“I don’t know how to say all the words you deserve to hear, but I know one thing, Janine. I love you. It happened without my even being aware of it. One day I woke up and realized how important you’d become to me. It wasn’t the grand passion you wanted, and I’m sorry for that. The love I feel for you is the quiet steady kind. It’s buried deep in my heart, but trust me, it’s there. You’re the most important person in my life.”
“Oh, Zach, I love you so much.”
“You love me?”
“I have for weeks, even before we were married. That’s what bothered me so much when I learned about Marie. I wanted you to love me with the same intensity that you felt for her…that I feel for you.”
“It isn’t like that. It never was. Marie was as brave as she was beautiful, but what we shared was never meant to last. And she was smart enough to understand that. I fell in love with her, but she was too much of a professional to involve her heart. She was the kind of person who thrives on excitement and danger. It wasn’t until you and I met that I realized if I were ever to marry, it would be to someone like you.”
“Someone like me?”
He kissed her briefly. “A woman who’s warm and gentle and caring. Someone unselfish and—” he hesitated “—desirable.”
Her throat tightened with emotion, and it was all she could do to meet his gaze. Zach found her desirable. He wanted to make love to her. He didn’t need to say it; the message was there for her to read in his eyes. It wasn’t the desperate passion she’d once craved, but his love, his need to have her in his life, was far more potent than any action he could have taken, any words he could have said.
“Love me, Zach,” she whispered simply.
Zach’s mouth touched hers with a sweet desperate ardor. If she had any lingering doubts they vanished like mist in the sun as his lips took hers, twisting her into tight knots of desire.
His arms locked around her and he rolled onto his back, pulling her with him. His hands outlined her face as though he half expected her to stop him.
“Make me your wife,” she said, bending forward to brush her moist mouth over his.
Zach groaned, and then he did the strangest, most wonderful thing. He laughed. The robust sound echoed across the room and was so infectious that it made Janine laugh, too.
“My sweet Janine,” he said. “You’ve changed my life.” And then he kissed her again, leaving her with no doubts at all.
For a long time afterward, their happiness could be heard in their sighs and gasps and whispered words of love….
The buzzing sound refused to go away. Janine moaned softly and flung out her hand, hoping to find the source of the distraction. But before she could locate it, the noise ceased abruptly.
“Good morning, wife,” Zach whispered.
Her eyes remained closed as she smiled leisurely. “Good morning, husband.” Rolling onto her back, she held her arms open to him. “I had the most marvelous dream last night.”
Zach chuckled softly. “That wasn’t any dream.”
“But it must’ve been,” she said, slipping her arms around his neck and smiling lazily. “Nothing could be that incredible in real life.”
“I didn’t think so, either, but you proved me wrong.” He kissed her tenderly, and then so thoroughly that by the time he lifted his head, Janine was breathless.
Slowly, almost against her will, her eyes drifted open. His were dark with desire. “You’ll be late for work,” she warned him.
His smile was sensuous. “Who cares?”
“Not me,” she murmured. And with a small cry of pleasure, she willingly gave herself to her husband.
Zach was already an hour late for the office when he dragged himself out of bed and headed for the shower. Wearing her husband’s pajama top, Janine wandered into the kitchen and prepared a pot of coffee. She leaned against the counter and smiled into space, hardly aware of the passage of time.
A few minutes later—or perhaps it was longer—Zach stepped behind her and slid his arms around her waist, nuzzling her neck.
“Zach,” she protested, but not too strenuously. She closed her eyes and cradled her arms over his, leaning back against his solid strength. “You’re already late.”
“I know,” he murmured. “If I didn’t have an important meeting this morning, I’d skip work altogether.”
Turning in his arms, Janine tilted back her head to gaze into his eyes. “You’ll be home for dinner?”
“Keep looking at me like that and I’ll be home for lunch.”
Janine smiled. “It’s almost that time now.”
