Zach couldn’t believe he was thinking about marriage

It wasn’t something he’d ever thought about a second time. He was a pretty well-rounded dad, willing to do whatever was necessary for his kids.

But lately, he wasn’t thinking of marrying just for the children. He wanted to do it for himself, as well.

He’d liked those nights he spent with Ginna. Not just the sex, but the cuddling, the conversation.

He never considered himself someone who thought in terms of hearts and flowers, but it was easy to think that way where she was concerned.

Personality of sunshine. Smile that made a guy just feel damn good. And a pair of legs that had him thinking some even better thoughts.

Yes, it was way past time for him to tell Ginna about Emma and Trey. Especially since he also had to tell her he was falling in love with her.

Dear Reader,

Once again, Harlequin American Romance has got an irresistible month of reading coming your way.

Our in-line continuity series THE CARRADIGNES: AMERICAN ROYALTY continues with Kara Lennox’s The Unlawfully Wedded Princess. Media chaos erupted when Princess Amelia Carradigne’s secret in-name-only marriage was revealed. Now her handsome husband has returned to claim his virgin bride. Talk about a scandal of royal proportions! Watch for more royals next month.

For fans of Judy Christenberry’s BRIDES FOR BROTHERS series, we bring you Randall Riches, in which champion bull rider Rich Randall meets a sassy diner waitress whose resistance to his charms has him eager to change her mind. Next, Karen Toller Whittenburg checks in with The Blacksheep’s Arranged Marriage, part of her BILLION-DOLLAR BRADDOCKS series. This is a sexy marriage-of-convenience story you won’t want to miss. Finish the month with Two Little Secrets by Linda Randall Wisdom, a delightful story featuring a single-dad hero with twin surprises.

Best,

Melissa Jeglinski

Associate Senior Editor

Harlequin American Romance

Two Little Secrets

Linda Randall Wisdom

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Linda Randall Wisdom is a California author who loves movies, books and animals of all kinds. She also has a great sense of humor, which is reflected in her books.

Books by Linda Randall Wisdom

HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE

250—WE GIVE THANKS

284—LADY’S CHOICE

293—APPEARANCES ARE DECEIVING

310—CODE OF SILENCE

325—SINS OF THE PAST

350—A MAN FOR MAGGIE

372—O’MALLEY’S QUEST

382—VOICES IN THE NIGHT

401—FREE SPIRITS

422—SOMETIMES A LADY

443—THIS OLD HOUSE

457—UNDER HIS SPELL

470—A MAN FOR MOM

487—THE COUNTESS AND THE COWBOY

515—NO ROOM AT THE INN

541—VEGAS VOWS

561—HE’S A REBEL

596—COUNTERFEIT HUSBAND

608—MOMMY HEIRESS

627—TWIST OF FATE

641—DO YOU TAKE THIS MAN…

671—NAUGHTY ’N NICE

681—MR. & MRS….& MRS.?

707—BELLS, RINGS & ANGELS’ WINGS

751—SHE’S HAVING HIS BABY

774—THE LAST TWO BACHELORS

831—MY LITTLE ONE

865—BRIDE OF DREAMS

920—TWO LITTLE SECRETS

Dear Reader,

When I came up with the idea of the Blind Date Bulletin Board, I wondered where the best place for it would be. Since there’s nothing else more relaxing than spending time in a day spa, and women tend to talk there, I thought, why not have single women talk about the lack of single men and bring up that, while so and so may not be right for them, he might be right for someone else. Hence, the bulletin board where a single woman could do a little browsing and just maybe find an available man, and after that who knows.

Naturally, this kind of book meant a great deal of research into day spas and all the amenities that go with it.

I only hope you, my readers, appreciate my hard work in this area. <G>

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Prologue

“Judgment for the plaintiff in the amount of five thousand dollars.” The striking of the gavel backed up the judge’s ruling. “Next time, madam, don’t choose a man who lies even when truth hits him in the face. And, sir, you are lucky you’re not in jail for the stunt you pulled.”

“Yay, Ginna!” The cheers echoed in the room.

Ginna Walker strolled to the center of the hair salon and dropped into a deep curtsy. No easy feat, considering her narrow short skirt.

Now her voice echoed out of the speakers. “Naturally I am very happy with the judge’s decision. The judge could tell he was lying about the money being his. The account was in my name only. He lied to bank personnel and cost that teller her job as a result. I just wish he’d been punished, too.”

A man’s surly voice was next. “I can’t believe the judge believed that bleep! lies. That money was supposed to be in a joint account. The only reason that bleep! did this was because I have a new life and she’s jealous.”

Ginna laughed out loud.

“The man never stops. A so-called joint account that only carried my name on it. I still can’t figure out how Denny duped that teller into letting him clean it out,” she told her friends and co-workers. “Could anyone remind me why I married such an idiot?”

“Because he had a cute smile and he reminded you of a puppy,” Cheryl, one of the nail techs, said.

“Because you said he actually listened to you,” Nora, one of the other hairdressers, put in.

“Because he sent you three dozen red roses on Valentine’s Day,” was added.

“Yes, but he used my credit card to pay for them,” Ginna said ruefully.

“That was your first clue he was a total jerk,” Sonia, one of the masseurs, piped up.

“I should have divorced him right there and then.” Ginna picked up the television remote control and switched it off. “It would have saved me a lot of trouble.”

Her friends kept pity from their gazes as they looked at her. They all knew exactly why there had been a divorce, but those sorrowful facts were neatly tucked away. It had taken a while before her smiles were spontaneous again.

CeCe, the elegant owner of the Steppin’ Out Salon and Day Spa, rose from her chair and walked over to Ginna. She rested her hands on the younger woman’s shoulders.

“Do not worry, my little Ginna. You will find a man who will see you as the treasure you are,” she told her.

Ginna looked at her boss, who everyone considered ageless. She could be thirty. She could be sixty. The woman’s beauty, Ginna thought, was the type that began from within. Anyone who worked for CeCe was considered a part of her family.

“Then if you say so, it will come true,” she said lightly. “But you don’t mind if I wait awhile before the perfect man comes my way?”

CeCe’s laughter was light and musical to the ear. “My dear, love doesn’t come at your beck and call. You answer its call.” She hugged her and stepped back. “Ladies, we have all this lovely champagne to finish,” she announced.

Ginna walked over to the table laden with rich pastries, bottles of champagne and a lazy Susan holding various fresh vegetables with a dip nearby. She picked up a custard-filled éclair and bit into it.

The lounge for the Steppin’ Out spa clients was a restful area with love seats and chairs that were designed for comfort, as well as looks. Exquisite paintings of European pastoral scenes hung on the walls. Many a woman enjoyed the plush feel of the mint-green carpet underfoot. The wide-screen television in one corner was encased in elegant walnut, used to play specially created videos showing the spa’s amenities.

Since the spa was closed this evening, the employees took over the room to watch Ginna’s television debut on one of the popular courtroom programs.

“Yes, but then you wouldn’t have had your twenty minutes of fame on television,” Phoebe, one of the spa’s estheticians said, and busied herself with a nail file. Cheryl clucked her tongue, muttering about proper shaping as she took the file out of Phoebe’s hand and finished the job herself. “Or gotten more than he owed you.”

“If he hadn’t out and out lied in court, she probably would only have awarded me the money he took,” Ginna admitted. She dropped into one of the chairs in the salon and spun around. “He did it to himself.”

“And what are we doing with the money?” Nora asked in a singsong voice.

Ginna grinned broadly.

“I am taking the vacation of my dreams.”

“THIS IS A JOKE, right?” Zach Stone looked at the sheets of paper his sister had unceremoniously thrust into his hand.

“Do I look like I’m kidding?” She tapped the top paper. “Happy birthday, big brother.”

“Lucie, my birthday’s seven months away,” he said dryly.

She shrugged off his statement. “Then think of it as two weeks in heaven. Sun, sand and surf. Maybe you’ll even go wild and have a hot island romance. It wouldn’t hurt you, you know.”

“Romance?” He started laughing. “Lucie, I have two kids who will be starting kindergarten next year. My life consists of Big Bird and Elmo. Not spending my days on a tropical island beach.”

