Luxury Model Wife by Adele Downs

guilty.
    “Maybe someday I’ll be able to talk about it.” She needed to forgive herself and let go. She’d been a good wife to James and he’d been wonderful to her. He’d entrusted her with his legacy and she wouldn’t let him down. Giving his earthly possessions a proper send-off was the least she could do for the man who’d given her first and only safe haven, and had loved her unconditionally.
    Beverly shook her head. “I can’t imagine what I’d do without Tom. He’s been my everything for fifteen years. We were never able to have children, and so we rely on each other.”
    Victoria nodded in understanding. She’d wanted children, too.
    She stood, wiped her hands on a clean napkin, and brushed stray crumbs from her skirt. “I’d hoped for at least twenty-five years of marriage with James. I got five. So, for now, I’m not making plans. I just want to finish healing. When I do, I’ll figure out where I belong.” Victoria had barely finished speaking when the front door banged open.
    Steve Carlson entered the shop carrying a tall, three-legged wooden hat rack. With the wind blowing in behind him he looked like a wild hunter wielding an unruly sword.
    “Scare off any customers yet?” he said.
    Victoria sputtered. “Me?”
    Beverly laughed out loud and Victoria realized Steve was teasing.
    “Nice rack, Steve. Roaring Twenties, hand-carved oak. Great find,” Beverly replied.
    Pirate squawked from his new post at the front of the store. Steve’s head turned with obvious surprise.
    “Hubba-hubba,” the bird said.
    “What the hell is that?”
    “A cockatiel,” Victoria told him.
    “A cock what?”
    Beverly chuckled, clearly unfazed by her boss. “I told Victoria it was all right to keep Pirate in the store. He’s cute, eh?”
    As if on cue, the bird broke into a dance. He hopped back and forth on his perch and screeched. Then he cawed and said, “Kiss off.”
    Steve stared at the cockatiel and shook his head. He looked back at Victoria. “Pirate? Really?”
    Victoria’s cheeks burned. “Steve, I’m sorry. I should have cleared it with you first.”
    Beverly patted Victoria’s arm. “I’ll take the hat rack to my workshop for a look-see.” She met Steve at the front of the shop and gripped the antique by the stem. “This baby has seen a lot of action.”
    “You can tell that just by touch?”
    Beverly gave a derisive snort. “Observation, not psychometrics, boss.” She picked up the hat rack and headed in the direction of her studio.
    “Smart-ass.” Steve called after her.
    “Better than no ass,” Beverly countered over her shoulder as she disappeared from the room.
    “Give me a kiss,” Pirate demanded.
    Steve turned back to the bird. “I thought you said to ‘kiss off?’”
    He grinned over at Victoria. “Funny little guy, isn’t he?”
    Victoria tried to smile, but mortification had her frozen in place.
    “Oh, relax,” Steve said. “The little pecker can stay.”
    “Cockatiel,” Victoria corrected. “Are you always like this?”
    Steve’s mouth quirked. “I only tease when I’m in a good mood.” He motioned toward the inside of the store. “Has Beverly shown you around? Are you feeling comfortable here?”
    “I’m…learning,” she replied. Her heart had been doing a funny dance since he walked in. Steve was alternately sarcastic, irritating, or overbearing, but her attraction to his arresting blue eyes…and that dimple in his chin…and the cut of his chest and hips…annoyed her.
    He moved from the door to an old wooden lingerie chest against the far wall they used as a filing and storage cabinet. Behind him was the first of four rows of glass jewelry cases.
    He opened the top drawer and rifled through. “Have you seen my receipt books? I can’t find them and I have to run out again.” He pulled another drawer open, closed it, and leaned against the edge of the glass countertop in the row behind him, frowning in concentration. “I could have sworn they