“Use any excuse you have to. Just get your dad there,” Zoe told Kristy.

“My mom’s taking the night off from the restaurant, and I’ve already got the romantic music picked out.

“Plan B, we fight in school. Both parents will have to meet to take care of that.

“Plan C, is the Girl Scout field trip to the beach next weekend. I’ve already fixed it with the troop leader so your dad and my mom will have to be in the same car and spend the whole day together chaperoning. And remember, our whole plan will be ruined if my mom finds out what your dad’s job is, so we have to keep quiet about that, okay?”

“I don’t want to do Plan X, Zoe.”

“It’s last-ditch, only if nothing else works. And it’s not gonna happen anyway.”

Zoe was right as usual.

It was time to invent a family however they could.

Dear Reader,

After looking at winter’s bleak landscape and feeling her icy cold breezes, I found nothing to be more rewarding than savoring the warm ocean breezes from a poolside lounge chair as I read a soon-to-be favorite book or two! Of course, as I choose my books for this long-anticipated outing, this month’s Silhouette Romance offerings will be on the top of my pile.

Cara Colter begins the month with Chasing Dreams (#1818), part of her A FATHER’s WISH trilogy. In this poignant title, a beautiful academic moves outside her comfort zone and feels alive for the first time in the arms of a brawny man who would seem her polar opposite. When an unexpected night of passion results in a pregnancy, the hero and heroine learn that duty can bring its own sweet rewards, in Wishing and Hoping (#1819), the debut book in beloved series author Susan Meier’s THE CUPID CAMPAIGN miniseries. Elizabeth Harbison sets out to discover whether bustling New York City will prove the setting for a modern-day fairy tale when an ordinary woman comes face-to-face with one of the world’s most eligible royals, in If the Slipper Fits (#1820). Finally, Lissa Manley rounds out the month with The Parent Trap (#1821), in which two matchmaking girls set out to invent a family.

Be sure to return next month when Cara Colter concludes her heartwarming trilogy.

Happy reading!

Ann Leslie Tuttle

Associate Senior Editor

The Parent Trap
Lissa Manley

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Books by Lissa Manley

Silhouette Romance

The Bachelor Chronicles #1665

The Bridal Chronicles #1689

The Baby Chronicles #1705

Love Chronicles #1749

In a Cowboy’s Arms #1769

The Parent Trap #1821

LISSA MANLEY

has been an avid reader of romance since her teens and firmly believes that writing romances with happy endings is her dream job. She lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her college-sweetheart husband of nineteen years, Kevin, two children, Laura and Sean, and two feisty toy poodles named Lexi and Angel, who run the household and get away with it. She has a degree in business from the University of Oregon, having discovered the joys of writing well after her college years. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, crafting, attending her children’s sporting events and relaxing at the family vacation home on the Oregon coast.

Lissa loves to hear from her readers. She can be reached at P.O. Box 91336, Portland, OR 97291-0336, or at http://lissamanley.com.

This book is dedicated to my two writing consultants, Lexi and Angel, who were there by my side as I wrote every word. And also to Jade, my consultant-in-training, who will join them on the couch as I write the next book. Thanks for the company, girls.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Prologue

“Are you sure this is going to work, Zoe?” Kristy Clark asked, chewing on her thumbnail. Kristy desperately wanted to believe her new best friend’s plan to invent a family would work, but wondered if she was stupid to try to get her dad to fall in love. He never even went out on any dates or anything.

Zoe Lindstrom rolled her blue eyes as she yanked a frilly white wedding dress onto her Malibu Barbie. “Sure it’s going to work. We’re inventors, just like my grandpa.”

“But do you really think we can make a family?” Kristy shifted on the porch stairs as she tried to pull a plastic comb through her Skipper doll’s tangled brown hair so Skipper would look good in her flower-girl outfit. “Isn’t it kind of…well, impossible?” To Kristy, an instant family, complete with built-in sister, seemed like a little too much to hope for. And having a mom…well, that was just a dream, a beautiful fantasy, really.

But, oh, the thought of having a mom she could talk to about girl stuff and go shopping with! Sure, her dad was great. But he was a man. What did he know about the coolest nail polish colors?

Zoe sifted through the shoe box full of Barbie clothes on the porch stairs, pulling out a Barbie-sized wedding veil and tiny white satin shoes. “I don’t have a dad, you don’t have a mom. Your dad is so funny, and my mom likes to laugh, and they both like to work out and they both own restaurants. They’re perfect for each other. How hard can it be?” She plopped the veil on Barbie’s head, then shoved the shoes on her feet.

“But what if they don’t fall in love?” Kristy wanted a whole family more than anything, but her dad had to love the woman he married, if he ever did manage to find someone he was interested in. That seemed pretty impossible right now. She was only eight, but it wasn’t hard to see that he still really missed her mom, even though it’d been seven years since she died and went to heaven.

Zoe flipped her blond hair over her shoulders and gave her an exasperated look. “Would you relax? Everything’ll work out fine as long as we follow my grandpa’s formula. Make a plan. Go over the plan again. Ex…um…oh, yeah, execute. Execute again if we have to.” She smiled and held up her Barbie, who was decked out for a wedding. “As long as we don’t blow anything up like my grandpa usually does, everything will be okay.”

Kristy wished she could be as sure about all of this as Zoe was. Zoe was so cool, so confident, so much fun. All the things Kristy longed to be.

Maybe going over The Plan would help. “So Plan A comes first, right?” Kristy asked.

