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drive south along the coastal highway was a pleasant one. The sunset played gloriously over the rippling curl of the evening tide and the conversation was comfortable. Mitch talked about his seven-year-old daughter, Kelly, who was into everything pink and ballet lessons, and Shay talked about Hank.

      She wanted to ask about Mitch’s ex-wife, but then he might ask about Eliott and she wasn’t prepared to discuss that part of her life. It was possible, of course, Shay knew, that Ivy had told him already.

      “Have you started furnishing the house yet?” Shay asked when they’d exhausted the subject of children.

      Mitch shook his head and the warm humor in his eyes cooled a little, it seemed to Shay, as he glanced at her and then turned his attention back to the highway. “Not yet.”

      Shay was stung by his sudden reticence, and she was confused, too. “Did I say something wrong?”

      “No,” came the immediate response, and Mitch flung one sheepish grin in Shay’s direction. “I was just having an attack of male ego, I guess.”

      Intrigued, Shay turned in her seat and asked, “What?”

      “It isn’t important.”

      “I think maybe it is,” Shay persisted.

      “I don’t have the right to wonder, let alone ask.”

      “Ask anyway.” Suddenly, Shay was nervous.

      “Who is that guy who was holding you in the hallway at Seaview this morning?” The question was blurted, however reluctantly, and Shay’s anxieties fled—except for one.

      “That was Garrett Thompson. His father was married to my mother at one time.” Shay folded her hands in her lap and drew a deep breath. “What were you doing at Seaview?”

      The Reeses’ beach house was in sight and Mitch looked longingly toward it, but he pulled off the highway and turned to face Shay directly. “I was asking about your mother,” he said.

      Shay had been braced for a lie and now, in the face of a blunt truth, she didn’t know how to react. “Why?” she asked after several moments of silence.

      “I don’t think this is a good time to talk, Shay,” Mitch replied. “Anyway, it isn’t anything you need to worry about.”

      “But—”

      His hand closed, warm and reassuring, over hers. “Trust me, okay? I promise that we’ll talk after the party.”

      Mitch had been forthright; he could have lied about his reason for visiting Seaview, but he hadn’t. Shay had no cause to distrust him. And yet the words “trust me” troubled her; it didn’t matter that Mitch had spoken them: she heard them in Eliott’s voice. “After the party,” she said tightly.

      Moments later she and Mitch entered the Reeses’ spacious two-story beach house. It was a beautiful place with polished oak floors and beamed ceilings and a massive stone fireplace, and it was crowded with people.

      Marvin took one look at Shay’s shiny shirt and bounded away, only to return moments later wearing a pair of grossly oversized sunglasses that he’d used in a past commercial. Shay laughed and shook her head.

      “I hope his tie doesn’t squirt grape juice,” Mitch commented in a discreet whisper.

      Shay watched fondly as Marvin turned away to rejoin the party. “Don’t let him fool you,” she replied. “He reads Proust and Milton and speaks two languages other than English.”

      Mitch was still pondering this enlightening information—Marvin’s commercials and loud sports jackets were indeed deceptive—when Ivy wended her way through the crowd, looking smart in pale blue silk. Her aquamarine eyes took in Shay’s outfit with approval. “Jeannie sent me to bid you welcome. She’s in the kitchen, trying to pry an ice sculpture out of the freezer. Would you believe it’s a perfect replica of Venus de Milo?”

      “Now we know why the poor girl has no arms,” Todd quipped, standing just behind Ivy.

      Both Ivy and Shay groaned at the joke, and Ivy added a well-aimed elbow that splashed a few drops of champagne out of Todd’s glass and onto his impeccable black jacket.

      “Six months till the wedding and I’m already henpecked,” he complained.

      “I’ve been thinking about those condos,” Mitch reflected distractedly. “From an ecological standpoint…”

      “Business!” Ivy hissed, dragging Shay away by one arm. They came to a stop in front of a table spread with plates of wilted crab puffs, smoked oysters, crackers and cheeses.

      Shay cast one look in Mitch’s direction and saw that he was engrossed in his conversation with Todd. It hurt a little that he apparently hadn’t even noticed that she was gone. She took a crab puff to console herself.

      Ivy frowned pensively at the morsel. “Isn’t that pathetic? You’d think a place as big as Skyler Beach would have one decent caterer, wouldn’t you? Mrs. Reese had to have everything brought in from Seattle.”

      The crab puffs definitely showed the rigors of the journey, and it was a miracle that Venus de Milo had made it so far without melting into a puddle. Shay’s dream of starting her own catering business surfaced and she pushed it resolutely back onto a mental shelf. She had a child to support and there was no way she could afford to take the financial risks such a venture would involve.

      “You look fantastic!” Ivy whispered. “Is that shirt heavy?”

      “It weighs a ton,” Shay confided. Her eyes were following Mitch; she was memorizing every expression that crossed his face.

      “Let’s separate those two before they start drawing up plans or something,” Ivy said lightly.

      Shay wondered how long it would be before Todd balked at Ivy’s gentle commandeering but made no comment. A buffet supper was served soon afterward, and she and Mitch sat alone in a corner of the beach house’s enormous deck, listening to the chatter of the tide as they ate. Stars were popping out all over a black velvet sky and the summer breeze was warm.

      When silences had fallen between herself and Eliott, Shay had always been uncomfortable, needing to riddle the space with words. With Mitch, there were no gaps to fill. It was all right to be quiet, to reflect and to dream.

      Presently, a caterer’s assistant came and collected their empty plates and glasses, but Mitch and Shay remained in that shadowy corner of the deck. When the Reeses’ speakers began to pipe soft music into the night, they moved together without a word. They danced, and the proximity of Mitch’s blatantly masculine body to Shay’s softer one was an exquisite misery.

      Shay saw his mouth descending to claim her own and instead of turning to avoid his kiss, she welcomed it. Unconsciously she braced herself for the crushing ardor Eliott had taught her to expect, but Mitch’s kiss was gentle, tentative, almost questioning. She felt the tip of his tongue encircle her lips and a delicious tingling sensation spread into every part of her. His nearly inaudible groan rippled over her tongue and tickled the inner walls of her cheeks as she opened her mouth to him.

      Gently, ever so gently, he explored her, his body pinning hers to the deck railing in a tender dominance that she welcomed, for rather than demanding submission, the gesture incited a passion so intense that Shay was terrified by it. Had it been feelings like these that had caused Rosamond to flit from one husband to another, dragging one very small and frightened daughter after her?