She plopped down on the edge of the bed and concentrated on regaining her equilibrium, trying to look at the situation without all the emotion that had her blood churning. It took her a while, but her pulse finally began to settle down.

Then the pounding on her door commenced. Lily jerked and to her disgust made a sound like a startled screech owl. Popping off the bed, she faced the closed door with her hands fisted on her hips, all her high-minded promises forgotten as her heart once again pounded double time. "Go away!"

"Open up, Lily. I want to talk to you."

"Oh, well, then," she muttered. "Let me just trot right over and let you in. Your wishes make all the difference in the world."

"I heard that." He had the effrontery to sound amused. But his good humor apparently didn't last. He thumped the portal. "Open the damn door."

She crossed the room in several angry strides, ripped the door open, and stared up in annoyance at his tanned face. "Are you incapable of completing one lousy sentence without cursing?"

He blinked, then to her surprise gave her a sheepish look. "Sorry," he rumbled in that deep voice. "I've been a soldier so long I sometimes forget that conversations are more refined in the civilian world. I'll try to do better." Then he seemed to recall he was conversing with the enemy. He stepped into the room, forcing her to take a step back before she caught herself and stood her ground. "But that's not why I'm here," he said. "Tell me how you met my sister."

He was back to being his imperious, give-me-the-facts-and-give-'em-to-me-now self, and Lily's knee-jerk reaction was to invite him to kiss her rosy red cheeks. Recalling she'd already done that, however, sent blood hot enough to blister rushing through her veins—particularly when she thought of his response. A better idea would be to get a handle on this anger once and for all. So she took a deep breath, eased it out, and told him the truth. "We met at a yoga class."

"Where?"

"At Headlands, over on Harbor Drive inDanaPoint."

"And who joined the class first?" He snapped out his questions for all the world as if he were a drill instructor and she his raw recruit. "You, or Glynnis?"

"Glynnis," she said through her teeth.

He looked down at her as if she'd just confirmed his lowest suspicion. " Uh-huh ."

"What do you mean, uh-huh ?" As if it took a wizard to see where this was going. Her back went ramrod straight. "I lived about a mile away at the time, betweenSan Juan CapistranoandDanaPoint. Glynnis is the one who travelled out of her way to attend that particular class. Does your paranoia know no bounds ?"

"Well, let me see," he said, looking down at her. "A thirty something woman with no visible means of support just happens to join the same yoga class as my very wealthy twenty-four-year-old sister—and the next thing we know, she's moved right in with her." He raised his eyebrows. "Oh, yeah, sounds paranoid to me, all right. The two of you having so much in common, and all."

"I've told you I'm paying rent! Your 'very wealthy sister' is flat broke half the time, and this has been a way for both of us to benefit until I find a new place! Be-sides, you've known me one day! What makes you just assume I don't support myself?"

"You're right, that remains to be seen. But today's a workday, lollipop, and as far as I can see, you've gotten yourself all dolled up to lounge around the house." His cool, gray gaze did a fast slide over her before coming back to meet her own. "But, hey, if you're subsidizing Glynnis's trust fund, there's an easy enough way to prove it, isn't there? Show me a canceled check."

Oh, swell. Lily's heart sank. "The bank doesn't return my canceled checks. I can request photocopies, but it might take a day or two."

"I just bet it will."

Itching for the first time in her life to strike a person, she closed the distance separating them. "I've had enough of your attitude. I want you to leave my room."

He looked down at her and didn't move until she poked him in the chest. Then he took a slow, indolent step backward and didn't take another until she poked him again. He stepped over the threshold out into the hall.

Lily stared up at him. "You want to know what Glynnis and I have in common, soldier boy?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"We both marvel at what absolute cretins some men can be," she said and recited the complaints of every woman she'd ever known who'd been on the dating circuit for a while. "It seems they either want to change you, take you for a ride, or run your life. You oughtta be able to identify with that." With a sharp little click, she closed the door in his face.

There was silence from the other side for a moment. Then Zach said, "I want to know where my sister is."

"AndI want an end to world hunger. Looks like we're both going to be disappointed."

"No, ma'am. Maybe you've got your work cut out to meet your goal, but I don't intend to fail in mine. You will tell me. Count on it."

