shook her head. It absolutely amazed her how rumors were born out of twisted half-truths.
“It’s not a ‘service,'” she corrected. “Since Theresa, Cecilia and I have our own businesses in very public-oriented fields,” she said, referring to her two very best friends, women she’d known and been close to since the third grade, “we just decided to keep our eyes open for possible suitable matches for our daughters.” She smiled, exceedingly pleased. Plumbing the depths of their client lists for eligible men had been her idea initially and it had succeeded far better than she’d ever dreamed. All three of their daughters, plus Theresa’s son, Kullen, had been gently nudged into relationships that now had every indication of lasting forever. “As it turned out, things went well.”
Ruth sank down in the chair again, her dark eyes riveted to her sister-in-law’s face. “I need them to ‘go well’ for Kennon. The way things are going, after that horrible man she wasted all those years on decided he loved someone else and just dumped her, Kennon has done nothing but work. She hasn’t gone out on a date even once in almost a year. I don’t want her to wind up alone,” Ruth concluded with sincerity.
“No dates at all?” Maizie repeated. God, did that ever sound familiar. “She told you this?”
“A mother knows,” Ruth informed her. She further relayed how she “knew” because she’d gone out of her way to draw Kennon’s assistant, Nathan, into her camp. She’d won the young man over with her coconut cream pies, exchanging them for information.
The wheels in Maizie’s head were already turning as inherent instincts, centuries old, rose now to the fore. “Does Kennon still own that interior decorating shop?”
“She all but lives there.” Seeing the look in Maizie’s eyes, Ruth slid to the edge of her chair, hope taking hold. “Why? What are you thinking?”
“As it happens, I just sold a beautiful, empty house to a newly transplanted widower. He needs a decorator badly.” Maizie hit several keys on her computer, pulling up the information she needed. “He just moved here from the San Francisco area. The man has two small daughters.” Maizie watched her former sister-in-law’s face to see her reaction.
It was apparent that Ruth saw potential here. “A jump start on becoming a grandmother. I can live with that.” She leaned in closer. “What does he do for a living?”
Maizie smiled. “He’s a cardiovascular surgeon.”
“A doctor?” Ruth cried. She began to glow with enthusiasm. “Maizie, I think I love you. All is forgiven.”
“Nice to know,” Maizie said dryly.
Sarcasm had always been wasted on her late husband’s sister. Now was no exception.
Some things never changed, Maizie thought as she looked up Dr. Simon Sheffield’s cell phone number.
Chapter One
“Good God, woman, have you been here all night?”
The partially perturbed, partially breathless question shot out of Nathan LeBeau’s mouth ten seconds after he’d flipped on the light switch in the back office and subsequently jumped when he saw something moving on the white leather sofa. Nathan’s thin, aristocratic hand was dramatically splayed over his shallow chest in the approximate region of his heart, presumably to keep it from leaping out of said chest.
“How am I supposed to impress you with my hard work when you keep insisting on being an overachiever and staying here until all hours of the night?” He went to the office’s lone window and drew back the light blue vertical blinds. “You’re lucky you’re not dialing 9-1-1 right now.”
“Why would I be dialing 9-1-1?” Kennon Cassidy murmured, trying to clear the cobwebs out of her brain, the sugary taste out of her mouth and the protesting kinks out of her shoulders. She had little success in any of the endeavors.
“Because you scared me half to death,” Nathan informed her with a toss of his deep chestnut mane. Blessed with incredibly thick hair, Nathan deliberately wore it long, in the fashion of a driven music conductor.
Nathan’s words were addressed to Kennon Cassidy, technically his employer, more aptly described as his friend and, initially, his mentor.
Kennon sat up on the sofa and looked up at her tall and more than occasionally judgmental assistant. “What time is it?”
Nathan scrutinized her attire. “I’d say way past the time when your carriage turned into a pumpkin, standing in the field next to your musically gifted pet mice.”
Kennon waved a dismissive hand in his direction. “You’ve been watching way too many classic cartoons, Nathan.”
“Not by choice,” he said defensively. “Judith insists that’s all I can let Rebecca and Stuart watch when I babysit the little darlings. Can’t wait until those two hit puberty and stage a revolt on my straitlaced sister.”
Nathan put his hand on his hip expectantly as he regarded the slender, slightly rumpled blonde who had taken a chance on him when he had bluffed his way into the office four years ago. “You really need to move on, you know.”
Her eyes met his. There was no way she was having this discussion. “No, I really need to get rid of this sugary taste,” she told him. “Apparently I fell asleep with a cough drop in my mouth.”
Rising, Kennon caught her reflection in the window. She shuddered. God, she looked like death warmed over. Barely warmed over.
The next second, she stifled a yawn while trying to remember when she’d fallen asleep. “I just lay down on the sofa for a minute to close my eyes.”
“Apparently you succeeded beyond your wildest dreams.”
“What time is it?” she asked Nathan, this time in earnest. “Really,” she underlined.
“It’s tomorrow,” Nathan answered. When she looked at him quizzically he backtracked for her benefit. “Tuesday. Eight-thirty a.m. May fourth. The year of our Lord, two thousand—”
Kennon threw her hand up in the air to stop him. Nathan had the ability to go on and on if she let him.
“I know what year it is, Nathan,” she informed him. “I’m not exactly Rip Van Winkle, you know.”
“I hear he started out by taking long naps,” Nathan told her dryly. He glanced at the open sketchbook she was currently using. “Were you working on the Prestons’ house?”
That had been her initial intent. But what she’d really been working on was her self-esteem. Although she loved Nathan like the brother she’d never had, she was not about to dwell on that point for him. It was bad enough that her assistant knew about her breakup with Pete, or rather, Pete’s breakup with her, since Pete had been the one to end the relationship and walk out. Granted, she hadn’t been head-over-heels, can’t-seem-to-catch-my-breath in love with the man, but it bothered her to no end that she hadn’t seen the breakup coming.
One morning, after living with her for two years, Pete announced that he’d fallen “out of love” with her. And in love with