Zoe nodded. “Right. Plan A, dinner at my house tomorrow night. Use any excuse you have to, just get your dad there. My mom’s taking the night off from the restaurant, and I’ve already got the romantic music picked out.”

“Gotcha.” Kristy fiddled with the end of her braid, admiring how well Zoe had planned all of this. “Then Plan B, right?” She wasn’t hot on Plan B, but would do it if it helped invent her a family.

“Right again. Plan B, we fight at school. Both parents will have to meet to take care of that.”

“Plan C after that.”

“Yup. Plan C, Girl Scout field trip to the beach next weekend. I’ve already fixed it with the troop leader so your dad and my mom will have to be in the same car and spend the whole day together chaperoning. My grandpa told my mom he needs her car that day, so she can’t offer to drive herself. And remember, our whole plan will probably be ruined if my mom finds out what your dad’s job is and if your dad finds out what my mom’s job is, so we have to be quiet about that, okay?”

“Okay.” Kristy swallowed hard. “And then…Plan X.”

Zoe gazed at her, suddenly looking serious. “Plan X is last-ditch, only executed if nothing else works.”

“I don’t want to do Plan X,” Kristy said, biting her lip. Her dad would ground her for life if she actually went through with it.

Zoe put her hand on Kristy’s arm and squeezed. “Don’t worry about Plan X. It’s not gonna happen.” She picked up her Ken doll and adjusted his black tuxedo. “But if it does, it’ll be okay. We’ll be safe the whole time, Kris. No one will get hurt.”

Kristy hoped so. She wanted to invent a family a lot, but Plan X made her kind of nervous.

Too bad. She was determined to be more like Zoe. Confident. Fearless. Sure of herself and their plan.

“This is my mom, and this is your dad,” Zoe said, picking up Bride Barbie and Groom Ken. Then she gently pressed them together as if they were kissing, her mouth curling into a huge smile. “We can do this, Kris. If we want to be a family, we have to.”

Zoe was right, as usual.

It was time to invent a family however they could.

Chapter One

“Here, Mom, put this on.”

Jill Lindstrom put down the lasagna she’d just taken out of the oven, then swung around and met her nine-year-old daughter Zoe’s excited gaze. Zoe had a bottle of Jill’s favorite perfume held high, her finger on the spray button, ready to blast Jill in the face with the scent.

Jill quickly danced back a step, out of spray range, then raised an eyebrow, dubiously regarding the bottle of perfume. “Geez, Zoe, watch where you point that stuff.”

Zoe rolled her eyes. “Just put some on.”

“I already put perfume on this morning,” Jill said, moving to the fridge to take out the Caesar salad she’d made earlier. “I don’t need any more.”

“C’mon, Mom—”

Jill held up a hand. “Look, I already wore the jeans and sweater you set out, and I left my hair down as you so forcefully demanded.” She put the salad down and went in search of the salad tongs. “I’m drawing the line at excessive amounts of perfume. We want to welcome Kristy and her dad, not knock them out with loads of Ralph Lauren.”

Zoe huffed, flicked her blond hair over her shoulder and spun around to leave the kitchen. “Okay, Mom. I’ll be waiting in the living room.”

Jill watched her go, shaking her head, one side of her mouth quirked. It certainly didn’t take a genius to figure out that Zoe was very, very concerned that Jill look—and apparently smell—her best. Similarly, she suspected it was no coincidence that Kristy’s father was single, just as Jill was.

Looked as if Zoe and her new best friend were up to a little matchmaking. Was that thanks to the influence of Zoe’s grandpa? Zoe absolutely adored her grandpa, and he had made no secret of his desire to see Jill married again.

Jill rolled her eyes. No matter who was involved, any matchmaking was a waste of time. Even though it had been six years since her ex-husband, Doug, had left her for another woman, she still wasn’t ready to put her heart, and self-respect, on the line again. She might never be.

Jill returned to the fridge and dug out the salad dressing and Parmesan cheese. As she gathered up the salad plates, she reiterated to herself how important it was that she not get sucked into any sort of relationship. And not just because she wasn’t ready to open herself up to again being ditched when someone better came along. Although that was a darn good reason all on its own.

No, she also needed to focus on her restaurant, The Wildflower Grill, and make it a success, an elusive dream she was determined to catch and hold on to.

Jill took the salad fixings to the dining-room table, her mind going over familiar territory, fueling her desire to become a successful, well-respected businesswoman.

She was so tired of being known only as the daughter of “Wacky” Winters, Elm Corners, Oregon’s resident inventor. The goofy guy with wild hair and thick, horn-rimmed glasses who ran around wearing a soot-stained apron and bright red hiking boots. Being the only relative of a man who blew up new inventions—and everything else he touched—on a regular basis wasn’t easy.

Jill returned to the kitchen, a flash of guilt sizzling through her. She wasn’t proud of the way she felt about her dad’s status in town, but there it was.

He wasn’t a bad man. He’d single-handedly raised Jill since her mother had died when Jill was three—not an easy task—and had always been there when she’d needed him. But there was no getting around the fact that he was the town joke, and she’d always lived in that shadow. Doug leaving her hadn’t helped. It was past time to step out into the light, make something of herself and gain the respect she’d never had. Owning a successful restaurant, being a valued member of Elm Corners’ business community was just the way to do that.

She bit her lip, well-known worries running through her like a dark tide. She’d slid back in her efforts to step up to the next level of success and finally expand her restaurant as she’d been wanting to do for the past few months.