“I know,” he growled, reluctantly pulling away from her. “We’ll go out to dinner tonight,” he said, kissing her again. His mouth was hot on her own, feverish with demand and passion and need. He raised his head, but his eyes remained shut. “Then we’ll come home and celebrate.”
Janine sighed. Married life was beginning to agree with her.
At precisely five, Zach was back. He stood by the door, loosening his tie, when Janine appeared. A smile traveled to his mouth as their eyes met. Neither moved. They stared at each other as if they’d spent years apart instead of a few short hours.
Janine was feeling distinctly light-headed. “Hi,” she managed to say, shocked that her voice sounded more like a hoarse whisper than the cheery greeting she’d intended. “How’d the meeting go?”
“Bad.”
“Bad?”
He nodded slowly and stepped forward, placing his briefcase on the desk. “I was supposed to be listening to an important financial report, but unfortunately all I could do was wonder how much longer the thing would take so I could get home to my wife.”
“Oh.” That wasn’t the most intelligent bit of conversation she’d ever delivered, but just looking at Zach was enough to wipe out all her normal thought processes.
“It got to be almost embarrassing.” His look was intimate and loving as he advanced two more steps toward her. “In the middle of it, I started smiling, and then I embarrassed myself further by laughing outright.”
“Laughing? Something was funny?”
“I was thinking about your definition of romance. The tryst on the moors was supplied by your grandfather. The walk along the beach, hand in hand, was supplied by me after the wedding. But the desperate passion, my dear sweet wife, was something we found together.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I love you.”
They moved toward each other then, but stopped abruptly when the doorbell chimed. Zach’s questioning eyes met hers. Janine shrugged, not knowing who it could possibly be.
The second Zach answered the door, Anton flew into the room, looking more determined than Janine had ever seen him.
“All right, you two, sit down,” he ordered, waving them in the direction of the sofa.
“Gramps?”
“Anton?”
Janine glanced at Zach, but he looked as mystified as she did. So she just shrugged and complied with her grandfather’s demand. Zach sat down next to her.
Gramps paced the carpet directly in front of them. “Janine and I had lunch the other day,” he said, speaking to Zach. “Two things became clear to me then. First and foremost, she’s crazy in love with you, but I doubt she’s told you that.”
“Gramps—” Janine began, but her grandfather silenced her with a single look.
“The next thing I realized is that she’s unhappy. Terribly unhappy. Being in love is difficult enough but—”
“Anton,” Zach broke in, “if you’d—”
Gramps cut him off with the same laser-eyed look he’d sent Janine.
“Don’t interrupt me, boy. I’m on a roll and I’m not about to stop now. If I noticed Janine was a little melancholy at lunch, it was nothing compared to what I’ve been noticing about you.” Suddenly he ceased his pacing and planted himself squarely in front of Zach. “All week I’ve been hearing complaints and rumors about you. Folks in the office claim you’re there all hours o
f the day and night, working until you’re ready to drop.” He paused. “I know you, Zach, probably better than anyone else does. You’re in love with my granddaughter, and it’s got you all tangled up inside.”
“Gramps—”
“Shh.” He dismissed Janine with a shake of his head. “Now, I may be an old man, but I’m not stupid. Maybe the way I went about bringing the two of you together wasn’t the smartest, or the most conventional, but by golly it worked.” He hesitated long enough to smile proudly. “In the beginning I had my doubts. Janine put up a bit of a fuss.”
“I believe you said something about how it’s easier to pluck a live chicken,” Zach inserted, slanting a secret smile at Janine.
“True enough. I never knew that girl had so much spunk. But the fact is, Zachary, as you’ll recall, you weren’t all that keen on the idea yourself. You both think because I’m an old man, I don’t see things. But I do. You were two lonely people, filling up your lives with unimportant relationships, avoiding love, avoiding life. I care about you. Too much to sit back and do nothing.”
“It worked out,” Janine said, wanting to reassure him.
