Jamie sighed. “I wouldn’t be so sure. Maybe your friends wouldn’t be caught dead in there, but I can picture my dad and two brothers giving it a shot.”
Dixie frowned. “I think you’re wrong, sugar. They seemed to be enjoying themselves when they were here at Christmas.”
“They did, but my dad commented on the overhead we must be paying. My family doesn’t mind a warehouse atmosphere if they think they’re getting a deal. And we can’t survive by attracting only upscale customers. We need the working-class shopper, too.”
Faith nodded. “You’re right. So what can we do to make The Red Doors a better alternative to—” she glanced at the ad and grimaced “—The Gift Program?”
“You go them one better,” Dixie said. “What if a woman could go into the kiosk, answer questions about her particular guy—like his hobbies, his job, his general attitude about life—and the computer would tell her what to buy for themselves to turn him on?”
“So the women start using the kiosks, too,” Jamie said, liking the idea already. “But we’d have to gather some data on types of men and what gets them hot.”
“Dev can help with that,” Faith said immediately.
“Hey, wait a minute.” Dev pushed back his chair. “I agree that the idea has promise, but I do work for a living, you know. In fact, the stock market opens in ten minutes and I—”
“It won’t take long.” Faith grabbed the sleeve of his suit jacket. “This doesn’t have to be totally scientific. It’s a fun thing. Lighthearted.”
“It has to be sort of scientific,” Jamie said. “I mean, we don’t want to mislead—”
“It’s simple,” Dixie said. “Men are much easier to figure out than women.”
“Now I’m really leaving,” Dev said.
“And I’m really leaving,” Dixie said. “I have several things to do before we open this morning. You kids fight this out, but I really think it would work.” She pushed back her chair, grabbed her fake chinchilla coat and headed for the winding staircase. “Just like Tara,” she said with a grin as she started up it.
“Please, Dev,” Faith said to her brother after Dixie left. “This is a really good idea, and we don’t have much time. Think about your friends and what type of women they’re attracted to. I guarantee the men will fall into general categories.”
“I think you’re right.” Jamie started getting excited about the concept. “If I take my brothers and their friends as examples, I can see patterns. The program should be easy to get up and running, and we can fine-tune it as we go.”
“And when am I supposed to do all of this?” Dev asked. “With the market the way it’s been, I’m up to my ears dealing with my clients.”
Faith waved away his protest. “The market closes every afternoon. You could get together with Jamie in the evenings. Jamie, you could meet with Dev at night to work on this, right?”
Jamie opened her mouth and prayed that an answer would come out. Something light and breezy. Something about checking her calendar. Something—anything—that would keep Dev from suspecting that the idea of spending an evening alone with him had just fried her circuits.
She gulped. “Uh, Faith, you’ll come over, too, right?”
CHAPTER TWO
SHE DIDN’T WANT to be alone with him. The truth hit Dev like a hockey puck to the gut. For weeks he’d been working up his courage to make a tiny move in her direction, such as suggesting they walk down to the deli together for a sandwich. He’d never been this nervous about asking a woman out, but Jamie was so damned smart that he figured he’d make a fool of himself if he ever had to carry on a solo conversation with her.
He’d been almost ready to chance it, anyway, because there was this sexual thing that happened every time he looked at her. That sleek little body of hers turned him on, and he’d become obsessed with the idea of making love to her. He’d never been attracted to a tomboy before, but lately the image of being in bed with Jamie had become a major component of his fantasy life.
If he could avoid acting too stupid when they were alone, then maybe eventually she’d let him kiss her. Once they got into that and moved beyond into getting nak*d, her superior brain power might not matter.
But if she didn’t want to be alone with him, he’d never get out of the starting gate. “I, um, have stuff to do this week,” he said to salvage his pride. “Tonight I was supposed to—”
“Never mind, then,” Jamie said too quickly. “I’ll just work with my brothers and their friends.”
“Don’t let him back out now,” Faith said. “Turns out I’m busy tonight, but I think you should make the effort, Dev. Couldn’t you switch some things around so you can go over to Jamie’s?”
Dev could cheerfully wring Faith’s neck. “I wouldn’t have time to talk to the guys by tonight.”
“Really, Faith, I can get Justin and Brad to—”
“Sure you can, but we have Dev in our sights. Why not start with him?”
“Because I want a willing subject?”
Jamie’s innocent comment started his engines all over again.
“Dev will be willing, won’t you, Dev?”
You have no idea, baby sister.
“You wouldn’t jeopardize this chance to get a jump on the competition, would you?”
Dev’s eyes narrowed as he gazed at Faith. Now his suspicions were aroused along with the rest of him. She was too damned eager about his participation. “Are you sure there’s not something else going on here?”
She blinked, all innocence. “What else could be going on?”
He’d seen that look too many times, and it always meant Faith was up to something. “You could be getting Jamie to be your stool pigeon.”
“What?” Jamie and Faith said together.
“It’s possible. The whole family wants to marry me off. They’re not even subtle about it anymore.”
His sister relaxed back in her chair with a big grin. “I know what this is about. Helena.”
“Who’s Helena?” Jamie asked.
“I still say Mom and Aunt Judi sabotaged the motor on that boat,” Dev said, trying to stare Faith down, but she’d had a lot of practice in these staring contests of theirs and she held her ground.
“That’s possible,” Faith said, still smiling.
“What boat?” Jamie asked.
Faith turned to her. “Last summer my mom and aunt Judi set Dev up with Helena Throckmorton.”
“Set up being the operative term.” Dev scowled at her. “So, under protest, I took her out sailing, but the wind died.”
“Which you can’t blame Mom for.”
“No, but she sure as hell could’ve been listening to the weather reports and known that was due to happen. And she could have had something to do with the motor acting up.”
Faith started laughing. “Poor boy.” She glanced over at Jamie. “He got stranded with a wild woman who tried to take advantage of him.”
“Isn’t that every guy’s fantasy?” Jamie looked at Dev with an impish smile.
If his sister hadn’t been there, he’d have leaned over and kissed that saucy expression right off her face.
“Not my brother’s fantasy, apparently.”
“I didn’t even know the woman! Just you try being stranded on a thirty-footer with a woman who’s flinging off her clothes.”
Jamie’s eyes widened. “She really took off her clothes?”
“So he claims,” Faith said. “I think she was planning to seduce him and then demand that he make an honest woman of her.”
“Oh, do you think?” Dev folded his arms over his chest. “After that, you can’t call me paranoid for being wary of this latest project. If I give a list of my favorite turn-ons to Jamie and she passes them over to you, I can imagine that being used against me.”
“Dev, Dev, Dev.” Faith shook her head. “As if I would ever go to that much trouble to find out your weak spots with women.”
He decided not to look at Jamie, who still wore that cute little smile that made him want to kiss the living daylights out of her. “So none of you will make use of this information to set a trap for me?”
Faith made an X over her heart. “Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye. This info will not be used to create the perfect marriage candidate for my brother. Why should I want you to get married? Once you do, Mom and Dad will turn their attention to me and want to know why I don’t have a husband on the horizon. C’mon, Dev. This is important.”
He couldn’t see any way to wiggle out of it. Jamie would have to tolerate his presence. He just hoped she wouldn’t smile like that tonight, or he might have trouble controlling himself. “Then I’ll do it.” He pushed back his chair. “I gotta go. Jamie, I’ll see you at seven-thirty tonight.”
“You remember where I live, right?”
He stood and retrieved his topcoat and briefcase. “Are you still in that apartment just off of Addison?”