It was Monday. At a quarter to three, Nicole’s last patient, a Maine Coon with a respiratory problem, had just left, and as Nicole entered notes about the cat into her computer, her thoughts drifted to Jonathan as they had most of the day. They’d made love through the night Saturday and again yesterday morning after breakfast. She hadn’t had office hours yesterday, and they’d spent the day together, taking a long walk, talking, making love again as afternoon turned to evening. She was falling in love with him, and the thought both scared and excited her. She remembered feeling the same about Matthew—and yet, it wasn’t the same at all.

Finished with her notes, she powered down her computer, grabbed her purse from her desk and headed out. Unfortunately, the heavy bag slipped from her hands and fell to the floor; the catch opened and the contents spilled out. Strange, that catch was usually so secure. As she stooped to gather everything up to stuff back into the purse, she spied Madame’s tiny bottle. The liquid gold shimmered in the light and seemed to come alive. Nicole shook her head. Must be her imagination. But when she touched the bottle, the heat of it burned her fingers and with a low yelp she dropped it.

Still kneeling, Nicole rolled her eyes. “Okay, Madame, I get it. You want me to use the potion. I’m through with your jokes. I’ll use the darn stuff because it doesn’t matter. I’m falling in love with Jonathan, though there are no green jaguars of any kind around him. I’m not afraid of your silly love potion!”

She gingerly reached for the bottle. This time it didn’t burn. After she finished putting all the other items back into her purse, Nicole stood, holding the bottle, and pulled out the stopper. Feeling a little silly, she rubbed some of the shimmering gold liquid onto each wrist. The surprising scent of jasmine wafted forth, and she chuckled. It was probably nothing more than perfume and glitter. She tucked the bottle back into her purse, slung the bag over her shoulder and strode out.

“Are you okay to close up?” she asked when she got to the reception area.

Mary nodded. “I’ll take care of things. I’ll only be a few more minutes.”

As Nicole walked out of her office and toward the curb, she inhaled the humid air, heavy with the smell of car exhaust mixed with the scent of flowers from the florist shop next door. A glance at the bank clock told her it was precisely three. Humming to herself, she waited for the light to change, but the purr of an engine distracted her. She looked to her left and saw a vintage green Jaguar—a familiar Jaguar—slide to a stop. Not that she was nervous, but she swallowed. What the heck message was Madame sending now? She’d seen a car, a bike, a wagon…and now here was the car from the first day. She had to admit the fortuneteller certainly had a monopoly on jaguars.

Heart pounding, she watched as the vehicle’s driver-side door opened. A smile on his face, Jonathan stepped out. He rushed to her and planted a kiss on her lips. “Nicole! I’d hoped to catch you before you went to the shelter.”

She backed away. “What are you doing in that car?”

His brow furrowed. “It’s mine. Why?”

“You have a truck.”

“And I have this Jag. How about if I drive you to the shelter and help you out there, then we can have dinner together?”

She put up a hand. “Not so fast. Why haven’t I seen you drive this car before? You work for a delivery company and you own a car like this?” God, she sounded so snobby, knocking him for working at a delivery company. She hadn’t meant to. Her face burned.

His features tightened. “Why can’t a delivery person own a Jag?” He raked fingers through his hair, took a breath, and sighed. “Hell, I shouldn’t be annoyed at you. I haven’t been completely honest. I don’t work for the delivery company. I own it.”

With a gasp, she took another step back. “You lied to me?”

“Not a lie. I just didn’t tell you everything.”

Nicole was in freefall. He’d kept something important from her. What else was he hiding? “A lie of omission is a lie. Why would you hide something like that from me?” The shattering of her heart caused a physical ache. She pressed a hand to her chest. Once again, she’d fallen for a man who wasn’t completely honest. What else was she going to discover? He reached out to touch her, but she flinched.

Hurt flashed over his face and he dropped his hand. “I had my reasons.”

She shook her head. “What reasons? I can’t think of anything I’ve done to cause you not to trust me.” She turned to walk away. “I don’t want to see you right now. I’m going to the shelter.”

“No, Nicole, I’m not letting you leave. Not like this.” He grabbed her arm, stopping her, but when she looked at him he released her and said, “We’ll talk this out right now. We have to.”

He raked fingers through his hair again, ruffling it. With those mussed locks, a day’s growth of dark stubble, his gray T-shirt and close-fitting jeans, he looked like every woman’s bad-boy fantasy. Damn, why did he have to look so good? She should have known he’d be a heartbreaker like all bad boys. A little voice in her head wondered, though: Was he really? She ignored the voice as anger surged through her. He hadn’t been completely upfront. If he had any ability to make this right, she wasn’t going to make it easy for him. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s go into my office.” As she walked, though, the annoying voice reminded her there were things she hadn’t shared with him either.