“Then I suggest you start thinking about it, because you leave next week.” She held up a hand to forestall the arguments she expected to hear. “Emma and Trey will be staying with us.”

“Terrific. While I’m gone, Nick will teach Trey how to hack into a government computer, and God knows what will happen to Emma while her brother is in prison,” Zach muttered in a dark voice.

“He hasn’t done any of that for the last three months,” his sister reminded him.

Zach thought about telling her he’d caught his eight-year-old nephew at his computer and the moment he was sighted the boy shut everything down. Zach had nightmares for a week about a member of a secret government agency coming knocking on his door.

He was positive the boy would run the country one day.

“Zach, you need to get away,” Lucie said softly but forcefully. “You haven’t done one thing for yourself since the twins were born. You need this.”

“I took a vacation six months ago.”

“Taking the twins to Disney World doesn’t count,” she argued. “As it was, you turned it into a working vacation by coming back with enough material for a few months’ worth of your column. Fine. You want more material? Go to Hawaii and write about a single dad at a singles resort.”

“I’ll have plenty of time for myself when they graduate from college.” He feared he was losing the battle. Lucie was like a Gila monster. Once she sunk her teeth into something, she didn’t let go.

She shook her head. “It doesn’t work that way. I planned this trip to give you everything you could ever want. Just pack up some casual clothes and suntan lotion and you’ll be all set.”

Zach got up and walked over to the patio doors overlooking the backyard. He watched his son and daughter playing tag with their cousin outside.

Since the day their mother died giving birth to them, he’d focused his life on giving them a rich full life in an attempt to make up for what they’d lost. By doing that, he’d pushed his own personal needs to one side. He couldn’t even remember when he’d last gone out on a date.

He didn’t want to take the trip his sister was generously giving him.

Maybe he should tell her to take the trip in his place, and he’d watch Nick for her. Maybe she’d even find a man who could handle the boy.

The offer hovered right there on his lips.

Chapter One

People were not meant to fly.

The previous day, Ginna had been scrubbed with sea salt, waxed, exfoliated, massaged, moisturized, moussed and polished. Her skin glowed and felt smooth as silk. Thanks to her co-workers’ efforts, she was sent off to have the time of her life.

If only she didn’t have to fly to achieve it.

Ginna Walker was known to be fearless. With three brothers, she’d had to be. Over time, she’d handled snakes, lizards and even a scorpion named Ralph.

But when it came to walking into a large cylinder that a human and computers navigated through the air, she didn’t do as well. If it hadn’t been so expensive, she would have opted for a cruise.

Except the movie Titanic stayed with her much too long.

So she’d armed herself with motion-sickness medication, a couple of paperback novels and a positive attitude to get her over the Pacific Ocean.

She made her way down the aisle to her seat. She pushed her carry-on bag into the overhead compartment, then settled herself in the window seat assigned to her. She opened her book and pretended not to hear the jet engines warming up or feel the faint rumble under her feet.

“Excuse me, I’m afraid you’re sitting in my seat.”

She looked up into a pair of brown eyes that rivaled Casper’s, her German shepherd’s.

“I don’t think so.”

He didn’t move. “I do think so. You’re in my seat.”

She looked up at him, refusing to back down.

“This is seat 15C and my ticket reads 15C.” She pulled her ticket out of her bag and showed it to him.

As if not to be outdone, he brandished a ticket with the same seat number printed on it.

She glanced at his ticket and smiled. “Amazing, my ticket says the same thing. Besides, haven’t you ever heard of possession being nine-tenths of the law and all that?”

“I guess we’ll need a third party to figure this one out,” he said, pushing the call button.

The flight attendant was warm and helpful as she took both tickets to investigate. When she returned, she was equally apologetic.

“I’m very sorry, Mr. Stone, but somehow the same seat assignment was made for both of you,” she told him. “As Ms. Walker’s ticket was purchased first…” Her voice fell off. “I’m afraid we have no more window seats. In fact, we’re full except for the middle and aisle seat here.”

He nodded. “That’s fine with me.”

She handed them back their tickets and went about her duties.

“Sorry about that. I’m Zach Stone.” He held out his hand.

“Ginna Walker.” She felt his warm palm slide across hers.

Not bad at all. She judged him to be a couple of inches over six feet and nice-looking, with dark-blond hair she knew would lighten under the Hawaiian sun. It needed a good shaping, her keen hairdresser eye noticed. Soft yellow polo shirt, khaki-colored pants. A pair of glasses stuck out of his shirt pocket.

Maybe the flight won’t be so bad, after all.

All the way to the airport, Zach had busied himself with instructions for Lucie about the twins. His sister looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.

Which he had. He was leaving his precious babies with his sister and her son, a child who aspired to be number one on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.

“Nothing is going to happen to the twins,” Lucie had said firmly, steering him through the security checkpoint and toward the gate. She held on to him as if she feared he would bolt in the opposite direction. “Emma always knows when Nick is trying to con her and she keeps Trey out of trouble. You just enjoy your vacation. And remember what I told you. For the next two weeks, no mention of your kids. You’re a single man out for relaxation. That’s it. And if you get lucky—” she paused “—I packed what you’ll need in your shaving kit.”

Zach groaned. He really should have made a run for it, but he knew his bloodhound of a sister would only drag him back. The woman was relentless.

He dropped into the aisle seat and adjusted his seat belt. He wouldn’t be surprised if Lucie had stationed herself by the door, prepared to stand there until the plane left the ground. With him in it.

An exotic fragrance he couldn’t hope to name floated from his seatmate. Nothing overpowering but enough to tempt the senses. The lady was ready for her vacation in the islands in a short black knit skirt that bared a pleasant amount of leg and a blue silky top that stopped a couple of inches short of the skirt’s waistband. Brown hair that shone with gold and coppery highlights was pulled up and back in a curly ponytail that cascaded down her back. The eyes that watched him were a startling shade of blue. They were large and liquid, meant to captivate a man. Her voice held a husky note that was equally enthralling. Zach, the kid, would have stuttered his way through an introduction. Zach, the man, almost swallowed his tongue.

Maybe this vacation won’t be so bad, after all.

Since his seatmate was engrossed in her book, Zach opened the book he’d brought with him. With Lucie so insistent on his finding some romance in the islands, he wasn’t about to allow her to choose his reading material.

As they took off, he glanced out the corner of his eye and noticed her knuckles were white as she gripped the book.

“Flying’s safer than riding in a car,” he said in a low voice, in the hope of relaxing her.

“Cars remain on the ground while planes, which are infinitely heavier, go up in the air and have the chance of coming down when least expected,” she murmured.

He noticed she started to relax once the plane had leveled off, even if one leg still had a habit of jiggling up and down. Which drew his attention back to her legs, which were as nice as the rest of her.

“Don’t worry, I won’t start screaming or anything,” Ginna said. “I couldn’t sleep last night, so I turned on the TV. Big mistake. I think every disaster movie ever made was on. I channel-surfed from crashed planes to earthquakes to tornadoes to sinking ships. You watch enough of those and anyone with normal intelligence would be afraid to leave the house.”

“I guess that could get a person thinking,” Zach admitted, silently amused by her candor. A logical man to the core, he couldn’t imagine that watching a few disaster movies would keep him off a plane.

Ginna leaned over. “If I’d seen one more movie showing a plane crash, I wouldn’t be here,” she confided in a low voice. “I’m not a good flyer. When my mother was six months pregnant with me, she was on a plane that developed engine trouble and could have crashed. Which is why I usually spend my vacations at places you can drive to.”

“That could limit your options,” Zach commented.

Ginna shrugged. “I live in Newport Beach a short drive from the beach, a little over an hour’s drive from the mountains, maybe a couple of hours from the desert. I think I have most of the bases covered if I want to get to one of those places. Anything else, I plan for a longer drive.”

“Yet you’re flying five hours to a Pacific island.”

“I got a great deal from a client who’s a travel agent,” she said, then went on to clarify, “I’m a hairdresser.”

“Funny, I got a great deal from my sister, who happens to be a travel agent,” Zach said dryly.

Ginna raised her plastic glass of diet soda. “To travel agents who know where the deals are.”

