LITMIR.BIZ

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      The boys were playing in the next room. They were making plenty of noise but none of it sounded dangerous so far. Her batters were mixed. Her first cakes were baking. She still had to prepare some glazes. But all in all, things were moving along briskly and she was feeling more confident.

      A moment of peace. She slipped into a chair and smiled across the table at him.

      “You look like a woman expecting a busy day,” he noted, smiling back at her and noticing how the morning light set off the faint sprinkling of freckles that still decorated her pretty face.

      She nodded. “It’s my biggest day ever. I’ve got to get cakes to the charity auction at the Lodge, I’ve got cakes due for six parties, I’ve got a huge order, an engagement party at the country club today at three. They want 125 mini Bundt cakes. I was planning to get started on them last night, but after the baby riot, I just didn’t have the energy.” She shook her head. “As soon as Trini gets here, we’ll push the ‘on’ switch and we won’t turn it off until we’re done.”

      He grinned at her. “You look like you relish the whole thing. Or am I reading you wrong?”

      “You’ve got it right.” She gave him a warm look. “I really appreciate you being here to help me last night,” she said, shaking her head as she remembered the madness. “That was so crazy.”

      “Yeah,” he agreed, polishing off the last piece of Lemon Delight. “But nobody got hurt. It all turned out all right.”

      She nodded, looking at him, at his dark, curly hair, at his calm, honest face. She felt a surge of affection for him, and that made her frown. They’d been such good friends at one point, but she hardly knew anything about what he’d been doing lately. He’d walked out of her life at the same time Brad had. Both her best friends had deserted her in one way or another.

      What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Yeah, right.

      “So the way I understand it,” she said, leaning forward, “you’ve been in Singapore for the last year or so.”

      “That’s right.”

      “Are you back for good?”

      “Uh...” He grimaced. “Hard to say. I’ve got some options. Haven’t decided what I want to do.”

      She thought about that for a moment. Did Connor ever have a solid plan? Or was it just that he kept his feelings close to the vest? She couldn’t tell at this point. She resented the way he’d walked off over a year ago, but that didn’t mean she didn’t still love him to death.

      Best friends. Right?

      She narrowed her eyes, then asked brightly, “How about getting married?”

      He looked at her as though she’d suddenly gone insane. “What? Married? Who to?”

      She laughed. She could read his mind. He thought she was trying out a brand-new idea and he was ready to panic. “Not to me, silly. To someone you love. Someone who will enhance your life.”

      “Oh.” He still looked uncomfortable.

      “I’m serious. You should get married. You could use some stability in your life. A sense of purpose.” She shrugged, feeling silly.

      Who was she to give this sort of advice? Not only was she a failure at marriage, but she’d turned out to be a pretty lousy judge of character, too. “Someone to love,” she added lamely.

      His blue eyes were hooded as he gazed at her. “How do you know I don’t have all those things right now?”

      She studied his handsome face and shook her head. “I don’t see it. To me, you look like the same old Connor, always chasing the next good time. Show me how I’m wrong.”

      She knew she was getting a little personal, but she was feeling a little confused about him right now. What was he doing here? Why was he sticking around?

      In the bright light of day she thought she could see things more clearly, and that fresh sight told her he’d come with a goal in mind. If he’d just wanted to see her, make a visit, he’d have called ahead. No, Brad had sent him. Coming face-to-face in the hotel dining room had been a fluke. But what did Brad have in mind? Why didn’t Connor just deliver the message and go?

      She was beginning to feel annoyed with him. Actually she was becoming annoyed with everything. Something was off-kilter and her day was beginning to stretch out ominously before her.

      “Okay, let’s stop avoiding the real issue here.” She stared at him coolly. “No more denials. What does Brad really want?”

       CHAPTER FOUR

      “BRAD?”

      Jill saw the shift in Connor’s eyes. He didn’t want to talk about this right now. He was perfectly ready to avoid the issue again. Well, too bad. She didn’t have all the time in the world. It was now or never.

      “Yes, Brad. You remember him. My ex-husband. The father of my children. The man who was once my entire life.”

      “Oh, yeah. That guy.”

      She frowned. He was still being evasive. She locked her fingers together and pulled.

      “So, what does he want?” she insisted.

      Connor looked at her and began to smile. “What do you think Brad wants? He always wants more than his share. And he usually gets it.”

      She shook her head, surprised, then laughed softly. “You do know him well, don’t you?”

      Connor’s smile faded. He glanced around the kitchen, looking uncomfortable. “Does he have visitation rights to the boys? Does he come up here to see them or does he...?”

      “No,” she said quickly. “He’s never seen them.”

      For once, she’d shocked him. His face showed it clearly. “Never seen his own kids? Why? Do you have a court injunction or...?”

      The pain of it all would bring her down if she let it. She couldn’t do that. She held her head high and met his gaze directly.

      “He doesn’t want to see them. Don’t you know that? Didn’t he ever tell you why he wanted the divorce?”

      Connor shook his head slowly. “Tell me,” he said softly.

      She took a deep breath. “When Brad asked me to marry him, he told me he wanted a partner. He was going to start his own business and he wanted someone as committed to it as he was, someone who would stand by him and help him succeed. I entered into that project joyfully.”

      Connor nodded. He remembered that as well. He’d been there. He’d worked right along with them. They’d spent hours together brainstorming ideas, trying out options, failing and trying again. They’d camped out in sleeping bags when they first opened their office. They’d been so young and so naive. They thought they could change the world—or at least their little corner of it. They’d invented new ways of doing things and found a way to make it pay. It had been a lot of hard work, but they’d had a lot of fun along the way. That time seemed a million miles away now.

      “I knew Brad didn’t want children, but I brushed that aside. I was so sure he would change his mind as time went by. We worked very, very hard and we did really well together. The business was a huge success. Then I got pregnant.”

      She saw the question in his eyes and she shook her head. “No, it was purely and simply an accident.”

      She bit her lip and looked toward the window for a moment, steadying her voice.

      “But I never dreamed Brad would reject it so totally. He just wouldn’t accept it.” She looked back into his eyes, searching for understanding. “I thought we could work things out. After all, we loved each other. These things happen in life. You deal

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