ate didn’t notice how lovely the little town was until she’d driven halfway through it. The four-hour drive down to the resort had been filled with thoughts of dread, panic, and the fancy underwear that Jessie had talked her into buying as inspiration. She was still trying to decide whether the best plan was to do a dignified sulk for the next two weeks or to wear the underwear and develop a better attitude, when she realized how charming everything around her was.

The shady old streets were lined with thick-trunked trees and the antique storefronts were painted in faded roses and blues and yellows with gold-edged lettering in the windows. Cline’s Dry Goods. Dickerson’s Snack Shop. Beamis Hardware. Stores with family names that had probably been there for generations. The whole town of Toby’s Corners smelled of dust and honeysuckle, and Kate drove through it all and thought of Mary Jane shoes and ice-cream cones and football games and all the things she’d read about but never known.

This would have been a lovely place to grow up, she thought. This would have felt like a home. Maybe my life would have been different if I’d started out in a place like Toby’s Corners—a place full of dusty sunlight and trees and possibilities.

And then she shook her head. Pull yourself together, Kate, she told herself. You have a goal and a plan. Concentrate.

She turned right at a low slung white building that said Nancy’s Place in pink neon over the double wood doors and slowed to look at it. It had to be a bar or a restaurant—the parking lot was the biggest she’d seen in the town so far—but it was the most low-key bar she’d ever seen, no signs for beer or ads for Wet-T-shirt Wednesdays, just an ancient handpainted “Welcome” sign in white on the knotty-pine doors. Even the bars in this town were clean and cute. She’d landed in Disneyland Kentucky.

Past Nancy’s Place, the road began to wind into the woods. The subtle light felt cool, almost sensuous as she drove slowly under the trees, savoring the woodsy smell. The woods were dim and secret, and when she shivered, it wasn’t just from the chill of leaving the sun. There’s something...exciting about the woods, she thought. Maybe something will happen here. Maybe I’ll fall in love. Maybe everything will work out here. Jessie said all I have to do is choose. Well, I choose to be happy and successful and...and unafraid. I’ll be like Jessie. Absolutely fearless. I’ll even get up early tomorrow and find the lake, and I’ll swim in the nude. I really will.

Then she rounded the last turn, and thought, Oh, maybe not.

The resort stood before her looking like a log cabin with a thyroid problem. Much larger than it had seemed in the brochure, it rose up in ranks of clustered cabins, carefully stacked like children’s blocks at slight angles to one another, each with a private natural-wood deck. Abraham Lincoln’s place crossed with Tara, midwifed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Oh, no, Kate thought. It’s too big.

Even worse, there seemed to be at least a thousand people milling around. If she went skinny-dipping in the morning, she’d probably turn up in vacation slides all over the Midwest—“And here’s a shot of that crazy woman who used to go swimming buck naked every morning. Notice how her breasts are startin‘ to droop?”

She sighed and pulled up next to the hotel entrance.

I hate this! Kate thought. She steeled herself and walked through the big carved double doors into the lobby, looking cool and efficient in her silk suit, detached from everyone around her. One of the generic distinguished-looking men Jessie had promised her held the door for her as she went in, but she was concentrating so hard on maintaining her image that she noticed him as a possibility only in passing. Later. One thing at a time. Where had all these people come from?

The desk manager smiled at her as she signed the register card. “Welcome to The Cabins, Miss Swanson.”

“Svenson.”

“Of course. I’m Will Templeton. We’re really glad you’re here.”

Kate repressed the impulse to ask why. Will Templeton was tall, dark, and ruggedly handsome, and he was glad to see her. It would take a woman with an extremely bad attitude to assume that what this man was truly glad to see was her Visa card.

“You’ll want to see my Visa card,” Kate said.

“No, no, that was all taken care of when you reserved by phone. You’re in cabin 9A. Up past the tennis courts there and beyond the croquet lawn. You can park your car right behind the cabin.”

The croquet lawn. Well, it could be worse. They’d have to stop knocking balls around when the sun went down. And at least she wasn’t staying in that rabbit warren of a hotel with God-knows-who....

From behind her, a lilting soprano bubbled, “Was that cabin 9A, you said?”

The manager said, “I certainly did, Miss Craft,” and Kate turned.

