LITMIR.BIZ

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sound of surprise and pressed her hand to her throat. “Oh. Hello, Zach,” she said in that throaty voice that reminded him all too much of just how grown-up little Beth was now.

      Unable to check the impulse, his gaze immediately swept the rest of her and his heart rate reacted accordingly. The dress was a soft yellow, not too short, just a few inches above the knee, not exactly form-fitting, but not loose either. The neck didn’t scoop nearly low enough. All in all it was just a plain dress designed for comfort. But it was perfect and sexy as hell on her. The color contrasted the fresh, healthy glow of her skin. The lack of makeup and the fall of her silky hair around her smooth cheeks made her look twenty-one instead of thirty-one.

      Beth McCormick was beautiful.

      He experienced the sudden, almost overpowering, urge to touch her. He immediately tucked his hands into his trouser pockets, nipping the impulse to reach out to her in the bud before it blossomed and embarrassed them both.

      “Chadwick told me he’d called you,” Zach said, thrusting his emotions to the back of his mind much the same way he did in the courtroom or in a tense negotiation. “I thought we could ride together.”

      Those dark eyes widened and she looked on the verge of turning him down. In fact, he decided, on further consideration of her expression, she looked stricken.

      “Come on, Beth,” he coaxed. “I don’t bite. It’s only a ride into town.”

      She still didn’t look convinced. Irritation trickled through him, dominating the good sense he’d intended to maintain in her presence. What was the deal here? What did she think he was? The big bad wolf? She never used to be afraid of him. Maybe she was still mad at him for turning her down all those years ago. If she only knew just how much he’d wanted to…

      “I planned to drive myself,” she announced, squaring her shoulders and looking straight at him now with no fear or reservation.

      He let go a put-upon sigh. It didn’t have to be this way. “Look.” He searched her eyes, determined to sway her decision. “Let’s not make this about the past. We’re both adults now.”

      Something shifted in her dark eyes. Some barely perceptible something he couldn’t quite read.

      “You’re right,” she said, stepping across the threshold and into the tiny space between him and the door. She closed it behind her and stared directly into his eyes, her own glittering with annoyance she made no effort to conceal now. “I’m glad you finally noticed.”

      With that crisp remark, she sidestepped and brushed past him, the brief contact making his body tighten, and leaving the vaguest scent of roses.

      Perplexed, Zach did an about-face, angled his head and watched her stride toward his car. Those long legs covered the distance in no time at all, but not quickly enough to prevent the gentle sway of her hips from doing strange things to his ability to breathe.

      Oh, yes. She was definitely all grown up now.

      But she was still Beth, and he had to remember that. She wasn’t like the women he usually dated. Beth was a forever kind of girl. He frowned at the thought of the ex-husband he’d never even officially met. But Zach didn’t have to meet him to know he didn’t like him. Anyone who had hurt Beth was his enemy.

      Zach clenched his jaw and strode to the car where Beth waited. No matter how much he was attracted to her, he would never, ever take advantage of her. Beth meant too much to him. Even if a misguided need for revenge or an urge to prove she could seduce him started her thinking along those lines, he would not allow it to happen. He almost laughed at that. Wishful thinking on his part. There was no denying what he still felt. But…he would protect her just like he always had.

      He would protect her from him.

      “A PARADE?” Beth repeated, certain she couldn’t have heard the mayor right. Mrs. Ashton’s birthday celebration was turning into a three-ring circus.

      “Yes,” Chadwick enthused. “Why Ms. Colleen is our most distinguished citizen. This momentous occasion simply demands that we pull out all the stops.”

      “We want to make an official presentation, too,” Harve Baker, deputy mayor, added. “Like the keys to the city, only better.”

      “You’re sure that’s not a bit much?” Zach suggested, speaking for the first time since the group had exchanged greetings and settled down to talk business.

      Beth darted a stealthy look in his direction. She’d made sure when she arrived that she sat where he couldn’t end up next to her. With the table full, Zach had slid into a nearby booth opposite the mayor. Reclining against the wall so as to face those seated at the table, Zach looked relaxed and too darned good-looking. The light blue shirt set off the sky-blue of his eyes. The fit of those navy slacks displayed the best male buns she’d ever seen, and, as a doctor, she’d seen a few.

      “I don’t think so at all,” Viola, the only female member of the council, piped up. “We did the same thing for Bert Sacks after he got himself on the Letterman show. Why shouldn’t we do it for Colleen?”

      Beth struggled not to groan. She remembered all too well the parade for Bert. The only celebrity in town. Too bad his ticket to fame had been a musical cow. Though she hadn’t lived here at the time, Beth had come home for a weekend visit to find the whole town celebrating Bert’s claim to fame. She’d almost turned around and driven right back to Indianapolis. But she’d needed a break, more to escape her disintegrating relationship than to get away from work. The marriage had been doomed from the beginning.

      She shifted in her chrome and red vinyl chair. She was getting off track. Beth shoved thoughts of Matt and divorce from her mind. She didn’t have time to think about men, past or present, right now.

      “Well, see here, Viola,” the mayor was saying. “We certainly intend to do right by Ms. Colleen. Her parade will be every bit as big as Bert’s was.”

      Viola and the other members of the council made agreeable sounds. Beth cringed. The school band, the Girl Scouts, the local civic clubs—everyone would get into the act. Anyone who’d ever been voted for and won anything in this town, from Miss Valentine to top hog caller, would want a place in line. Beth pressed her fingers to her temples and wished she were anywhere but here.

      “You’d be good at that, don’t you think, Beth?” Viola asked.

      Startled at hearing her name, Beth jerked to attention. Heat warmed her cheeks. No way was she going to allow anyone—specifically Zach—to know she hadn’t been paying attention. “Oh, sure,” Beth agreed with no clue to what the woman had said. “That sounds great.”

      He was watching her, she realized, tensing instantly. The beginnings of a smile played at the corners of his mouth, drawing her attention there…making her want to taste those full lips.

      “Heads up,” a crisp feminine voice warned.

      Beth snapped from the forbidden fantasy. The waitress was circling the table, plates balanced in both hands. Beth silently railed at herself. She had to pull herself together here. She couldn’t keep acting like she was seventeen all over again. She had this community event to plan. And, more important, she had to find some way to get the truth out of her mother.

      A white stoneware plate laden with glistening green beans and chicken-fried steak accompanied by creamed potatoes dark with thick gravy was plopped down before her. Beth felt the arteries of her heart narrowing already. She glanced around the table and wondered if she was the only one concerned with living a little longer. When her gaze collided with Zach’s, he was still watching her, those blue eyes expectant and somehow knowing. That smile slid fully across his lips now and he scooped up a forkful of potatoes and popped them into his mouth, a blatant challenge.

      Instantly, Beth regressed to the summer she’d been twelve and determined she could beat Zach at anything he did—including eating her mother’s lemon meringue pie.

      She hated lemon pie to this day. The mere sight of it made her stomach queasy.

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