Everything but the Baby

Mark chuckled. “It had occurred to me. But what’s the point? Would it really be any better to get her heart broken by me instead of Lincoln?”

“What makes you so sure you’d break her heart?” She arranged some of her dresses in the closet, shaking out the wrinkles. “Maybe you’d fall deeply in love and end up living happily ever after with two-point-five kids and a picket fence.”

He grimaced. “Not in this lifetime.”

She pulled out the last of her clothes, a light blue cotton sundress. This was what she’d planned to wear when she met Lincoln, but when she held it up against her chest and looked at it in the closet mirror, it suddenly looked too tame.

“Why not? If you work quickly, we could have a double wedding. I could be godmother to your firstborn daughter, and I’d give you a great discount at Lullabies.”

“Sorry. You’re trying to sell that fantasy to the wrong guy.”

She could see him in the mirror. He was still smiling, but his voice sounded edgy, and she wondered if she might somehow have offended him.

“And maybe we should talk reality anyhow,” he said, sounding more normal. “When do you plan to make contact with Lincoln? Have you decided what you’re going to say?”

She leaned against the closet door, letting the dress drape over her arm.

“I’ve been thinking about that a lot,” she said. “I’ve decided that the only way is to be very straightforward. I’ll go to his house, probably tomorrow, and talk to him. I’ll have to tell him I still love him, and I understand why he didn’t show up at the church.”

“Which is?”

“Because I hurt him when I insisted on the prenup. I made him feel that I didn’t trust him. I’ll tell him that I’m going to prove that I do trust him. I even brought the prenup with me. I’m going to start by tearing it up.”

“Nice touch.”

“I thought so. I’m bringing a present, too. You gave me the idea when you told me how he stole your sister’s brooch.”

Mark smiled. “You have a tacky peacock in your family, too?”

“No, but it’s a rather nice gold signet ring. Expensive as hell. I’m going to tell him it’s a family piece, though actually I picked it up at Tiffany’s last week. And then I’ll tell him how much I love him, how empty my life is without him.”

Mark whistled softly. “That’s a pretty big piece of humble pie. You sure you’re going to be able to choke it down?”

She nodded. “Without blinking.”

He rested his temple against his knuckles and gazed at her appraisingly. “Well, you sound ready. And the jewelry is a nice touch—it might even provide a chance to see where he puts it for safekeeping. Maybe it’ll turn out to be the same place he keeps the peacock.”

“Maybe,” she said. “But remember, it’s a long shot.”

“This whole thing is a long shot,” he said. “Have you decided exactly how far you’re actually willing to go to pull it off?”

“All the way.” She lifted the blue dress and started to hang it back in the closet. It would have to do for that first meeting with Lincoln. She wasn’t going to try to compete with a knockout on looks alone. She had her own knockout punch—her checkbook.

Mark was still watching her. “You’re sure about that?”

“Absolutely sure. I’ll kneel at his feet. I’ll tell him he is the Sun God and the Moon King rolled into one. I’ll produce my bank balance and open up a credit line for him at Saks. I mean it. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

“Will you go to bed with him?”

She stopped, the hanger frozen an inch above the rod.

She stared over her shoulder at Mark, who looked genuinely curious.

Damn it.

She was an idiot.

She really hadn’t thought of that.

CHAPTER FIVE

DANIEL O’HARA HATED the rain. Whenever one of those typical Florida afternoon thunderstorms broke loose, the pro shop at The Mangrove filled up with wet, irritable tourists who seemed outraged to discover that their vacation package hadn’t come with a sunshine guarantee.

Daniel ordinarily liked this part-time job okay—it was laid-back and it was fun to see all the new equipment first. Besides, he’d do anything to get a few hours away from the Hideaway and from his parents. Ever since the trouble last winter, they watched him like a hawk.

But he didn’t like it when it rained. The guests needed someone to take their frustrations out on, and the seventeen-year-old nobody behind the register made the perfect target.

And, of course, he had to treat them like royalty, even though they smelled rank and they dripped all over the merchandise, because, of course, they’d stayed out on the golf course too long, as if ignoring the rain would make it go away. They pawed the clothes, swung the clubs and tried on cap after cap. They bitched about everything and never bought squat.

He was trying to explain to Mr. Inkerfino that they didn’t carry these microfiber, herringbone golf shorts in a four-X—without implying that people who wore four-X probably shouldn’t even be on a golf course and definitely shouldn’t be wearing herringbone—when he caught a whiff of jasmine and sandalwood above the sweat.

His heart did a pole-vault jump. That was Janelle Greenwood’s perfume. It was probably the only perfume he’d recognize with his eyes closed.

“Hi, Danny,” she said from behind him.

He handed the three-X shorts to Mr. Inkerfino, then turned, smiling. “Hi, Ms. Greenwood.”

She tilted her head, giving him a mock stern look. “Ms. Greenwood?”

He shrugged, hoping the flush he felt around his chest didn’t make its way to his face. He had a zit right near his hairline and his freckles would probably light up like a Christmas tree. His stupid sensitive skin was one of the eight million reasons he hated being a redhead.

For the freckles, his grandfather said he should swab them with the blood of a hare or distilled water of walnuts. When he was a kid, he had begged his mom to make some kind of rabbit dinner, in the hopes that he could get hold of some blood. The walnut thing just didn’t make any sense to a ten-year-old at all.

She’d refused, so he had the damn things still. The sign of a true Irishman, his father assured him proudly. Yeah, right. Freckles and blushes and acne. Real sexy.

“Ms. Greenwood?” Janelle said again, softly.

Last time she was in the shop, she’d asked him to call her Janelle. Anything else was silly, she’d said, considering that she was probably only a few years older than he was. But his manager, Mr. Beaner, was a real stickler and he would have fired Daniel if he heard him getting chummy with a customer.

“Umm…well… Hey, that’s your new tennis dress, isn’t it?” Daniel hoped she’d be willing to change the subject. He’d helped her pick the dress out yesterday and it looked really hot on her. “Did you get rained out?”