Miss Craft, young, blond, and built like a Barbie doll, had eyes of cornflower blue, a tilted-up nose, and a genuinely sweet smile on her lovely full lips. She looked about nineteen.

Great, Kate thought. My competition. I bet nothing on her droops. I bet she doesn’t even wear underwear.

“I’m Penny Craft,” the Barbie doll said, holding out her hand to Kate. “I’ll be right next door in 9B.”

“Oh, good,” Kate said.

“And I was wondering, if you’d mind, could you possibly give me a lift to the cabin? With my luggage? The bellboys here are real busy....”

“No problem,” Kate said. “I’d be happy to.” She took her key from Will and tried hard to ignore him when he called after them. “Don’t you ladies forget the luau tonight.”

“Oh, we sure won’t,” Penny Craft squealed back.

Luggage said a lot about a person, Kate realized as she walked Penny to the car. She herself had one charcoal-gray suitcase and a briefcase. Penny had three pieces of pink luggage. Guess which one of us has more fun, Kate thought as she helped Penny load her bags into the car. Then she began the drive to the cabin, going slowly to avoid all the people who dodged in front of her on the way, evidently having such a good time that they wanted to die where they stood.

Kate glared at one of them. “This place has too many people.”

“Oh, no.” Penny waved to someone. “I love people.”

“I sensed that.”

Penny smiled at her. “They say it’s a lot quieter near the cabins.”

Kate looked at her curiously. “I’d think you’d prefer the hotel.”

“No.” Penny waved to someone else. “I’m planning on seeing all the guys I can while I’m here, and you know how nosy people in hotels are.”

“What do you mean, ‘seeing’?”

“Oh, you know—dance, talk, laugh... Have as much fun as possible,” Penny said cheerfully. “I’m getting married next month. This is my last chance.”

“Oh,” Kate said after a pause. “Well, good luck.”

“Thank you.” Penny turned and looked at her. “Why did you come here?”

Good question. She was going to strangle Jessie. “Oh, you know—to dance, talk, laugh.” Kate glared at all the people swarming around her car. “Maybe swim naked in the pool.”

“Are you allowed to do that?”

Kate closed her eyes. Penny really was as dumb as a rock. “If you get up very early,” she said.

“Oh. I thought maybe you were writing a travel article or something.”

“A travel article? Why?”

“Well, why else would somebody all businesslike like you be up here?”

“To meet men?” Kate suggested.

“Oh, sure,” Penny said and giggled.

* * *

Cabin 9, when they found it after two wrong turns, was several yards from the croquet field, and Kate cheered up when she saw how private it was. She was even happier when she took her briefcase inside. The bedroom, paneled in knotty pine, was compact but cozy, and Kate dropped her briefcase on the patchwork-covered double bed with a sigh of relief. This was going to be fine. She needed a rest, and this was lovely. Even if she didn’t meet anyone...

She stopped. Of course, she was going to meet someone. She had a plan. She squared her shoulders and went outside to unload the luggage.

Kate was putting the last of Penny’s suitcases on the ground when a man strolled down the path with his hands in his pockets.

“Need any help?” he asked lazily as he came near her, and she was forced to turn and look at him. He was big, broad, and slow-moving, dressed in plaid flannel and denim. His hair was thick, dark and untrimmed, his black-brown eyes were lazy, and his nose had definitely been broken at least once in the past; it lurched slightly to the left over his full, neat mustache. But the finishing touch for Kate was his generous, cream-colored Stetson hat. A cowboy hat. Unbelievable.

Then he smiled at her—a friendly, no-come-on smile—and she almost smiled back before she caught herself. Absolutely not, she told herself. You are not going to fall for some dumb, macho, good-looking good old boy. You have a plan. He is not part of your plan. Besides, he looks like a cowboy, and you’re not interested in cowboys. Especially not this far north of the Rio Grande.

“I think I can manage.” She turned to pull her suitcase out of the car. “Thank you.”

“Well, hello.” They both turned at the sound of Penny’s voice to see her standing at the top of the porch steps, slender and lovely, vibrating with pleasure at seeing a man.

“Penny, this is...?” Kate faced him.

“Jake.” He touched his hat to Penny.

“Jake, this is Penny,” Kate said. “Jake has offered to help with the luggage.”

“Well, you sweet thing, you,” Penny cooed. “I’d adore your help. Mine’s the pink stuff down there.”

