Soon To Be Brides. Joan Elliott Pickart

indulge in that chocolate delight. Question. Has there been any change in the number of people going along with you?”

      “Yes,” Caitlin said. “My girlfriend who was to accompany me to help with the luggage and what have you broke her ankle while in-line skating with her son. My mother and stepfather live in Italy and my stepfather is ill, making it impossible for my mother to leave him right now. Other friends can’t get vacation time on such short notice. So, I’m on my own.”

      “We’ll all help you, Caitlin,” Bud said. “In fact, we’re adding Matt to the list of who is going and he’ll be free to assist you with your luggage. Right, Matt?”

      “Sure,” Matt said. “No problem.”

      “All things should be so easily solved.” Carolyn laughed. “Okay, then, I have the final count so reservations will be made. You’ll be called just as soon as everything is arranged and we have a date of departure. It will be soon, I promise. Matt, is your passport current?”

      “Yes, ma’am. I’m ready to rock and roll.”

      “Excellent.” Carolyn paused. “Finish your sinful dessert while I get the information packets I want to pass out to you.”

      “I appreciate your willingness to help me with my luggage, Matt,” Caitlin said.

      “It will be my pleasure,” he said, smiling at her. “I’ll just be hanging around tickling babies and taking in the sights.”

      Caitlin frowned. “I guess I don’t quite understand why you’re going on this trip. Have you always wanted to travel to China and the opportunity presented itself?”

      “Well, not exactly.”

      “Before Matt says something that will make his nose grow,” Bud said, “I’m squealing on him. As his physician I ordered him to stay away from his job as public-relations director at Mercy Hospital for a month because he’s been working far too many hours for far too long. It was go to China with us, or be sent to his room for being a naughty boy.”

      “Thank you, Dr. Mouth Mathis,” Matt said dryly.

      “Well, it’s true,” Marsha said. “Work, work, work, that’s all you do, Matt. This trip is just what the doctor, my sweet patootie, ordered.”

      “Whatever.” Matt chuckled. “I happen to like my job, you know.”

      “More than anything else,” Marsha retorted. “But we gotcha good, MacAllister. You can’t drop by the hospital when you’re hiking around China.”

      Caitlin laughed along with everyone else who had heard the conversation, but she sighed inwardly.

      Oh, yes, she thought, the same old story. Here was another handsome and intelligent man who was pleasant to be with, but who was focused on his career above everything else. History seemed to repeat itself time and again for as long as she could remember. Men crossed her path who had priorities at opposite poles from hers. Well, hello and good-bye to Mr. Matt MacAllister of the MacAllisters of Ventura. So be it.

      “Is something wrong, Caitlin?” Matt said. “You look so serious all of a sudden.”

      “What? Oh. No. Nothing is wrong, Matt.” She smiled. “I was just doing a bit of reality check time.” She picked up the pictures of her daughter and gazed at them. “But I’m fine now. We’re going to be a terrific team, my daughter and I. Just the two of us.”

      The woman on the other side of Caitlin spoke to her, causing her to turn away from Matt. He looked at her delicate fingers as they held the photographs of the baby Caitlin would name either Mackenzie or Madison.

      We’re going to be a terrific team, my daughter and I. Just the two of us.

      Caitlin’s words echoed in Matt’s mind and he frowned.

      Why? he wondered. Why was an extremely attractive, intelligent, I-have-a-lot-to-offer woman like Caitlin Cunningham seemingly determined to be a single mother, making no room in her life for a husband for herself, a father for that adorable baby girl?

      Had Caitlin been deeply hurt by a man in the past? Whoa. He didn’t like the idea of that, not one little bit.

      Or…like Marsha, was Caitlin unable to have children and felt that no man would want to marry her because of that?

      Or… Hell, he didn’t know.

      She was an enigma, the lovely Ms. Cunningham, and for reasons he couldn’t begin to fathom he wanted to unravel the mysteries, the secrets, surrounding her, discover who she really was, and why she had chosen the path leading to China and the baby who was waiting for her there.

      Chapter Two

      Everyone pitched in to clear away the dishes, and packed up their own containers to take home. Paper and pens were then produced to take notes on what Carolyn was going to say regarding the trip to China. She passed out a packet of papers.

      “The information on these sheets,” Carolyn said from where she sat at the head of the table, “touches on the high spots of what I’m going to tell you.” She laughed. “Experience has shown that our new moms and dads can get a bit spacey on the night they receive their match pictures, so we put some of the data in print for you to read later.”

      Everyone laughed and Caitlin smiled at Matt, who was still sitting next to her.

      “Do I look spacey to you?” she said.

      She looked pretty as a picture, Matt thought, staring directly into her eyes.

      “You’re over the top,” he said, smiling. “Totally zoned.”

      “I’m sorry I asked,” Caitlin said, matching his smile.

      “Fear not, new mommy. I’ll take plenty of notes that will be at your disposal. Those plus the handout from Carolyn ought to cover it for you.”

      “Thank you, sir,” Caitlin said, then redirected her attention to Carolyn.

      Good grief, Caitlin thought, Matt MacAllister was so ruggedly handsome it was sinful. That auburn hair of his was a rich, yummy color like, well, like an Irish setter. And those brown eyes of his. Gracious, they were like fathomless pools of…of fudge sauce and… Oh, for Pete’s sake, this was silly. Matt reminded her of a dog with eyes the color of an ice-cream topping? That was a rather bizarre description.

      But there was no getting around the fact that Matt would turn women’s heads whenever he entered the room. He was tall and well built with wide shoulders and long, muscular legs. He moved with an easy grace, like an athlete, a man who was comfortable in his own body.

      He was charming, intelligent, had a way of listening that made a person feel very special and important. And when he looked directly into her eyes there was no ignoring that she felt a funny little flutter slither down her spine. Yes, masculinity personified was the drop-dead gorgeous Mr. MacAllister.

      He was also one of the multitudes who was focused on his career to the exclusion of everything else in his life. No one was perfect and that was Matt’s flaw, his glaring glitch. And she had no intention of allowing all his other attributes to make her forget it, not for one little second.

      “Okay, first up,” Carolyn said. “We ask that you don’t wear jeans while in China. I know that must sound picky, but we’re going into a country with a different culture than ours and we want to exhibit the respect due our hosts.”

      “But we can wear slacks?” Marsha asked.

      “Yes,” Carolyn said. “In any material other than denim.”

      “I’m writing this down,” Matt said.

      “Go for it.” Caitlin laughed softly.

      “You’ll be spending one night in Hong Kong,” Carolyn went on, “which we have found helps the jet-lag problem at least a little bit. The flight to Hong Kong is fifteen hours nonstop, so