Last week, the recently vacated space next door to her restaurant had been snapped up by someone before Jill could negotiate a lease. Just her luck that someone else would not only be opening another restaurant a mere two doors down, but also that they had been able to snatch the coveted lease out from under her nose. She had a mind to march right over to The Steak Place and give the new owner a piece of her mind.

Just as she picked up the lasagna to take it to the table, the doorbell rang. Following Zoe’s specific instruction that Jill be the one to answer the door—boy, she’d raised a bossy kid—Jill dropped the lasagna off in the dining room, then headed to the front door, meeting an excited-looking Zoe there. Jill calmed the flurry of butterflies that had taken up residence in her tummy. It had been a long time—forever, actually—since a man other than her father had come to dinner.

She was being ridiculous worrying, though. She had no reason to be nervous. This was dinner with her daughter’s best friend and her dad, nothing more.

Jill had agreed to the dinner because it was important that she become acquainted with the people her daughter spent time with. Maybe it was overprotective, but besides her dad, Zoe was Jill’s only family, the single most important person in her life. She’d protect her no matter what, even if it meant agreeing to invite to dinner a man she’d never met. They’d enjoy a nice meal, and that would be that.

Besides, Kristy’s dad—what had Zoe said his name was?—might be a short, middle-aged balding guy with bad breath and a paunch. Suited her just fine.

Putting on a smile, she opened the door to greet Kristy and her dad, vaguely noticing that Zoe had jumped forward to pull Kristy into the house.

Jill momentarily lost the ability to speak when she saw the tall, well-built, attractive man standing next to Kristy, the setting sun at his back.

Not balding. Not short. No paunch in sight. Early thirties, if her guess was right. And while she couldn’t possibly tell from this distance, she was pretty sure a guy who looked as good as Kristy’s dad did—all brown, wavy hair, dark, seductive eyes and broad shoulders—wouldn’t have bad breath.

Okey-dokey. So he was her fantasy man come true in the looks department, and she’d always been a sucker for a handsome guy. Didn’t matter.

She couldn’t let it.

A bottle of red wine in one hand, Brandon Clark stared at the tall, breathtakingly pretty blonde in the doorway, waiting for her to speak. She stared back, her blue eyes wide and unblinking in the light of the setting, early-autumn sun.

“You must be Zoe’s mom.” He extended his free hand, initiating the introductions, since she wasn’t saying anything. “I’m Brandon Clark.”

The woman—Jill, if he remembered correctly—blinked rapidly several times, her smooth, creamy complexion coloring the tiniest bit.

Brandon drew his eyebrows together. Why was she acting so surprised? He resisted the urge to check if he had something disgusting stuck to his face.

Before he could confirm or deny that fear, she smoothed her cream-colored sweater down and spoke. “Uh…yes, yes, of course. I’m Jill Lindstrom, Zoe’s mother.” She took his proffered hand in her much smaller, smoother one, sending tiny streaks of warmth up his arm, taking him off guard. When was the last time that had happened?

“Please, come in,” she said, quickly pulling her hand from his and gesturing him into the house. She turned to Kristy, standing with Zoe in the foyer.

Both girls were looking back and forth between him and Jill, expectant looks on their faces. Oh, man…

“Hey, Kristy,” Jill said, waving. “Glad you two could make it.”

Kristy smiled eagerly. “Hi, Mrs. Lindstrom.” She looked at Zoe and let out a silly laugh, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

Brandon raised one brow. Kristy definitely looked as if she had a big, juicy secret. The suspicions he’d had about Kristy and Zoe’s motives for this dinner flared again, setting him on a slight edge. Even though Kristy had sworn she and Zoe just wanted him to meet Jill for no particular reason at all, he smelled a major setup. Especially now that he’d seen her.

He tried not to let that unfortunate information bother him, even though anything remotely romantic coming of tonight’s dinner was impossible. No way was he going to start down a road that might set him up to lose someone he loved again. Not after Sandy had been taken away from him in such a lingering, heart-ripping way. Not even a gorgeous, family sort of woman like Jill could sway him from that vow.

Zoe gestured in the direction of a small hallway to the rear of the entryway. “You two go on into the kitchen and talk,” Zoe said as if she were an adult talking to kids instead of vice versa. “We’ll be upstairs.” She and Kristy took off up the stairs, giggling the whole way.

Brandon watched them go, shaking his head. “I think we have a couple of matchmakers on our hands,” he said to Jill, following her down the hallway. The smell of either lasagna or spaghetti and what he pegged as garlic bread filled the air, making his mouth water.

And yearn for what he used to have. Dinners in a warm kitchen with a woman he loved. Cleaning up together afterward. Cuddling on the couch later and watching TV. Heading upstairs to bed…

Jill turned around when she hit the quaint kitchen, which had oak cabinets and blue-and-white checked curtains. She spread her glossy-looking lips into a big smile. “You figured that out, too?”

He nodded, shoving thoughts of another time, another life far away where they wouldn’t bother him quite so much. “Hope you like red.” He handed Jill the wine, relieved that it didn’t seem as if she was in on the whole matchmaking scheme.

“Love it, and it will go perfectly with the lasagna.” She set the wine on the counter, then moved to the cupboard. “Good choice.”

“But not exactly lucky,” he said, noting how Jill’s wavy, shoulder-length hair color was an unusual combination of honey-gold and wheat-colored blond he really liked. Was it as soft as it looked? “Kristy has been talking of nothing but this dinner for days. I was constantly updated about the menu possibilities, so red wine was a no-brainer.”