“Coming right up,” Jake said, and he bent to pick up all of Penny’s remaining pieces of luggage.

“You must be so strong.” Penny beamed at him.

“Nope. Just too lazy to make two trips.” He ambled up the steps to the porch.

Well, there’s the start of a beautiful relationship, Kate thought, and took her suitcase into the cabin.

A few minutes later, Jake went down the path shaking his head. All those macho guys who said women were all alike had never met Penny Craft and Kate Svenson. When he’d first seen the two trim blondes from a couple of hundred yards down the path, he’d assumed they were sisters. On a closer look, he’d decided they couldn’t possibly belong to the same family. Now, after spending five minutes with them, he wasn’t sure they belonged on the same planet.

Penny was every young man’s dream—cute, friendly and undemanding. Being nice to Penny would be no hardship, although listening to her babble for more than fifteen minutes might test a man’s patience. He grinned. Probably only his patience; any other man would listen to her if she spoke Swahili, as long as he could look at her. He must be getting old. Penny was a dream come true, all right, but she was someone else’s dream, not his.

If Penny was somebody else’s dream, Kate was his own personal nightmare. Who the hell would come to the country wearing a silk suit? And she had her blond hair yanked back so hard in that twist that her eyebrows slanted. He remembered the way she’d looked at him as he’d walked toward her—sizing him up and then dismissing him with those icy blue eyes. “Thank you,” she’d said and walked away. The temperature must have dropped ten degrees around her cabin.

He shuddered. Kate reminded him of Valerie and his ex-wife, Tiffany. Women like that always got what they wanted no matter what it took, not caring who they trampled on to get their way. Efficient. Calculating. Manipulative. Most likely she’d come to the resort to sharpen her golf game, get a tan, snare a husband, and improve her stock portfolio. God preserve me from a woman like that, he thought, and grinned again. God wouldn’t have to preserve him from a woman like Kate Svenson. She’d made it very clear that she wasn’t interested.

Forget her, he told himself, and wandered down the path to troubleshoot the luau.

Penny came to pick Kate up for the luau at six, and Kate steeled herself for the ordeal ahead. This is the only way you’re going to meet men, she told herself. Jessie’s right. Just relax and have a good time. Stop whining. Be a woman.

Penny had dressed by wrapping a turquoise flowered sarong over a tiny yellow bikini. Her earrings were turquoise, with yellow parrots on swings—the parrots made of real feathers. She was too much of everything, and yet, in her obvious happiness, she was just right.

I could never wear an outfit like that, Kate reflected. Not unless I was very, very drunk. She was feeling very, very superior until a traitorous little voice inside her added, Maybe that’s why I don’t have any fun.

“Put on your bathing suit,” Penny said to Kate. “Maybe we’ll get thrown in the pool.”

“We can only hope,” Kate said. Her bathing suit was an old black one-piece, years out of style but hardly worn. She put on white slacks and a white shirt over it, tying the shirttails in a knot on her stomach.

“That’s it?” Penny asked.

“That’s it.”

“That’s kind of plain,” Penny said.

“That’s the kind of woman I am,” Kate said. “Plain. Let’s go.”

Penny hesitated, frowning. “Don’t you want to let your hair down or something? I mean, this is a luau.”

“No,” Kate said evenly. “I like it up.”

“Well, you don’t look very relaxed.”

“This is as relaxed as I get,” she said.

“Okay,” Penny said, shaking her head. “Maybe you’ll feel better after a couple of drinks.”

“Don’t count on it,” Kate said.

The luau, when they got there, was everything she’d feared and more.

The grounds around the hotel were packed with people in various stages of excitement and inebriation, dressed in various interpretations of what the well-dressed vacationer should wear to a luau. Hawaiian shirts dominated, but there was also a healthy contingent of sarongs and one grass skirt. The guy in the grass skirt didn’t have the legs for it.

People clustered at round redwood tables, laughing uproariously at each other’s jokes. Small children ran by, shrieking, chasing each other with pineapple-punch drinks. Overfriendly couples danced badly to the Beach Boys. A huge dead animal was turning on a spit as people lined up to accept chunks of its overcooked flesh. The air smelled of suntan lotion and burned meat.

“Isn’t this terrific?” Penny glowed with excitement.

Kate looked around, horrified. “Where did all these people come from? They can’t be all from the hotel.”

