The Bachelor, the Baby and the Beauty. Victoria Pade

to the overweight, unattractive young girl she’d been, this crush had been more important in its own way than any of his own casual high-school dating.

      Maybe because he had an inkling that her daydreams of Chase had gotten her through some very rough times when teasing at school had been downright mean, and at home when she’d had their malicious stepmother to contend with.

      But that was all in the very distant past. She honestly felt sure that she’d left her crush behind with the extra hundred pounds she’d carried around then.

      “I guess I just wouldn’t want you to try to live out some fantasy,” Logan said. “You and Chase aren’t on the same wavelength when it comes to—”

      “I know—Chase is a so-many-women-so-little-time kind of guy. Don’t worry, I’ve gotten the picture from the things you’ve told me about him over the years. He plays around. He’s like Garth—”

      The mention of her ex-husband’s name brought a frown edged with anger to her brother’s face.

      “Chase is nothing like Garth,” Logan retorted. “Chase doesn’t break commitments to women because he doesn’t make commitments to women. Because what Chase is committed to is his belief that that’s the best way for him.”

      Whatever that meant …

      “But ultimately he runs through women like other people run through shoes.”

      “I just think that, for you, relationships are different than what they are for Chase,” Logan said. “And I wouldn’t want you to get hurt. But for the record, I’ve never said Chase runs through women.”

      “There’s been a different one every time I’ve talked to you over the years. That seems to me like running through women. And after Garth, the last thing I would go anywhere near is a man who’s commitment-impaired. So I’m telling you, I might have had some illusions about Chase being the perfect guy nearly twenty years ago, but I don’t have any now. I guarantee you, I can show him how to change a diaper without fainting from infatuation.”

      And she thought that was true. No, she didn’t especially want to spend concentrated time alone with Chase, and it would certainly have helped if he looked more like a warthog than the heartthrob leading man in a Western movie. But after eleven years in the European fashion industry, she’d learned to take good looks with a grain of salt, and that was what she intended to do with Chase.

      “No matter what you say, you know I’ve been worried about you being around Chase again and this … well, this really makes me worry,” her brother fretted.

      “That’s because you and I haven’t had a lot of time with each other since you left Northbridge. You might have missed it, but I’m not the innocent, naive, dreamy-eyed girl I was before,” Hadley said patiently. “And what I believe is that trying to make a one-woman man out of Chase Mackey—or any other man who doesn’t want to be a one-woman man—is something only a fool would undertake. And I’m nobody’s fool.”

      “Got it—you’re all grown up, you’re a woman of the world and you can take care of yourself,” Logan said.

      “Yes,” she confirmed. “And it’s really not a big deal for me to help Chase. I’m happy to do it until you get back from your honeymoon.”

      Okay, happy was not exactly true. But she’d still do it.

      “I appreciate it,” Logan said.

      “It’s nothing. Now go do what Meg needed you to do today so you can get to the rehearsal on time tonight.”

      “Yeah, I better. And thanks—I owe you for this.”

      Hadley waved him away.

      All this talk about gratitude suddenly made her realize that to some extent, helping Chase out now would repay the debt she’d had to him since they were kids.

      Growing up, Chase had been unfailingly kind to her, and that wasn’t something she could say about everyone, especially not about the boys she’d known back then. In fact, that kindness he’d shown her had probably contributed to why she’d had such a crush on him.

      And not only had he been kind to her, but there also had been a time when he’d come to her rescue, when he’d defended her against people who hadn’t been so kind.

      For that, she owed him.

      Besides, so far she’d managed not to act like a silly schoolgirl with a crush in Chase’s presence. What harm could come in helping him out next week while Logan was gone?

      None, she told herself.

      And if she wasn’t going to be able to ease into being around Chase again, then maybe taking the plunge—so to speak—was the next best thing. Maybe the more time she spent with him right off the bat, the quicker she’d be able to overlook his attributes, completely conquer feeling awkward around him and just get on with things.

      That didn’t seem altogether unfeasible, she decided.

      And ultimately, it would all be fine.