Heart of Gold - B.J. Daniels Page 0,1

as she thought it, she recalled the feel of Lindy’s ice-blue eyes meeting hers. Lindy had always been able to make her doubt herself. Even dead. She shivered.

Still shaking, she called her boss. She was planning to tell him she was sick and wouldn’t be in to the design company where she worked. But by the time Greg Shafer came on the line, she’d calmed down and changed her mind. She couldn’t think of anything worse than spending the day locked in her apartment alone, staring out the window at the opposite street corner, expecting the woman to reappear.

“Charlie?” Greg asked. “Is something wrong?”

“I had an accident,” she told him, buoyed by the concern in his voice and knowing that the one place she would be safe was work.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” A lie. “I’m just running a little late.”

* * *

AMANDA BARNES GROANED to herself as she watched Greg hang up his phone. “Let me guess, that was Charlie and she’s going to be late. Again.” She couldn’t help giving him an impatient look. He cut Charlie way too much slack. It made him look weak as a boss—even worse as a fiancé. “What was her excuse this time? Christmas shopping?”

“I don’t want to argue, Mandy,” he said with a sigh. “Charlie said she had an accident. She’s on her way.”

She hated when he called her Mandy with that tone of voice. It made her teeth ache. She flipped her blond hair back and stretched out her long legs, her best assets. Both had reeled Greg in, she thought with a smile. She was also a damn good office manager. Altogether they’d resulted in a huge diamond on her finger.

“Charlie is my most creative designer,” Greg was saying.

Amanda rolled her eyes. It wasn’t like she hadn’t heard this before. “She’s a flake and you know it.”

“Can I assume you got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?”

“You would know since it was your bed,” she said, lowering her voice as she felt her expression soften. She glanced at the ring he’d put on her finger recently. He’d told her that he’d been planning to wait until Christmas, but he’d disappointed her on her birthday in October when he’d given her a small box with silver earrings inside. Obviously, he’d known then that he’d better take the next step and soon or risk losing her. A few weeks ago, he’d popped the question and of course she’d said yes.

“Cut Charlie some slack,” he said now. “She’s just not a morning person. She’s an artist. Her creativity kicks in later in the day. I’m sure she—”

Just then the young woman in question arrived. Through the glass wall of his office, they watched Charlie burst through the outer office door in a flurry of flapping winter coat and scarf. She always swept in, often in a rush, always exuberant and usually running late. This morning appeared no different—except for the fact that she was later than normal.

As Charlie shrugged out of her coat and scarf, Amanda saw that she wore a bright-colored sweater that hit her small frame mid-thigh with dark leggings. Her long curly dark chestnut hair was pulled back in a high ponytail. A few errant locks had come loose and now framed her face, making her look much younger than her twenty-nine years.

Amanda didn’t have to look at Greg to know that he was smiling. Had either of them ever been that young, and so wonderfully naive and full of life? Charlie radiated an innocence and a kind of energy that she knew enchanted him. He’d told her that Charlie reminded him of summer days growing up.

This morning Charlie’s big brown eyes were wide and her complexion so pale that her freckles only looked more adorable. Amanda feared that the young woman brightened her fiancé’s days a little too much and that alone was troubling.

“She’s limping,” Greg said, frowning.

So she hadn’t been exaggerating about having an accident, Amanda thought as Charlie stopped in Greg’s office. There was a tear in the young woman’s leggings at one knee and the skin underneath was scraped. Nor was she her usual cheerful, apologetic self.

“Are you all right?” Greg asked, clearly genuinely concerned.

“I took a tumble, that’s all.” Charlie’s gaze breezed past him to Amanda and back. “I’m so sorry. My horoscope warned me not to leave the apartment. I guess I should have listened.”

Her horoscope? Amanda turned away so Charlie didn’t see her eye roll.

“I’m just glad you’re