The Reluctant Cinderella by Christine Rimmer Page B

forever. But Carly and I just weren’t right for each other. We were after completely different things.Our marriage is over. There won’t be any trying again.”
    â€œI understand.”
    His heart sank. The regret in her eyes told him clearly what was coming. He went ahead and prompted her. “So…?”
    â€œGreg. I get it. I honestly do. You’re not going back to her. You’re divorced and you’re free to date anyone you want to date.”
    He laid it right out there. “I want to date you. ”
    â€œWell, that won’t happen. Carly thinks of me as a friend. And that means I can’t go out with you.”
    He swore quietly. “You know that’s just crap, don’t you? You think you’re protecting Carly? You’re not. And you’re not helping her, either.”
    Megan said nothing. And Greg got the message: it didn’t matter what he said. She wasn’t going out with him. Period.
    Finally, he muttered, “I guess we should go.” He reached for his cell phone to call them a cab.
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    Outside, as they waited for the taxi, Megan was careful not to stand too close to him.
    In the restaurant, it had been so hard for her not to lean across the table, not to get as close to him as she possibly could. She really did love to…just be with him. To watch him as he talked—his crooked, wry smile, those warm brown eyes, the way he would tip his head to the side when he was thinking. More than once, as he told her about his lonely childhood and his failed marriage, she’d had to remindherself not to reach across the table and lay her hand over his.
    Greg turned to her as the cab slid to the curb in front of them. His mouth, usually so quick to smile, was now a bleak line. “One more thing…”
    She didn’t know if she could take any more—not and keep remembering to tell him no. “Oh, Greg…”
    â€œThere’s something I want you to see, okay? In Rosewood. Let me take you there. Please.”
    She reminded herself that she needed to repeat all the things she’d already said—that she couldn’t. She wouldn’t. It was impossible; it wasn’t going to work.
    But his brown eyes were shining and the summer sun struck gold lights in his thick brown hair. And, well, he’d asked her so gently. So very sincerely.
    If she was never going to go out with him, well, what could it hurt to do this one last thing he’d asked of her?
    Not to mention she was curious. What could he have to show her in Rosewood? She dared a smile. “All right. I’d love to see it…whatever it is.”
    His face seemed to light up from within. “Well, okay, then. Let’s get after it.”
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    During the ride to Rosewood, they hardly spoke. Megan, who didn’t feel all that chatty herself, looked out her side window at the suburban sprawl and thought about the things Greg had said in the restaurant.
    They pretty much amounted to what Angela had told her last week. Greg and Carly were divorced.The marriage was over for Greg; he was never returning to the McMansion on Danbury Way. Megan’s saying no to him wouldn’t help Carly to get him back—or to get on with her life, for that matter.
    In fact, if Carly finally had to accept that there was another woman in Greg’s life, it might actually end up making it easier for her to move on. From that angle, Megan would be doing her a favor by going out with Greg.
    Yeah, right. Megan seriously doubted that Carly would see it that way.
    When they reached Rosewood, Megan asked the cabbie to drop them at the train station so she could pick up her car. Greg said they were going to Sycamore Street, which was only five blocks from Danbury Way. She sent him a suspicious glance, but he wouldn’t say more, so she started up the car and off they went.
    When she turned onto Sycamore, he pointed at a fine-looking two-story house, redbrick with