“Ah, I see. I’ll just get a couple of wineglasses out, along with the garlic bread in the oven, and then we can eat.” She gestured to a wooden stool at a small eating bar on the other side of the Formica counter. “Have a seat for a minute.”

Brandon sat, propping his forearms on the edge of the counter. “So you suspected the girls’ motives, too?”

“It didn’t take too much to figure it out,” Jill said, setting two wineglasses on the counter. She then moved to the oven, picking up an oven mitt along the way. “Zoe was pretty obvious and very persistent.” Bending, she opened the oven and checked the foil-covered loaf of garlic bread.

Brandon rubbed his jaw, doing his best not to stare at the nice view of Jill’s rear end, but failing. Man, she looked good in those jeans. “Hmm. Must have been planned down to a T. Kristy told me what to wear and asked me if I’d brushed my teeth before we left.” He let out a rueful laugh, impressed by the girls’ planning. “I’m sure she would have hit me with some aftershave if she’d thought of it.”

Jill straightened, the bread in her hand. “I agree they’ve manipulated us into this evening for their own ridiculous purposes.” She looked at him, a hint of regret shining in her pretty eyes. “I hope you don’t mind too much.”

He shook his head. “Nope. I agreed to this because I wanted to spend more time with Kristy and because Zoe is the only friend Kristy has made since we moved to Elm Corners two months ago. I’m not about to squash her enthusiasm for their friendship.”

He didn’t add that he was ecstatic that Kristy seemed to be happy for the first time in forever. He prayed she settled into small-town life and that their relationship would grow stronger now that he’d ditched his job as a corporate attorney with killer hours in favor of opening a restaurant so he could spend more time with Kristy. Being a restaurateur was in his blood; he’d grown up in the business in Seattle, watching his father run two successful fine dining establishments with his brother.

Brandon loved his daughter more than life itself, and was determined to raise her right, despite having to do it alone. Even though he would still be working a lot of hours, especially until he hired a manager, Kristy could spend time with him at the restaurant after school. He was his own boss now, a blessing he planned to take advantage of to build a closer relationship with his daughter.

“Well, Zoe seems fond of Kristy, too,” Jill said, putting the bread on a cutting board. “It’s like they’ve been friends forever.” She made quick work of the bread, cutting it into thick slices and setting it in a cloth-lined wicker basket.

“Anything I can do?” Brandon asked, feeling as if he needed to do something besides just show up and eat.

“You could pour the wine. I’ll have Zoe pour her and Kristy’s drinks.”

Brandon opened the wine and poured it, then took both glasses and the bottle to the dining-room table, set with casual stoneware and utensils with chunky metal handles. Jill brought the bread in and called the girls.

A few minutes later Zoe and Kristy bounded into the dining room, their faces awash in speculative looks. Zoe poured them their drinks—grape soda pop, a special treat—and then all four of them sat down to eat.

Jill served everyone lasagna, which looked delicious, and Caesar salad covered in Parmesan cheese and croutons. Kristy started the bread around the table, and Brandon served himself a big slice.

Before he could dig in to his meal, Zoe piped up with, “Hey, Mr. Clark, did you know my mom belongs to The Health Hut?” She gave him an eager grin. “Don’t you work out all the time?”

Brandon gave her an indulgent smile. Nine-year-old girls certainly weren’t very subtle. “Actually, Zoe, I do. I’ve been running since we moved here because I haven’t had time to join a gym.” He turned his attention to Jill. “What do you think of The Health Hut?”

She lifted one slim shoulder. “I think it’s the only gym in Elm Corners, so I like it.”

“Maybe you should join, Mr. Clark,” Zoe suggested, her eyes alight with enthusiasm. “You two could work out together.”

While the thought of Jill Lindstrom in workout gear sounded great—he was pretty sure she’d have great legs—Brandon wouldn’t ever spend any personal time with her; dating definitely wasn’t on his to-do list. “I don’t know,” he said, attempting to sound noncommittal. It wouldn’t be fair to get the girls’ hopes up.

His tactic rolled right off Zoe, who looked at her mom and said, “Mom, you should take him to the gym with you tomorrow and help him find out about a membership.”

Jill glanced at Zoe, then took a healthy swig of wine. “I’m certainly willing to show him around the Hut if he wants me to, but it’s up to him.” She turned her attention his way, her mouth curved into a tight smile that seemed to say, Humor them and they’ll lay off.

He liked her style, and her idea. “I’ll get back to you on that, okay?”

“Okay,” Jill said, pushing her hair behind one ear. “I go three times a week after Zoe goes to school.”

He nodded but didn’t reply, eating instead. Man, she was pretty, and nice, too. Very, very appealing in a lot of ways. Honestly, he kind of wanted to take her up on her offer and hang out at the gym with her. Just the thought of Jill in shorts and a T-shirt turned him on.

Whoa. Spending any personal time with Jill, especially any time that exposed her long, lean legs was a bad, bad idea, one that he was sure sounded so damn good only because he’d been without any serious female companionship for so long. A necessary evil he ruthlessly enforced to protect himself and Kristy from hurt.

He had to remember that. Though surprisingly he regretted it, Jill had to remain nothing more than his daughter’s best friend’s mother.

After a lively discussion about the girls’ school, an amusing story about Kristy’s kitty, Beau, and Jill’s advice to Brandon about the best place to have his dress shirts dry-cleaned, Zoe and Kristy popped up from their seats, grabbed their plates and hightailed it out of the dining room. Zoe, the crafty little manipulator, dimmed the dining-room lights on the way into the kitchen, leaving Jill alone with Brandon in the slightly darkened room.

