“Do you have anything I could wear to a swanky cocktail reception tonight?”

“Hey!” Anne jumped up from her sewing machine. “You’re going to be Mrs. Gorgeous!” She threw her arms around Vicki. “How’s it feel to be famous?”

“Weird,” Vicki said, smiling at her friend through the guilt that burned in her gut over lying straight to her face about the validity of the engagement.

Plus, unlike her ex, fame had never been what she’d gone after. She just wanted to be able to make a living with her art and know that she’d create a sculpture that made people feel something they might not otherwise have felt.

“I think it’s awesome that you snagged the best looking man this side of anywhere, of course, although a little heads-up on the engagement would have been nice.”

“Sorry.” And Vicki really was sorry that she didn’t know Anne well enough yet to let her in on the real situation. Still, she felt it was safe to tell her, “Does it make it any better if I tell you it was as much of a surprise to me as it was to you?”

Anne raised an eyebrow at that. “You didn’t see his proposal coming?”

“No. Not at all.” But since that was just about as honest as she could be at present, before her friend could ask for any more details, she said, “You wouldn’t have anything cut and sewn for a non-supermodel, would you?”

The other woman grinned at her, a little wickedly. “Actually, I’m glad you asked. I’ve been wanting to see a couple of my dresses on someone with curves instead of prepubescent girls who look like they should be sucking on lollipops.”

Anne walked to one of her hanging racks and pulled out a dark red dress. From the back Vicki could see that it was sleeveless and knee-length. It looked simple and comfortable and she’d always felt good in that color. The cut of Anne’s dresses was spectacular, and the fabric looked stretchy enough that Vicki was hopeful that it would look all right on her. Better than anything she had in her closet, anyway.

It wasn’t until Anne handed her the dress that Vicki saw the zippers criss-crossing the front.

Before she could protest, Anne waved to the small curtained area in the corner. “Go try it on with these shoes. They look like they’re probably the right size.”

There was no way Vicki could keep her underwear on under the dress, so after folding her bra and panties into a pile with her hip-length sweater, long tank, and leggings, she walked out from behind the curtain to take a look in the full-length mirror.

Anne started clapping. “I knew it. You look great in my awesome dress.”

Vicki flushed as she took in her reflection.

Anne moved behind her and lifted her hair from her neck to pile it on top of her head. “Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Now all you have to do is tell everyone who asks tonight that the fabulous dress you’re wearing is courtesy of a hot new designer.” She grinned into Vicki’s eyes in the mirror as she added, “Make sure they spell my name right when they take all those pictures of you and Mr. Gorgeous.”

* * *

Ryan’s heart had been pounding hard all afternoon...ever since he’d put the ring box in his pocket. Sure, he knew it wasn’t a real engagement ring. But since he’d never given any woman a ring, it felt like a big deal.

And, real or not, he wanted Vicki to like what he’d picked out for her.

When he finally heard the front door open, he immediately left his bedroom, where he’d been doing up the final buttons on his dress shirt, to meet Vicki. It had only been a handful of hours since he’d dropped her off at the studio, but he still had to pause for a few seconds to drink her in. He wanted to pull her into his arms, but reined himself in with a kiss on the top of her head instead.

“I’m all sticky and covered in clay,” she said as she stepped away from him and clutched a garment bag to her chest. “I need a shower. You look so great, I’d hate to get you dirty.”

He loved the smell of her skin when she’d been working all day. Especially when one of the things he wanted most of all in the world was to get dirty with her.

She put down her bags and looked up at him. “I ignored all of the calls and emails and luckily no one came by the studio. Or if they did, Anne scared them away before they could get to me,” she added with a smile. “You never called, so I’m hoping that means everything was okay for you today?”

Ryan had been hounded with interview requests for both him and Vicki, but he didn’t think she needed to know that. They’d get through tonight’s event first and then they’d figure out the next steps to take.

“I spent some time watching game tapes with my pitching coach and getting in a workout.”

Mostly, though, he’d sweated it out over the ring. For all his legendary cool on the pitcher’s mound, he was going to lose it if he didn’t give it to her already.

He reached into his pocket. “I got you a ring.”

“A ring?” She looked at him with no small measure of alarm. “You got me a ring?”

He watched her work at pulling herself together before she said, “I guess that would help things between us look more real tonight, wouldn’t it?”

He went to flip open the box and couldn’t believe his hand was shaking. Jesus, he needed to get a grip before he completely freaked her out.

“I hope you like it.” His voice was gruffer than usual.

“Oh Ryan.” Her eyes widened as she stared at the ring. “It’s beautiful.”

But instead of reaching for the platinum band set with a scattering of dark red rubies and brilliant diamonds across a large, flat base, she simply continued to stare at it.

“Can I put it on you?” His voice was raw, his words rough.

She licked her lips, never taking her eyes from the ring. “Okay.”

He took the ring from its velvet case and dropped the box onto the entry table before reaching for her hand. Vicki’s fingers were shaking slightly as he slowly slid it onto the ring finger of her left hand.

“I—” She finally looked up at him and the emotion in her eyes had him wishing he could pull her into him and never let go. “I haven’t had a ring on my hand since I left—”

Silently cursing himself for not realizing how conflicted she would feel about wearing a wedding band again, he said, “I know you won’t be able to wear it when you’re working, so I got you this necklace to put it on during the day.”