Page 7 (1/2)

In a surprisingly short period of tih a nu would be planned by ten that night If they were going to work fast, he would have to work faster

Mia drewfor dress ideas yet, Grarandh anymore," she said quietly "It’s tiranddaughter sitting next to her and clasped Katie’s hands "Katie will make your dress"

Make? Zach blinked stupidly Couldn’t they just buy it…and return it when the wedding was canceled?

There was a second of silence, followed by an explosion of conversation Mia raced around David to hug and kiss her sister Colleen wiped away a tear Katie sirimly

"Are you sure, Grammy?" Katie asked

"Yes You were always the most patient and the best seamstress You’ll make your sister a beautiful dress"

Mia pulled Katie froether and find the absolutely best pattern and then come home and make it I’m so happy!"

Chairs were pushed back as the faain all Zach wanted to do was grab his kid and bolt for freedoly wiry Grandma Tessa pulled him to his feet, where he was ushered into the crowd

David owed hirabbed hi time

4

Z ach and David didn’t escape until well afteras an escape David had seeratulated hiht to have his assistant, Dora, make reservations at a nearby hotel After the post-dinner brandies, not towith a Barber of Seville CD, he was in no shape to face the long drive back to Los Angeles

Instead he and David bedded down in adjoining rooms in a small beach-front hotel that had probably been fashionable back in the nineteen-forties

He’d barely turned out the lights and shifted on a mattress that had seen better days when he heard footsteps rustling on the carpet He clicked the light back on

David stood in the doorway between their roorown-up He was capable and co bathrobe, with his hair mussed and a thousand questions in his eyes, he looked like a little boy Zach shoved several pillows behind his back so he could sit up, then motioned to the room’s only chair

"Let’s talk about it," he said

David shifted his weight from foot to foot, then slowly headed for the dark blue ar between his knees

"So what’d you think?" he asked, not quite looking at his father

Zach considered the question There was no way he was going to tell his son what he really thought about anything "They’re nice people"

"Yeah?" David glanced up, his expression hopeful "I really like thereat and I love her a lot, so the fa a plastic race car in the cereal box"

David grinned "Exactly I like spending ti that his son would get to whatever he had to say eventually

"I don’t rerand of Zach’s mother

"You hat, six, when she died?"

David nodded "And I never ured the day had been crappy enough without hi to think about Ainsley, or his ex-in-laws

"I really like the idea of a big faure out Mia’s grandparents Grandpa Lorenzo is always talking about vines and grapes I don’t get the whole wine thing, but it’s fun to listen He tells great stories about going back to Europe during the Second World War and ss frorandparents found these really old architecture plans based on son the house"

Zach listened without saying anything He was just a single father--a laorked in an office No way he could compete with Spanish nobleainst a wall and demand a fair trial He’d done the best he could Ainsley had been the least maternal woman known to the human race, and when she’d bailed, he’d been left alone with a child He and his son had grown up together Sometimes Zach even allowed himself to think he’d done a damn fine job

"I was an only child as well," he said casually "I knohat it’s like to want a big faether"

David sed unco, Dad"

"I know you’re not You’re saying that your attraction to Mia isn’t just because she’s a pretty girl who makes your heart beat faster"