“What?” Stephanie asked, laughing.
“Oh nothing,I was just trying to make a joke. You know the old saying about not checking the teeth in a gift horse? It’s Friday, and it’s been a long week.” Folding her jacket over her arm, Jan led the way down the elevator and through the wide glass doors of the Lockwood Industries building. The Sherman Street traffic was snarled in the evening rush hour, and Jan wove her way between the stalled cars to a small cocktail lounge a couple of blocks from the building.
A small table of women waved when they entered the lounge. Stephanie recognized several faces.
“Hi, everyone. You all know Stephanie.” Jan placed her arm over Stephanie’s shoulder.
“Hi.” Stephanie raised her hand in greeting.
“Meet Barbara and Toni.” Jan continued the introductions with, “You know Maureen.”
“Well, what do you think, ladies?”
“She’s great.”
“Perfect.”
“Exactly what we want.”
Taking a chair, Stephanie glanced around the small group, shaking her head in wonder. “What are you guys talking about?”
“You!” All four spoke at once.
“Does this have to do with Jonas Lockwood?” Already she didn’t like the sound of this.
“You didn’t tell her?” The brunette, Toni, questioned Jan.
“I think we’d better order her a drink first.”
Still shaking her head with wonder, Stephanie glanced from one expectant face to the other. The four women came in various forms and ages. Barbara had to be over forty, Toni in her mid-thirties, Maureen younger, and Jan, who Stephanie guessed was near her own age of twenty-four.
The cocktail waitress returned with five bottles of sparkling wine cooler.
“Now, what’s this all about?” Stephanie questioned, growing more curious by the minute.
“I think we should start at the beginning,” Jan suggested.
“Please,” Stephanie murmured.
“You see, we all read romances. We’re hooked on them. They’re wonderful stories.”
“Right. And Jonas Lockwood makes the perfect hero, don’t you think?” Barbara added.
“Pardon?” To Stephanie’s way of thinking, he made the perfect block of ice.
“Haven’t you noticed that chiseled leanness he has about him?”
“And those craggy male features?”
“I suppose,” Stephanie muttered, growing more confused by the minute. To ease some of the dryness in her throat, she took a long swallow of the wine cooler. It was surprisingly refreshing.
“He’s got that cute little cleft in his chin.”
Now that was something Stephanie hadn’t noticed.
“The four of us have decided that Mr. Lockwood is really an unhappy man,” the redhead, Maureen, continued. “His life is empty.”
“He needs a woman to love, and one who will love him,” Barbara said.
“That’s an interesting theory,” Stephanie said, reaching for the wine a second time. She had to watch how much she consumed, or the four of them would soon be making sense.
“It’s obvious that one of us won’t be his true love,” Toni added.
“What about you, Jan?” Stephanie pointed her drink in her friend’s direction.
“Sorry, but I’m seriously contemplating marriage.”
“Only Jim doesn’t know it yet,” Maureen piped in. Everyone laughed.
“But what has all this got to do with me?’’
“You’re perfect for Jonas Lockwood—just the type of woman he needs.”
“Just the heroine type. Attractive and bright.”
“Spunky,” Jan tossed in.
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” Stephanie protested. “I don’t even like the man.”
“That’s all the better. The heroines in the romances seldom do, either.”
“I think you ladies are confusing fantasy with reality.”
“Of course we are. That’s the fun of it. We’re all incurable romantics, and when we see a romance in the making it’s simply part of our nature to want to step in and help things along.”
“We’ve even thought about writing one,” Toni informed her.
“But why me?”
“You’re perfect for Mr. Lockwood, in addition to being exceptionally attractive.”
“Thanks, but...”
“And you don’t seem to lord it over those of us who aren’t,” Barbara murmured.
“But that doesn’t explain why you chose me to weave your plot around.”
“Mr. Lockwood likes you.”
“Oh, hardly—”
“All right, he respects you. We all noticed that this afternoon when you left for the meeting. He wouldn’t take you along if he didn’t value your opinion.’’
Choking on a mouthful of wine, Stephanie shook her head wildly. “Do you know what he said? A man commented on what an attractive secretary he had, and your hero Lockwood told him I was a substitute, as though he’d had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to come up with me.” Finding the situation unbelievably hysterical now, Stephanie giggled. It took her a moment to notice that the other four were strangely quiet.
“What do you think, Maureen?” Jan looked at the redhead.