Zach tapped his glass against hers. “The plastic clink isn’t as satisfying as crystal goblets, but we know the sentiment is there,” he said.

She nodded. “Exactly. The thought is there. So what do you do, Zach?”

“I write a magazine column,” he replied, figuring it was close enough to the truth.

“Really? Let me guess. A travel column. How to fly and arrive in one piece.”

“Are you sure you don’t write fiction in between haircuts?” he joked, relieved she’d answered her own question.

She shrugged. “I’ve been told I have an overactive imagination, but I can’t even write a decent letter. I guess when someone says they write a magazine column, I tend to automatically think of the wilder side of the business. Someone who’s free and easy, able to pick up and go when they please. And you seem to be a good flier.”

“I was in Florida not all that long ago.” He figured that was the truth without adding that his trip involved Disney World from a four-year-old’s point of view.

“My parents took us there years ago. Did the Disney World thing. They had just as much fun as we did.”

“We?”

She nodded. “I have three brothers and one sister. Keeping tabs on all of us wasn’t easy. Mom once said if she could have, she would have hooked transponders on us so she’d know where we were at all times. Dad said if they lost one of us, it would just be one less mouth to feed. We figured he meant it.”

“Close-knit family, then?”

“We’re all pretty close in age and I guess we’d qualify as a gang. Makes family gatherings interesting,” she said candidly.

“I just have the one sister,” he said. “There’re times when I feel as if she’s three people in one.”

As the flight progressed, Zach found himself enjoying this time with Ginna. He couldn’t remember meeting such an open and honest person. The last lovely woman he’d talked to was the kids’ pediatrician. He was relieved he could carry on a conversation with a woman without discussing eating habits and how best to handle a child’s fears at night.

They made jokes about the airplane food served to them and discussed movies, books and even touched on current events. Zach was definitely enjoying himself.

So why is she looking at me the way a surgeon looks at a critically ill patient?

THIS IS EXACTLY what I need. Time away from work and the attention of an attractive man.

Ginna gave a start when she was positive the plane lurched in a way it shouldn’t have. She relaxed when the pilot’s voice came on and announced they would be landing soon. She was looking forward to planting her feet on solid ground again.

At the same time, she was reluctant to leave this small space with Zach.

She breathed another sigh of relief when the jet’s wheels touched ground with barely a bump. They soon stood up and slowly filed down the aisle.

The moment they stepped onto the jetway she could feel the difference in the air and atmosphere. Zach walked by her side as they headed for the luggage carousel. He took her carry-on bag for her.

“I understand the hotel has a shuttle bus,” he said, after learning they were staying at the same hotel.

“That’s what I was told also,” she replied.

“Why don’t you call the hotel and request the shuttle to pick us up? I can watch out for the luggage if you tell me what yours looks like,” he suggested.

“My nieces offered to let me use their Barbie suitcases, but I explained I needed something a lot larger.” She laughed. “It’s a large teal soft side with a hot-pink band around it.”

“I’m sure that will stand out.”

Ginna found the phone and board listing the hotels. She made the call and was assured a van would pick them up in about forty minutes. When she returned to the luggage carousel, she found her suitcase at Zach’s feet. He was occupied grabbing a black suitcase from the carousel and setting it down by his side. He looked up when she reached him.

“They’ll be here in about forty minutes,” she told him. “They pick up by the hotel shuttle sign, which is right outside.”

Luckily the shuttle bus was prompt in picking them up and transporting them to the hotel.

“This is just what I needed,” Ginna breathed, looking around the lobby with avid interest.

She was smiling and bubbly during check-in procedures. In no time, she was given her room information.

Ginna turned away to follow the bellman when Zach touched her shoulder and spoke her name.

“Have dinner with me tonight,” he coaxed.

She tipped her head to one side as if considering his invitation.

“Nothing in small trays or plastic cups? I can have a drink with an umbrella in it?” she quipped.

“Anything you want,” he said, meaning it.

“I’ll meet you down here at seven,” she replied with a smile that seemed to shoot right through his heart. She turned away again and followed the bellman.

When Zach turned back to the desk, the clerk looked at him with something akin to awe.

“Have a nice stay, Mr. Stone,” he finally said as he handed the key card to the bellman.

He smiled. “I’m sure I will.”

The minute Zach was alone in his room, he pulled out his cell phone and tapped out a familiar number.

“Donner residence. Come on over and we’ll eat you for dinner!” a voice blasted.

Zach groaned. “Not funny, Nick. Where’s your mom?”

“She’s cooking dinner.” The boy laughed uproariously.

“Let me talk to her.”

“Honestly, Nick, you know your uncle doesn’t have a sense of humor,” he heard his sister saying in the background. Then she was on the phone. “Hey there, big brother. Is it as gorgeous there as they say?”

He walked over to the sliding glass door and pushed it open. The sound of waves crashing on sand and rocks was the first thing he heard.

“More so. How’re the kids?”

“What? You think I locked them in a closet the second you were gone?” She chuckled. “They’re fine. Emma’s helping me make a salad and Trey’s feeding Luther.” Luther was the twenty-five-pound family cat that Zach estimated was older than dirt.

“Just make sure it’s not the other way around.” Zach was all too familiar with the cat’s insatiable appetite.

“Zach! Listen to what you’re saying. You need to relax. Now I know this vacation is the best thing for you.”

“Luce, I can’t just forget I’m a father,” he protested.

“Of course you can’t.” She lowered her voice. “But there’re times when you need to remember you’re also a man. This is your chance, for a short time, to forget you’re Emma and Trey’s dad. Just be Zach Stone, freewheeling single guy. Spend time on the beach, get a boogie board and ride the waves. And if you meet someone in the process, even better.”

“You know what? I never want to know about any of the times you take off for one of your recharging weekends,” he told her.

“I go to a spa,” she said with a virtuous sniff.

“Yeah, that’s what you tell me, but now I wonder if that’s really what you do.” He shifted the phone against his ear. “Can I talk to the kids?”

“Emma! Trey! It’s your dad!” she called out.

“Daddy!” Zach flinched as his daughter’s excited squeal assaulted his eardrum. “Aunt Lucie’s lettin’ me cook. But not on the stove,” she assured him as if she knew his instinctive response to that announcement. “I get to tear up lettuce for our salad. Don’t worry, Aunt Lucie made me wash my hands first.”

“That’s great, sweetheart.” He found himself having to force the enthusiasm. He should be happy she wasn’t pining away for the major man in her life. That she was enjoying herself. He talked to her a few more minutes before Trey had his turn.

“Luther makes really gross smells,” he informed his dad, then went on to describe Nick’s latest escapade.

“Okay, enough,” Lucie interjected, obviously snatching up the phone. “All that happened was that Nick picked up the wrong can of cat food at the grocery store.”

“So they’re doing fine,” Zach said, sounding almost morose.

“Yes, they’re doing fine. You know what you need to do? Shower off the trip, go downstairs and find a beautiful woman to take to dinner.”

Zach opened his mouth with the intention of telling her he was going to do just that, but stopped himself. He knew his sister well enough to know that if he confided in her about Ginna, she’d insist on all the details.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he said. “Luce?” He paused. “Thanks.”

“Anytime, big brother. After all, you’ve always been there for me,” she said softly. “I couldn’t have gotten through it all if it hadn’t been for you.” Her tone suddenly turned brisk. “So get out there and relive those wild times of your youth. And don’t worry about the twins!” She hung up before he could say another word.

“Goodbye to you, too,” he murmured, grinning.

Zach unpacked his clothing, put away his shaving gear and decided he had enough time for a quick swim before he needed to get ready for his dinner date with Ginna.

GINNA DIDN’T WASTE any time unpacking and hanging up her clothing. She made a trip to the vending machine and ice machine and fixed herself a glass of diet soda. With that in one hand and her cell phone and address book in the other, she walked out onto the balcony. She dropped onto one of the chairs and looked out over the ocean.

For several moments, she was content just to sit there and enjoy the serene setting.

“Oh, yes,” she murmured. “Denny, this is the absolute best thing you ever did for me, you scum-sucking bottom feeder.”

She switched on the phone and tapped out a series of numbers.

“Hello?” A woman’s voice answered.

“Hey there, travel agent to the rich and famous,” Ginna said cheerfully.

