.

      “You got a minute?” he asked. “I’d like to talk to you.” He stuck his hands in his back pockets. “I thought we might go have a bite to eat. If you’re free.”

      She hesitated, then nodded. “The diner?”

      “Sure.”

      He fell into step beside her, unable to think of a single item of small talk. “About Anne,” he began hesitantly.

      “Now, why did I think her name might come up in this conversation?” Ellen asked. Her expression was kind.

      “Yeah, well, I have some questions.” He held open the door to the small restaurant, then followed Ellen inside. She chose a table in a secluded corner. The waitress brought them menus and water right away. They waited until she left.

      “Sweep her off her feet,” Ellen said.

      “What?” He surely wasn’t hearing correctly.

      “Sweep Anne off her feet,” she explained with a patient air. “She deserves some fun in her life…for a change.”

      Jon frowned. “I’m not planning on staying here.”

      “Why not? It’s a nice place to raise a family. Rich-port was your home once. It’s time you were settling down.”

      “Spoken like a true female.”

      His companion ignored the sardonic statement. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I want Anne to have one glorious experience in her life before she succumbs to boredom.”

      He took a sip of water to douse the fire her advice incited and to gain some time, then decided he’d better come right out with it. “Her aunt told me Anne has a heart condition.”

      Ellen nodded.

      “Is it safe for her…I mean, if…How serious is it?”

      Understanding dawned in the brown eyes watching him as if she could see right into his mind. He tried to block the memory of the kisses he and Anne had shared—two of them, so potent, the thought made him burn with longing.

      “It’s nothing to worry about,” Ellen assured him in a soft voice. “Certainly it’s nothing that would preclude a normal relationship between a man and a woman.”

      He heard the slight stress on normal, but it didn’t relieve his worries. “She fainted in my arms last Saturday although she pretended afterward that it was an act. Part of it was real, I think. And her heart beats so hard when I touch her…”

      The thought trailed away as he recalled how she’d felt in his arms. She became as lost in their kisses as he did.

      “What else would you expect with an aunt like Marge?” Ellen demanded, her eyes narrowing in anger.

      “Explain that.”

      Ellen sighed in disgust. “All her life Anne’s been told she mustn’t run, she mustn’t get excited, she mustn’t get overheated. She wasn’t allowed to participate in sports or any rough play. It’s a miracle that she ever broke free and made a life for herself at all. But she did, and it’s a nice one. She’s happy, productive and busy. She’s even thinking of marriage.”

      Jon scowled. “The senator may be okay, but he’s not the one for Anne. She’s not in love with him.”

      “Right. But she is thinking of marrying him. Then she meets a man who makes her feel things she’s never felt before.” Ellen smiled. “You’ve shaken her up. I personally think that’s what she needs.”

      “What exactly is wrong with her heart?”

      “She has a valve that sags a bit. If it gets to leaking, she might need a new one, but there’s no indication of that happening. She can lead a perfectly ordinary life.”

      He gave her a skeptical glance. “Anne couldn’t fake the way her heart beats when we kiss.”

      “If a person has been cautioned about her heart all her life, what do you think is going to happen when she runs into her first real experience with sexual excitement? It’s going to be a bit overwhelming, don’t you think?”

      “Yeah, I see what you mean,” Jon said, mulling this over. “So making love would be no danger to her?” He felt the heat sneak into his face at this disclosure.

      “Making love never hurt anyone. Except for Type A middle-aged men trying to recover their lost youth,” Ellen added in her usual dry manner. “I hope you won’t let it put you off Anne. She needs someone to open her eyes to the things she’s missed. Even if you offer nothing more than a torrid affair, at least she’ll know what to look for next time. She’s a first-class person. I don’t want her to settle for a second-best love.”

      Jon found that the idea of someone else with Anne, making love, sharing her laughter and those incredible kisses, didn’t set well with him. He grimaced. Next thing he knew, he’d be dreaming of rose-covered cottages and the patter of little feet.

      “Thanks for leveling with me,” he said. “I don’t want to hurt Anne, in spite of what Esmeralda thinks.”

      “Esmeralda?” Ellen questioned.

      “Aunt Marge.” He grinned wickedly, already gearing up for battle with the old witch.

      Ellen laughed in delight. “Oh, I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” She studied him for a second, then added softly, “You’re a fool if you let Anne get away.”

      “I’m not a marrying man,” he informed her.

      She was still laughing when the waitress came for their order. He had to grin. She didn’t say it, but he had to admit it sounded like a case of him protesting too much.

      One thing he knew—he’d never spent this much time worrying about whether he’d be good for a woman. In fact, he’d never thought about a relationship in those terms at all. Until Anne.

      Anne sat at the table by the door, ticking off names as people arrived for the chamber of commerce dinner, which was the first Friday of each month. Their guest speaker, a professor from the university at Austin, had called in sick. Randall Talbert had agreed to come down in his place.

      She could hear Randall’s pleasant voice and deep chuckle behind her as he talked to the members who had already arrived. When he’d called to chat earlier that day, she’d mentioned the problem. He’d immediately volunteered to come to their aid, rearranging his schedule to do so.

      “Good evening,” a masculine baritone broke into her musing.

      She stared up into eyes that reminded her of the river with an early-morning fog rising from its smoky surface.

      Jon was dressed in a tailored suit of salt-and-pepper gray with a thread of blue running through the material. His shirt was light blue, his tie navy with a red-and-gray abstract design.