Enough daydreaming, she thought. She should really start packing. After all, she knew exactly what Ryan was going to hear when he checked her references. Actually what she needed to do was call her boss and tell her that she was taking a two-month leave of absence from her job. Mary, her boss, wouldn’t be surprised. They’d discussed Ryan’s situation several times since they’d heard the news about Sasha’s parents’ death. They’d known that a single man was going to need help learning to deal with a toddler. Mary had been the one to encourage Cassie to visit him in the first place.
Cassie made the call and laughed when Mary told her that Ryan had already checked her out. “I gave you a glowing report,” Mary said. “He’s never going to want to let you go.”
“I doubt that,” Cassie said.
They chatted for a few more minutes, then hung up. Cassie crossed to her closet and pulled out her suitcase. She would take a few things in the morning, then come back for more clothes as she needed them.
As she reached for her makeup bag on the closet shelf, her hand bumped against a flat box. She caught it before it could tumble to the ground, then carried it over to her bed.
She didn’t have to open the box to know what was inside, but she lifted the lid anyway, then stared at the familiar ivory nightgown. It was beautiful and old-fashioned with long sleeves and a high neck. Lace edged the cuffs and collar. She rubbed her fingers against the soft, aged fabric. Six weeks, she thought. Six weeks until she knew if the legend would come true for her.
She placed the lid back on the box and forced away the twinge of longing that threatened to overcome her. All she’d ever wanted was to belong, to have a place in the family history. The town of Bradley had been established by Cassie’s mother’s family. Bradley was Cassie’s middle name, but only by law. Not by birth.
She reminded herself that being adopted meant that she’d been chosen. They’d really wanted her. But the familiar words didn’t help very much. Chloe was their child by blood—they’d made that clear when they’d left her the family house in their will. Cassie’s inheritance had matched in money, but not in legacy.
“Maybe with the nightgown,” she whispered to herself, wishing it could be true for her, but fearing she wanted the impossible.
Legend had it that a family ancestor had saved an old gypsy woman from being stoned to death several hundred years ago. In gratitude, the women of the Bradley family had been given a nightgown said to possess magic powers. If they wore it on the night of their twenty-fifth birthday, they would dream of the man they were going to marry. If they married him they were guaranteed great happiness for all their days.
Nearly five months before, Chloe had worn the nightgown and dreamed of a handsome stranger. She’d met him the next day and they’d fallen in love. Cassie desperately wanted the nightgown to be magic for her, too.
She twisted the promise ring on her finger. Her dreams weren’t fair to Joel, but he swore he didn’t mind. They’d talked about the nightgown several times. She’d told him that she didn’t want to get engaged until after her twenty-fifth birthday, now just six weeks away. He always told her he wasn’t in any hurry, that he knew she was going to dream about him and waiting was just fine.
Cassie told herself she should be grateful. Not many men would be so patient. But sometimes she got tired of his patience and his willingness to wait. She wanted to be swept away by passion. She wanted to be overwhelmed. She wanted to feel the magic.
“Not tonight,” she told herself as she returned the nightgown to the closet. The good news was that in the morning she was going to move in with an incredibly handsome man who made her whole body tingle just by being in the same room with her. The fact that he barely knew she was alive was a small detail, something she would deal with another time.
CHAPTER TWO
CASSIE PULLED INTO the driveway of the Lawford house at exactly 8:25 the next morning. She assumed that Ryan would expect promptness on her part and she’d promised to arrive by 8:30. After parking her car to the left of the garage, she popped the trunk and pulled out her suitcase, along with a bag of toys she’d borrowed from the preschool. She’d stopped by there on her way over to pick up a few of Sasha’s favorites.
I can do this, she told herself as she stared up at the imposing facade of the house. I can get through the next several weeks without making a fool of myself.
Cassie smiled. Of course she could get through her period of temporary employment without doing something completely humiliating. The real question was would she? She started up the walkway. She didn’t really have a choice in the matter. She’d said she would help and she would. The fact that Ryan made her want to hyperventilate when they were in the same room was something she was going to have to deal with on her own time.