“I wish!” The woman chuckled. “So how’s it going? Did I do good?”

“You did better than good,” Ginna replied. “You are talking to one very satisfied client, and all I’ve seen so far is the lobby and my room. I braced myself for what I thought would be a flight from hell and, instead, met this great guy who took my mind off my fears. Let me tell you he was better than any over-the-counter medication. And he’s invited me out to dinner tonight. Luce, you are a miracle worker.”

Lucie Donner laughed along with her. She didn’t need to be psychic to know her plan had worked. Both her brother and her friend sounded happy, which meant their meeting had gone well. Now she could only pray the rest of their vacation would be just as rewarding.

“What can I say, Gin? For the past five years, you’ve kept my hair looking great. When you were awarded that money from your lawsuit, you told me you decided it was time to do something for yourself. You wanted an out-of-this-world vacation—I figured the least I could do was make sure you got one.”

Chapter Two

Zach was convinced he’d died and gone to heaven.

He had come downstairs ten minutes early. He spent some time in the gift shop, looking at bright-colored T-shirts and beach towels.

It was a man murmuring “Now that’s what I call a woman” that first caught his attention.

He turned around in the direction of the elevators. He instinctively knew the man was talking about Ginna.

Nick would have called her a hottie. For once Zach wouldn’t have disagreed.

Ginna had dressed for the warm climate in a silky cobalt-blue handkerchief halter top and a blue tropical-print ankle-length skirt. The high-heeled sandals she wore put her almost eye level with him. An exotic-looking white flower was tucked behind her right ear while her hair tumbled down her back in loose curls. Even with the sexy picture presented to him, all he could see was the intense blue of her eyes.

“When I look at your eyes, I feel as if I’m looking into the ocean,” he murmured, walking up to her.

Her smile warmed considerably. “Why suh, I do declare you are flattering lil ol’ me unduly,” she said in a syrupy Southern drawl.

“Sorry, sweetheart, Scarlett O’Hara, you ain’t.” He grinned.

“Damn Yankee,” she said, deadpan.

“Wasn’t that a baseball movie?” Zach took her arm and tucked it under his.

“Flatterer and quick on the uptake,” she said with a smile filled with approval. “I like that. Just don’t think your charming and witty answer will get you out of my drink with an umbrella in it. I intend to order the fanciest drink they offer.”

He inhaled the scent that drifted off her skin and at the same time noticed the shimmering glow on her bare shoulders.

As the hostess led them to a table on the lanai that overlooked the beach, he thought about the evening ahead. He didn’t need a psychic to tell him this was going to be an evening he’d remember for a long time.

Ginna didn’t disappoint him. She was warm and friendly to their waitress, discussed a variety of drinks and finally settled on one called Tropical Sunset. She was delighted that the drink not only sported an umbrella but a pineapple spear.

“There is nothing like the Hawaiian Islands,” she confided as she nibbled on the pineapple. “The minute you step off the plane you instantly relax. You want to put on your bikini, slather on some sunscreen and just lie on the beach.”

“I think I’d go for something that covers a little more than a bikini,” Zach said. “I’m the modest type.”

Ginna grinned. “Come on, Zach, tell me more about you. Likes and dislikes in foods, what you like to do on the weekends, any pets, where you go for haircuts.” Her bright eyes sparkled with mischief.

“Hate broccoli and cauliflower, like squash and green beans. Like to go hiking in the mountains when I can.” He doubted running after the kids at the local playground qualified as a weekend activity. “No pets. A very nice guy named Rupert cuts my hair every four weeks.” He grew suspicious at the look on her face. “What’s wrong with my hair?”

“Hate corn and lima beans, like green beans also, and carrots. I have Casper, a white German shepherd, who enjoys long runs on the weekend,” she replied. “One of my friends cuts my hair, and yours could use a good conditioner and some shaping. Sorry, occupational hazard. Rupert gives you a decent cut, but I can give you a better one.”

Why did he feel as if she’d just suggested something a lot more intimate?

He was ready to give her an enthusiastic yes, but managed to remain silent.

She leaned forward. “Am I unnerving you, Zach? For a minute there, you looked panicked.”

“I think it’s more panicking that I won’t remember how to relax,” he said. “You seem to have it down to a fine art.”

“I work very hard. I realize some people think that hairdressers are flaky individuals who don’t understand what work is. Trust me—” she lowered her voice “—it’s not easy standing there listening to a woman explain just how she wants to look, while deep down you know no matter what you do, there’s no way you can make her look like Heather Locklear. Explaining to her what will work better for her is diplomacy to the nth degree. But I love it. I love seeing women brighten up when they leave the salon. I love knowing that my efforts help them feel beautiful.”

“An artist,” he murmured, finding himself just enjoying the sound of her voice.

“Artist?” She looked delighted with his description. “I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler. I was the only child in my school’s history to flunk fingerpainting. Although, unlike my brothers, I didn’t stick the paintbrush in my mouth. Mark, my older brother, had a purple tongue for a month.” She stopped speaking and wrinkled her nose. “I’m talking too much, aren’t I? It’s a problem I have. Probably comes from growing up in a large family. If you don’t speak up, you don’t get heard.”

As their dinner was placed in front of them, Ginna dug enthusiastically into her mahi mahi.

“No, I like your candor,” he told her. “I have to admit I haven’t been out with a woman in a while, but I don’t remember enjoying a conversation so much.”

“What do you usually talk about with women?”

Whether Emma should take dance classes or tae kwon do with her brother. The subject of my next column on single fathers. Listening to a woman stockbroker tell me what I need in my portfolio.

“Stocks, bonds, whether I have enough life insurance,” he admitted. “I know it’s not manly—” he twitched his fingers to indicate quotes “—to admit I haven’t dated much, but I was never much for intimating I’m a party animal when I’m not.”

“No, you’re obviously a man secure with yourself. I have a male client who thinks he’s Stud of the Year and feels he has to prove it. Luckily for him, he’s all talk. He tried propositioning me once. I then explained what my sharp scissors could do to his precious hair. He’s behaved since then.”

“I would, too.” He chuckled. “So tell me what it was like growing up in such a large family.”

“Chaotic. Noisy. Wild. My dad restores vintage automobiles. He has his garage on the property. All of us can change our own oil, change a flat tire, even replace all the hoses. Except for my brother Brian. He’s a total klutz with a car. Now he uses the excuse that he saves his hands for better things. He’s a paramedic, as is my brother Mark. My brother Jeff is a fireman, and my sister, Nikki, is in her junior year of college and talking about going on to medical school. Brian and Jeff are married. Brian has an adorable baby daughter, and Jeff has twin girls and a baby boy.”

“I have—” He clamped his mouth shut as Lucie’s words slammed their way into his brain. There’s nothing wrong if you take some time away from being Emma and Trey’s dad. He grinned sheepishly. “Twins run in my family. I’m surprised none of your siblings are twins.”

“My mother is a twin,” Ginna replied. “When we were little, none of us could tell Mom and Aunt Peggy apart. Mom said she was glad none of us were twins. One of each of us was more than enough for her. What about you and your sister?” she asked, turning the tables. “Did you two give your mother any trouble during your rebellious years?”

“Nothing that sent her into hysterics,” he admitted. “We’re three years apart. At one point in our lives, we seemed a generation apart.”

“High school, right?” she asked. “When my brothers were juniors and seniors and I was a freshman, the way they treated me, I might as well have still been in grade school.”

“We survived, and some days we figured that was enough,” Zach replied.

“That was us. We never allowed anyone to pick on any of us. We did it well enough on our own.”

Zach chuckled. “We did that pretty well, too. Still do.”

Ginna found herself enjoying both her dinner and the company immensely. They ignored time as they talked their way through dessert. Afterward, Zach suggested a walk along the beach, and she accepted his invitation.

Once they reached the sand, she placed her hand on his shoulder to keep her balance as she slipped off her sandals and he took off his own shoes. She carried them in one hand as they headed across the still-warm sand. A gentle breeze with the tang of salt caressed their faces. Music from the bar drifted toward them.

