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“Matt said your folks are in Chile now.”
She nodded. “They were supposed to come home for the wedding, but there was an earthquake and they needed to stay on.”
“Wedding?” He didn’t understand the swift clutch of emotion in his stomach. Surely if she’d gotten married, someone would have told him. “Whose wedding?” he asked casually. “Anyone I know?”
“Our cousin, Scott. Uncle Edward’s son,” she said…and Ivan was immediately, inexplicably relieved. “I don’t know if you’ve met him or not. He’s something of a loner.” The corners of her mouth dipped into a rueful frown. “He still is, I guess, since the bride took off before the wedding and hasn’t been heard from since.”
“Wow. That must be hard for the family. Especially you.”
Her head came up and a startled look flashed in her eyes. “Me? Why especially me?”
“Because you’re so empathetic, always concerned about other people and their problems, always wanting to fix whatever’s wrong.”
“Oh,” she said, relaxing. “You and I have that in common, don’t we, Ivan?”
“We have a lot of things in common, Ainsley. Not least among them our passion for Ping-Pong. I do plan to beat your socks off tonight both before and after dinner. I’ve been practicing.”
“So have I.” She accepted his teasing challenge with a little toss of her curls. “And I was better than you to begin with. However, since it’s your first time at Danfair in five whole years, I’ll consider taking it easy on you.”
“Oh!” He put a hand to his heart as if wounded. “Now there’s a double-dog dare if I ever heard one. Don’t even be thinking you’ll let me win. I’ll whip you fair and square, young lady, and don’t you forget it.”
She laughed, a pure and wonderful sound that made him feel warm all through. “I was merely thinking I’d give you a fighting chance, but if you’re determined to be soundly defeated, far be it from me to deny you the humiliation.”
He laughed, too, so glad to be in a place that felt so much like home, with someone who welcomed him with such open arms. “I’ll look forward to our match, Ainsley.”
“Me, too.”
She had a smile worth the trip from Arizona, and he hoped she never stopped smiling at him.
“Guess I’d better leave you to your research,” he said, moving to the doorway. “I sure don’t want to be blamed if you don’t get all your work done.”
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