Jill suppressed an amused yet wary smile and finished off her glass of wine. Before she could start the conversation back up, flowery instrumental music floated in from the stereo in the family room. Apparently the girls were setting the mood.

A shiver of anxiety shot through Jill. She deftly avoided Brandon’s hot, dark gaze, forcing herself to relax, even though sitting in a darkened room with a good-looking man she’d just met, music wafting through the air, wasn’t exactly relaxing.

She shoved that thought aside. She was in charge of her romantic destiny, no matter what kind of corny, contrived romantic situations Zoe and Kristy cooked up.

“They’re not terribly subtle, are they?” Brandon said over his wineglass, his dark eyes twinkling.

Jill shook her head. “No, they’re not,” she said.

“Next thing you know they’ll be herding us to a church to get married.”

While she liked the fact that Brandon could joke about a situation that could be construed as embarrassing and awkward, a flash of guilt shot through her. “I’m…sorry for all of this. I knew they were up to something, but I had no idea how far they’d take it.”

He put down his empty wineglass, holding up a hand. “Don’t worry about it. I think it’s kind of endearing, and I have to admire the lengths they’ve gone to to make this work. They’ve really put some thought into all of this.”

Jill’s face warmed. “I’m afraid we have my daughter to thank for most of it. She’s quite determined, and I’m pretty sure she had some outside help.”

He raised his eyebrows in an unspoken question.

Jill sighed. “My dad spends a lot of time with Zoe, and he’s…well, he’s an inventor of sorts, and Zoe is really into the whole inventing thing.” Jill accepted that situation because of the good relationship Zoe and her grandpa had. But deep down, it bothered Jill that her daughter was so keen on following in “Wacky” Winters’s footsteps, a path that had been a burden to Jill her whole life.

“So…what?” Brandon threw her a quizzical look. “You think they’re trying to invent a mom and dad by having you and me get together?”

“Pretty much.”

Brandon laughed, a deep rich sound that made goose bumps scatter across Jill’s skin. “Well, I have to hand it to them. They’ve done an amazing job.” He hit her with a crooked grin, his eyes intent on her face, setting off a hot shiver. “If I were in the market for a romance, I’d hire them.”

Jill quickly looked at her plate, ignoring how his simple look lit fires inside her, choosing instead to focus on how much she wanted to ask Brandon why he was so obviously not in the market for a romance. But she held back. That was too personal a question to ask a man she’d just met, even if he did light up her senses and turn her dormant libido back on.

She focused instead on how she appreciated that he was being such a good sport about their scheming daughters. She sneaked a glance at him, also really liking his dark good looks, charming sense of humor and knee-weakening smile.

Before she could go very far with that thought, a loud explosion sounded from out back, rattling the silverware on the table.

Her face heating—darn her dad’s timing—Jill quickly glanced at Brandon, noting with little surprise that his dark eyes were wide with shock.

“What was that?” Brandon asked.

“Oh, don’t worry,” she said, casually waving a hand in the air, hoping to minimize the whole embarrassing event. “It’s just my dad…inventing in his workshop out back.”

She fiddled with her napkin, praying her dad didn’t follow his usual routine and come inside. The last thing she wanted was for Brandon to meet her eccentric father—many people reacted to his goofy looks with disbelieving laughter—although why she cared at all what Brandon thought was a mystery.

Brandon smiled, his dark eyes twinkling. “Ah, good. I thought maybe an airliner had crashed in the backyard.”

Jill let out a sigh, wishing she could appreciate his joke. “No, no, nothing as dramatic as that. Just my dad doing his thing.” The thing that had set her apart from everybody when she’d been growing up. How many times had other kids teased her because of her dad’s crazy invention antics, chanting “Wacky Winters is so weird,” over and over again? How many times had someone in town laughingly asked how Wacky was, a question that was always followed by something like “Has he blown up anything important yet?”

Right on schedule, she heard the back door open and close. “Jilly,” her dad called. “You here?”

Jill rolled her eyes. Oh, brother. Her dad knew darn well she was here, since he’d undoubtedly been in on the girls’ matchmaking plan. “Yes, Dad,” she replied, resigned to the inevitable introductions—and Brandon’s amusement. “In the dining room.”

A moment later her dad burst through the door into the dining room, his wild gray curly hair sticking out at all angles, his black horn-rimmed glasses—held together with duct tape—askew. Every inch of his six-foot-two-inch frame was covered in black soot and bits of what looked like…bright pink silly string? What in the world had he been doing this time?

He straightened his glasses and smoothed his hair, which didn’t make his kinky hair smooth at all. It just made the top flat and the bottom fluffier. “Sorry for the noise. Just wanted to let you know I’m fine.” His blue eyes caught on Brandon. “Hey, Brandon. Good to see you here.”

Jill pulled in her chin. “You two know each other?”

Brandon nodded and stood. “We met picking the girls up from their Girl Scout meetings.” He thrust out his hand, looking pleased to see her dad again, not a trace of laughter popping from his mouth. “Good to see you, Wacky.”

Her dad wiped his hand on his pants and shook Brandon’s hand. “You, too, Brandon.” He looked at Jill. “I’m not going to interrupt you two anymore, Jilly.” He wagged his eyebrows suggestively, a sure sign he’d had a hand in inviting Brandon here this evening. “Gotta go clean up. Send the girls out so I can show them my latest project.” Ever since she was big enough, Zoe had been her grandpa’s assistant; she spent hours hanging out in his lab with him, working on his various projects. She’d become quite the little inventor in her own right. Jill only hoped Zoe would eventually find other interests.