“It’s so beautiful here,” Ginna declared, lifting her face to the breeze. “It’s as if your body understands the need to slow down and it does exactly that. No rushing around. No feeling the need to be at a certain place at a certain time.” She stopped and turned to face the hotel, then faced him as she held out her arms. “Come on, Zach Stone, dance with me.”

He laughed uneasily. “Uh, dancing’s not exactly my strong suit.”

She moved toward him until her breasts lightly touched his chest. She picked up one of his arms and placed his hand on her shoulder. The other hand she took in hers.

“Then we’ll just move to the music,” she murmured. “You can do that, can’t you? You don’t think about what you’re doing. You just let the music take hold of your soul and your feet will follow.”

“All right, but don’t blame me if I step on your feet,” he warned.

“See, you can do it,” she teased a few minutes later.

Ginna hadn’t believed in attraction at first sight until now. The minute she met Zach, she felt as if she’d met him before. As if there was some connection….

All points considered, she should be thanking Denny, that lower-than-scum subhuman for cleaning out her account. If he hadn’t, she wouldn’t have gotten back not only the money he took but damages, which let her take the vacation of her life.

Who knows, maybe she’d send him a postcard.

She had no idea how long she and Zach remained on the beach dancing. They didn’t stop until the music stopped. Their steps slowed and halted.

She suddenly yawned.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I guess everything caught up with me.”

“I’ll walk you to your room,” he offered.

Ginna could feel the sensual pull as they crossed the lobby and entered the elevator.

They didn’t speak a word as they reached her floor. Zach walked beside her down the hallway until she stopped at a door.

“Here we are,” she said, then silently cursed herself for sounding so inane. She dug her key card out of her bag and inserted it in the slot. When the light turned green, indicating the lock had been released, she reached for the doorknob, but Zach’s hand covered it first. He turned it and pushed the door open. She smiled. “Thank you for dinner.”

“How about tomorrow?” he asked.

She wanted to say yes so badly she could taste it. At the same time, she was afraid to appear overly eager.

Dating etiquette was so difficult at times!

She decided it was time to throw the rulebook out the window.

“I’ll be on the beach in the morning,” she said, taking a middle-of-the-road answer.

He smiled back. “Good night, Ginna.”

She was aware he waited until she was inside.

“Don’t forget the inside bolt.” His low voice reached her ears.

She shot it home, hearing a satisfying click. She strained her ears, but there was no chance of her hearing him leave. If it hadn’t been the sensation that the air pressure around her fell, she wouldn’t have known.

She dropped her sandals into a chair, followed by her purse. She made quick work of undressing and slipping on a cotton nightgown.

It wasn’t until the lights were off and she was under the covers that she allowed herself a moment to reflect on her evening.

Her wide smile as she fell asleep was proof enough that her date had been more than a success.

ZACH’S FIRST THOUGHT that something wasn’t right was the fact that he woke up on his own. He wasn’t grunting as small bodies jumped on top of him with high-pitched demands for breakfast.

He couldn’t hear that annoying honking of a car horn out front as the neighbor’s teenage daughter’s boyfriend liked to do when he picked her up for school.

There were no sounds of Sesame Street in the background.

All he could hear was…nothing. Blessed silence.

For a full five minutes, Zach luxuriated in the peace and quiet that he couldn’t remember the last time he’d enjoyed. And when the five minutes were up, he felt intense guilt that he felt any joy.

He missed his kids with all his heart and soul, but a part of him admitted this moment of quiet was very nice.

“Not that I’ll ever admit it to you, Luce,” he muttered as he tossed the covers back and got out of bed. “You’d gloat too much about how right you were in talking me into taking this trip.”

A little while later as he ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant, he looked for Ginna. Unfortunately he didn’t see the now familiar figure. His food didn’t taste as good as it had the previous night, which he put down to the lack of company.

An hour later, as he walked along the beach, he kept a lookout for Ginna but still didn’t see her.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d probably start thinking she was nothing more than a dream last night,” he muttered, seeing a variety of bikini-clad women but none that resembled one particular woman.

Then he heard a laugh-filled scream from somewhere out in the water.

At first, he thought of all those shark movies, then he realized the owner of the scream was not being attacked by any sea monster, but merely battling the waves and straining to remain upright on a sailboard. She was quickly losing the battle as the sail went one way and she went the other. He waited, watching the spot where she’d fallen. She seemed to pop up out of the water.

“Hi!” she yelled, waving in his direction.

He waited at the water’s edge as she swam toward him.

“I just learned sailboards and I aren’t a good match,” she said, walking up the sand a little ways. She snatched up a towel and rubbed her face, then blotted her hair. She combed the unruly strands back from her face with her fingers. “Have you ever been on one?”

“Not recently.” He couldn’t keep his eyes off her. Her bronze-colored one-piece suit covered the essentials and definitely wasn’t as revealing as the barely-there bikinis he noticed other women wearing. But it sure caught his attention. Even with wet hair streaming down her back and no makeup, she looked lovely. She also had the grace to make fun of herself.

“Well, that was my last time,” she declared. “The next time I might get dumped a lot farther out.”

Zach looked down the beach to where a hotel employee oversaw the sailboarders. He was in the midst of instructing a guest.

“Be fun to get out there again,” he said. “I haven’t done it in years.”

“Go for it,” she urged. “Show me how it’s done.” She laid her towel back down on the sand. “I’ll even sit here and cheer you on.”

“I’m not trying any fancy moves,” he warned her. “I’ll probably be lucky I don’t fall off and break something important.”

“Then I’ll go with you to the emergency room and mop your fevered brow,” she cooed.

Zach grinned. “As good as your offer is, I hope you don’t mind if I try to avoid that kind of trip.” He left his belongings behind before he headed down the beach.

Ginna noticed she wasn’t the only woman watching Zach’s progress. He didn’t have the chiseled body that comes from long hours at the gym. But his lean athletic build told her he didn’t spend all his time in an office, either.

A man wearing a bright-green Speedo walked past her. He slowed and flashed her an inviting grin.

“Oh, hon, I wouldn’t if I were you,” Ginna said, affecting a sultry Southern drawl. “My husband is the jealous type, and he knows about a thousand different ways to kill someone without leaving a mark on their body.”

Unsure whether to believe her or not, the man opted to move off at a faster clip.

She sighed as she picked up her bottle of sunscreen. After applying a coat of lotion, she slipped on her sunglasses and settled back on her elbows with her long legs stretched out in front of her. She looked outward and easily picked Zach out of the surf riders battling the waves.

The attraction between them was already sizzling. She couldn’t remember ever experiencing anything this quickly.

She should be scared to death. The attraction between her and Denny had been fast. Something she’d regretted once she’d regained her sanity. They’d gone from a few dates to living together to marrying, and then, after he pretty well told her she was defective, they divorced.

They both wanted kids. Except she couldn’t conceive. All she remembered after countless tests was that pregnancy wasn’t possible. At first, Denny said it didn’t matter. But he’d lied. He wanted a child of his own seed and refused to consider any other options. Since she couldn’t give him one, he couldn’t forgive her for her imperfections. He married his pregnant lover the day their divorce became final. Ginna wanted to slink off into a corner to lick her wounds, but her family and friends wouldn’t allow her to hide. Initially, she hated them for their warfare tactics to get her out of her shell, but later on, she appreciated their concern.

As a result, she hadn’t dated much since her divorce. She preferred keeping herself busy with lots of bookings and spending time with family and friends. What with Brian’s wedding and Abby and Jeff having a baby, family parties were plentiful. The salon and day spa had also been busier ever since word got out that their Blind Date Central bulletin board had been successful in matching up the right women with the right men since its conception two years ago.

Who would have thought that a group of women lamenting the lack of available men would turn into Blind Date Central? Blind Date Central was a success from the first day. Women posted pictures of and information about available men they knew but weren’t interested in romantically on the board. The women were willing to share, and the men they “sponsored” had an even better chance of meeting the lady of their dreams.

As a result, permanent matches had been made.

She’d helped her sister, Nikki, post their brother Brian’s picture on the board, which was promptly snapped up by Gail Roberts, a pediatrician who was now his wife and mother of their baby girl. Another success story.

Ginna had checked out the board a few times but didn’t see anyone who rang her chimes, as she liked to say.