* * *

With an effort, Jonathan relaxed his tight muscles and followed Nicole into her building. He should have been open with her from the first. He’d allowed his past hurts to color his relationship with Nicole, and that had been a mistake. She’d become important to him in such a short time, so he’d fight for her, talk this out, and make her understand. He had to make her understand.

The receptionist glanced up from her desk as they approached. She looked from one to the other then stood. “I’m leaving. You’ve got the place to yourselves.” Clutching her purse, she strode out. Jonathan was surprised when she gave him a wink.

Nicole threw her purse on the desk and sank into one of the chairs in the waiting room. “Start talking,” she muttered.

Jonathan grabbed a chair, pulled it across the room to set it front of her, then sat. Hurt and confusion flashed in her big brown eyes, and he knew he needed to pull out all the stops and convince her to give him—give them—another chance. “I’m sorry, Nicole. I should have been upfront with you from the beginning.”

“Yes, you should have.” Her full lips thinned, and she leaned forward, tension in every line of her body.

“I’ve been burned in the past,” he said. “Badly. That’s no excuse, but it’s made me more cautious than I need to be. I wanted to tell you. That’s why I came by now, to take you to dinner and come clean. About everything.”

He looked deeply into her eyes, willing her to understand. “That time before the ice cream festival, the reason I had to leave town was because of a major problem at my Pennsylvania facility. I was the only one who could fix it. When I was away last week, I was attending an industry conference in New York City. I should have told you then. I’ve screwed up royally. I never expected to meet someone like you, or to fall so hard. I wasn’t prepared.”

Anger flashed in her eyes. “You said you went to the city to see your mother. You lied.”

“I didn’t lie about that. My mom lives in Manhattan and I did visit her when I was there.”

Nicole averted her gaze then turned back to him. What she said next was totally confusing. “Someone told me to expect you.”

“What? What do you mean?”

She waved a hand. “Later. I want the full truth from you now. Why couldn’t you tell me everything in the beginning?”

He shifted in his seat. “It’s not a story I like to tell. But here goes. My wife and I married right out of college. I paid my way through school by working for a delivery service. I’d always wanted to run my own business. When the opportunity came to buy All Pets Delivery, I jumped at it. My wife had to support us for a few years while I built up the business. She wasn’t happy about that and couldn’t understand why I didn’t get a good-paying job with my degree in finance. She wanted me to bring in enough money so she wouldn’t have to hold down a job. I worked long hours and left her alone a lot.”

“She was lonely,” Nicole suggested.

“She was, and I still carry guilt about that. But it doesn’t excuse what she did.”

“What did she do?”

“Alicia liked male attention. My best friend Luke spent a lot of time at my house. I trusted Luke like I trusted Alicia. Luke’s a successful lawyer whose family is wealthy. I came home from work early one evening to find them in bed together.”

Nicole put her hand to her mouth. “That’s awful.”

“Yeah, it was bad. They’re married now with two kids. Luke could give her everything I couldn’t—at least not then. I’m glad she got what she wanted, I guess. I hope our friendship and marriage were worth it.” He looked down at his left arm then met her gaze again. “You asked about my tattoo. I had it done while waiting for my divorce to be final, a reminder to be careful of who I trust. I’m especially wary of women who are interested in money above all else.”

Nicole silently studied him. Her large eyes were filled with hurt much like his own, and that tugged at his heart. He wanted to take her in his arms and make it up to her, to never let her go.

“You should have had more faith in me and told me the truth about your work right away,” she said. “You judged me because of what they did.”

He nodded. “I was stupid. I know that now. With my company so successful, I have the kind of money Alicia wanted. Since my divorce I’ve dated women more interested in that than me. I liked you from the first time I saw you. I had to know it was me you wanted. I was afraid to be honest with you, afraid you’d want me for the wrong reasons.”

“I support myself. How could you think I wanted you for your money?”

He shook his head. “Old fears die hard. I was so used to being careful, afraid of getting hurt again that I ended up hurting you. That’s the last thing I wanted. Please believe that.”

She looked down and smoothed a hand over her black skirt. When her gaze connected with his again, she gave him a tentative smile that shot hope through him. “I once dated a man who lied to me, cheated on me, and used me for my money. I was afraid you eventually would, too. So…I haven’t been completely forthcoming with you, either. Looks like you and I both have trust issues.”

Jonathan grinned. “Want to see my tax returns?”

Her smile grew wider. “No. Want to see mine?”

“No way.”

“Even if you were the richest man in the world, I’d still want to work with animals. It’s who I am,” she said.

