LITMIR.BIZ

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looks like?”

      Her heart was actually beating faster in anticipation of finally getting Marius on the page. Didn’t she have a small sketchpad in her purse? “Oh, yes. Would you—?”

      Her parents burst into the room, voices raised as always in an attempt to drown out each other, and it was too late to wrangle a promise out of Eddie.

      Later, Maria promised herself. Even if she had to corner him after dinner and draw on paper towels with a ballpoint pen, she would take advantage of this. She was getting quite desperate for inspiration.

      “Maria!” Mom said, hugging her. “Happy birthday, darling. Isn’t Eddie a nice birthday surprise?”

      Oh, yes, Mom. Wrap him up in a bow and nothing else and he’ll do nicely….

      Argh! What was wrong with her? Return of the Killer Hormones?

      “Yes, it’s nice to see him again,” she muttered. She hoped she wasn’t blushing too much. It really wasn’t polite to picture old friends in their birthday suits, even on their birthdays.

      “It’s been a while since the two of you celebrated your birthday together, hasn’t it?” Mom continued chattily. “Remember, Maria, when we mixed up the presents, and he got your Barbie doll and you got his model fighter jet?”

      “Well, I haven’t forgotten,” Eddie drawled with a lopsided smile. “It was an extremely traumatic experience. I have buddies who still bring up my Nurse Barbie when they need to twist my arm.”

      Maria shook her head. “I remember. Poor Nurse Barbie had been stripped naked when I got her back. I had to go on a dangerous excavation through the pile of wrapping paper to find her uniform. Typical.”

      “Boys will be boys,” her mother said.

      Her father laughed. “Remember what Maria used to retort whenever you said that after one of Eddie’s escapades?” He mimicked a little girl’s voice. “Well, boys just aren’t a good idea in the first place!”

      Maria smiled wistfully at the proud way her father slapped Eddie on the back. Dad had always adored Eddie. She’d never doubted her father’s love for her, but they’d never been much in tune and had grown apart even more when Maria withdrew from the expeditions.

      A familiar friend, jealousy, reared its ugly head. She firmly squashed it. Her parents were allowed to love Eddie. It didn’t take anything away from her, and it was childish and immature to begrudge him that. He’d been their dream son—and had grown up to follow in their footsteps. Of course they were proud of him.

      If only they were proud of her, too.

      She glanced toward the shelf where her illustrated books were displayed and bit her tongue in punishment for the self-pitying thought. They were proud of her. It just wasn’t quite as obvious as their pride in Eddie. That was only natural. He was working in their field, following up on what they’d taught him through the years.

      She felt Eddie’s gaze through her thoughts, and broke free of her musings to glance at him. He was grinning. “Boys not a good idea? I hope you’ve changed your mind since then.”

      “About boys in general or only about those who terrorize little girls?” she shot back, another horrid childhood memory zapping to mind. She shuddered—and didn’t even have to fake it. He’d better be sorry.

      He winced. “Ouch. Are you still holding that tarantula against me?”

      “Yes! I would have needed years of therapy to get over it! I didn’t get therapy, so I’m scarred for life, and it’s your fault.”

      Eddie’s eyes twinkled in hurt innocence. “It was locked in a jar. It couldn’t have harmed you. It was just a nature lesson.”

      “Just like old times,” Kara said. “Too bad your parents are so far away, Eddie. Still happy in Egypt, aren’t they?”

      “Yup. They love it there. Dad has a new obsession with mummies and a secret fantasy of discovering a lost tomb. Mom just rolls her eyes and enjoys the sunshine.”

      “Good for them. I did reach your sister on her cell phone, but she and Samuel are out of town for that workshop for a few more days, aren’t they?”

      “Yes. I haven’t even seen Jenny since I got back. And I haven’t seen Samuel since he was a baby. Really looking forward to it.”

      “We haven’t seen her in ages, either. She told me getting a competent sitter for Samuel is almost impossible so she rarely leaves the house these days. Well, sit down, kids. Birthday dinner coming up.”

      Her parents and Eddie talked business over dinner, and as she had little to contribute to a discussion about rafting and gliding, Maria felt free to space out and think about Marius and his adventures.

      Finally. Eddie was the perfect model for Marius. It would all come together now—and about time. Her deadline was approaching too rapidly. She stared at Eddie as much as she could without it looking weird, and hardly tasted the wonderful food as all the missing scenes came to life in her mind’s eye. Finally.

      She woke up abruptly from her musings when her father started talking about Intrepid Adventurers, possibilities for the company’s future, the new things Eddie would bring to the business, expansion and all sorts of things she’d never heard about before.

      She cleared her mind of Marius and his adventures and focused. There was no mistake: the conversation was sounding more and more as if they thought Eddie would one day take over Intrepid Adventurers. A lot of fatherly advice was being dished out—and then she caught her mother’s gaze, moving between her and Eddie with a secret smile.

      It became terribly obvious and terribly embarrassing what they were thinking, and she felt like sinking under the table—or pouring gravy over their heads. She prayed that Eddie wasn’t catching on to their matchmaking scheme.

      Eddie to take over Intrepid Adventurers one day—when they got married.

      It had been a running joke when they were kids, but had faded away when Eddie got old enough to find the constant jokes about his promised child bride annoying and embarrassing.

      Now, out of nowhere, it had resurfaced.

      What were her parents thinking?

      She did her best to steer the conversation in a safer direction, and succeeded, then cornered her mother off in the kitchen as dessert was about to be served. “Mom, have you and Dad lost your minds?”

      “Not recently,” Mom replied. “Why? You in the lost and found business now?”

      “You know what I’m talking about, Mom! What do you think you’re doing?”

      Mom looked innocent as ever, digging in the fridge for something. Maria hoped it involved chocolate. She needed chocolate. “What? What are we doing?”

      “Eddie!”

      “What about Eddie?”

      “Come on! All this talk about the future of the company! I know this was funny when I was five, but now it sounds like you’re trying to sell me off! Arranged marriages went out of fashion quite a while ago, you know!”

      Her mother just shook her head and stared at her in astonishment. “Arranged marriages? What in the world are you talking about?”

      “Look, Mom, you can forget it. There’s never going to be anything between Eddie and me. Even if I were madly in love with the guy, I wouldn’t want him because he’s not good for me. I want a boring life, okay? I spent all my childhood with a couple of adventurers, I wouldn’t want another one if he came served on a silver platter.” Of course, on a silver platter in nothing but a bow…Maria bit hard on her lip. Brain, please cooperate, she ordered. What was with the sudden bow fetish, anyway?

      “Wait, love. What did you just say? You saying you’re madly in love with Eddie?”

      Mom had always

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