If she didn’t know any better, she’d think that fate had stepped in and tossed Zach her way.

And she wasn’t about to toss him back.

“YOU DID VERY WELL,” Ginna told Zach for about the fifth time. “Definitely better than I did. I think the only reason I didn’t immediately fall off was I wanted to wait until I was in deeper water so the fall would look more logical.”

“Yeah, I did great all right. A ten-year-old kid was telling me what to do,” Zach grumbled good-naturedly, wincing as he gingerly lowered his battered body to the sand. “He was out there managing that sail as if he’d been doing it since he was in the cradle.”

“It’s all that time they spend with their video games. Their hand-eye coordination is miles ahead of ours,” she said, even as she asked a waiter to bring them two piña coladas and a bowl of pineapple spears.

Zach grinned sheepishly. “You’re doing a good job of soothing my ego.”

“Good. And once you have your piña colada, you’ll feel even better.” She reached for a broad-brimmed hat and plopped it on her head to protect her face. A stripe of aqua-shaded zinc oxide graced the bridge of her nose to save it from burning in the strong sun. “Even better when you dip a pineapple spear in it and then eat it.”

“Too bad I didn’t hurt anything. Maybe I could have talked you into kissing my booboos.”

His provocative comment hung heavily between them.

Ginna sat up on her knees. She leaned forward to whisper, “Then I guess the next time you fall off a sail-board, I’ll have to do just that.”

He stared into her eyes. “Be careful, sweetheart. I just might hold you to that promise.”

Her lips pursed in a kissable pout. “Don’t worry, Zach,” she murmured, “I always keep my promises.”

Zach stood up and started walking back down the beach.

Ginna looked up, startled by his quick retreat.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“Where do you think I’m going? I’m getting back on that damn sailboard!”

In an instant, her surprised laughter followed him as he made his way back to the sailboards. One of which, he knew, had his name on it.

Ginna lost track of time as she watched Zach head out to the water. The bright blue-and-white sail was easy for her to track. She picked up a pineapple spear, dunked it in her piña colada the way a doughnut was dunked in coffee. She took a bite of the fruit, enjoying the slight coconut-and-rum taste that had soaked into it. In no time, the pineapple spear was gone and she was munching on a second one.

“If he stays out too long, I’ll have to get another bowl of pineapple,” she told herself, already eyeing a third spear. “And if he’s lucky, I’ll save him one.”

“YOU’RE A VERY STUBBORN man,” Ginna told Zach as they returned to the hotel.

Ginna walked. Zach limped.

“I wasn’t going to let a piece of lumber win,” he groused.

“And it didn’t,” she said happily.

“It only took me about three hundred tries to get it right.” He straightened up, then groaned. “It was easier when I was younger.”

“When you were more agile and flexible?” she said, tongue tucked firmly in cheek. She flashed him a blinding smile when he glared at her. “Younger bodies bounce better. Softer bones,” she went on blithely. “At least you landed on water. It’s a lot softer than if you landed on, say, cement.” She patted his shoulder.

“Small comfort, Ginna,” he growled.

“All you need is a good massage and a hot shower, and you’ll feel like a new man,” she assured him.

He brightened at her suggestion. “Are you going to give me the massage?”

“Not my line of expertise. But I understand the hotel has a lovely spa and a couple of massage therapists. I hear the one named Stan is excellent.”

Zach winced and not just because his muscles were protesting every move he made.

“I don’t think so,” he muttered. “I’ll just stick with the hot shower.” He stopped at the bank of elevators. “There was a time when I didn’t end up looking as if I was ready to fall apart at any second.”

Ginna smiled at his confession. “Ah, a man of the millennium.” She pushed the call button. “Does this mean you don’t want to play tennis this afternoon?” she teased.

“Right now, I wouldn’t even play golf if I could swing the club from a golf cart,” he told her. He stepped into the elevator after the doors opened. “Still have pity for an old man and have dinner with him?”

“Okay. I’ll see you at seven,” she said.

He was smiling as the elevator doors closed. A smile that disappeared as soon as the doors slid shut. He leaned against the wall.

“Oh, yeah, you gave the lady a great impression,” he muttered. “And on the first day, too. She’ll probably wait and call later with an excuse for why she can’t meet me tonight, and I can’t blame her. I thought chasing after the kids kept me fit. Obviously that fitness routine isn’t very reliable.”

Zach took his time in the shower, savoring the hot spray as it pounded down on his battered body. By the time he got out and toweled off, he was feeling more like himself but could still feel some stiffness in his arms and legs.

He regretted not bringing his laptop computer along. Writing down his impressions of his vacation could be some good fodder for his column. He pulled stationery out of the desk drawer and began writing. When he got a chance, he’d pick up a notebook in town.

I’m sitting here in paradise. I’ll be meeting a beautiful woman for dinner. Is this not every man’s dream? After all, the kids are three thousand miles away. So why am I thinking the kids would have a ball here? Yeah, I know I’m a fool.

I’m a single dad who works out of my home. Meeting women isn’t easy unless we’re parents in the same play group or at the preschool.

But I’m still feeling guilty being here without the kids. Maybe I should look at it another way. Maybe the kids are enjoying a vacation from me. Maybe they’re doing all the things I don’t allow them to do.

Can any of you tell me why when I woke up this morning, I thought about that beautiful woman instead of my kids? In a sense, I did think about them. I thought about how it felt not having a small body jump on top of me and demand breakfast. I thought about how it felt to hear sounds of the ocean in the background instead of Sesame Street.

Then I thought about seeing the lovely lady in a bikini.

You know what this means, don’t you? I’ll be taking home a small fortune in souvenirs for my kids because I’ll feel guilty I didn’t take them with me.

And for now, I’m going to enjoy my time with this lady. Do guy-and-girl stuff. I bet there isn’t one of you out there who wouldn’t do the same thing.

Zach sat back and reread what he’d written. Not bad. Some fine-tuning and he’d have a column in the making, detailing his vacation.

He looked out over the glorious expanse of blue water and white sand.

The man was looking forward to spending time with Ginna. The father was missing his kids big time.

Chapter Three

“Vacation is starting out to be even more than I wished for,” Ginna said aloud as she wrote on a postcard she’d already addressed to the salon. “If you only knew.” She signed her name and stuck a postage stamp in the corner. “This will make them crazy wondering what’s going on.” She went on to write short notes on several other postcards to family members. She made sure each note hinted at something good without giving anything away.

She’d hoped to spend most of the day with Zach, but then she thought it over and decided maybe it was better if they didn’t spend too much time together. She didn’t want him to think she was too eager.

Even if she was feeling pretty impatient to see Zach again.

He might have thought he was less than macho for losing his battle with the sailboard, but she saw it as adorable. A description she knew he probably wouldn’t appreciate, but she thought he was pretty special. She’d met more than her share of men who wouldn’t have dared admit any type of weakness. It was nice to meet an honest man.

“I’VE COME to the conclusion I wasn’t the one having a problem with the sailboard,” Zach told Ginna over dinner. They were tucked away in one corner of the hotel’s Chinese restaurant. “It was the sailboard. It was definitely possessed by an evil spirit, and I was the idiot who had to battle it.”

“So you’re thinking if you try a different sailboard, you won’t have the problem you had with that one,” she guessed.

“I’m not sure it would be a good idea.” He moved his rice around on his plate. “Second time around, I might push my luck, get too cocky and really get hurt.”

“You’re afraid that sailboard will kick your butt,” Ginna said bluntly.

Zach winced at her candid, and all too realistic, assumption.

“That, too,” he admitted. “Death by sailboard isn’t my idea of a suitable epitaph.”

She used her chopsticks to corral a piece of ginger chicken. “Don’t worry, my brothers wouldn’t be able to do it, either. They’re happy as clams on a football or baseball field and can do their worst on a basketball court. Anything to do with water is way out of their scope. Even Denny could beat them at water polo,” she muttered, choosing a water chestnut next.

“Denny?”

Ginna grimaced. “My ex-husband,” she explained. “I usually refer to him as the scum formerly known as Denny. Even if it’s because of him I was able to take this trip.”

“He wanted you out of the state and sent you here?” Zach asked.

