Just Another Pretty Face (HT 459) by Candace Schuler Page B

because you're who you are. I meant what I said earlier about not standing in line." She drew her hand out from under his and clasped both hers together in her lap to keep from reaching for him. "But mostly because..."
    "Because?" Pierce prompted.
    "There's something you should know about me," she said.
    Pierce sat quietly, waiting for her to go on, wondering what terrible thing she was about to confess. From the look on her face it had to be something serious.
    Nikki took a deep breath and lifted her gaze to his. There was no easy way to say, "I'm a sucker for a pretty face," she said, as if admitting to a strong liking for kinky sex acts.
    Relief flooded through him. "And?" he prompted, trying to keep his lips from twitching.
    "I'm... drawn to good-looking men, I guess you could say. I know it's shallow of me. That it's superficial. And stupid, considering all the grief they've given me. But I can't seem to help it. Every guy I've ever been attracted to has been good-looking. Not nearly as good looking as you," she added honestly, letting her gaze drift over his face for a moment. "But more than commonly attractive." She shrugged and looked down at her lap again. "I think it's probably some kind of Freudian complex or something. My father and all my brothers are big, good looking men, especially when they're all decked out in their navy whites. All the guys I had unrequited crushes on in every high school I ever went to were good-looking, too. And my fiance was a walking, talking navy recruiting poster."
    "And he cheated on you."
    That brought her gaze up to his. "How did you know?"
    "The remark you made about not standing in line for any man again." He shrugged. "It wasn't difficult to figure out." He looked at the top of her bent head. "Want to tell me about it?"
    "There's not much to tell. I fell head over heels in love with a pretty face and he fell head over heels in love with my father's rank and what he thought it could do for him. End of story."
    "Hardly." Pierce's voice was dry and disbelieving.
    "No, that's pretty much it," Nikki said. "The rest is the old familiar tale of a woman scorned. I went over to his apartment one afternoon with a picnic lunch, a surprise to welcome him home from an extended training mission." She gave a short mirthless little laugh. "The surprise was on me."
    "He was with another woman."
    "Yes. Buck naked and thrashing around on the living room floor in the final throes of ecstasy."
    "It must have hurt."
    "Like hell," Nikki admitted. "Especially since he'd refused to make love to me. I'd shown him in every way I knew how that I was willing to sleep with him anytime he wanted me, but he said he wanted to do everything right, to wait until the wedding night, and I'd agreed because I thought it was so romantic and gallant of him. The truth was that he was afraid my father or one of my brothers would find out if he took me to bed before the ceremony and it would ruin his chances for a fast promotion. Bump him right off the fast track. He didn't want me enough to risk it."
    "The fool." Pierce's voice was scathing.
    "No, he was right, it probably would have affected his career. The men in my family are stereotypical Italians when it comes to their women. Any one of them would have squashed him like a bug if they thought he'd taken advantage of me."
    "So did you ruin him instead?"
    "No. I told my family I'd changed my mind about getting married and ran off to join the marines."
    "And vowed never to trust another good-looking man again as long as you lived."
    "And vowed never to trust myself with another good-looking man as long as I lived," Nikki corrected him.
    Pierce looked at her for a long, thoughtful moment, wondering what he could say to convince her that she could trust herself to him, especially when he wasn't sure she could, completely. "I'd never cheat on you," he said at last, because it was the only promise he could make. He reached out and touched her cheek, stroking it gently with