“All of that can wait a few days.”

She eased away from him, from his embrace and the intimacy they’d shared only moments ago. “And lose momentum? No way. It was our plan, anyway, that I was going to leave today and you were going to stay. Let’s stick with the plan, for now anyway.”

Ethan wasn’t a mysterious man; he said what he thought and didn’t apologize for it. With an understanding but not altogether amused grin, he said, “You’re almost as good at this as me.”

“Good at what?”

“Pretending you don’t give a damn.”

They said nothing further as they walked back into the eye of the party.

The cemetery looked like an English garden, with buckets of daisies and vases of tulips and roses everywhere you looked. The woman next to Mary at the grave site had been nervous about what to say to Lars Harrington’s granddaughter. She had bypassed the usual offers of sympathy and instead had gone on to explain that Sunday was the heaviest day for visitors to the cemetery, and that all the guilty relatives brought flowers. After a quick, tight-lipped smile to the woman, Mary had moved to the opposite side of the grave, to stand alongside her grandmother, aunt and cousins.

As the priest spoke, Mary gripped the stems of her lilacs-a flower her grandmother had always called “peasant flora” as they grew in just about anyone’s backyard-recalling the day that she and her father had buried her mother. The weather had been far better than today, full sunshine and a heavy breeze, but the mood felt similar and, Mary noticed, some of the same crowd was there. But no one except Mary and Hugh had shed a tear that day, no one had left that cemetery broken the way they had.

Staring at the casket as it was lowered into the ground, Mary wondered if she’d actually healed from that whole ordeal: the illness and the loss. She’d always been so worried about fixing her father and helping him to get over his grief that she hadn’t even looked at her own. No wonder she’d allowed herself to take that deal of Ethan’s-she’d been a little out of her mind.

Ethan. Warmth spread through her and she wrapped her arms around herself. She missed him, missed sparring with him, lying in his arms, feeling alive. It had been a few days since she’d spoken to him, since he’d kissed her goodbye at the ferry and returned to the island.

Mary glanced up and spotted Tess and Olivia standing next to the woman who’d voiced the inappropriate cemetery comment. The two women looked quiet and sad, and even though she hadn’t asked them to attend, Mary was thankful for their presence and support. And they weren’t the only ones offering their support, Mary noticed as she shifted her gaze to the back of the crowd behind her partners.

Conservatively dressed in a black suit and bright-blue tie, Ethan Curtis stood apart from all the others, staring at her, his gaze solemn as Bible verses were read. At first, Mary felt a jump of excitement at the sight of him, then beside her, her grandmother opened her purse and noisily slipped out a tissue, which she used to dab her eyes. This probably wasn’t good. Grace wouldn’t want him here and might create a scene.

As soon as the service ended, Mary hustled over to him. He took her hand and kissed it. “I thought you might need…something. I wasn’t sure exactly what, so I came instead.”

“Thank you,” she said, wanting to curl into his arms and let him comfort her. But she knew this wasn’t the time or the place, and she needed to get him out of there before he was verbally attacked by her grandmother.

But unfortunately she wasn’t quick enough.

“What is he doing here?”

It was as if a cold wind had blown in, encircling them like a tornado. Mary’s grandmother walked up to them. She stared hard at Ethan, a sneer on her weary face.

“He came as a friend, Grandmother,” Mary quickly tried to explain. “And-”

“He’s no friend to this family,” Grace snarled. “Your grandfather would be appalled.”

“Grandmother, please-”

“You don’t need to defend me, Mary,” Ethan said calmly, then turned to Grace. “I was offering a little support to a friend, that’s all.”

Her eyes narrowed into nasty slits. “The blue-collar trash that took his company from him.” She turned on Mary. “How could you allow this?”

“I didn’t. I’m not. I-”

“Don’t bother, Mary,” Ethan said with a mild sigh before turning around and walking away.

“I’m surprised at you,” Grace uttered to Mary when he was gone.

“And I wish I could say I’m surprised at you,” Mary said tightly.

“You will not speak to me in that tone, young-”

“I understand that today is a difficult day, Grandmother,” Mary said, feeling strong and in control with this woman for the first time in her life. “But I won’t allow you to speak to my friends that way anymore. If you want a relationship with me, you’ll need to restrain yourself in the future.”

