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He sighed "I was on a winning streak I didn’t kno long it was going to last But sending for you was the stupidest thing I could’ve done Theet away from this Neanderthal "Go ahead without me," she told him "I’ll phone for a taxi"

Oliver nearly doubled over as he burst into laughter "La-di-da Her highness requires a private conveyance Do you actually believe a town the size of Colville has a taxi service?"

"Oh" Eiving sort I’ll still let you ride with me and if you’re real nice I won’t make you sit in the back of the truck"

By this tiry with Oliver, she wanted to s?" she snapped

"Absolutely not" His sulations don’t permit it I worked too hard for this license to mess it up over a beer"

She had half a mind to lean over and sain And yet…the thought was strangely appealing

She and Oliver clambered into a rickety old truck driven by a bearded taciturn man named Michael Michaels--known as Mike-Mike He had remarkably little to say, which was fine with Emma Preferable to Grizzly’s idea of conversation, anyway

On the ride back to Colville Emma reminded herself that she wasn’t attracted to Oliver Hamilton Still, if he wanted to kiss her--not now, of course, but later--she was afraid shealtitude sickness There was definitely so in the air, but it wasn’t Christmas and it sure wasn’t love

Emma sat between the two men with Boots, plus her purse and briefcase, on her lap and Oscar down by Oliver’s feet When they arrived at the field, Eround She thanked Mike-Mike politely for the ride

Oliver handed his new friend a few dollars With the two dogs trotting behind them, Emma and Oliver headed toward the Cessna

"How’d the interview go?" Oliver asked as they approached the plane

The tension left her shoulders "I think Sophie is one of thewomen I’ve everit the usual inspection

"She’s loved one h she doubted he was listening

"Harry died twenty years ago, and she’s loved him and only him all these years I find that so romantic"

"Romantic," he repeated absently

"Did you hear lanced back at her "I heard you So what’s the big deal? Men and women stay in love all the time"

"They don’t," Emma said "Do you knohat the divorce rate is in this country? One out of every two es fails That’s a fifty-percent failure rate Men and women don’t stay in love, and do you knohy?"

He yawned

"It’s because there aren’t any genuinely romantic men left in this world Where’s Cary Grant e need hiart? Rock Hudson? No, wait Not hih he was very romantic in all those Doris Day ht he was pretty romantic"

This time she couldn’t resist and slapped his shoulder "It’s all one big joke to you, isn’t it?" Without giving him a chance to respond, she said, "I’m serious"

"There are romantic men in this world, E like a bunch of old movie stars, either Real rone As for couples staying in love, my parents have been married for thirty-six years"

Suddenly Oliver Hamilton was the expert "You know all about this subject, do you?" She let him hear the sarcasm in her voice

"You’d probably consider my brother a romantic At least he tried to be Unfortunately, the whole thing backfired on him"

Emma kneanted her to ask what happened and she refused to She needn’t have worried because Oliver was intent on telling her, whether she wanted to be told or not

"Jack took his girlfriend to a fancy restaurant in order to propose He wanted to do it up big, you know So he had the chef bake the engage as he described the details of his brother’s attempt at romance "The problem is that when Ginny ate the cake, she sed the dia" He slapped his knee now, overcoet in the plane"

But Oliver seemed determined to finish his story "I told him he was lucky Ginny didn’t choke to death on that diamond They’ve beenrats, both as cute as can be"

Emma was about to comment when a white van drove into the airfield Boots started barking frantically E in order to calm her She’d welcome the opportunity to clean her up Maybe she could sneak her into the apartment and do that later today

The van pulled up next to the plane Eroaned Anicatcher," Oliver said out of the side of his h to read it for herself

"I can see that"

"Afternoon, folks," the tall thin rowled and Oscar joined him in perfect harmony

"Good afternoon, Officer Wilson," E on his jacket

"Do you know that dog?"

"Ah…we only justOfficer Wilson "Oscar’s license is paid in full He’s not a local but he’s legal" He grinned, apparently at his own cleverness

"I’"

"I nacatcher nodded in a friendly fashion; he seemed to approve of her choice of names "Do you plan to adopt Boots officially?"