“If he wanted me out of the state, he’d send me to the Amazon jungle, since he knows how much I hate bugs and snakes,” she said. “About a month before we got divorced, he cleaned out a bank account that was in my name only. He claimed the money was his. I took him to court. One of my clients works on one of the TV court shows. When she heard I was planning to sue, she suggested I apply to the show. As a result, we ended up on camera. He looked like a total idiot, which wasn’t too difficult. The judge saw what an idiot he was, awarded me not only the money he took but punitive damages, since he kept saying he had the right to take the money.” She looked embarrassed. “Not one of the finer points in my life. So what about you? Any ex-wives?”

Zach shook his head. “I was married for six years, but my wife died four years ago,” he said in a low voice. “Complications from surgery.”

The way it was explained to him was that she basically bled to death. They couldn’t control the hemorrhaging even when they performed a hysterectomy in hopes of stopping the heavy flow. But it was too late. Cathy only saw her babies for a few seconds after they were born. She didn’t even have a chance to discuss their ideas for names. In the end he took the names that were at the top of the list. Names written in Cathy’s delicate script.

Ginna’s expression softened. She reached across the table and covered his hand with hers.

“I am so sorry,” she said softly. “I can’t imagine what you went through. I bet she was special.”

“She was,” he said. “She was an artist. She liked to work in pastels. Chalks. She’d create these incredible landscapes and seascapes that seemed to leap out at you. I wouldn’t have thought someone working with chalk could come up with anything so powerful, but she managed to do it.”

“Denny’s talent was that he could burp ‘Jingle Bells’ and crush a beer can against his forehead,” she told him. “I’d say you definitely had the better deal. I was really into my stupid period when I met him. He seemed adorable in a Neanderthal way. I was blind to his faults, and by the time I realized what a major mistake I’d made, we were married. Since I was brought up to face my mistakes, I decided to make the best of it. Which didn’t work out at all. My parents wanted to throw a party the day I told them I filed for divorce. My dad declared I’d finally come to my senses.”

“But it was still hard on you,” Zach guessed. “Because you saw it as a failure.”

“I wanted a marriage like my parents,” she conceded. “But that meant meeting someone who had the same ideals I did. And Denny didn’t have them. He wanted things that weren’t possible.” For a moment pain flashed across her face. “And when he couldn’t get them, he blamed me.” Her words ended on a bare whisper.

“Because it was easier than blaming himself.” Now he was offering the comfort. “We guys are pretty bad about things like that. If he screwed things up between you, it wasn’t because of you. It was all him.”

“I don’t think his new wife would say that.” She laughed softly. “But thank you.”

“I bet you wished you’d given him a lousy haircut,” he said in hopes of lightening the atmosphere.

“I was tempted to offer to give him a haircut, then shave something on the back of his head. ‘Kick me’ seemed like a good idea.”

“Oh, come on, with a little thought you could have come up with something better,” he teased.

“Only if I could have insured he’d be arrested the minute he stepped outside.” She trapped another piece of chicken with her chopsticks. “Wow, how did we fall into such a heavy subject?”

“It wasn’t easy, but we somehow accomplished it.”

“You never did say what type of column you write,” she pressed. “Do I get a hint?”

“A men’s column,” he replied.

Ginna nodded. “Sports? Tools? Cars?”

“Single men in today’s world.” He opted to give her an edited answer.

“Isn’t it pretty simple what single guys do in today’s world? They hang out in sports bars where they talk about sports, tools and cars,” Ginna said. “Not to mention they talk about women, but that’s a given.”

“Just as women get together and talk about men,” he countered.

She inclined her head in silent agreement. “We do have that nasty habit of dissecting the male gender. But you men stand around moaning and groaning all the time that you don’t understand us. When all it would take to understand us is to sit there and listen to what we have to say.” She stabbed the air with her chopsticks for emphasis.

“But do you always give us the four-one-one we need to understand you?” he argued, using the slang term for information.

Ginna rolled her eyes. “Hello!” she sang out. “Let me give you an excellent example.” She closed her eyes in thought, her chin resting in her cupped hand. Her eyes popped open. “Denny’s and my sixth-month anniversary. I spent the day at the spa getting gorgeous because we were going to go out for dinner. Wore the slinky dress and everything. Denny comes home from work and asks why I’m so dressed up. Oh, sure, it’s our sixth-month anniversary, and yeah, we’re going out to dinner. But his idea of dinner was a hot dog at a hockey game.”

“Wow, I’m impressed,” Zach said with mock reverence. “Not many guys would consider feeding you first.”

She shot him a fierce glare that experience had taught him only a woman can give.

“What about your sixth-month anniversary?”

Zach got an edgy hunted look.

“I thought we were talking about you,” he muttered, refusing to meet her eyes.

“And now we’re focusing on you. So give.” Her brilliant blue eyes turned steely.

Zach looked away, mumbled something, then quickly returned to his food. He stabbed at a piece of beef with his fork.

“Zach, tell me.”

He mumbled again.

“Excuse me?”

He blew out a breath. “Fine.” He snapped off the word like an icicle. “I bought her a new washer.”

“A washer,” Ginna repeated. “As in optional second rinse, dual agitator, heavy-duty-load capacity washer?”

“Yes,” he grudgingly admitted.

“And I thought my night at the hockey game was bad,” she mused. “At least Denny bought me a T-shirt.”

“It was a top-of-the-line washer,” Zach huffily informed her.

“Which means the salesperson suckered you in to buying more than you needed,” she translated. “And what did she say about her oh-so-romantic gift?”

Zach looked as if he wished he was anywhere but there. “I thought she was hinting for a new washer because she kept talking about my clothes. What she was saying was that if I didn’t start picking up my dirty clothing and tossing it in the hamper where it belonged, she’d throw it in a bucket and add bleach. Instead, I lost four perfectly good shirts to a bleach-filled washer.”

“I wish I’d thought of that.” She pantomimed writing on her hand. “Definitely something to write down and keep for future reference. You didn’t buy a new dryer, too?”

“We got a new one a few months later.” He looked as if he wanted to chew nails.

“Oh, the nine-month anniversary. Good idea.” She said it as if it wasn’t.

“It was practical.”

“This from the man who writes a column for single men? What do you suggest they give a woman who’s going on a first date with them? A pipe wrench?”

“No, actually, I go with the tire-pressure gauge,” he said, deadpan.

“Zach, Zach, Zach—” she shook her head “—I do hair for a lot of single women who are preparing for their first date. Their routine is simple. Hair done in a deceptively casual style that doesn’t look styled at all. Hands paraffin-dipped, nails manicured and feet pedicured. Sometimes even a facial and massage. They walk out looking gorgeous. And what happens when their date picks them up? He tells her, hopefully, that she’s beautiful and hands her a tire-pressure gauge, instead of flowers? Not a good idea. I can tell you now if a man brought me something like that, he’d be informed just where that tire gauge could go, and I don’t mean in a tire, either.” She waved her hands for emphasis. “I can see I have my work cut out here.”

“Work?”

“Of course!” She laughed. “On how to be the perfect sensitive man. You forget, I listen to women all day long. And I am a woman. If anyone can set you on the right path, it’s me.”

The piece of beef Zach tried to swallow seemed to have grown in size.

“Why do I feel as if you’re going to throw me into the deep end without a life preserver?”

“You can do it.” Ginna patted his hand. She grabbed a morsel of her chicken and held it in front of his lips. “Lesson number one—just nibble,” she purred softly.

“Something tells me this lecture series will be the death of me.” He obediently followed her instruction.

“Only if you don’t listen to the teacher,” she cooed, this time taking a piece of chicken for herself. She nibbled on her jasmine rice. “Home appliances are not romantic. You need to be careful with flowers in case the lady in question is allergic. Candy isn’t always a good idea because so many women are watching their weight. But one lovely chocolate rose could be a good idea. Or a silk one. Teddy bears are cute, but make sure they’re cute-looking teddy bears, not just generic ones.”

Zach frowned. “You must date a lot.”

Ginna shook her head. “I just do a lot of hair and women talk about dates, where they went and so on. And if it’s a bad date, I still get every detail. Sometimes more than I ever wanted to know.” She leaned over the table to confide, “One thing to tell your readers? Revealing you’re wearing edible underwear is a big no-no.”