“They come from all around.” Penny waved to someone. “The hotel does this every month during the summer on the third Saturday night. Isn’t it great? See the tall guy with the dark hair over there beside the pig roast?”

“That’s a pig?”

“That’s Will. Remember? From the desk? I thought he was just a clerk, but he’s the owner. I think he’s dishy.”

“Go for it,” Kate said, looking around for a bar. There had to be one. People couldn’t be behaving this badly without alcohol.

“The dark guy in the red shirt is Eric Allingham. He’s loaded.” Penny waved to someone else. “Money all over the place.”

“Go for it.” There had to be a bar somewhere.

“He’s not my type.”

“You’re not interested in money?”

“Why would I be interested in money?” Penny asked “I’m getting married.”

Kate was startled, but when she considered it, Penny made sense, if you accepted the basic proposition that dating around a month before you got married was a sound idea.

“Sorry.” Kate shook her head. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“The blond guy in the Izod shirt is cute, though. His name is Lance something.”

“How did you learn all this?”

“Oh, I sat in the lobby and talked to people while I was waiting for the bellboy. People here are really friendly.”

“Great,” Kate said. “I don’t suppose you know where they put the bar for this event?”

“It’s out by the pool.”

“Lead me there.”

The pool was inside a high-hedged enclosure. Tiled in blue and white, it reflected the Japanese lanterns strung overhead. The bar, a long counter trimmed with grass matting, was presided over by an efficient red-haired college-age boy in a white shirt and a pink lei. He looked as if he could have done without the lei. His bar was doing a brisk business in middle-aged men who welcomed Penny as if she were a large dry martini. Penny was surrounded, and Kate waited for a turn at the bar for both of them.

“What’ll it be, ma’am?”

“Penny.” Kate reached out her hand and hauled her into the crush. “Meet the bartender. What’s your name?”

“Mark.” The bartender smiled broadly at Penny.

“This is Penny, Mark,” Kate said. “I’ll have a double Scotch. She’ll let you know what she wants.”

“She can have anything I’ve got,” Mark said.

“You sweet thing,” Penny said.

The start of another beautiful relationship. Kate shook her head. I may have to take lessons from this girl.

She took her drink and wandered over to the pool where she rolled up her pant legs and sat on the edge, dangling her feet in the water, sipping her drink, and inhaling the chlorine along with the cool evening air. I have such a bad attitude, she thought. Probably because, unlike Penny, I really don’t want to do this. I don’t want to be alone anymore, but I don’t want to go out and cold-bloodedly look for a man, either. What I really want is the fairy tale where Prince Charming just appears out of nowhere and sweeps me off my feet and takes me... where? To his condominium, conveniently located close to his thriving business? So much for romance, Kate.

She was laughing quietly at herself when a man appeared out of nowhere and sat down on the other side of her. He was balding, overweight and overdrunk, and he was wearing six leis.

“Hello, pretty lady sitting here all alone.”

“Hello,” Kate said, edging away.

“I’m Frank,” he said, putting his arm around her.

“And Earnest, too, I imagine,” she said, removing his arm.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mark signal to someone outside the enclosure.

“I’ve been looking all over for you, honey.”

“Why?” Kate asked. “Have we met?”

“Only in my dreams.”

“Get new dreams.”

Kate stood, trying to gently but firmly push him away as she did, but Frank grabbed her hand and got up, too. It took him a while, and Kate would have wandered politely away during the struggle but he held on to her with fingers of steel until he finally lunged nose-to-nose with her.

“Do you know what you need?” he breathed. “You need a lei.” He laughed uproariously. “A lay. Get it?”

He tried to take off one of his leis and almost strangled himself.

“No.” Kate pulled her hand from his and turned to walk away. “I’m not interested in a lei.”

“You’re not saying no to me, are you?” Frank asked roguishly, catching her arm.

“Over and over again,” Kate assured him, trying to pry his fingers off her.

“Good.” He pulled her closer. “I love a feisty woman.”

Kate turned eyes like razors on him.

Jake saw Mark’s wave and came into the enclosure in time to see Frank pulling drunkenly on Kate.

Oh, great. Now he’d have her complaining to Will about the quality of the guests. He watched her try to fend Frank off and admitted to himself that she’d have a point if she did. He sighed and moved up behind them in time to hear Frank take her arm and say, “I love a feisty woman.”