Leaving her grandmother standing there, mouth open, Mary went after Ethan. She caught up to him on top of the hill overlooking her grandfather’s grave site. “I’m sorry. It’s her grief talking.”

“Then she’s been grieving for a long time,” he muttered.

“This is why I didn’t want you to come here,” she explained. “I knew she’d-”

“Stop trying to protect me, Mary. I don’t need it.”

“I’m not…” Even as she said the words, she knew they weren’t true.

“Aren’t you tired of it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Protecting everyone. Your father, your partners, your grandmother, me, yourself.”

She stared at him unable to speak, her brain running a hundred miles an hour. Had he read her thoughts last night? How could he know that all of her life she’d been doing exactly this, hoping her interference would bring peace where there was chaos-and having no life of her own in the process. She could plan her work, her business years in advance, but could never see her personal future because she didn’t think she deserved one.

“I have to go,” Ethan said, mistaking her silence for indifference.

“No,” she said sternly just as Olivia and Tess came toward them, waving.

“I’m so sorry, Mary,” Olivia said sympathetically, placing an arm around her friend’s shoulder. Then she noticed Ethan and gave him a curious smile. “Mr. Curtis. Hello. What are you doing here?”

“He took over my grandfather’s company,” Mary said quickly and without thinking. “But he was just leaving.”

When Ethan’s cold gaze found hers, she realized what she had said and how it had sounded. It was one thing to protect him, but to act ashamed of him…She wanted to explain, but with Tess and Olivia standing right there she knew it would have to wait.

Ethan nodded to both Tess and Olivia. “Ladies.” Then turned and left.

Mary’s heart sank.

“What happened here?” Tess asked.

Olivia grimaced. “Hope it wasn’t something I said.”

“No,” Mary assured them, knowing it was about time to come clean with her partners. “I’m afraid it was something I said.”

Twelve

“Yes, Mr.Valentine, I’ll be there.” Olivia rolled her eyes as she hung up the phone. “This is his third call in two days. The excessively rich can not only be bossy but paranoid, as well.” She swiveled toward Mary and gave her a sheepish expression. “Sorry, Mary. I don’t mean you.”

It was quarter to five and they were all sitting in Olivia’s office going over the appointments and events that were scheduled for the next two weeks. It was September and business was starting to really pick up.

As she sat beside Tess on the other side of Olivia’s desk, Mary crossed and uncrossed her legs. “Hey, I’m not rich.”

Tess looked up from her notes. “I thought your grandfather left you a small fortune.”

“It still doesn’t make me rich,” Mary said on a laugh that sounded incredibly forced. “Comfortable, maybe-but I’ve found that rich is an attitude.”

“I’ll say,” Olivia went on. “Just because this guy has a dozen or so women who’d do anything from shine his shoes to act as though they don’t know where Darfur is just so he can feel like the smart one, doesn’t mean he should expect the same from me.” She snorted. “As if I would forget a meeting. The nerve.”

“You’ll make sure he gets a clue, Olivia, I have no doubt.” Tess winked at Mary, who smiled in turn.

The three women had changed during the past several weeks-since the funeral and the three-hour dessert and coffee gab session they’d shared afterward. Exactly ten minutes after Ethan had walked away from her, Mary had broken down and confessed their relationship to Tess and Olivia.

The two hadn’t been surprised, but they had asked, no pressure, if she’d wanted to talk about it. She did, and she had. Not that it had changed the situation any, but it had been moderately cathartic and had made Mary realize what she’d been missing in a friendship.

Both Tess and Olivia hadn’t mentioned Ethan since, and she was beyond thankful for that because Ethan hadn’t contacted her for two weeks except to send a check to NRR for services rendered. There hadn’t been a note in the envelope, nothing that would make her think he missed her or had even thought about her at all. For her part, she’d called him to try and explain, but he’d refused to listen. Even so, she hadn’t stopped thinking about him.

Tess closed her book with a sigh. “I think that’s it. We’re all going to be incredibly busy this month, so take every opportunity to relax.”

“Agreed,” said Olivia pulling out her Rolodex. “And I know just how to start the relaxation process.”

Tess groaned. “I can’t take another one of those seminars on How to Cool Your Cooperate Stress.”

“Seriously,” Mary agreed wholeheartedly. “I fell asleep at the last one and the group leader actually tousled my hair to get me to wake up. It was very freakish.”