OLLY REACHED INTO Kate’s refrigerator, took out two bottles of water, and held out one to Calli. “Would you like one?” she asked.

Calli looked at her, smiled politely, shook his head no, and said in Italian, “You are very beautiful. I would rather have you.”

Understanding only the negative shake of his head, Holly said, “I’ll take that to mean no,” and put one bottle back into the refrigerator.

She glanced over her shoulder as Kate came out of the bedroom wearing her third possible outfit for dinner with Mitchell that night. The other two choices were draped over the sofa in the living room. He’d taken Danny shopping, and they’d been gone since eleven that morning. “Too dressy?” Kate asked, pirouetting in front of Holly as Calli looked on from beside the kitchen island.

“No, but I like the blue wool better.”

Frustrated and uncertain, Kate decided to ask the opinion of a man who knew Mitchell’s taste. Reaching over to the sofa, she collected the other two dresses and held them up one at a time while she looked questioningly at Calli. “For Mitchell?” she asked.

Calli grinned, pointed confidently at the black sheath, and said in Italian, “Mitchell will be in a hurry to get it off you tonight, so wear the one with the zipper instead of the buttons.”

“Okay, the black sheath it is,” Kate said. “Grazie,” she added with a warm smile, using one of the two Italian words she knew.

Calli nodded and said, “You have a mouth made for kissing, but Mitchell is like a brother to me. Also, he would cut out my heart if he thought I noticed.”

“It must take a lot more words to say something in Italian,” Holly observed. Then she added solemnly, “Kate, please be careful with your heart. Mitchell broke it the last time, and it was scary to see what happened to you afterward. You’re falling in love with him all over again.”

“No, I’m not,” Kate replied firmly.

At the kitchen island, Calli’s brows drew together in surprised dismay.

“Yes, you are,” Holly insisted.

Kate slumped against the back of the sofa, hangers and dresses suspended from both hands. “Yes, I am,” she admitted. “And I’m so scared. Last night, I convinced myself it would be okay—safe—if I loved him just a little bit.”

“How do you feel today?”

With a defeated sigh, Kate said, “Like there’s no way to love him just a little bit. He’s completely addictive. If I could pull him over me like a blanket and wrap myself up in him, I’d do it and still want to be closer—body and soul. And what makes it so hard is that I think he feels the same way.”

“You thought that the last time.”

Kate nodded and shoved away from the sofa, her shoulders slumping a little. “I know.”

“When is he coming back?”

Glancing at her watch, Kate said, “He called to say that he and Danny were running late but that they’d be here by six. I need to be downstairs at eight tonight to greet the major and his party, then Mitchell and I are going somewhere for dinner.”

Holly rose. “It’s five-thirty, so I’d better get going. Do you want me to stop and feed Max and the cats on my way home?”

“No,” Kate said, returning to her bedroom to put away the rejected outfits. She’d already put on her makeup and fixed her hair so that she’d look nice when Danny and Mitchell got back, and now she had time on her hands. “We’re going to bring them here until the police capture Billy Wyatt. I keep the local news on up here all day, expecting to hear an announcement that Billy’s been taken into custody, but until that happens we’ll be living above the restaurant. The security system here is much better than the one at my house.”

“How’s Molly doing?”

“She’s doing really well. She wants to come back to work tomorrow, but I want her to stay home and rest for a few more days.”

“MOMMY, COME LOOK—”

Already smiling, Kate hurried down the hallway from her bedroom to see what Mitchell and Danny had bought during their outing. The sight of Danny standing in the middle of the room, grinning expectantly, almost stopped her heart. Gone were his long curls and clothes from Baby Gap. His black hair was styled just like Mitchell’s, and he was wearing a vested suit, tie, and shiny black shoes. To top it off, he was posing with one hand in his pocket, the other behind his back.

The sight of him made her heart both swell with pride and contract with helpless longing for the baby he had seemed to be only hours before. “You’ve been shopping at Baby Brooks Brothers!” Kate joked.

“Got you a present,” Danny said, drawing his hand out from behind his back and proudly showing her a bedraggled daisy, which he delivered to her at a run.

“It’s beautiful,” Kate said, sending a smiling glance to Mitchell.

He smiled back and said to Danny, “Give Mommy her other present.”

Grinning Mitchell’s grin, Danny dug into his suit pocket and pulled out an ornate locket on a slender chain. Kate’s hand shook a little as she held the beautiful golden heart. She was being drawn deeper and deeper into fantasies of being part of a family, of being loved and cherished by the black-haired man who was already teaching his son to bring flowers to his mommy.

She looked up to say thank you to Mitchell, but his attention was suddenly riveted to the television set. He strode toward it, turning up the volume.

“At four o’clock this afternoon,” the anchor intoned, “Chicago police apprehended Billy Wyatt, seventeen, who is suspected of kidnapping Daniel Donovan from a local park yesterday. Sources inside the police department say that Wyatt has admitted to the kidnapping, but that he is blaming Chicago attorney Evan Bartlett for giving him the idea. According to these sources, Wyatt conceived the idea of kidnapping Daniel Donovan after Bartlett showed him a recent newspaper article including a picture of Daniel and his mother, restaurateur Kate Donovan. Bartlett allegedly told Wyatt that Daniel’s father is Mitchell Wyatt, on whom Billy has long blamed his misfortunes.

“Our reporter Sidney Solomon caught up with Bartlett tonight at Gleneagles Country Club.”

Kate turned around and stepped back in alarm at the sight of Mitchell’s clenched jaw and blazing eyes as he watched Evan, tennis racket in hand, evoke attorney-client privilege and stride off to play a match.

“That son of a bitch!” Mitchell muttered between his teeth.

“Son of bitch!” Danny echoed feelingly.

Mitchell made an unsuccessful effort to look calm for Danny’s sake, then he kissed Kate good-bye as if he scarcely knew she was there. In the doorway he turned and said, “I have an errand to run. I’ll pick you up at eight.”