With that, Jill’s dad left the dining room, a long length of toilet paper stuck to the bottom of one shoe.

Jill snorted under her breath. Really attractive, Dad.

Her cheeks fired up again. She fought the desire to drop her head into her hands and scream out her frustration and embarrassment. Not only was she sure her dad had helped the girls with their scheme, acting on his intense but futile desire to see her married again, but he’d pranced into the dining room in his full mad-scientist glory, toilet paper of all things trailing behind him.

Would he never stop embarrassing her?

She mentally noted the need to have a very frank discussion with her dad right away. She knew from experience that nothing she could say would change his wacky personality; his nickname was disgustingly appropriate. But she would darn sure give him a piece of her mind for egging the girls on in the matchmaking department.

Taking a deep breath, she reined in her spiraling emotions. She looked at Brandon, keeping her face deliberately neutral, hoping to downplay her father’s strange behavior. “Sorry about that. I was hoping there wouldn’t be any explosions tonight.”

Brandon grinned and sat back down. “Don’t be sorry. I like him. He’s an original.”

Jill relaxed a bit, loving the fact that he didn’t seem to think her dad was anything unusual. Or if he did, he was graciously keeping that unfortunate information to himself. “That’s putting it mildly.”

“So, does he live with you?” Brandon asked.

Jill cleared her throat. “Kind of. He has an apartment above his laboratory out back.” Jill hadn’t really wanted to live with her dad when she’d moved back to Elm Corners after Doug had left her. After living with her dad’s madcap ways her whole childhood, his crazy, never-know-what-to-expect lifestyle didn’t really appeal to her.

But when he’d suggested she move in to the house, announcing he wanted to live above his lab out back, she’d taken him up on the offer, needing his help with Zoe. She’d also realized that, considering she didn’t have a job when she’d moved, living with him made financial sense. And she had to admit, crazy inventions aside, he was a great grandpa, Zoe adored him and his babysitting help had been invaluable to a single working mom like Jill.

Needing to change the subject from her one-of-a-kind, exasperating dad, she asked Brandon the first question that popped into her head. “So, Brandon. What do you do?” Oh, how she hoped he was in some weird line of work that would cancel out how appealing he was in other ways.

He settled back into his chair. “Well, I was a lawyer when we lived in L.A. But I’ve dumped all that to start my own business.”

“And what kind of business are you starting?” Jill asked, truly interested. For some reason she couldn’t put her finger on, Brandon seemed like the kind of guy who would succeed in anything he did.

“I’m opening a restaurant on Main Street. Maybe you’ve seen the signs.” He leaned forward, his eyes full of undisguised excitement and pride. “It’s called The Steak Place.”

Jill’s stomach dropped. No way!

She stared at him to make sure he wasn’t goofing around. He sat there looking at her, appearing totally serious.

She pressed her lips together and shifted on her chair. Oh, she’d seen the stupid signs, all right, every time she went to work. Brandon was the person who’d taken the lease for the adjoining space right out from under her nose!

Her cheeks blazed to life. Well, hurray. It looked as if her wish had come true. His line of work was unappealing.

He was her competitor, someone who could spell disaster for not only her livelihood, but also her plans to be a successful, well-respected businesswoman.

Put simply, he was a man she wished had never come to town.

Chapter Two

“Your cheeks are all red,” Brandon said, his deep voice laced with obvious concern. “What’s wrong?”

Jill snapped her gaze to him, her face still blazing, her thoughts racing. Well, la-di-da. Looked as if she was going to be able to drop a bomb of her own. Brandon obviously had no clue that she owned the restaurant next door to his. “Has Kristy told you what I do for a living?” she asked.

He drew his eyebrows together. “Uh, well…no, I guess not.”

Jill rolled her eyes and let out an under-the-breath snort. Zoe and Kristy hadn’t let either of them in on the fact that they were business competitors of the first degree. Wait till she got her hands on Zoe!

“I own The Wildflower Grill, the other restaurant on Main Street,” she informed him.

For a moment the truth didn’t faze Brandon. Then understanding dawned in his eyes. “Oh,” he said. “So we’re…competitors.”

Jill nodded, roughly rolling the stem of her wineglass between her fingers. “Yes, competitors,” she snapped, then instantly regretted her rude tone.

“Is that a problem?” he asked, looking genuinely perplexed. “Granted, I didn’t know you owned a restaurant, but it shouldn’t be that big of a deal, should it?”

Jill looked at him, trying to figure him out. Was it possible he hadn’t known she’d wanted the space between their two businesses? Gene Hobart, the landlord, was a shrewd businessman, and not above being sleazy when it came to snagging the client who would up his profits the most. Had Gene even told Brandon that Jill was interested in the space, or that she’d specifically told Gene she wanted the space when it became available? Or that Gene had unofficially promised to come to her with a deal first?

Maybe Gene was the bad guy here, and not Brandon.

“Maybe,” she said, forcing herself to stay calm and rational.

“Why is that? Do you automatically hate other restaurant owners?” he asked, his mouth quirked into a teasing smile that would be so easy to return.

She resisted the urge, reminding herself that he could be a charmer who might like to charm her right into rolling over and going out of business, clearing the way for his business to flourish.

