At the Drop of a Hat Read Online Free PDF Page A

meal was too preposterous for words.
    â€œI think I’m offended,” I said. I held out my hand to Harrison. “I’ll take that bet.”
    The grin he gave me was pure mischief, and the feel of his large man hand closing around my smaller one made me go just the tiniest bit weak in the knees. I locked them in place, refusing to be swayed by any misplaced surge of hormones. It was only natural to react to a man since my libido had been on lockdown for longer than I could ever remember.
    â€œExcellent,” he said. He looked as if he thought victory was his, and then I realized that an intimate dinner for two was a victory for him in that it moved us into an area that was almost date-like. For me, it was a loss because it was going to test my strength of character on the whole staying single thing, which frankly was proving to be more challenging than I’d anticipated.
    Before I let go of his hand, I looked him right in the eye and said, “Just to clarify, the loser makes dinner, at least three courses plus dessert.”
    â€œAgreed,” he said, still smiling.
    And then I lowered the boom. “For all five of us on a date to be determined.”
    â€œWhat?” Harrison gaped, but it was too late. Andre and Nick cheered the suggestion, and Viv looked at me with a knowing smile. Yes, I suspect she knew exactly what I was up to, avoiding being alone with Harrison for as long as I was able.
    â€œYou’re not backing out now, Harry, are you?” I asked.
    He narrowed his eyes at me. “No. I accept the wager.”
    We shook on it and he released my hand. I missed the warmth of his fingers against mine immediately.
    â€œSince that is settled,” Nick said. “I do believe it is time for dinner to be served.”
    Nick sashayed back to the kitchen while Harrison fell into step with Vivian and I walked beside Andre to the dining room table, which was already set with mismatched cobalt-blue-and-white Wedgewood plates and bowls. Andre had a passion for Wedgewood, but he bought miscellaneous plates instead of a whole set because he felt it was more visually interesting.
    Looking at the blue-and-silver accents on the table, I noted that the place settings went well with Nick’s Brierley Hill Crystal. I always felt like more of a grown-up when I dined at Nick and Andre’s. Left on our own, Viv and I usually did takeout and ate in front of our television, and that was only if Viv wasn’t caught up in some creative endeavor which left me eating alone.
    I had been watching my cousin over the past few weeks, looking for any signs of interest outside of hats or our shop. As far as I could tell, she had none. Oh, there were designer friends she created hats for, and she had a loyal customer base that she was friendly with, but there was no one of any significance in my cousin’s life. This disturbed me. Partly because I felt guilty for not noticing sooner and partly because it wasn’t like Viv.
    Viv had known from the time we were kids that she was going to follow Mim’s lead into the millinery business. She was a natural at it, creating hats that were in demand from Paris runways to the Royal Family. Her work had been featured in fashion magazines and the wait to get a hat for Ascot from her was three years long.
    Despite all that, Viv had always managed to have a life. She’d had friends in the neighborhood and friends from school. She was always a little flighty, being a creative genius, and disappeared from time to time without telling anyone, usually on some crazy quest for feathers or lace or hat forms, but still she had relationships outside the business. Since I had gotten back to London four months ago, however, I had seen no evidence of any sort of social life for my cousin.
    She never talked about friends or men or anything really. I was worried about her, and while I tried not to badger her about her lack of a social life, I was definitely keeping