“At first I thought it had. I arranged the trip to Scotland and it looked like everything was falling neatly into place, like in one of those old movies. I couldn’t have been more pleased when you announced that you were going to get married. It was sooner than I’d expected, but I assumed that meant things were progressing nicely. Apparently I was wrong. Now I’m worried.”
“You don’t need to be.”
“That’s not the way I see it,” Gramps said with a fierce glare. “Tell him you love him, Janine. Look Zach in the eye and put aside that silly pride of yours. He needs to know it. He needs to hear it. I told you from the first that he wasn’t going to be an easy man to know, and that you’d have to be patient with him. What I didn’t count on was that damnable pride of yours.”
“You want me to tell Zach I love him? Here? Now?”
“Yes!”
Janine turned to her husband and, feeling a little self-conscious, lowered her eyes.
“Tell him,” Gramps barked.
“I love you, Zach,” she said softly. “I really do.”
Gramps gave a loud satisfied sigh. “Good, good. Okay, Zach, it’s your turn.”
“My turn?”
“Tell Janine what you feel and don’t go all arrogant on me.”
Zach reached for Janine’s hand. He lifted her palm to his mouth and brushed his lips against it. “I love you,” he whispered.
“Add something else,” Gramps instructed, gesturing toward him. “Something like…you’d be a lost and lonely soul without her. Women are impressed by that sort of thing. Damn foolishness, I know, but necessary.”
“I’d be a lost and lonely soul without you,” Zach repeated, then looked back at Janine’s grandfather. “How’d I do?”
“Better than most. Is there anything else you’d like him to say, Janine?”
She gave an expressive sigh. “I don’t think so.”
“Good. Now I want the two of you to kiss.”
“Here? In front of you?”
“Yes,” Gramps insisted.
Janine slipped into Zach’s arms. The smile he shared with her was so devastating that she felt her heart race with anticipation. Her eyes fluttered closed as his mouth settled on hers, thrilling her with promises for all the years to come.
Gently, provocatively, Zach moved his mouth over hers, ending his kiss far too soon to suit Janine. From the shudder that coursed through him, Janine knew it was too soon for him, too. Reluctantly they drew apart. Zach gazed into her eyes, and Janine responded with a soft smile.
“Excellent, excellent.”
Janine had all but forgotten her grandfather’s presence. When she turned away from Zach, she discovered Gramps sitting across from them, his hands on the arms of the leather chair. He looked exceedingly proud of himself. “Are you two going to be all right now?”
“Yes, sir,” Zach answered for them both, his eyes hazy with desire as he smiled at Janine. She could feel herself blushing, and knew her eyes were foggy with the same longing.
“Good!” Gramps declared, nodding once for emphasis. A slow grin overtook his mouth. “I knew all the two of you needed was a little assistance from me.” He inhaled deeply. “Since you’re getting along so well, maybe now would be the time to bring up the subject of children.”
“Anton,” Zach said, rising to his feet. He strode across the room and opened the door. “If you don’t mind, I’ll take care of that myself.”
“Soon?” Gramps wanted to know.
Zach’s eyes met Janine’s. “Soon,” he promised.
WANTED: PERFECT PARTNER
For Arlene Tresness, a grandma like me, a lover of books, a devoted reader of mine.
Thank you for your unfailing support and enthusiasm.
(Your grandchildren think the world of you!)
Prologue
“Is our ad there?” Fifteen-year-old Lindsey Remington whispered to her best friend. She glanced nervously at her bedroom door. Lindsey’s biggest fear was that her mother would find her and Brenda scanning the Dateline section of the Wednesday paper and discover what they’d done.
Okay, so it was a bit…dishonest to write an ad on Meg Remington’s behalf, but it was clear to Lindsey that her mom needed help. She was convinced that Meg wanted to remarry, whether she knew it or not.
It wasn’t as if Lindsey could pull a potential husband out of nowhere. So she wrote the ad, with her best friend advising her.
“Here,” Brenda said excitedly, pointing to the middle of the page. “It’s here. Oh, my goodness! It’s really here, just the way we wrote it.”