She let out a short, irritated breath. “For one, Mr. Clark, you chose a spot two doors from my restaurant, which certainly doesn’t bode well for my business. Secondly, I wanted to lease the vacant space between the two restaurants, and even though Gene promised me first crack, you got it instead.” She pressed her lips together and looked right at him, glaring. “Do you know how long I’d saved to be able to afford to lease that space when it became available?”

He didn’t respond right away. After a long moment of silence, he leaned forward. “Look,” he said, his eyes reflecting a serious light, “for the record, I chose the spot I did because it was the best retail location for my restaurant, which I’m sure you can confirm. You chose the same stretch of property, right on Main Street, where you’d be assured the best return on your investment. You can’t fault me for being a good businessman.

“Second, I had no idea you wanted the space next to yours. Gene offered it to me as one space, package deal, end of story.”

Jill remained silent, thinking. He’d made some good points, she’d give him that, but his presence in Elm Corners still threatened everything that was important to her careerwise. “How in the world am I supposed to do well with you right next door, literally stealing customers away?” she asked.

“No offense, Jill, but you’ve had it pretty easy as the only game in town in the way of fine dining.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, her pride forcing her to omit what a rough road she’d had building her business, how difficult it had been to convince the staid population of Elm Corners to try a new restaurant. Business was more stable now, but the first year had been very, very lean, and she’d almost had to close The Grill several times. Only through sheer determination, a very understanding, devoted staff and a lot of creative advertising and promotions had she been able to draw in enough customers to stay afloat. Even now, though she was in the black, she was just barely making ends meet. It wouldn’t take much of a downturn in business to shove her back in the red. “Which is one of the reasons, I’m sure, that you chose to start a restaurant here.”

He tilted his head to the side, then nodded. “Touché. I grew up in the restaurant business, so I knew enough to do some market research before coming here, and, of course, I knew that there was only one other fine-dining establishment in Elm Corners. But that’s irrelevant.”

“Not to me,” she said under her breath, knowing as she said the words that she was being unreasonable. She also knew, however, that anything that threatened her dream of business success would push her buttons and freak her out.

“I’m sorry this is a problem for you,” he said, sounding totally sincere. “For what it’s worth, I had no idea that you were the owner of the restaurant next door.”

She looked at him, wishing he was a jerk so she could really hate him. But he wasn’t a jerk. He was a seemingly good guy who just happened to be her only competition. Deal breaker, that. They could never be friends.

She stood. “I believe you, Brandon.” Her jaw tight, she began to clear the dinner dishes.

After a long moment, he reached out and grabbed her hand as she reached for a salad bowl. “You’re mad at me, aren’t you?”

She stilled, liking the feel of his big, warm hand on hers just a little too much. Forcing herself to pull her hand away, she replied, “I’m not mad, really, just…surprised to discover that you’re the person I’ve been cursing up and down for the last week.”

He rose and began gathering dishes. “That doesn’t sound very good.”

“It isn’t,” Jill replied truthfully. She wasn’t going to sugarcoat how worried and frustrated and irritated she was that he’d leased a space for a restaurant in Elm Corners, never mind right next door.

When they reached the kitchen, he set the dishes on the counter. “So, I guess you’re not interested in showing me around The Health Hut.” He drilled her with those beautiful dark eyes, sending a hot, thrilling chill skating up her spine.

She set her jaw, chasing off the way he could just look at her and make her want to grab him and kiss him silly. “You know, I don’t think I’d be much help. Cindy Jones runs the place. She can show you around.” The last thing Jill needed to do was actually spend time with the man who could spell disaster for her business goals.

Brandon nodded, his jaw noticeably tight. “Okay, thanks.”

Jill began to rinse and load the dinner dishes, and Brandon helped out, even going so far as to gather up the tablecloth and shake it out outside. Darn it, anyway, why did he have to be so nice, so attractive, such an all-around considerate guy?

Big deal. So he was nice. The important thing was that he wasn’t her friend or even an acquaintance, just a man her daughter had thrown Jill together with for a ridiculous reason. Now that she’d discovered who he was, she needed him gone, right now. She’d be a masochistic idiot to hang around with the owner of The Steak Place.

“You know,” she said, loading the last of the dishes into the dishwasher, “I think I feel a headache coming on.”

Brandon paused, a sponge in his hand. “You want me to get you some pain reliever?” He moved closer, his dark eyes full of concern. “Why don’t you sit down and I’ll finish up here.”

Jill bit her lip, wishing he wasn’t so solicitous. It would be much easier to dislike him that way, and she really needed to dislike him. “Uh, no, that’s okay.” She shut the dishwasher. “But I do think we should cut the evening short.”

After a long, almost disbelieving silence, he said, “Of course. I’ll go call Kristy.” He headed out of the kitchen, leaving Jill alone, feeling like a total fool for allowing the girls to set up this dinner in the first place, although in her defense, she’d had no idea that her dinner guest was the owner of The Steak Place.

Kristy and Zoe came downstairs and whined about the evening ending so soon, especially since they hadn’t gone out to Zoe’s grandpa’s lab yet. But Jill stood firm, needing to regain the equilibrium Brandon had pushed off balance. It was enough she had to deal with him in her business life, a constant worry she could never get rid of. She sure didn’t want to have him stirring up her personal life, either, nor did she want to have to deal with her disturbing physical attraction to him.

“Thank you for dinner,” Brandon said at the front door, giving her a small, rueful smile. “I enjoyed meeting you.”

“You’re welcome,” Jill said, deliberately ignoring his smile. “Good luck with your…business.” She forced herself to be polite.