Zach realized he had in front of him a wealth of information about the opposite sex. And what could turn out to be interesting tidbits for his column. His agent had suggested he do more than write about a single father’s life, more about a dad’s life beyond the kids.

It didn’t hurt that he was strongly attracted to her.

It wasn’t difficult when he looked at her with her hair held back from her forehead with a multicolored scarf, the vivid colors of a sunset echoed in the simple sleeveless dress she wore.

“Maybe I should take notes,” he commented in a low husky voice that implied he wouldn’t mind doing much more than merely taking notes.

“I have an idea you’re one of those pupils who learns quickly.” She smiled back, as caught up in the flirtation as he was. “This is the first time someone’s been interested in anything other than my skill with hair.”

“That I can’t believe,” he argued amiably. “You’re breath-stoppingly beautiful.”

“Breath-stoppingly beautiful?” She laughed. “You do have a way with words, Zach. I could have used you in middle school when I was taller than most of the boys and skinny as a rail.”

“Sorry, at that age I was the typical male teen who didn’t look at a girl unless she was amply endowed. Namely, anyone with a D cup.”

“Ah, a breast man,” she said sagely. “Two of my brothers are breast men, the other strictly a leg man. His fantasy is dating either a hosiery model or a Las Vegas showgirl.”

“You can’t fault a man for having attainable goals,” he pointed out.

She nodded. “True. I thought the basketball-team captain was cute. And he was taller than me, which made it even better.”

“But?” He knew there had to be more to the story.

“But—” she drew the word out “—my brothers thought he was a jerk. They told him if he even looked at me, they’d make sure he didn’t play basketball again. I gave two of my brothers a black eye and the other one got ratted out for sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night.”

“So you’re one of those who gets even, instead of mad,” Zach said.

“You betcha.” She picked up her fortune cookie and broke it open. She pulled out the narrow strip of paper and crunched down on her cookie while she scanned the fortune. She tossed the paper onto her plate and reached for Zach’s cookie.

“That happens to be my cookie,” he said. “My fortune.”

“I didn’t like mine. Maybe yours is better. But you can have the cookie back.” Ginna wrinkled her nose. “Yours isn’t much better.”

Zach reached across the table and picked up her fortune. “‘Your future is like the grains of sand on the desert,”’ he read. “This is bad.”

“No kidding and yours wasn’t much better.” She held the paper up. “‘Watching the clock will only slow down time even more.’ They’re almost depressing.”

Zach took care of the bill while Ginna excused herself. When she returned, he noticed her lipstick had been reapplied. She slipped her arm through his.

“Another walk on the beach?” he asked.

“I’d love to.” Her smile warmed him more than the sun.

As they walked along the beach, they passed other couples out enjoying the evening. The farther they walked, the fewer people they ran across, until they were the only ones.

“Look behind you,” Ginna said, spinning around. “It’s as if we’re suddenly the only people on earth. You can’t see the lights from the hotel or even hear the music from the lounge. Our music is the sound of the waves, and the only light comes from the moon.” She waved an arm to encompass their surroundings.

“I couldn’t be stranded with a better companion. Just think of all the tutoring you could do.”

Her hand reached for his and lightly squeezed it. “You’d be a real Romeo by the time I finished.”

Zach kept hold of her hand and turned her to face him.

“We’re alone now,” he murmured, caressing the delicate planes of her face with his fingertips. He lowered his head and easily found her mouth. She moved closer, sliding one hand up his arm until it reached his neck. Her fingers curved around his nape, keeping him there.

Zach had known he was going to kiss Ginna. He’d known that since dinner as he listened to her instruct him in the fine art of being romantic. He’d sat there watching the varied expressions cross her face as she spoke and the animation that lit up her eyes.

He couldn’t remember ever before meeting a woman who was so self-assured and comfortable with herself. One of the few times he’d dated, he spent time with a woman who obsessed over every bite of food, worried about drafts when they attended a concert at the Hollywood Bowl. But what killed the date for him was her open disdain for some children who were attending the concert with their parents. When he took her home, she bluntly asked him when they could get together again. That was when he told her he had four-year-old twins. The woman didn’t bother saying good-night and he wasn’t invited in for a cup of coffee.

He didn’t think that would happen with Ginna. She came from a large loving family and had her share of nieces and nephews. And he felt guilty not telling her about the kids right away. He was proud of them. Loved them dearly.

If he thought she was perfect before, kissing her sealed the deal. She was more than he could have imagined.

Her mouth was soft and inviting. Her skin like warm silk under his touch.

He traced the seam of her lips with his tongue, silently asking admission, which was instantly granted. Her tongue wasn’t shy as she entered into the play, daring him to follow. A dare he was very happy to accept.

She draped herself around him the way a piece of silk caresses the body. If she was a perfect fit for a kiss, what would she be like if there was more? What if he lay her down on the sand and they—

He stopped his line of thinking.

They may be alone now, but there was no guarantee someone wouldn’t come along.

“Lady, you pack quite a wallop,” he said once he could catch his breath.

She tipped her head back, eyes closed and lips slightly parted. “Thank you,” she said huskily. She swayed in his direction.

Just as he feared, he could hear voices on the wind.

“I think we’re going to have company soon.” He took several deep breaths, but all he seemed to smell was her perfume. It wasn’t helping his peace of mind at all.

Ginna moved to his side and slid her arm around his waist. “Then I guess this would be as good a time as any to go back.” Her hip bumped gently against his.

The sexual tension between them heightened with every step. When they were alone in the elevator, Zach took advantage and stole a kiss.

Their steps slowed as they walked down the hallway to her room. When they reached her door, Ginna turned to face him. He planted his hands on either side of her shoulders, effectively trapping her against the wall. His head dipped and he kissed her again.

“I’m going to be a gentleman and not ask to come in,” Zach murmured against her mouth.

Her eyes were hazy with desire. But it was her lips he noticed that were curving upward.

“And what if I invite you in?” she said in a throaty whisper.

He already felt the mental kick to his backside. A kick he’d have physically done to himself if it were possible.

“As much as I’d like to accept, I’d have to be a gentleman and regretfully decline.” His mouth slid along the curve of her cheek until it reached her ear. His tongue toyed with her gold hoop earring. “Or at least take a rain check.”

“Damn.” Her curse came out on a soft breath. “And here I was going to lure you inside and drive you insane with passion.”

“I like your plan.” He was too engrossed in exploring her ear. He kept his hands planted firmly on either side of her shoulders, because he knew if he touched her elsewhere, he’d never leave. And he should. He wanted to prove to her, and to himself, this was more than just mindless lust. But he knew if he didn’t get out of there soon, he’d never leave. “I’m still trying to be a gentleman here. How about tomorrow?”

She pulled back as far as she could, the desire in her eyes starting to dissipate.

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe we are going too fast,” she said, sensing the truth in his words. “I think it might be better if I did something by myself tomorrow. Then we could get together the next day.”

Zach felt the blow. “Twenty-four hours?”

She reached up and kissed him lightly. “More like thirty-six hours. You’re proving too addictive, Mr. Stone,” she murmured. “I need to catch my breath and I’m already finding out I can’t do it when I’m with you. I’ll meet you for breakfast the day after tomorrow.”

“How about a drink two minutes after midnight? Or if you want to stick with breakfast, we have it at dawn?”

“Dawn? I don’t think so. You’re not dealing with a morning person here,” she explained. “The best I can give you is seven-thirty.”

“Seven-thirty, day after tomorrow. If I have to wait that long, I may as well have something that will hold me that long.” He pulled her back into his arms, and this time he didn’t hold back. He demanded everything of her.

Ginna moaned softly as she melted in his embrace. By the time they parted, they were both breathing heavily.

“Go now.” She pushed him away from her.

“A day away from you isn’t going to make any difference,” he warned her.

“It will if you happen to meet someone else who rings your chimes,” she said.

Zach reached out and traced the lush contours of her lips with his fingertip. “You ring my chimes just fine, sweetheart. I’ll see you at breakfast, day after tomorrow.”

As he walked back to the elevator, he realized that he was already counting down the hours until he saw her again.

It couldn’t come soon enough.

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