It had been wrong to hide Hannigan’s lawsuit from her, and he still felt a tad bit guilty about it, though he knew that she’d forgiven him. And for that he wanted to thank her. Not just with words, but with a gift.

Daniel tossed his pen on his desk and rose. He grabbed his jacket and opened the door. Frances sat at her desk just outside his office. She immediately looked up.

“Leaving for the day?” she asked.

“Yes. For the next hour, please transfer all calls to my cell phone. After that, I’m unavailable. I’ll be shopping at Saks,” he informed her.

“Buying a new suit?” she asked politely.

He grinned. “I was thinking of buying something nice for my girlfriend.

She nodded. “That’s sweet.”

He turned to leave. “Oh, and Frances, feel free to go home early today. You’ve been working too much.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.”

Daniel left the building and stepped out into the warm late afternoon sun. It was only a few blocks to Saks, so he decided to walk instead of hailing a cab. The exercise would do him good, considering he’d been skipping many of his regular morning workouts.

Upon arriving at Saks, he headed straight for the lingerie department and started browsing. He saw only a few customers, all of them female, and felt their looks on him. When he caught the eye of one woman, she smiled at him and approached.

“For your wife?” she asked, pointing at the negligees he was perusing.

“Girlfriend,” he answered.

She pointed to another display table. “The ones over there are much smoother on the skin than these here,” she said quietly, her eyes darting to a sales woman who was folding merchandise. “But the sales staff here is always trying to push this brand, because it’s more expensive.”

“Thanks for the tip,” he said, and smiled at her as she sauntered away.

He walked to the table she’d pointed out and pulled a red silk negligee from the stack. He had to admit it felt much softer than the one he’d looked at earlier.

“Beautiful, aren’t they?” a female voice he’d hoped never to hear again said from behind him. His stomach plummeted and the hairs on the back of his neck rose in irritation.

Slowly, he turned to face her. “Audrey.”

Even saying her name made him sick. What had he ever seen in this woman? A hot body. Yes, maybe. However, he now wondered whether he’d been insane during the time he’d dated her. No other explanation was possible.

Audrey smiled sweetly. “Such a huge city and we just happen to run into each other at the same department store. Funny how things work out sometimes.”

Daniel eyed her suspiciously. From the way she smiled at him, he knew that running into him was no coincidence. She had to have followed him from his office building. Had she camped out there, waiting for her chance to see him?

“Odd,” he said dryly.

She lifted one of the negligees and looked at it. “Ah, yeah, the cheap stuff.” Then she dropped it as if she’d touched something toxic.

“What do you want?” he asked icily, not liking the implication in her words.

“Just catching up on old times. Do you remember the weekend we spent in the Hamptons with your parents? I surprised you with that blue camisole and the garter belt. We were so hot for each other we snuck out of the house and had sex on the beach. You said you had to get me out of the house so that your parents wouldn’t hear me scream when you—”

“That’s enough, Audrey!”

He remembered the weekend in question. Yes, he’d definitely been insane when he’d been dating her. What had ever gotten into him, bringing her to meet his parents, when deep down he’d known even then that he’d never ask Audrey to marry him?

She laughed. “What do you say we sneak into a dressing room and give a repeat performance?” Audrey reached over and put her hand on his shoulder.

Daniel shrugged it off and stepped away. “Well, what would Judd say about that?”

Audrey flinched, but quickly regained her composure. “Oh, baby, Judd will never be like you. Only you can make me scream like that.”

She took another step toward him, and he backed away, realizing too late that he was trapped between her and a display of oversized bras behind him.

Audrey walked her fingers up his chest and leaned in, her face too close for comfort. The smell of her flowery perfume made him gag.

“Daniel, don’t tell me you don’t miss me. Really, I know you. You’re just too proud to come back to me. I know that woman can’t possibly give you what you need.”