Lindsey found the ad. She read aloud:
“Wanted: Perfect partner. I’m dating-shy, divorced and seeking a man with marriage in mind. I look like a beauty queen, cook like a mom, kiss like a woman in love. Box 1234.”
“It sounds even better in print,” Brenda said.
“Do you think anyone will actually respond?” Lindsey asked.
“I bet we get lots of letters.”
“I still think we should’ve said her kisses taste better than chocolate.”
“It didn’t fit. Remember?” They’d worked long and hard on the wording. Lindsey had wanted to describe her mother as “stunning,” and Brenda was afraid it might not meet the truth-in-advertising rules.
All right, so her mother wasn’t fashion model material, but she was very pretty. Or she could be, with a little assistance from the magazines Lindsey had been reading lately. Luckily Meg had a daughter who knew the ropes.
“Don’t worry, Linds,” Brenda said with a romantic sigh. “This is the best thing you could ever have done for your mother.”
Lindsey hoped her mom appreciated her efforts. “Just remember, this guy has to be perfect. We’ll need to be careful who we pick.”
“No problem. If we don’t like the sound of one guy, we’ll choose someone else,” Brenda said, as if they were guaranteed to have tons of applicants. “That’s the beauty of our plan. We’ll screen all the applicants before your mother has a chance to date them. How many teenagers get to choose their own stepfathers? Not many, I bet.”
Lindsey returned her attention to the ad, gnawing on the corner of her lip. She was experiencing a twinge of pride along with a mild case of guilt.
Her mother wasn’t going to like this. When Meg learned what she and Brenda had done, she’d probably get all bent out of shape.
As for the ad, Lindsey figured if she were a man inclined to read the Dateline section, the ad would intrigue her.
“Some men will write just because your mom’s pretty, but it’s the part about her being a good cook that’ll really work,” Brenda assured her. “My grandma says Grandpa married her because her German potato salad was so good. Can you believe it?”
Brenda brought up a good point. “How will we know if a man is marrying her for her looks or her meat loaf o
r ’cause he loves her?”
“We won’t,” Brenda said, “but by then we’ll be out of the picture. Your mother will be on her own.”
Lindsey wished she knew more about men. Unfortunately her experience was limited. She’d only gone on two real dates, both times to school dances. And her mother had been a chaperone.
“The day will come when Mom will appreciate what we’ve done for her,” Lindsey said. “She’s the one who’s always saying how important it is to go after your dreams. Well, this is my dream for her. She wants a man. She just doesn’t know it yet.”
“All she needs is a little help from us.”
“And she’s got it,” Lindsey said, smiling broadly.
One
Those girls were up to something. Meg Remington peeked in her fifteen-year-old daughter’s bedroom to see Lindsey and her best friend, Brenda, crouched on the floor beside the bed. They were speaking in heated whispers.
Meg cleared her throat and instantly both girls were silent.
“Hi, Mom,” Lindsey said, her bright blue eyes flashing.
Meg knew the look, which generally spelled trouble. “What are you two doing?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing,” Brenda echoed with angelic innocence.
Meg crossed her arms and leaned her shoulder against the doorjamb. She had all the time in the world, and she wanted them to know it. “Tell me why I don’t believe that. You two have the look.”
“What look?” Lindsey repeated, turning to Brenda.
“The one every mother recognizes. You’re up to something, and I want to know what.” She crossed her ankles, indicating that she’d make herself comfortable until they were ready to let her in on their little secret. She could outwait them if need be.
“All right, if you must know,” Lindsey said with a shrug of defeat. She leapt to her feet and Brenda followed suit. “But we haven’t finished planning everything yet.”
“I must know.” Meg was struck by how beautiful her daughter had become over the past few years. She’d gone from the gangly, awkward, big-teeth stage to real beauty almost overnight. Meg’s ex-husband, Dave, had commented on the changes in Lindsey when she’d flown from Seattle to Los Angeles to visit over spring break. Their little girl was growing up.