Match Me If You Can

Candace pressed him for details, but he refused to say more. Kate could no longer hold back her curiosity about why he was here. 'We never mind when Annabelle shows up without a date, even though she says it makes her feel like a fifth wheel. As her client, you certainly had no obligation to be her escort, but… Well, I must say we're all glad you agreed to join us…?'

She ended her sentence with an implied question mark. Annabelle hoped Heath would somehow put an end to her mother's assumption that this was a mercy date for him, but he was more intent on playing the charm card. 'It's my pleasure. I've been looking forward to meeting all of you. Annabelle's told me the most amazing stories about your banking career, Kate. You were a real trailblazer for women.'

Kate melted all over him. 'I don't know about that, but I will say things were a lot more difficult for women back then than they are now. I keep telling Annabelle that she doesn't know how lucky she is. These days, the only obstacles standing in the way of a woman's success are ones of her own making.'

Zing.

'You've obviously taught her well,' Heath said smoothly. 'It's amazing what she's been able to create in such a short time. You must be enormously proud of her.'

Kate looked hard at Heath to see if he was kidding. Can-dace snickered. Annabelle didn't exactly hate her sister-in-law, but she wouldn't be the first person standing in line if Candace turned up needing a kidney.

Kate reached across the arm of her chair to pat Annabelle's knee. 'Tactfully put, Heath. My daughter has always been a free spirit. And you look lovely tonight, sweetheart, although it's too bad they didn't have that dress in black.'

Annabelle sighed. Heath smiled, then turned his attention to Candace, who'd maneuvered a position on the leather sofa between him and Doug. 'I understand that you and Doug have a gifted little boy.'

Gifted? The most Annabelle had said about Jamison was that he'd learned to get everybody's attention by peeing on the living room rug. But the Granger clan ate it up.

Kate beamed. 'He reminds me so much of Doug and Adam at that age.'

Tiny penises?

'We're having him tested,' Doug said. 'We don't want him to be bored in school.'

'He loves his nature enrichment class.' A strand from Candace's hair extensions was sticking to her lip gloss, but she didn't seem to notice. 'We're teaching him to recycle.'

'It's amazing how well coordinated he is for a three-year-old,' Adam said. 'He's going to be quite an athlete.'

Kate puffed up with maternal pride. 'Doug and Adam were swimmers.'

Annabelle had been a swimmer, too.

'Annabelle swam, too.' Kate hooked a sickle of blond hair behind her ear. 'Unfortunately, she didn't take to it like her brothers.'

Translation: Annabelle had never won any medals. 'I just had fun,' she muttered, but no one was paying attention because her father had decided to enter the conversation.

'I'm cutting down my old seven iron for Jamison. It's never too early to get them interested in the game.'

Candace launched into a description of Jamison's academic prowess, and Mr. Charm made all the right responses. Kate regarded her sons fondly. 'Both Doug and Adam were reading by the time they were four. Not just words, but entire paragraphs. I'm afraid it took Annabelle a little longer. Not that she was slow-not at all-but she had a hard time sitting still.'

She still did.

'A little attention deficit disorder isn't necessarily a bad thing,' Annabelle said, feeling the need to interject. 'At least it gives you a broad range of interests.'

Everybody stared at her, even Heath. It figured. In less than half an hour, he'd deserted the loser's lunch table and taken up permanent residence with the cool kids.

The agony continued as the appetizers arrived and they resettled around the table, which was set with white linen, pink roses, and silver candlesticks. 'So, Spud, when are you coming to St. Louis to see the new cardiac wing?' Adam took the seat next to her, his date on his opposite side. 'Funniest damn thing,

Lucille. The last time Annabelle visited, somebody left a cleaning bucket in the hall. Annabelle was talking as usual, so she didn't see it. Splat!'

They all laughed as though they hadn't heard the story at least a dozen times.

'Remember that party we had before our senior year in college?' Doug snorted. 'We mixed everybody's leftover drinks together and dared Spud to down the whole damn thing. God, I never thought she'd stop puking.'

'Yeah, those are some great memories, all right.' Annabelle drained her wineglass.

Fortunately, they were more interested in grilling Heath than in torturing her. Doug wanted to know if he'd considered opening an office in L.A. Adam asked if he'd taken on any partners. Her father inquired into his golf game. All of them agreed that hard work, clear-cut goals, and a smooth backswing were the secrets to success. By the time they dug into their entrees, she could see that Heath had fallen as much in love with her family as her family had with him.

Kate, however, still hadn't satisfied her curiosity about why he'd shown up as her escort. 'Tell us how your hunt for a wife is coming along. I understand you're working with two matchmakers.'

Annabelle decided to get it over with. 'One matchmaker. I fired him.'

Her brothers laughed, but Kate regarded her severely over her dinner roll. 'Annabelle, you have the most bizarre sense of humor.'

'I'm not joking,' she said. 'Heath was impossible to work with.'

An embarrassed silence fell over the table. Heath shrugged and set down his fork. 'I couldn't seem to stay on task, and Annabelle doesn't put up with a lot of nonsense when it comes to business.'

Her family gaped, all except Candace, who'd finished her third chardonnay and decided it was time to launch her very favorite topic of conversation. 'You'll never hear it from any of them, Heath, but the Granger family is old, old St. Louis, if you know what I mean.'

Heath's fingers curled around the stem of his wineglass. 'I'm not sure I do.'

As much as Annabelle appreciated the change of topic, she wished Candace could have chosen something else. Kate wasn't happy, either, but since Candace had decided to misbehave instead of Annabelle, she merely asked Lucille to pass the salt.

'Salt leads to high blood pressure,' Lucille felt duty bound to point out.

'Fascinating.' Kate reached past her for the shaker.

'The Grangers are one of St. Louis's original brewery families,' Candace said. 'They practically settled the town.'

Annabelle stifled a yawn.

Heath, however, abandoned his prime rib to give Candace his full attention. 'You don't say?'

Candace, a natural-born snob, was more than happy to elaborate. 'My father-in-law waited until he graduated from college to announce that he intended to go into medicine instead of beer. His family was forced to sell out to Anheuser-Busch. Apparently, it was quite the news story.'

'I can imagine.' Heath gazed across the table at Annabelle. 'You never mentioned any of this.'

'None of them do,' Candace said in a conspiratorial whisper. 'They're ashamed of being born with money.'

'Not ashamed,' her father said firmly. 'But Kate and I have always believed in the value of hard work. We had no intention of raising children with nothing better to do than count the money in their trust funds.'

Since none of them could touch the money in their trust funds until they were about 130, Annabelle had never understood why it was such a big hairy deal.

'We've watched too many young people get ruined that way,' Kate said.

Candace had another tidbit to disclose. 'Apparently quite a dustup occurred when Chet brought Kate home. The Grangers saw it as marrying down.'

Far from taking offense, Kate looked smug. 'Chet's mother was a horrible snob. She couldn't help it, poor thing. She was a product of that insular St. Louis socialite culture, which was exactly why I tried so hard-and so futilely, I might add-to talk Annabelle out of being a debutante. My family might have been working class-God knows my mother was-but-'