She pulled her date book out of her purse and flipped through the pages. If she was going to take Kelly for a couple of days for the next week or so, she needed to schedule writing time on her dissertation. An outline was one thing, but actually getting all the information together and processing it was something else.

She penciled in several blocks of time, then flipped back to check the dates of her experiments. The one in Sam’s building had been just over three weeks ago, and the one before had been five weeks ago and-

Francesca frowned as she stared at the small three-dimensional box she’d drawn by the date two days after the experiment at the old mission. She’d been in a wheelchair that time, tormenting tourists. And two days later she’d gotten her period.

She flipped back a month. There was the little box indicating her start date, then she flipped forward. No box. Not even the hint of a box. She slammed the date book shut.

No way, she thought, trying to avoid panic. Not possible. They’d used a condom. Every single time. She knew. She’d been there.

Three hours later she stared at the plus sign on the slender stick. Her mind was blank. She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t believe.

This wasn’t happening, she told herself. It couldn’t be. She absolutely could not be pregnant.

11

“Idon’t see the point,” Gabriel grumbled as he poked his cane into the floor mat of the passenger seat. “Not that anyone asked me. I guess when a man reaches a certain age, his family sees him as little more than a piece of furniture to be moved around and kept out of the way.”

Sam held in a grin. “You said you wanted to come.”

His grandfather glared at him. “When did I say that? I never said that.”

From the backseat Kelly leaned forward as far as her seat belt would allow. “Sure you did. When you came to dinner. I remember. You complain a lot.”

Gabriel grumbled something under his breath. “I’m allowed to complain. It’s a privilege of age.”

“But you just said you get moved around like a piece of furniture because you’re old. So is it good or bad?”

Gabriel turned around and eyed his great-granddaughter. “It beats being dead.”

Sam quickly glanced in the rearview mirror. Kelly blinked, then grinned.

“I guess so,” she said.

Gabriel chuckled and Sam relaxed his grip on the steering wheel.

After their disastrous first meeting, he’d been hesitant to have Gabriel over to the house for dinner. But he knew Kelly and Gabriel needed to develop a relationship. Also, he didn’t like to leave his grandfather on his own, especially with Elena out of town. Fortunately the meal had occurred right after Sam had agreed to find a replacement for the fragrant Doreen and Kelly had been in a good mood.

“Grandpa Gabriel, I’ve been to the hacienda before, and it’s this big, beautiful house,” Kelly said cheerfully. “Sort of Spanish style with a tile roof and everything. Plus you can see the grapevines. Brenna-that’s Francesca’s sister-said I could come down and watch them bottling. Only not today because it’s a holiday.”

“Slackers,” Gabriel muttered.

Sam shot him a warning glance.

“Francesca said her whole family would be at the party,” Kelly continued. “Along with a lot of friends. She has three sisters, but only two of them are going to be there. Her youngest sister, Mia, is in Washington, D.C., studying Japanese. She’s supposed to be this really amazing language expert. And Francesca’s older sister, Katie, is getting married. She’s the one I told you about, Sam. I’m going to help with her dress. It’s so beautiful. Isn’t it like totally cool that they all work on it so when she walks down the aisle she can know that all her sisters and her mom and her grandmothers helped?”

“Too many damn people if you ask me,” Gabriel grumbled.

Kelly ignored his ill temper. “Up there,” she said, pointing. “See the sign?”

He did. An arch proclaimed MARCELLI WINES. The turnoff from the highway was a long, narrow road. After about a quarter mile a sign pointed toward the tasting room and public areas of the winery. Sam turned in the opposite direction.

Kelly continued to bounce. “Do you see the house? Do you?”

“Not yet.”

Then he did. The large structure in the distance surprised him. While he’d known that Francesca was a part of Marcelli Wines, he never actually thought about where she’d grown up.

The stucco house stood on a slight rise. Several other smaller buildings were clustered all around. But what really caught his attention were the grapevines stretching out in neat rows, for as far as the eye could see.

Sam enjoyed wine and knew what he liked, but the process of turning grapes on the vine to Cabernet Sauvignon in the bottle was a mystery to him.

“Look at all the cars,” Kelly said. “It’s gonna be a great party.”