He stood and took her hand to pull her up. Still holding on, he said, “Let’s start over. Hi, I’m Jonathan Brand and I own All Pets Delivery and drive a vintage green Jag.”

Nicole laughed, a sweet sound that held the promise of second chances. “Hi, I’m Dr. Nicole Caruso and I own Evergreen Veterinary Clinic and drive a blue Ford Escape.”

He gathered her in and held her close. She laid her head on his chest. For the first time in a very long time, he felt he’d come home. Even when she pulled back, he continued to hold her in the circle of his arms.

“I have a question for you,” she said.

“Okay.”

She stared into his eyes for a moment before speaking. “That first Monday when we met, I saw you wave to someone before you drove away in that van. Right afterward, a green Jaguar like yours almost hit me. There have been a lot of jaguars lately but—”

“That was my car with my mechanic at the wheel, apparently speeding. The person I waved to was him. When I first came out of your building, I noticed Charlie stopped at the light down the street. I assumed he was taking my car for a test run after some repairs. I almost flagged him down to ask about the repairs and to take the car for a short spin to see how it rode, but…well, something stopped me.”

Nicole stiffened, eyes wide. “If you’d flagged him down, you would have been on that corner at three o’clock. In that car.”

Jonathan frowned. “Yes. Probably.”

“Madame was right.” Nicole shook her head again. “I should have used the potion that first Monday.”

“What?”

“I’ll explain it all someday.”

“Tell me now. I’m curious.”

“Okay, but it’s a bit of a strange story.” She drew a deep breath and clasped her hands in front of her. “A little while ago my friends dragged me to see a fortuneteller, Madame Lena. Madame gave me a vial of gold liquid and told me if I put it on my wrists and stood at the corner of Main and Jessup on Monday at three o’clock in the afternoon, I’d meet the man of my destiny. She also saw a green jaguar.”

Nicole grinned. “I refused to use her potion, and every Monday since then, when I’ve been on the corner of Main and Jessup at three o’clock, I’ve seen a green jaguar: your car with your mechanic driving, a green bicycle with a guy wearing a shirt with a green jaguar printed on it, a green wagon with a jaguar figure on the side. When I finally used her potion today, you drove up in your Jag.” She tilted her head and gave him a sly smile. “You said you believe strange things do happen around us…so maybe it was magic after all that brought us together.”

He took a half step back. “That’s some story. But maybe magic had nothing to do with it.”

“What do you mean?”

He laughed. “Harry told me about you and how pretty and nice you are, and I was anxious to meet you. I wanted to adopt a cat, and I planned to bring it to your vet practice so I could meet you. When he had to take off for a while, I took his route even though I could have let someone else handle it.”

“Really? I like to think magic might have had a little bit to do with it.”

He pulled her to him and kissed her lightly on the lips, baffled but pleased at their having made up. “Magic or not, are we good now? Can we start over? I’m falling in love with you, Nicole. Will you give me—give us—another chance?”

“I’d like that.” He kissed her deeply, fully, pouring out his heart, his hope, and his love.

* * *

“I told you Madame Lena is the real deal,” said Jen six months later, a flute of champagne in her hand.

“We told you,” Erin said.

Nicole sighed. “You were right. The day Jonathan and I got engaged I sent a bouquet of red roses over to thank her.”

“Cool,” Jen said.

“Cool party too,” Erin added.

Nicole’s gaze swept the elegant but cozy room in the town’s newest French restaurant, La Jaguar Vert, The Green Jaguar. Looked like Madame was still having a little fun with her. And Nicole didn’t mind at all.

She and Jonathan had invited their families and friends to celebrate their engagement. As she glanced around, she spotted her mother seated at a table with her latest boyfriend. Her grandmother and her grandmother’s decades-younger boyfriend, the one whose name was now

tattooed on her grandmother’s ankle, sat with them. And their personal situations no longer bothered Nicole. She loved her mother and grandmother, but she wasn’t like them. She wanted it all: kids, pets, a yard with a picket fence, and one good marriage. Unlike her mother and grandmother, she could have them. She would have one marriage that lasted for the rest of her life. She’d have it with Jonathan.

“Can I steal my fiancée for a few minutes?” Jonathan asked, approaching Nicole and her friends. He slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. “I want you to meet some of my cousins,” he explained, looking down at her.

“We’ll leave you two lovebirds and go find our own men,” Erin said. She and Jen, giving waves, walked away.

Jonathan brushed a kiss on Nicole’s temple. “Happy?”

She turned and twined her arms around his neck, smiling as broadly as she could. “Happier than I ever expected. I love you, Jonathan Brand.”

“I love you, Nicole Caruso.”

Ignoring the others, they kissed. Now Nicole believed in magic. The magic of love.