“Well, if it isn’t Little Miss Bank Executive.”His voice was low and filled with mocking amusement.“Have you come to apologize and request my business?”
“Oh, hardly.”She jerked the salad behind her back.Lettuce leaves fell onto the concrete step.
Purposefully she had returned to her duties that afternoon, forcing herself to concentrate on her work.Lesley had been unaware of how long, if at all, Daniels had waited for Ben Fullbright.“I’m here because...”She searched frantically for aplausible excuse.There had been some horrible, dreadful mistake.God wouldn’t send someone like Daniels to be her neighbor.
“Yes?”He sounded bored and irritable.
“I’m your neighbor,” she managed finally.
He started to laugh then—not a friendly, amused laugh, but one filled with irony, brittle with sarcasm.
Lesley could feel the hairs at the back of her neck bristle.Never had she felt such intense dislike for anyone.One demeaning glance from him assured her that the feeling was mutual.It took more restraint than she wanted to admit not to dump the bowl of salad greens over his head.
“What did you want?”he demanded, his gaze cutting into her.
“Want?”She stared at him blankly.
“You rangmydoorbell.”
He made it sound as if she’d tossed eggs at his windows.
“Yes, I did,” she returned awkwardly.“I brought you dinner as a...”The word “welcome” wouldn’t make it past the tight knot in her throat.
If possible, the dark eyes hardened all the more.“Let’s get one thing straight right now.I don’t want to be neighborly.You leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone.You stay on your half and I’ll stay on mine.Understood?”
“Oh, I understand all right—and concur.I wouldn’t want to have anything to do with you if I were stuck in quicksand and couldn’t reach a branch.”Immediately Lesley recognized how silly she sounded.Under any other circumstances she would have burst out laughing, but there was nothing amusing about Daniels.Nothing!
She stalked across the yard and slammed her front door.Furious, she paced the small enclosure like a trapped panther.Not in twenty-three years had she met anyone she disliked more.He was awful, the epitome of everything she loathed.
Rands hugging her stomach, she paused in the middle of the living room floor, her foot tapping irritably against the worn carpet.A mistake had been made.Something wasn’t right.God wouldn’t present that bitter, hard, unreasonable man next door on purpose.All she had to do was stay calm and wait for him to leave.And that was exactly what she would do until God rectified the error.
Daniels’ fancy sports car was gone the next morning when Lesley left for the bank.Withhimliving so close, she decided her things were in imminent danger and locked the front door.
By the time she pulled into her usual parking space on the side street opposite the bank, she was feeling ridiculous.Daniels wasn’t going to rob her.True, he was an unpleasant fellow, but they could learn to live in harmony.All she had to do was pretend the apartment was still vacant.That would be easy enough.He would probably be gone by the end of the month, anyway.
Lesley had been at her desk only a matter of minutes when Daniels strolled in.Instinctively she stiffened.Without being obvious, she followed his movements.First he went to a teller who smiled provocatively, obviously taken in by his charm.What charm, Lesley’s mind tossed back instantly.The young teller pointed to Ben Fullbright’s desk.
With even-paced strides, Daniels walked up to the bank manager’s desk and introduced himself.Ben rose and they shook hands.
“Lesley, call on line one.”Charlotte Lewis said from the desk beside hers.“Lesley,” she repeated.
Lesley jerked upright.“Oh, sorry, what did you say?”
Charlotte repeated the information and Lesley reached automatically for the phone.It was a local resident requesting loan information, and Lesley was tied up for several minutes answering questions.
When she replaced the receiver, Lesley noted that BenFullbright was standing behind the counter for new accounts and was completing the necessary information for Daniels.
The two men shook hands, then Daniels strode toward her desk.Lesley pretended an inordinate interest in the blank form.Although he stood directly in front of her, Lesley didn’t glance up, hoping that Daniels would take the hint and leave.
“Miss Brown.”
With exaggerated care, Lesley lifted her gaze.“Yes?”Her voice was barely civil.
“I thought you’d like to see these.”He laid twenty-five freshly issued blank checks on her desk and riffled them with his thumb.
Closing her eyes and inhaling a deep breath enabled Lesley to hold her temper.“Statewide Savings does its best to keep every customer satisfied.I’m pleased we could be of service,” she managed in a starched tone.
“Except that it took a true manager to listen to reason.I suggest you leave the decision making where it belongs.”
