Eight months after opening the doors of McAlister & Associates, Mark was bringing in new clients almost every week. Steven Millstone's account was the largest by far, but with his recommendation, several smaller companies had also signed on. The only "associate" so far was Jeff Miller, a kid with outstanding potential that Mark had hired right out of college. Mark was also interviewing a couple of experienced accountants on Monday to help take on the increased workload.

"It's five-thirty, Jeff," Mark said, late on a Friday afternoon. "Go home."

"But there's plenty of work. I don't mind staying."

"It's not necessary."

"I'll only be here an hour or so."

Mark started to protest again, but then he looked past Jeff and saw Liz at the door of his office. She wore a long purple knit dress with a slit up the thigh and a row of buttons from her neck to her navel. She held a bag from the deli next door.

Mark had never seen his wife look more beautiful. Then again, he thought that every time he saw her.

"But I don't mind staying, Mr. McAlister," Jeff said.

"It's Mark. Remember?"

"Mark. Right." He opened the file. "See I was looking at this client's tax liability for last year, and--"

"I just made a new rule. Nobody works late on Friday."

Liz winked at Mark, then rattled the deli sack a little. Jeff whipped around. When he saw Liz, he stood quickly, nearly spilling the contents of the file he held.

"Mrs. McAlister. I-I didn't see you standing there."

Liz gave him a thousand-watt smile, one that would send even the most experienced ladies' man to his knees. Mark just hoped the poor kid didn't wet his pants.

Jeff swallowed hard and set the file on Mark's desktop. "Uh, I guess I'll see you Monday," he said as he scurried out the door. Liz watched until he disappeared from sight, then came into the office and closed the door behind her.

"Why, I do believe that poor boy is afraid of me."

"He's in awe of you." Mark led her over to his sofa and pulled her down beside him. "So am I."

"Eager little thing, isn't he?"

Mark edged the slit in Liz's dress aside, then ran his hand up her leg. "Yeah. And smart as he can be. I've gotta teach him to take it easy, though, or he might get to my age and have nothing but a job to turn to."

"Unlike his boss."

"No. Like his boss, until his boss met you."

Mark kissed his way along Liz's neck, his fingers finding the first of those many tiny buttons.

"I thought you had to work late tonight," Liz murmured, her eyes dropping closed.

"Didn't you hear the new rule I made?"

"But I brought dinner."

"Later." He unfastened two buttons, then three.

Liz laughed softly. "Did I ever tell you that for a stuffy, boring accountant you're not so stuffy and boring?"

"A time or two. Did I tell you Randall Pearson is signing with us tomorrow?"

Liz turned around suddenly. "Oh, Mark! That's wonderful!"

Wonderful pretty well summed it up. Pearson Paper Company had revenues in the millions, and he was going to have to do some fast hiring just to take on the extra business.

"After we had dinner with him and his wife the other night, Pearson said you were a ’breath of fresh air.' He told me any man who was smart enough to persuade a woman like you to marry him deserved his business."

Liz's eyes got a little misty when Mark said that, and he was amazed at how he could love her more with every minute that passed.

Then all at once she gave him a wicked grin. "Wait a minute. If we got Pearson, that means--"

"Sloan didn't."

"Yes!" Liz threw her arms up in victory, then wound them around Mark's neck and gave him a kiss that resonated through every nerve in his body. "So how many more clients are you going to steal right out from under his nose?"

"Now, I'm not stealing anyone from Sloan. I'm just using my secret weapon."

"Your secret weapon?"

"You."

Liz cuddled against him with a satisfied smile. "You can use me any old time you want to."

"So how was your final this afternoon?" he asked her.

"Tough. But I think I did okay."

"That's it, then. Your first semester is over." He undid another button and teased his lips over her ear. "We have a lot to celebrate, don't we?"

Suddenly the door to his office swung open again, and Tina barged in. Mark and Liz sat up suddenly. Mark glared at Tina.

"Tina! I thought you'd gone home!"

"I left my car keys on your desk."

"Have you ever considered knocking?"

"Can't say that I have." She nodded back over her shoulder. "I saw Jeff in the hall. When are you going to get him to lighten up? He's still calling me Ms. Boyd. Makes me feel like I'm a hundred and ten years old." She grabbed her keys off Mark's desk. Then her gaze shifted to Liz.

"Oooh, Liz! I love that dress!"

Liz grinned. "Thanks."

"Where did you get it?"

"At Second Hand Rose. That resale shop on Radcliffe Street."

"I went over there the other day, but I didn't see anything that cute."

"If you dig around a little, you'll find all kinds of things. Do you want to go there with me sometime? If you do, I can--"

Mark clamped his hand over his wife's mouth. Her eyes widened, then shifted back and forth Lucy Ricardo style. He leaned over and put his lips a scant inch from her ear.

"I like the dress, too," he whispered softly. "And if you'll kindly shut up, Tina will leave, and then I'll unbutton every one of those buttons, take it off you, and we can hang it up on the back of my locked door, and then I can admire what's under it for the next hour or so. How would that be?"

Slowly he removed his hand from her mouth.

"Tina," Liz said. "Go home."

Tina grinned. "He whispered something dirty, didn't he?"

Liz just smiled.

"God, I love this place."

She gave a little wave with her fingertips, backed out the door and closed it with a gentle click.

"She's almost as crazy as you are," Mark said.

"Crazy?" Liz said with mock offense. "Me?"

"Yeah." He brushed the wispy hair away from her temple, then teased his thumb over her cheek. "And I never knew how wonderful crazy could be."

Mark drew Liz into a long, lingering kiss, secure in the knowledge that everything in life happens for a reason, whether it's apparent at the time or not. He'd walked into Simon's in search of the perfect woman.

And he'd found her.

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