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“Not yet” wasn’t going to help her much, though. Van had flatly refused to accept her resignation from the Husband Hunt. More importantly, Cyn had refused too. Mary had to keep seeing him for that as well as the book.
“That ‘yet’ word keeps creeping into this conversation. Do I get to give you some advice before ‘yet’ happens?”
“Yes, but I don’t promise to take your advice.”
“I’ll give it to you anyway. Whatever you’re thinking of doing, don’t do it.”
Mary laughed. Sort of. “That probably is what I should do. I mean, not do. I mean …”
“This is man trouble, isn’t it? This is Van trouble.”
“Yeah. I thought I could dive right into loving him, never mind how it’s going to end. We’d have a torrid affair, but I could hold back the core of me. I could survive and go on when it was over.”
“And now you don’t think so.”
Now she knew it wasn’t so. Among a myriad of other things, he’d done her in when he fetched Guinevere to soothe his lovesick dog, not to mention admitting whose dog Lancelot really was. The man could mellow. The man could change. The man could …
“Mom, I’m getting to know him too well, and he’s a wonderful man to know. I admire him. I respect him. He has sneaky bits of marshmallow under all that starch. I love spending time with him, doing something, doing anything, doing nothing.”
“Uh-oh. That means — ”
“Exactly. If I have that torrid affair with him too, how do I hold back enough pieces to put myself back together again?”
“How do you stop yourself from hoping that this is different?”
Mary winced.
Her mother heaved a loving sigh of pain and fear that almost surpassed Mary’s own. “You haven’t just fallen in love with him.”
“I’m falling in like with him too.”
“Oh, Mary honey, you are in trouble.”
Chapter Sixteen
Shanghaied
V
AN KNOCKED ON MARY’Sdoor and waited. He would not clear his throat. Or wipe his palms on his pants. Or loosen his collar.
Just yesterday he’d seen her at the party in her sequinsandwhatseemedlikenothingelse.Hisbrain had been blotto since.
Maybe he shouldn’t have come so soon. But how could he not? They’d started to slip away for some serious kissing, but it hadn’t happened. He had to make something happen. Didn’t he?
He’d stared down corporate titans and even tougherunionbossesandgottenhisway.Righthere, right now, he had his agenda. That’s all he needed to get what he wanted from Mary. Wasn’t it? Maybe, if he could figure out what he wanted.
Whichwas—orwasitwhichwere,sincehewanted more than one thing? Never mind the grammar. That dratted woman was a genius at confusing him. So, refocusing now, he wanted to:
1. Enlist her in Husband Hunt Number 2 for Aunt Cyn. No, no, no, no. Aunt Cynthia. They had him calling her that too. He’d stop right now.
2. Have a good long talk about this business of it beingsafetoheatthesheetswithawomanwhosays up front she’s in love. Wait. She hadn’t actually said that. But her uncertainty certainly hadn’t been very uncertain.Waitagain.Uncertainuncertainty?Hadhe reallythoughtthat?Shewasaddlinghisbrain.Here’s what he really thought: she’d meant she was in love. Ridiculous, but if she believed it … Desired outcome: she would convince him a) it really was safe, or b) she wasn’t really in love with him, which would have the same result as a).
3. Depending on the results of Number 2, take Mary to bed.
Yup, that would do it.
He knocked again.