“How would you like to be a soprano?” Kate asked him, and Jake intervened.

“How’s it going, Frank?” Jake clapped him on the shoulder and yanked him away from Kate.

“Jake, old buddy.” Frank leaned into him. “I should have known if there was a good-looking woman around, you’d be there.” He attempted to punch Jake on the shoulder and missed him by a good inch. Jake turned him gently around toward the pig roast.

“Lots of pretty women out there, Frank.”

“Sorry, Jake. Didn’t know this one was yours.” Frank wiggled his fingers at Kate and ambled off while they watched him.

“Thank you,” Kate said. “You’re a very tactful bouncer.”

“Well, we aim to please,” Jake said. “Besides, I was afraid you were going to hurt him.”

“That was my plan,” Kate said. “Your way was better.” She smiled up at him gratefully, and Jake was startled by how human she looked. A little too human. He stepped back, but she’d turned away and was watching Frank stagger out of the enclosure.

“You know, as glad as I am to see him go, this is the story of my life,” Kate said. “Men leaving me.”

“Frank will come back if I yell,” Jake offered.

“No, no.” Kate shook her head bravely. “I’ll just sit here and nurse my broken heart. And what’s left of my Scotch.”

“Kate,” Penny called to her. “Come meet these dishy guys.”

“Now there. Isn’t that nice?” Jake grinned at her.

“Peachy,” she said. “I love dishy guys.”

He watched her join Penny and the two upwardly mobile jerks she’d found. Penny might be cute, but she had no discrimination when it came to men. Kate, he’d be willing to bet, had too much discrimination. Nobody would be good enough for her. She’d have to find somebody who was close to what she wanted and change him, improve him by slashing at him with those eyes, trying to wind him around her little finger....

Jake shook his head to get rid of the image. Kate was not his problem. The luau, however, was, so he sighed and went to see what else was going wrong.

Propelled back into the middle of the luau, Kate found herself introduced to Penny’s dishy guys, Chad and Lance, partners in an Ohio real-estate agency. Actually, as Kate tried to convince herself a few minutes later, there was nothing really wrong with Chad and Lance. They were overly hearty and overly macho, and Lance did have a tendency to drape his arm around her and send her meaningful glances and—Kate was mentally crossing him off when she stopped herself. This is what you came for, she told herself. Be nice to Lance. Get to know him. Maybe this Andrew Dice Idiot attitude he’s wearing is merely to cover up his insecurity and vulnerability. Maybe he simply needs someone to understand him. Be nice to him.

In fact, she vowed, I’m going to be nice to everyone, and stop being such a snob.

She gave it her best shot, agreeing to have dinner with Lance later, valiantly attempting to be at least half as enthusiastic toward him as Penny was with Chad. Still, after half an hour of evading Lance’s hands, Kate had reached the end of her patience.

“I’ll be right back,” she said, smiling at him.

“I’ll come with you,” Lance said reaching for her again.

“No, really.” Kate backed off, waving her glass. Then she wheeled around and lost herself in the crowd, stopping only when an efficient-looking blonde caught at her hand.

“You’re Kate Svenson,” she said, shaking Kate’s captured hand. “I’m Valerie Borden, the social director here.”

“Oh. Hello, Ms. Border,” Kate said, still checking over her shoulder for Lance.

“Borden. But you must call me Valerie. We’re all friends here at The Cabins.”

Wonderful. Kate turned to look at Valerie for the first time.

Valerie was tall, blond, polished, and patrician. Kate felt as if she were looking into a mirror except that Valerie was smiling.

“We’re so glad you’re here, Kate,” Valerie said. “I’d love to sit and talk with you some time. I’m sure we have so much in common.”

“We do?” Kate said.

“Absolutely. But it’s time to party now. We don’t want you to be alone.” Valerie tucked Kate’s hand under her arm and led her into the crowd near the pool. “Let me introduce you to some people. Is there anyone in particular you’d like to meet?”

Kate looked at her trapped hand and decided to play along. Resisting Valerie was bound be exhausting and fruitless anyway; Valerie was plainly a woman who routinely got what she wanted. “Tall, distinguished, rich businessmen,” Kate said, remembering Jessie and the wish list. “It’s an assignment.”

Valerie blinked at her bluntness and then recovered. “All right,” she said and proceeded to make good her word.

