first infuriated, then delighted him. He listened raptly to one of her wild stories about leading her entire class of students in an all-night sit-in in the school cafeteria to give them a firsthand experience in Thoreau’s concept of civil disobedience.
    â€œWhat were you