Gabriel grumbled again. Sam ignored him and parked. The car had barely come to a stop when Kelly flung open her door and stepped out into the warm afternoon.

“Francesca! We’re here!”

Sam climbed out of the car and saw Francesca coming down the rear steps. He moved around the car to help Gabriel, but the old man waved him off.

“I’m not so bent that I can’t stand on my own,” he muttered, leaning heavily on his cane as he straightened.

Which meant Sam could focus his attention on the woman greeting his daughter. Francesca wore a loose-fitting white dress that shouldn’t have looked the least bit sexy, yet sent his blood pressure rocketing up to the boiling level. She wore her hair back in a braid. Gold hoop earrings glinted at her ears and minimal makeup emphasized her features.

“What are you gawking at?” Gabriel asked, then raised his head. One corner of his mouth turned up as his gaze settled on Francesca as she gave Kelly a quick hug, then pointed toward the backdoor.

“Well, hell. If she’s the woman you’ve been keeping company with, you’re not as half-dead as I’d figured.”

Sam glanced at his grandfather, but before he could say anything, Francesca moved close enough to hear.

“Hello,” she said with a smile. “You must be Mr. Reese, Sam’s grandfather. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”

Gabriel cleared his throat. He nodded. “If he told you who I am, he probably told you I was as surly as a bear and as old as the hills.”

Francesca laughed. “Actually he said you were tremendously charming and that I was forbidden to run off with you.”

Gabriel gave a rusty-sounding chuckle. “I like being flattered, young lady. You keep it up. And don’t call me Mr. Reese. That makes me sound like an old man.” He winked. “I’m Gabriel.”

Kelly came tearing out of the house. “Look!” She skittered to a stop in front of them and held out her hand. A flag-shaped cookie rested on her palm. The shaky flag design already told Sam the name of the artist even before she said, “I decorated it myself. Want a taste?” she asked Sam.

The question caught him off guard. “Of course. But only half. You need to eat some, too.”

“Okay.”

Kelly carefully broke the cookie in two and gave him half.

He took a bite. “It’s great.”

Kelly beamed. “Grandma Tessa said she wants to teach me to cook. That it will make me be a good wife. I told her I didn’t really care about that, but I would like to be able to cook stuff so I could throw parties.” She glanced at him. “Maybe when I make friends at school I could have them over and stuff.”

More twelve-year-old girls filling his house? He swallowed hard. “Sure. That would be great.”

Gabriel pointed toward several chairs in the shade. “I’m going to go plant these old bones. Why don’t you help me, Kelly?”

The girl hesitated for a second, then nodded. “Okay. Want the rest of my cookie?”

The old man eyed the half-eaten snack, then shrugged. “Why not?”

They walked off together. After a couple of steps Gabriel reached for her hand and settled it in the crook of his arm. Kelly didn’t pull away.

“I think my grandfather likes her,” Sam said, surprised and pleased in equal measures.

“Kelly’s not half bad,” Francesca told him.

He chuckled. “Heady praise.”

She smiled at him.

He was about to say something else, when her smile faltered. He looked more closely and saw shadows in her eyes.

“Are you all right?”

“Sure.” She leaned close. “I’ve been working on my dissertation. It’s not easy trying to get all the data into charts and graphs without putting myself to sleep. I would much rather just talk about what I learned. But that’s not how higher education works.”

“Smart and pretty. Do I have to worry about Gabriel stealing you away?”

“Maybe. He’s charming.”

“That’s where I get it from,” Sam told her.

She laughed. “Thanks for sharing. I’d wondered.” She glanced at the house, then took his arm and led him toward his car. “You’re going to meet my family today,” she said and sighed.

He raised his hand to rub away the frown line between her eyebrows, then lowered his arm to his side.

“I figured I would,” he said, “what with the party being at their house.”

She smiled. “Good point. I just want to go over this one more time so we’re all clear. When I brought Kelly over to meet everyone, I tried to tell them we weren’t dating, not really, but no one would listen. For them, it’s a very short journey from an introduction to happily married. Once they see you in the flesh, they’ll start hearing wedding bells. These people are not subtle.”

She looked worried, which he thought was charming. “I’m okay with that. Your family can’t scare me.”

“You say that because you haven’t met them yet.” She studied him. “I just want you to know I’m not implying anything behind your back.”