Page 33 of Just One Look

Emily shifted to face Devlin. “You were thinking of Alamode, weren’t you?”

He nodded. “None other.”

“Blast,” Emily snapped her fingers, “I wish I could play hooky tomorrow so I could join you tonight. I love Gertie’s homemade ice cream.”

“Excuse me.” Liz spoke more forcefully. “Who is Gertie?”

“Sorry.” Emily turned to her sister. “If you were driving by and saw this old building in the middle of a field that looks like a strong wind could blow it over, that would be Alamode. Gertie and her husband have been making homemade ice cream there since before we were born. The woman has to be as old as Methuselah, but their ice cream is the creamiest I’ve ever had.”

“I think it has something to do with straight from the cow milk. The cream just tastes better,” Devlin chimed in.

“I bet.” Liz had never had truly homemade ice cream and the suggestion suddenly made her feel hungry for something sweet. As if to corroborate her story, her stomach picked that moment to growl. Smiling at Devlin, she placed her hand on her gurgling tummy. “Sounds like I’m in for an evening of ice cream indulgence.”

“You’re going to love it.”

When they pulled up in front of the place, her sister had not exaggerated even an ounce. The next windstorm was bound to knock the old place over. Inside, it looked like it fell out of the space-time continuum bringing the 1950s into the twenty-first century. Seeing Devlin laughing with an older woman she assumed was Gertie, Liz mentally shook her head. This man was an anomaly. As easily as his wealth and power could be intimidating, she couldn’t help but love his down to earth charm and warmth. Who cared if he was crazy rich? It was only money. Except for a few minor faux pas, she’d made it through the day unscathed and in the end, actually enjoyed herself. And she enjoyed being with Devlin—a lot. If she put her mind to it, she could learn how to run with the rich and famous. After all, if her sister had learned to fit in with all these high society trappings, why couldn’t she?

All evening, a sense of panic kept licking at Devlin’s nerves. He’d barely recognized that Liz was quickly proving to not only be special, but was becoming very important to him, yet at the same time he could see any possibilities of a future slipping away. Every time something that reflected the Baron wealth came into view, her eyes almost glazed over.

Desperately, throughout dinner, he’d wanted to take her hand and whisperwe’re just ordinary people.The problem he faced was that ordinary people didn’t use sterling flatware, set a formal dinner place, or keep a stable of horses. They did, however, eat ice cream. And that was all he could think of to show her that deep down his world wasn’t all that different from hers. He hoped.

“Gertie, I’d like you to meet a friend of mine, Liz Carter, Emily’s sister.” Devlin smiled at Liz.

“So glad to meet you.” The older woman extended her hand. “You look so much like your sister and yet,” the woman put a single finger to her lips before speaking again, “there’s something different.”

“My mom is the only one who could easily tell us apart as kids. Emily and I always had a blast confusing Dad.”

Gertie laughed. “I bet you did.”

“Got any recommendations for tonight?” Devlin glanced at the old-fashioned blackboard riddled with words in colored chalk.

“I’m playing around with dark chocolate, coconut and salted caramel. I think it’s a winner.”

“Salted caramel?” Liz’s eyes lit up.

Gertie nodded. “Also have a plain dark chocolate with sea salt, and a caramel with sea salt.” She leaned closer to Liz. “That’s how we accidentally got the new recipe, I sort of dropped one in the other and couldn’t scoop it all out. Added the coconut for the heck of it.”

“Like the old commercial for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups!” Liz grinned brightly.

“Yep. That would be it.” Gertie lowered her voice again. “But don’t tell anyone. It’s our little secret.”

“Deal.” Liz drew an X across her chest with one finger.

Seated at a corner table, Devlin waited for Liz to take her first taste.

Her eyes widened and then closed a moment. “Gertie needs to call this Heavenly Delight. Wow.”

“The problem is they all taste that way.” He dipped his spoon into the ice cream and scooped out a mouthful. “Here, taste.”

Her face crumpled a moment. “Bananas aren’t my favorite.”

“This tastes just like banana pudding.”

“I guess.” Cautiously, she gripped the spoon, eyeing the ice cream with mistrust. Even more slowly, she raised the spoon to her lips and took the tiniest of tastes. Pausing, her face crumpled and she seemed to be lost in thought when she took a bigger taste. Her mouth moving, her eyes opened almost as wide as a moment before and a broad smile took over her face. “Okay, that is amazing too!”

They ate in comfortable silence, digging into the cups of ice cream and making silly faces at each other with every bite. When she offered him a taste of hers, he made a big show of rolling his eyes and moaning with delight. Thankfully, that succeeded in making her laugh. He absolutely loved how her eyes lit up when she laughed from deep inside.

“Feeling better?” He swore to himself he wasn’t going to say anything, only do his best to show her that he was just a regular guy who happened to have a good deal of money, but he couldn’t help himself. He was feeling oddly desperate about possibly losing her before anything good could develop.

---