“You, um...” He tried to force his mind to start working again as they looked at each other through the mirror. “It looks like your hair has a touch of natural curl to it.”
Her throat jumped as if she swallowed hard. “Yes. That’s why I keep my hair long. It’s curlier when it’s short.”
“Well, for your disguise, you’re going to keep your hair long and wavy.” He stepped around in front of her and squatted to her level. “And, I want you to wear a little more eyeliner.” He brushed the tip of his thumb over her eyebrow. “And maybe a light color of lipstick,” he added, dropping the tip of his thumb to below her bottom lip as he swept it underneath slowly.
“That’s... not me. I don’t wear makeup.”
“I know. We are supposed to be in disguise, right?”
She nodded.
“And I want you to look through my mother’s closet and see what clothes you can wear.”
She blinked, and her eyes widened. “Excuse me? You want me to wear an older woman’s clothes?”
He chuckled. “Sweetie, the clothes you’re wearing now are more old-fashioned than my mother’s. Besides, she always buys the latest styles from the top designers. I’m sure you’ll find something flattering.”
“Well, unfortunately, I won’t need the latest styles in Maine, and neither will you. We’ll need to wear jeans and tee-shirts where we’re going.”
“Why?” he asked skeptically as he stood. He leaned against the sink and folded his arms. “And where exactly are we going?”
“To a horse ranch.”
She rose off the stool and stood in front of him. “So, I’m not sure I’m going to need your mother’s fancy clothes, after all.”
As his mind created the picture of the horse ranch, he smiled wider. It’d been several years since he was on a ranch, but he was sure he could adjust. Unfortunately, he didn’t think Whitney could. He’d have to be her teacher.
Excitement shot through him just thinking about what he could do with Whitney. He could read her mind well enough to know that she expected him to be innocent around a horse ranch just because he had billions of dollars in the bank, but he’d show her how well he could fit in.
Perhaps going missing from the real world with this particular agent would be enjoyable after all.
SIX
Whitney wasn’t toosure about this. This new way of wearing her hair and dressing just wasn’t her style. True, they were both supposed to be wearing some kind of disguise, but she didn’t want to feel this way. When she looked in the mirror, she didn’t want to think she was pretty, and when she looked at her body wearing Zack’s mother’s form-fitting jeans that snugged against her bottom, and the light green off-the-shoulder western blouse, she couldn’t help but think that the few men she’d dated in the last five years had been wrong about her not being pretty enough for them.
She pushed the negative thoughts away and focused on the road. They’d taken one of his mother’s cars since Whitney’s SUV was still in the underground parking lot at the airport. It was hard to believe that his mother had left so many beautiful clothes behind in her Manhattan townhouse. And what was even more surprising was that the older woman had been a fan of the country-western fashion. Not only that but that Zack had several pairs of jeans and tee-shirts – along with cowboy boots – in his collection, too.