Not blooming likely, she thought, staring at the closed portal. There was no way on earth she intended to be the one to break the news to Control Freak Taylor that the sister he apparently thought was too clueless to be left to her own devices was on her way to Washington state to meet her new fiance's family.

Chapter 3

"WHY DON T YOU JUST TELL THE BIG JERK WHAT YOU do for a living and be done with it?"

Lily looked at her friend Mimi across the restaurant table and smiled ruefully. "That would be the reasonable thing to do, I'm sure. But he makes me so darn mad that reason just flies right out the window whenever I'm anywhere near him."

"Which is exactly why you should let me guide you back to the smart side of the street." Mimi moved aside her leopard-skin handbag to make room for her elbows on the ecru linen tablecloth and leaned forward earnestly. "Show him one of your pay stubs, Lil, and enjoy yourself when he's forced to eat his words. Seeing all those zeros is bound to make him feel like an idiot."

"If I had my way, they'd make him choke ," Lily muttered. Then taken aback by her own savagery, she said, "Okay, maybe not literally." She shook her head in confusion. "Good Grief. Until I met Zach Taylor, I always considered myself to be a live-and-let-live sort of person. But he just makes me so… so darn…"

"Passionate?"

"Furious!" Amid the clink of silverware, the muted conversations, and the classical music purling out of hidden speakers, she sat ramrod straight on her tapestry upholstered chair. "And you know what? I don't owe him any explanations. He's the one who jumped to the idiotic conclusion I'm some sort of larcenous bimbo. Why should I knock myself out providing him proof that I'm not?"

"Because it'd make life easier?" Then Mimi shook her head. "Okay. I recognize that mulish look. For someone usually so mellow, you sure can dig your heels in once you've got your back up."

"I know, it's stupid and no doubt adolescent as well; but that's the way I feel. Maybe after a nice relaxing luncheon with you, my outlook will be more mature."

"Then just let me ask you this and I'll drop it: don't you think there's an elegant sort of irony at work here? I mean, if there's one thing you're particularly good at, it's money management."

"It's what comes from having grown up poor," Lily agreed. "I was probably only eight when I swore I'd find a way to make myself financially secure when I grew up."

"And you've achieved that," Mimi said gently. "You've met every one of your short-term goals and you're well on your way to realizing most of your long-term ones as well."

Lily's spine unbent a little. It was true. The career she'd forged for herself netted her very good money, and the investments she'd made over the years had paid off even more handsomely. So to hades with Zachariah Taylor and his unfounded accusations! Let him stew in his own suspicions. As long as she knew that contrary to his nasty little digs she'd actually been teaching his sister a little financial responsibility, what did it matter what he believed? Her mouth curved up on one side. "So what you're saying is I oughtta lighten up?"

"Listen, sweetie, I know that's easy for me to say when it's not my integrity under attack, but maybe just a little. Or at least try not to take his crap so much to heart. What are you going to do about the sister?"

"Glynnis?"

"Yes.Taylorsounds like a first-class bastard, but to play devil's advocate for a minute, you said yourself he probably has experience on his side when it comes to dealing with his sister's character judgment skills. Her track record in that department sounds less than impressive."

"It is, and I did." Despite her newfound resolve, however, Lily realized she still wasn't in the mood to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Is this going somewhere, Mimi?"

"Not in a straightforward manner, apparently." Her friend laughed. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, maybe his wanting to know her whereabouts is more than a control issue. What if he's just genuinely concerned for her welfare? How do you balance that against his hounding you for information?"

"By keeping out of it. Glynnis can be too wide-eyed for her own good sometimes—heck, we got to talking in the first place because she was torn up from discovering the very charming young man currently sweeping her off her feet had his eye firmly on her bank account.

But the fact is, she's of age. If she'd wanted her brother to know her plans, she would have left him a note or called by now, so it's sure as sugar not up to me to fill in the blanks. Plus, I really like David, and I genuinely think he'll be good for her." She took a sip of wine. "If the commando king learns David dared whisk her away, though… Well, I shudder to think what he'll do. Frothing at the mouth would just be the beginning." She looked across the table at her friend. "Boy, I'm starting to think maybe I should've just bought the darn apartment when it went condo. At least then I wouldn't be smack in the middle of this opera."