.

in hand, they settled at a little table in the corner.

      “Your mother tells me you haven’t been getting out much,” Jeff mentioned casually.

      “Mmm, too busy.” She took a sip of the rich coffee drink. Heaven.

      “You know that’s not healthy, right? I’m asking as a friend, not your doctor. Physically you’re recovering nicely, but I’m a little worried about your mood.”

      “Oh, Jeff, don’t be silly. I’m okay. You heard me laugh a few minutes ago, remember?”

      “I’m serious. I know you’ve been hurt recently, and it takes time to get over that. But I don’t want you to dwell on it.”

      Jeff assumed she’d been dumped by the baby’s father, and she hadn’t set him straight. He had no idea she and Wade even knew each other outside their brief, childhood acquaintance—and she wanted to keep it that way.

      “The best tonic for a broken heart,” he continued, “is to just get right back out there, you know, come up swinging. It’s like falling off a horse. You want to get right back on before you build the fear up in your head so much that you can never—”

      “Jeff, what are you saying?”

      “I’m saying, why don’t we go to a movie or something?”

      “You’re kidding.” Realizing how rude she sounded, she quickly backpedaled. “I mean, oh, Jeff, that’s really sweet. I’m so flattered, I mean…” What did she mean? This was so weird, so unexpected. Jeff was considered the town catch. Every single woman in town had made a play for him at one time or another. Why would he make a play for her, the town brain? She’d never been anything to him except a little sister—and a patient.

      “You can change to being Dad’s patient, if you’re uneasy about dating your doctor,” he said, as if reading her mind. “Dad would welcome you back.”

      “I’m not ready to date,” she said, in no uncertain terms. “Anyway, I’m so busy…” Oh, did that sound lame. “In a few weeks I’ll be taking a job in another city. It wouldn’t make sense for us to…start anything.”

      He flashed her his most winning smile. “I’m talking about dinner and a movie, not some great love affair.”

      At some other time in her life, she might be tempted. Jeff was movie-star handsome, charming and a good friend. But not now. She just couldn’t wrap her mind around dating, even a casual evening.

      “Oookay, I get the picture,” he said when she didn’t respond. “How ‘bout them Cowboys, huh?” He drained his coffee in one gulp, then flashed a grin, letting her know she hadn’t wounded him too seriously.

      “I appreciate your concern, I really do. And if my parents start driving me crazy, maybe I’ll call you and we can go to a movie.”

      He nodded, seeming to understand. “Deal.”

      She stood up, grabbed her purse.

      “I’ll call when we get the test results back,” he said, as if their previous conversation had never happened. “It could take a while.”

      “Okay, no problem.” She headed for the café door, in desperate need of fresh air. “Bye, now.”

      But a hasty escape wasn’t in the cards. As she exited, she ran smack into Edward, Jeff and Wade’s father.

      “Whoa, there, what’s your hurry?” he said with a laugh, steadying Anne.

      She’d always adored Edward Hardison, or Dr. Ed, as most people called him. With his silver hair and his round, jovial face, he’d always seemed very safe to her, a safe person to take care of her health. But when she’d realized she was pregnant, she’d deliberately made an appointment with Jeff, not his father. The idea of kindly Dr. Ed knowing such a dark secret about her hadn’t seemed right. It would have been like telling her father all over again.

      Of course, in the end, Edward had found out. As luck would have it, he was taking calls for Jeff when Anne had lost the baby. He’d been just as kind and sympathetic as Jeff, in no way judgmental.

      She murmured a greeting, then something about having an appointment, and got out of there, Jeff’s invitation still burning in her brain.

      She felt badly that she hadn’t handled things better. Fending off handsome men wasn’t exactly her forte. In fact, she’d seldom had to fend off men at all, handsome or not. Now, in the span of just a few days, she’d turned down two.

      She wasn’t terribly pretty. She’d learned that lesson well in her teenage years. Skinny, freckled redheads weren’t the stuff of any man’s dreams. She’d compensated by being the class brain, the one with the quick wit and the acid tongue. She’d played down her femininity, believing her intelligence would take her a lot further than batting her eyelashes and showing cleavage.

      That was before Annie. When she’d adopted her alter ego, she’d tapped into a well of femininity she hadn’t known existed. And though after her weekend with Wade she’d gone back to her conservative clothes and no-nonsense manner, maybe, just maybe, some essence of Annie remained.

      Why else would Jeff suddenly take an interest, even a casual one, in her?

      The idea that Annie might be peeking through Anne’s hard-fought control both thrilled and frightened her.

      She didn’t feel like going home, even though she had a stack of applications to fill out and a list of follow-up phone calls to make. Her father had helped her put together an exhaustive list of every large, prestigious law firm in the country. A few of them had already approached her, but Milton had insisted she leave no stone unturned. He didn’t want her to miss her golden opportunity simply because she hadn’t been thorough enough.

      He’d also encouraged her not to jump to any decisions.

      Anne had followed his advice to the letter. Right after graduating, she’d gone on several interviews with the firms who had courted her. Despite a few very attractive offers, she’d put them all on ice while she explored other possible options.

      Then she’d found out she was pregnant, and all bets were off.

      Predictably, her mother had cried and her father had ranted and raved. Anne had simply become paralyzed. The life of an associate in a huge law firm was not compatible with single motherhood. She would end up shortchanging both her employer and her child—and there was never any question about her keeping the child. She’d put all her career plans on hold and focused on preparing for a baby.

      She had tried halfheartedly to locate Wade, figuring he had a right to know. But at that time he’d been moving around so much he was impossible to pin down. She’d left a message here and there, but if he’d gotten them, he hadn’t responded.

      Then she’d lost the baby, and her whole world had turned inside out—again. She hadn’t thought it possible to love a child so much when she hadn’t even met it. Having the baby ripped from her so cruelly had left her crushed and aching, physically and emotionally.

      She’d seen no point in sharing that pain with Wade. She still didn’t.

      Now, one month after the miscarriage, she was pouring herself into the job search once again. Milton was smiling again. Her world felt a bit more sane. And she knew that soon she would regain the sense of anticipation she’d always had about carving out her own name in the big bad world of lawyers.

      Still, the prospect of job hunting seemed decidedly unattractive on a beautiful, Indian Summer day like today. Instead she drove to Hollywood Lingerie and bought two bra-and-panty sets, a black silk camisole and tap pants, and a slinky, midnight-blue nightgown.

      A huge garden center was just down the way from Hollywood Lingerie, which inspired Anne to think about a fall garden. Her mother had been talking about pansies and impatiens, and the store beckoned with flats and flats of those very flowers.

      Anne took her time picking