All her frosty edginess melted away, and she looked more like what I was accustomed to seeing in women around Rod. In fact, it reminded me of when I first saw him, when I wondered if he was a rock star I didn’t recognize because of the way all the women on the subway car looked at him. “Oh, personal is good,” she sighed.
Still weaving his spell, Rod said, “I definitely think we should add more blue. I’d bet you look lovely in blue—like a sapphire blue. Please tell me you wear sapphires.”
“I haven’t before. But let’s buy some!”
I put my hand over my mouth to suppress my giggles. I wished we were filming this because it was one of the funniest things I’d seen in ages. Then I noticed that Owen was staring at me, not Rod. “What’s wrong?” he asked, frowning with concern.
“Wrong? What makes you think something’s wrong? I mean, other than the killer brooch on the loose. This”—I gestured toward Rod— “is the best thing that’s happened all day.”
“Not now, at this moment, but in general. Something’s up with you lately.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re all lit up today, practically glowing, and you haven’t looked like that in a long time. It’s good to see, but it makes me wonder what’s wrong the rest of the time. I know I’ve been kind of obsessed lately. Has that been bothering you?”
Owen acted like an absentminded professor, but he wasn’t nearly as oblivious as he seemed to be. I wasn’t sure what to say, though. Given everything he was dealing with, I felt like a whiner to complain about something so petty as being bored. “It’s not your fault, really. Can we talk about it later, though, when we’re not on a quest to retrieve the magical brooch that could plunge the world into war?”
“I’ll hold you to that.” His phone rang, and when he checked the caller ID, he handed it to me. “It’s for you.”
It was Gemma. “Sorry, I’m not having much luck,” she said. “The profile you gave fits half our customers, and nobody remembers anyone’s fiancé’s name.”
“Thanks for trying. We may have a good lead here.” Since it had taken every ounce of Rod’s magical charm to keep Natalie Winters from snarling at him, I thought she just might be our girl.