Kate debated the state of the environment with Rick, who was tall, distinguished and the head of his own ecological impact firm. She learned about polo ponies from Eric, who was tall, distinguished and the VP of a consulting firm. She discussed the market with Donald, who was tall, distinguished and vague about what he did for a living. She agreed that golf was the only civilized game with Peter, who was tall, distinguished and the owner of a public relations firm, and who persuaded her to play golf with him the next afternoon. And eventually, she found herself back with tall, sort-of-distinguished Lance, the real-estate agent. Unfortunately, Lance, after several drinks, was even more of a trial than he’d been earlier.

Lance was starting to run to fat, but his face was still handsome despite the fact that his eyes were a little too small and a little too mean. He was also a big guy and he liked using his size. He muscled them a place in line until Kate said, “Oh, let’s go back to the end. It’s quieter there.” He also had hands. He stood behind her as they got in line for the burned pig, standing too close. He put his hand on her shoulder. He put his hand on her arm. He put his hand on her waist. When he moved his hand again, she put a plate in it.

“Could you take this for me?” she asked him. “I’ll bring the drinks.”

They ate with Penny and Chad at one of the ubiquitous round redwood tables, and the night passed slowly—excruciatingly slowly—while people whooped and screeched around them.

Lance said something and Penny laughed, so Kate laughed, too, only a beat behind. Lance didn’t seem to mind.

“Lance, you’re such a riot,” Penny said. “Don’t you think so, Kate?”

“Absolutely. Anyone for another Scotch?” She toddled back to the bar by the pool before any of them could join her.

“Hello, Mark,” she said, leaning on the bar.

“Hello, Kate,” the bartender said, laughing. “How’s it going?”

“Don’t ask.”

Mark leaned forward a little. “What are you doing with that Lance creep, anyway? He’s trouble.”

“It’s a long story. How about another Scotch?”

“You sure?”

“Kate, honey,” Lance said from behind her. “I couldn’t find you anywhere.”

“I’m sure,” Kate said to Mark, and he shook his head and poured.

Kate took her Scotch and wandered over by the pool, and Lance followed her, hands outstretched. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mark motion to someone outside the pool. Why did he do that? she wondered, and then concentrated on handling Lance. She listened to him for a while, skillfully evading his hands, but finally gave up. It was no use. She could drink enough Scotch to fill the pool, and she still wouldn’t marry Lance.

She poured her Scotch into the pool.

“What are you doing?”

“Sobering up.”

“Oh, don’t do that, honey.” He put his hand on her rear end.

“Move your hand, Lance.”

He moved it around to her breast. “Come on, baby.”

“Better men than you have lost arms that way, Lance,” she said, moving his hand.

“I want you, Kate.” He reached around and squeezed her rear end.

“I don’t want you, Lance,” she said and pushed him into the pool.

“I wish you hadn’t done that,” Jake said from behind her.

“Where’d you come from?” Kate asked, watching Lance try to find the surface.

“Mark calls me if there’s trouble. That’s twice tonight he’s been a little worried about you. First Frank, now Lance.”

“Mark’s very sweet.”

“We both really enjoyed watching you with Lance.”

“Speaking of Lance, is he going to drown?”

“Give him a chance,” Jake said. “He’ll find the way up pretty soon.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“Then I’ll help him.” Jake eased himself down until he was sitting on his heels by the pool. “See, here he comes.”

Lance broke sputtering through the surface of the water, and Jake reached down and caught him. When Lance caught his breath, he looked at Kate. “You lousy bi—”

Jake pushed his head back under the water for a minute and then hauled him up by his collar.

“Sorry, Lance. My hand slipped.” He pulled him dripping from the pool. Lance gagged, and Jake let him go and pounded him on the back.

“Well, it’s been a lovely evening, but I really must go.” Kate smiled at Jake. “Thank you again. Good night.” She waved to Mark and strolled out of the pool enclosure.

“I don’t think she’s your type, Lance,” she heard Jake say. “She doesn’t seem to appreciate a great guy like you.”

Jake helped Lance into the hotel and put him on the elevator to his room. Lance’s main topic of conversation was Kate, and he wasn’t flattering. “I hope that frozen bitch burns” was the last thing he said as the elevator doors closed.

