Match Me If You Can

credit.'

'She doesn't give herself enough credit. That's what makes her vulnerable. Her family's convinced her she's a failure because she's not earning six figures. She needs to be concentrating on making her business work, and I'm getting the feeling you deliberately turned yourself into a bad distraction.'

He forgot that he never let himself get defensive. 'Exactly what do you mean by that?'

'I saw how you were looking at her last night.'

The insinuation that he might deliberately hurt Annabelle stuck in his craw. He wasn't his father. He didn't use women, and he especially didn't use a woman he liked. But he was dealing with Phoebe Calebow, and he couldn't afford to lose his temper, so he dug into his always reliable supply of self-control… and came up empty. 'Annabelle's my friend, and I don't make it a habit of hurting my friends.' He pushed to his feet. 'But then you don't know me well enough to figure that out, do you?'

As he stalked away, he called himself every name in the book. He never lost it. He absolutely never fucking lost it. Yet he'd basically just told Phoebe Calebow to go to hell. And for what? Because enough truth lurked in what she'd said to hurt. The fact was, he'd committed a foul, and Phoebe had dropped a penalty flag on him.

Annabelle waited for Heath on the front porch at the B &B along with Janine, whom she'd invited to ride into town with them for dinner. Annabelle had stayed in her bedroom at the cottage until she'd heard Heath come in. As soon as the shower started running, she'd jotted a quick note, left it on the table, and slipped out. The less time she spent alone with him the better.

'Any ideas about Krystal's mysterious surprise?' Janine straightened the clasp on her silver necklace as they sat in the porch rockers.

'No, but I hope it's fattening.' Annabelle didn't really care what the surprise was, as long as it kept her away from Heath after dinner.

He pulled up in the car, and Annabelle insisted Janine sit with him in the front. On their way into town, he asked about her books. He'd never read a word she'd written, but by the time they reached the inn, he'd convinced her she had everything it took to be the next J. K. Rowling. The weird thing was, he seemed to believe it. No question that the Python was a powerful motivator.

The Wind Lake Inn's rustic north woods decor complemented a varied menu of beef, fish, and game. Conversation was lively, and Annabelle limited her alcohol consumption to a single glass of wine. As they dug into their entrees, Phoebe asked the men how their book discussion had gone. Darnell opened his mouth to respond, his gold tooth flashing, only to have Dan cut in. 'So much came up, I don't even know where to start. Ron?'

'It was intense, all right,' the Stars' general manager said.

Kevin looked thoughtful. 'A lot of sharing.'

'Intense?' Darnell scowled. 'It was-'

'Heath could probably summarize better than any of us,' Webster interjected.

The others nodded solemnly and turned their heads toward Heath, who set down his fork. 'I doubt I could do it justice. Who figured we could have so many different opinions about postmodern nihilism?'

Molly looked at Phoebe. 'They didn't talk about the book at all.'

'I told you they wouldn't,' her sister replied.

Charmaine reached over to rub her husband's back. 'I'm sorry, honey. You know I tried to talk the women into letting you join our group, but they said you'd upset our dynamics.'

'Besides trying to bully us into reading One Hundred Years of Solitude,' Janine added.

'That is a great book!' Darnell exclaimed. 'Y'all don't want to challenge your minds.'

Kevin had heard Darnell's lecture on people's reading tastes before and quickly moved to deflect it. 'We know you're right. And we're all ashamed of ourselves, aren't we, guys?'

'I am.'

'Me, too.'

'Can't hardly stand to look in the mirror.'

Kevin seized on Annabelle as the next distraction to keep Darnell from getting worked up. 'So what's this I hear about you dating Dean Robillard?'

Everyone at the table stopped eating. Heath set down his knife. The women's heads swiveled. Molly gazed into her husband's not-so-innocent green eyes. 'Annabelle's not dating Dean. She would have told us.'

'I'm really not,' Annabelle said.

Kevin Tucker, the wiliest quarterback in the NFL, scratched the back of his head like a gorgeous doofus. 'I'm confused. I talked to Dean on Friday, and he mentioned that the two of you went out last week and that he'd had a real good time.'

'Well, we went to the beach…'

'You went to the beach with Dean Robillard, and you didn't think to mention it?' Krystal shrieked.

'It was… a last-minute thing.'

The women started buzzing. Kevin had more mischief on his mind and didn't wait for them to calm down. 'So Dean's planning to ask you out again?'

'No, of course not. No. I mean… is he? Why? Did he say something?'

'I kind of got that idea. Maybe I misunderstood.'

'I'm sure you did.'

Heath sat stony-faced, a fact that caught Phoebe's interest. 'Your little matchmaker certainly is getting around.'

'I'm glad,' Sharon said. 'It's time she came out of her shell.'

Heath regarded Annabelle dubiously. 'You were in a shell?'

'Kind of.'

Charmaine gazed at her across the table. 'Are we allowed to talk about your unfortunate engagement?'

Annabelle sighed. 'Why not? We seem to be examining every other part of my life.'

'Shocked the hell out of me,' Kevin said. 'Rob and I played golf together a couple of times. He had an ugly duck hook, but still…'

Molly covered his hand with her own. 'It's been two years, and Kevin's still not reconciled.'

Kevin shook his head. 'I feel like I should invite him… her… to play again, just to show I'm broad-minded, which I am under ordinary circumstances, but I like Annabelle, and Rob knew from the beginning he had a problem. He should never have asked her to marry him.'

'I remember Rob's duck hook,' Webster said.

'Yeah, I remember it, too.' Dan shook his head in disgust.

A short silence fell. Kevin gazed at his brother-in-law. 'Are you thinking the same thing I am?'

'Yep.'

'Me, too,' Webster said.

Ron nodded. So did the others. Heath smiled, and they all returned their attention to their dinner plates.

'What?' Molly shrieked.

Kevin shook his head. 'No sex-change operation in the world is going to fix a duck hook like that.'

The women left the men at the inn and returned to the B &B, where Krystal locked them into the cozy back parlor, drew the shades, and turned down the lights. 'Tonight,' she announced, 'we're going to celebrate our sexuality.'

'I read that book,' Molly said. 'And if anybody starts taking off her clothes and grabbing a mirror, I'm out of here.'

'We're not celebrating that way,' Krystal said. 'All of us have some issues we need to face. For example… Charmaine's too uptight.'

'Me?'

'You undressed in the closet for the first two years of your marriage.'

'That was a long time ago, and I don't undress there anymore.'

'Only because Darnell threatened to take the door off. But you're not the only one with sexual hang-ups. Annabelle doesn't say much about it, but we all know she hasn't slept with anybody since Rob traumatized her. Unless last night…?'

They all turned to gaze at her.