smiled. “I’d say he’s a guy with marriage on his mind, that’s what I’d say. That can’t be bad, can it?”
Ashley seemed to be turning that over in her mind. “I guess not.” She gazed at Charlie. “I would love it if he turned out to be the guy for you. I really would. But I still don’t like the idea of you two rushing into a physical relationship.”
“That’s not very likely, is it, with our two chaperones in attendance?”
“Good point. Now that you mention that, I’m glad Sam and I are here.”
Charlie had been mesmerized by Mark, but she hadn’t been totally oblivious to the instant attraction between her sister and Sam. Still she wanted to play it close to the vest. “What do you think of Sam, by the way?”
“Well, he’s very good-looking, if that’s what you mean. But I can tell he’s nervous in this situation.”
“I’m not surprised. He doesn’t know whether you used to be my brother Adam who turned into my sister Ashley. But eventually he’ll probably relax.”
“Doesn’t really matter.” Ashley glanced in an oval mirror hanging over an antique cherry vanity and fluffed her hair. “I doubt I’ll see him again.”
“Really? Why not?”
“He’s got this whole psychological hang-up going on.” Ashley pursed her lips, then opened her purse again and took out a tube of lipstick. “I’m really not interested in dealing with that.”
Charlie couldn’t resist. “Then why are you bothering to redo your lipstick?”
Ashley finished gliding the mocha lipstick over her mouth and twisted it back into its tube. “Habit,” she said, dropping the tube back into her purse.
“If you say so.”
“And even if I did find him attractive, I wouldn’t get so involved that I’d forget why I’m here.” Ashley fixed Charlie with a determined gaze. “Now promise me that you won’t let that man get you alone tonight. I’ve been watching him, and his tongue is dragging on the floor. If you give him an opening, he’s going to take it.”
Charlie thought that sounded pretty darned thrilling.
“It’s that gleam in your eye that has me so worried!” Ashley said. “Now please tell me you’ll exercise some caution.”
“Okay, I’ll exercise some caution.” She wondered if the condoms in her purse counted. “But you’re the one who mentioned his slip of the tongue. If you ask me, Mark and I are practically engaged.”
“Oh, then I guess that was a big diamond ring I saw in his pocket.”
Charlie laughed. “Ashley, you don’t know how long I’ve waited to get this reaction from a man. No man has ever had an erection just looking at me fully dressed, unless you count Donny Smoggles back in tenth grade, which I don’t, considering every girl in school made Donny’s little circus tent go up.”
Ashley’s stern expression dissolved into laughter. “I do remember Donny.”
“Is it so wrong to want to make a man totally lose his mind?” She sent her sister a pleading glance.
Ashley studied her for a long moment. “No, I guess not.” She sighed. “It’s not his mind that concerns me.”
“I know,” Charlie said with a grin.
“And besides the obvious, I don’t want him to break your heart, either.”
“He won’t. I know he won’t.”
“I hope you’re right. Here. Let me adjust that neckline again.”
ONCE THE WOMEN were out of earshot, Sam leaned across the table. “It’s a damned good thing I came along, buddy boy, or you would be toast. Now, here’s the plan. Under no circumstances are you to continue looking at her cleavage. Otherwise you are so dead.”
Mark laughed in disbelief. “Not look? Are you insane? Why not tell me to do a few gymnastics while hanging from the chandelier? That would be a hell of a lot easier.”
Sam blew out a breath and leaned back in his chair. “I get your point, but we’ve got to neutralize the effect of that dress.”
“Unless you plan to make her wear your sport coat and put it on backward, I don’t know how you’re gonna neutralize anything. I think we’ll just have to live with the situation.” Mark wasn’t particularly upset with that prospect. He thought it would be a crime to cover Charlie, sort of like throwing a blanket over one of those nude statues outside the door.
“Man, I never expected an outdoor adventure guide to show up in an outfit like that.”
Mark decided not to tell Sam that he’d known about the dress all along. He also knew the color of her panties. Charlie’s last letter to him had been filled with spicy little details like that. They’d been taunting each other with increasingly erotic messages. No, he’d better not tell Sam about that.
He decided to ease around to a different topic. “Don’t forget that she is an outdoor adventure guide. Don’t forget all the reasons why you advised me to write to her. She’s everything I hoped for, and then some. To find out how beautiful and sexy she is in person is icing on the cake, because I was already convinced she was perfect for me.”
“I do have a good feeling about this one,” Sam admitted. “Still, I’d feel a hell of a lot better if you put off the proposal for as long as possible.”
The waiter arrived with leather-bound menus, but Mark left his closed. He didn’t really care about the food, anyway. “Tell you what. I’ll do my best to ignore her cleavage,” he said by way of trying to pacify Sam.
“Like you said, easier said than done.” Sam opened his menu.
“I’ll do my best. So, what did you think of Ashley?”
Immediately Sam glanced up from his perusal of the menu. Then he tried to look casual and nonchalant, the way he always did when he was intensely interested in a woman. “She’s okay.” He looked down at the menu again.
“Okay? Just okay? I don’t think there’s a woman you’ve dated in the past five years that compares to her. And how about those eyes? Are those the greenest eyes you’ve ever seen, or what?”
Sam shrugged and continued to examine the menu. “I guess. But what difference does it make? She’s not breaking out in a rash, so she must not find me attractive.”
Mark thought fast. Sam had a very tender ego, and whenever he thought a woman wasn’t returning his interest, he bailed. If a woman played hard to get, then Sam didn’t pursue her. He hoped Ashley wasn’t into those kinds of games. “Um, I think Charlie said the rash appears on her…cheeks,” he said.
“There was no rash on her cheeks.”
“Her other cheeks.”
Sam looked up. “Oh.” He gazed at Mark for a couple of seconds. “That’s kind of weird, don’t you think?”
“Stress affects everybody differently. She might have dragged Charlie into the ladies’ room because her rash was starting to bother her.”
Sam closed the menu and laid it beside his plate. “No, she dragged Charlie into the ladies’ room because you were starting to bother her. She’s protective of her little sister, and I don’t blame her.”
“There, see? That’s a point scored by Ashley right off the bat. She’s protective of her family members. You’re protective of your family members. I remember when that kid tried to beat up your little brother and you got all over—”
“Let’s get back to the subject at hand—which is her rash problem. You told me this rash of hers is a social embarrassment. If it only shows up on her backside, I don’t understand