Ron met them just inside the door. To Phoebe's surprise,

Sharon Anderson was at his side, and she greeted them both with a warm smile.

Dan didn't even attempt to hide his pleasure at seeing Sharon, and he immediately drew her into his arms for a bear hug. "Hi, sweetheart. How's Ron treating you? Has he proposed yet?"

Phoebe tried to work up a little jealousy, but his affection for Sharon was so open and honest she couldn't manage it. She realized he treated Sharon exactly as he treated Molly and wondered how on earth he could ever have imagined that they would have been happy together as a married couple. Dan was one of the most intelligent men she had ever met, but he was definitely stupid about some things.

She took pity on Sharon, whose flush had spread out from the roots of her red hair to encompass every one of her freckles. "Don't let him tease you, Sharon. His idea of good manners is to mortify only those people he likes."

"I wasn't mortifying her," Dan protested. "This is my first serious attempt at matchmaking, and I want to know how it's working out."

"None of your business," Ron said mildly. "Now why don't you tend to your own love life and get Phoebe a drink?" He and Sharon smiled shyly at each other and moved away.

Phoebe giggled as Dan grabbed a beer for himself and a glass of wine for her from a passing waiter, but her smile faded as she saw that his knuckles were scraped and badly bruised. "What did you do to your hand?"

"I, uh-" He took a sip of beer. "I sure am glad Ron managed to keep the location of this party a secret from the press."

"Dan? What happened to your hand?"

He hesitated, and for a moment she thought he wasn't going to answer, but then he brushed a lock of hair from her cheek. "I went to see Reed. The two of us needed to come to an understanding about what he did to you."

Her eyes flew over him, but other than his hands, he didn't seem to be hurt. "What did you do?"

"Let's just say I practiced a little frontier justice. He won't bother you again, sweetheart."

Phoebe wanted to question him, but at the same time, the shuttered expression on his face told her she wouldn't get far. She decided she wasn't all that anxious to hear the details anyway.

Darnell approached and introduced his new fiancée. Phoebe liked Charmaine Dodd on sight, and she congratulated them. Other players approached with their wives, and she and Dan were separated. She moved from one group to another, greeting everyone and occasionally catching sight of Dan as he did the same.

She was chatting with Bobby Tom and the pair of shapely redheads draped over his arms when she heard someone yell.

"Quiet, people! Quiet!"

Everyone in the crowd was startled to realize that commanding voice was coming from Ron, and they all fell silent. He was standing at one end of the room holding a telephone, his hand cupped over the mouthpiece.

"Phoebe!" He thrust the receiver forward. "Phoebe, it's for you!"

She regarded him quizzically.

"It's the president!" He spoke the words in a stage whisper that could have been heard in the parking lot.

She had just spoken with the NFL president a few hours earlier, and she didn't understand why Ron was so agitated. "I thought we had everything settled."

"The President! Of the United States! He's calling to congratulate you."

She gulped. Her hand fluttered to the neck of her sweater. The players laughed and then fell silent as she walked up to take the phone.

A woman's voice said, "Miss Somerville, I have the president on the line."

Just then someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to see Dan standing next to her, a grin the size of a football field spreading all over his face. "Now, Phoebe."

She regarded him blankly. "What?"

"Now."

His meaning slowly penetrated her brain, and she stared at him in disbelief. He meant now! She pressed her hand over the mouth of the receiver. "Dan, it's the President! I can't-"

He crossed his arms over his chest, his expression unbearably smug. She realized that he had been waiting for a moment just like this. That rat! He had set her up, and now he was going to spend the rest of their lives teasing her unmercifully about not having the guts to take his dare. That cocky, infuriating jock! Somebody definitely had to take him down a peg or two.

The President's voice boomed over the wire. "Congratulations, Miss Somerville. It was an amazing game."

"Excuse me, sir." She gulped. "I have Miss Somerville right here." She shoved the phone at an astonished Sharon Anderson.

Dan gave a hoot of laughter. She grabbed him and pulled him through the crowd. Just as they reached the door, she spoke.

"You'd better be worth it, studmuffin."

