It was a lot of an understatement.
He wore a classic black tux, white dress shirt with wing collar, points tucked behind a black bow tie. Faith always thought he looked completely natural wearing casual clothing and his leather flight jacket. She realized for the first time that he was so magnetically handsome, he could probably pull off wearing a paper bag.
Seeing him in an immaculate tuxedo was like a sock to the gut.
“You look amazing, yourself,” Ryan said, his gaze going over her warmly.
“Where did you get that tuxedo?” she wondered incredulously. The elegant garment fit his large, lean body too well to have been anything but tailor made for him.
“I flew over to Chicago and had a rush job done on it. I needed to buy one anyway,” Ryan said. “Since I’ve started working for Nick and Deidre, they’ve invited me to a few formal events. I needed a tux.”
Faith realized she was standing there gaping at him while he stood on her front steps, holding the door.
“I’m sorry. Please come in. I just have to get my wrap.” She flew to the kitchen, where she retrieved the pale, fluid evening wrap she’d had dry-cleaned. When she rejoined Ryan, her wrap draped over her arm, she saw that he carried a small plastic container.
“This is for you,” he said, handing it to her.
Her eyes sprang wide. “A corsage?”
“No,” he said. “It’s just a single orchid. I thought it’d look great in your hair. If it doesn’t, though, you can just put it in a vase.”
“Oh, Ryan,” she said, staring at the single, gorgeous bloom resting in the container. For some odd reason, her eyes smarted with tears. He’d recalled the color of her gown from last weekend, when he’d walked in and she’d been holding it up in the mirror. That such a masculine man remembered such a small detail and translated that knowledge into such a perfect gift struck a deep emotional chord in her. She looked at him.
“Thank you. I will wear it in my hair. You got the color exactly. Give me just a second,” she said, beaming at him before she hurried to the bathroom to find a pin to affix the orchid.
He couldn’t have chosen better. The champagne-colored bloom looked lovely next to her dark hair. She removed the necklace she’d put on, allowing the flower to be her only accent besides a small pair of diamond studs in her ears.
His eyes seemed to glow when she joined him a second later.
“You’re right. It is perfect,” he said, smiling. He dipped his dark head and kissed her on the mouth, brief and electric.
Her breathing didn’t return to normal until they were seated in the car and halfway to the Lake View restaurant.
“I hope you won’t be too bored,” Faith said worriedly when he pulled into the packed parking lot. “As the Alliance president I’ll have to speak, and I’m responsible for the silent auction. The auction and cocktail party starts at six-thirty, and the dinner will follow. A couple of people from the board will be helping me do some last-minute things, so—”
“I’ll be fine. You just do whatever you have to do,” Ryan assured. She glanced over at his profile, sensing his calm confidence, and realized that of course he’d be fine. He was nothing if not self-sufficient.
She was aware of him all evening, despite the fact that she put considerable effort into socializing with all the guests during the combined cocktail hour and silent auction. He was at least a head taller than most of the attendees at the fundraiser, so it was easy to spot him above the crowd. He did, indeed, appear to be comfortable, meeting and chatting with strangers. Once she observed him talking to Sheila Maxwell, a local attorney. They made quite a striking pair standing next to each other, sipping their drinks, chatting and laughing. Jealousy made an unwanted appearance, swelling in her belly. It ducked its ugly head when she noticed that Ryan spoke just as long, and just as animatedly, to Mortimer Cohen, a wealthy octogenarian, as he had the statuesque Sheila.
She lost sight of him when the lights dimmed in the large dining room in order to show the brief film about the charitable work of the Animal Advocate Alliance.
“Those are your hands holding that dog. I’d recognize them anywhere,” a deep voice said quietly in her right ear.
Faith turned around and saw Ryan’s shadowed face just over her right shoulder. She smiled.
“You’re amazing. I hadn’t realized there was anything singular about my hands,” she said, referring to the video that detailed the experience of one homeless dog from when it’d been taken in by the Alliance to when it had eventually been adopted by a family. Faith was shown in the video giving the canine a medical exam and providing its shots, although her face didn’t appear on camera.
“I recognized your touch.”
She blinked at having those sweet, intimate words murmured in her ear. She struggled to recover.
“Are you having an okay time?” she whispered.
“Yes. And I happen to know from mingling with your guests that you’ve got a ton of donations coming your way. I’m hoping the night will be a big success,” he said quietly near her ear.
She craned her head around, trying to see him better in the shadowed room. “Thank you, Ryan.”
She just made out his small smile and the gleam in his eyes before the video presentation ended and the lights came back up. Reluctantly Faith excused herself to call everyone to dinner and give her speech.