Surprising himself, Jake disagreed. Yeah, she was frozen, but you had to admire a woman who could take care of a creep like Lance so neatly. She’d put him in the pool with one quick push and then stood calmly on the side waiting for him to come up. There was a lot to be said for a woman who could take care of herself. Then he stopped himself. Cool, efficient, independent. Those were the qualities he’d fallen for in a woman once before, and she’d turned out to be a chilly, expensive mistake. The same mistake his brother was about to make with Valerie. Don’t be dumb, Jake, he warned himself, and went back to the luau.

The light from the ginger-jar lamps on each side of the big bed filled the room with a soft glow. The room felt homey and warm, and Kate relaxed once her door was closed behind her.

Lance was just a mistake, she decided as she got ready for bed. Tomorrow she would do better. Tomorrow she would play golf with and fall in love with Peter, the public relations ace, and they would live successfully ever after, playing upscale golf in their free time.

For some reason, that prospect did not appeal to her and she fell asleep feeling vaguely uneasy about her own plan for the future. That unease followed her into her dreams, plaguing her with visions of overweight blond men trying to snare her with leis while she searched for somebody else—somebody she couldn’t remember when she woke up the next morning. I’m not even cooperating in my dreams, she thought as she climbed out of bed. Get back to your plan, Kate. Work on it.

The problem was that she hated her plan even more in the daylight than she had the night before. She wanted to be swept off her feet. She wanted to see him across a crowded room and love him so much and want him so much that she wouldn’t be able to stand it. Love at first sight. Love that would last forever.

Fat chance. She argued herself back to her game plan. After all, what she was looking for wasn’t love at first sight, anyway, because that kind of love didn’t last. No, she wanted a practical love, partnering a distinguished successful man; the kind of love that two people of similar backgrounds carefully and thoughtfully constructed for themselves. That was reality.

Get a grip on your life, woman! she thought Make it happen. Go out and meet people this morning, have a nice lunch, and then play golf with Peter this afternoon. Something will happen. You can do it. Jessie said so.

She put on some of the new lacy underwear Jessie had picked out for her, and then covered it sensibly with beige shorts and a white sleeveless blouse. Her chignon looked a little formal with the shorts, so she just pulled her hair back and wound it into a loose knot. When she left the cabin, the sky was the clear, bright, vivid blue that only happens in August. The heat was building, but the breeze was cool and the trees were full of birds singing their heads off. She was pleased with herself and with the beautiful day, and she hummed as she strolled up to the hotel for a late nine o’clock breakfast Then Valerie caught her.

“We’re going to do wonderful things today,” Valerie told her, drawing her into a group of other late risers. The hotel as represented by Valerie obviously wanted its guests involved in life. Although that had been Kate’s sincere plan, when suddenly confronted with the reality of mingling with others, she backed off, appalled.

“Not right now, Valerie,” she said, trying to sidle off.

“Tennis, croquet, golf, horseback riding, or tag in the pool—what’s it going to be?” Valerie drew her inexorably back into the group.

I’d rather die, Kate thought.

“What’s it going to be, Kathy, honey?” Frank was in front of her, dressed in a wide-striped T-shirt, bouncing on his heels. “How about pool tag?” He leered at her. “I want to see you in that bathing suit.”

“I don’t think so.” Kate backed away again. “Thanks.”

She turned and saw Jake, walking down the drive, carrying fishing poles, a small six-pack cooler, and a duffel bag of what looked to be cushions. He was wearing cutoffs that had seen much better days, an old, torn, checked shirt, and his cowboy hat. He nodded briefly at her and walked past her toward the woods, his hat tilted down to keep the sun off his face.

“Well, you have to do something,” Valerie said with a determined smile. “You can’t just sit.”

“I am doing something.” Kate jerked her thumb at Jake. “I’m going fishing with Jake.” She turned and walked down the path behind him, taking long strides to catch up.

“You don’t actually have to take me fishing,” she told him, knowing he’d heard. “Just let me stay with you until we’re into the woods and I’m safe.”

He didn’t say anything for a minute, and then handed her the poles without looking at her or breaking his slow, relaxed amble. “There’s an extra pole and room in the boat.”

Kate hesitated a moment, but when she looked back, Valerie was watching her.

And I’m paying a lot of money for this, she thought. I’m going to kill Jessie. Then she sighed and turned to follow Jake through the woods to the lake.