In the background, Sharon Anderson, after a stumbling start, had risen to the occasion. Much to Ron's bemusement, he heard her say, "I'm fine now, Mr. President. Yes, it was quite harrowing. By the way, sir, I want you to know that all of us in the Stars' organization share your concern about adequate funding for preschool education…"

"Studmuffin?" Dan pulled out onto the highway. "You called me studmuffin!"

Phoebe was still trying to catch her breath. "This game can go two ways, Coach. Don't be surprised if you're in the final two minutes of the Super Bowl-"

"You wouldn't."

"I might."

He looked over at her and smiled. "Speaking of the Super Bowl. Will you marry me as soon as it's over?"

"How about Valentine's Day?"

"Too long."

"Groundhog Day?"

"Deal." The Ferrari raced down the ramp onto the Tollway. "You know that we've got a few problems we need to talk through before we get married."

"I'm not getting rid of Pooh."

"See, there you go being antagonistic. Marriage means learning to compromise."

"I didn't say I wouldn't compromise. I promise to take the ribbon out of her topknot before you walk her."

"You're all heart."

Phoebe's smile faded. "I want children, too. I always have. I just needed to know you loved me."

"I hope you know it by now. I never loved anybody in my life the way I love you. I want children, but not nearly as much as I want you."

"I'm glad." She caught her bottom lip between her teeth and then released it. "I don't want to send Molly away. I want her to stay with us."

He glanced over at her. "Of course she's going to stay with us. Where else would she go?"

"I thought you might want more privacy."

"Once that bedroom door is shut, we'll have plenty of privacy. Actually, when I mentioned problems we need to talk about, I was referring to the Stars."

"I know you're not marrying me for the Stars. I should never have said what I did. I was hurt."

"I'm glad you realize that. But you see, we still have a problem. Historically it's been women who've married the boss. As soon as they had a wedding ring on their finger, they quit their jobs and stayed home. Neither of us wants you to do that, but I have to tell you that I'm not all that comfortable with the idea of spending the rest of my life sleeping next to somebody who's got the power to fire me if my underwear doesn't make it all the way to the laundry hamper."

She repressed a smile. "I'm sympathetic to your problem, but I'm not selling the team just so you can be a slob."

"Somehow I didn't expect you would."

"It's a new world order. You men are going to have to figure out how to handle it."

"You're enjoyin' this, aren't you?"

"I'm mildly amused."

Despite her teasing, she had already been doing some thinking about how she might balance the enormous demands of owning the Stars with marriage and the children she hoped to have. "As a matter of fact, I have a few ideas on this subject. It's not completely worked out in my mind, but when it is, you'll be the first person I talk to about it."

"Then I'd better tell you that I'm not planning to coach the Stars the rest of my life."

"Dan, you can't go to work for another team! It would be an impossible situation."

"I'm not going anywhere for a while. But you've seen what this life is like during the season. I want to be around for you and for our kids, and I've been toying with this idea for a long time. I decided a while back that the day I wake up and realize I can't remember what my wife and kids look like is the day I get out of pro coaching. I'm going to find a Division III college nearby, and that's where I'm going to settle in for the rest of my coaching career."

"Division III? I don't know what that means."

"They're small colleges. They don't offer athletic scholarships, and the pros never scout them. The kids aren't the biggest, they aren't the fastest, and nobody's slipping them money under the table. They're only playing football for one reason, and that's because they love the game. So while you're off wheeling and dealing with all the high rollers, I'm going to tuck myself away on some nice little college campus and remember why I started playing the game in the first place."

"It sounds wonderful."

He shifted lanes. "That scarf you've got under your coat collar. Would you mind blindfolding yourself with it?"

"What?"

"Now."

"Oh, for Pete's sake." She snatched the scarf from beneath her coat collar and tied it around her eyes. "This is ridiculous! You're not planning anything kinky, are you?"

There was a long silence.

"Dan?"

"Well, I suppose it all depends on how conservative your viewpoint is."

"You said you were putting all that behind you. That you wanted a nice, ordinary sex life."

"Uh-huh."

"You don't sound very certain."

"See, it's like this. After a lifetime of high living, it'd probably be best if I sort of tapered off gradually. That way it wouldn't be too big a shock to my system. And this is something I've been thinking about for a long time."