Brandon raised his eyebrows, then his expression turned speculative. “You know, this isn’t all doom and gloom. Maybe there’s room in Elm Corners for two successful restaurants.”

“I hope so,” Jill replied sincerely, even though she doubted it. She’d struggled when she was the only restaurant game in town. Now that Brandon had arrived, who knew how she was going to survive.

They said goodbye, and Jill watched father and daughter climb into their SUV at the curb and drive away. She turned and went back into the house, rubbing her eyes, her mood darkening when Zoe was nowhere to be found on the main floor. Jill rolled her eyes, her patience wearing thin. Zoe was undoubtedly pouting in her room because the evening hadn’t gone as she’d planned.

Jill laughed under her breath without humor. Honestly. What did the girls expect? That she and Brandon would lay eyes on each other one minute and elope the next? Fat chance. Real life just didn’t work that way.

Especially since Zoe was manipulating her, shoving her into unwanted situations, hooking her up with a man on the sly. Worse yet, that man had turned out be Jill’s archrival, a man who could spell disaster for her restaurant.

No doubt about it. Too many things about this evening had gone all wrong.

Unfortunately, the day was going to get worse. It was time to talk to her stubborn, determined daughter and tell her that things had gone too far and to cool her eager little matchmaking jets.

For good.

“So what did you think of Mrs. Lindstrom?” Kristy asked Brandon the second he pulled away from the curb.

“I thought she was very nice,” Brandon replied, leaving out that he also thought she was downright beautiful, smart and attractive in every way and that in another life he’d love to date her. Another life being the key phrase there.

In this life she was his competition, the owner of the business he planned on leaving in the dust. Not exactly dating material.

“Just nice?” Kristy asked, her voice full of eager hope. “I think she’s really cool, and pretty, too. And she’s a really good cook, don’t you think?”

The raw, undisguised hope in his daughter’s voice broke Brandon’s heart. He knew how much Kristy missed having a mother and how appealing it must be to her to fantasize about having Zoe for a sister. But this wasn’t a game, this was real life, and feelings and emotions were at stake. He wasn’t going to let himself get sucked into Jill’s life, and vice versa, just to make his daughter’s far-fetched dreams of a perfect family come true.

Obviously it was time to set the record straight with Kristy. He hated to burst her bubble, but he had to let her know that her matchmaking was futile. “Listen, Kris,” he said, stopping at a red light, “I appreciate what you and Zoe are trying to do, but I have to ask you to stop.”

“What do you mean?” Kristy asked, her voice monotone. “We’re not trying to do anything, Dad.”

He smiled, put the car into motion again, then took a quick right turn. Kristy was a terrible liar, which he considered a good thing. “Oh, come on. I might be a little rusty in the dating department, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that you and Zoe set up the whole evening to get me and Jill together.”

Kristy was silent for a long moment. “Would it be so bad if you two liked each other?” she asked, her voice very small.

Oh, man, he hated having to disappoint Kristy. But he had no other choice. She had to understand that a relationship between him and Jill was impossible for way too many reasons. Reasons that now went far beyond his desire to protect his heart.

“Not bad, honey, just not in the cards.”

“Why?”

She’d asked a good question, one he’d asked himself many times before, especially in the deep of the night when he felt so alone, so isolated, so empty that he would die for the feel of a woman in his arms once more. The answer was always the same; he simply couldn’t put himself in a position to care about a woman again. The risk was just too great, for both him and Kristy.

But he couldn’t explain that to her in a way she would understand. She was too young, too stuffed full of girlish romantic dreams to fully grasp what he meant. So he simply said, “Because I don’t want to date Jill. She seems like a wonderful woman, but I’m not interested.” He knew that sounded kind of harsh, but it was necessary here. The matchmaking had to stop.

Kristy didn’t say anything, and Brandon let her keep her silence. She was stewing, which was her way of sorting things out in her own mind. He remained silent, too, hoping she’d eventually understand what he’d said enough to forget about him and Jill getting together. Maybe they’d face each other again in the business arena, but not in any kind of personal way.

As he pulled into his driveway, he had to admit that as they’d been sitting in the dining room sharing a delicious meal, spending some personal time with Jill had appealed to him. Stupid idea, not somewhere he wanted to go, even though she was the sexiest thing he’d seen in a long time.

Thankfully, the discovery of their roles as business competitors had brought him to his senses, and had certainly lit a fire under Jill. Once she’d found out that he was the owner of The Steak Place, she hadn’t been able to get rid of him fast enough. Headache, my foot.

Even though the red-blooded male in him regretted he wouldn’t be getting to know her on some kind of personal level, keeping his distance was best.

Even if that disappointed Kristy.

“Zoe,” Jill yelled over the music coming from Zoe’s room. “We have to talk.”

While Jill waited for Zoe to answer the door, she reiterated in her mind how important this conversation was. She had to make Zoe understand that any kind of relationship between Jill and Brandon was impossible.

Zoe turned down the music and answered the door, her mouth pulled into a pouty frown. She crossed her arms over her chest and remained silent, her eyes boring holes in Jill.

Regret burned through her. It wasn’t easy shooting down her daughter’s dreams of a complete family, no matter how unrealistic they were.

She reached out and smoothed the lines between Zoe’s eyebrows. “Oh, come on, honey. It’s not that bad.”

Zoe stomped away and flung herself on her twin bed. “You practically threw them out.”

Jill cringed inside, regretting the tactless way she’d hustled the Clarks out the door. “Well…yes, I guess I did hurry them out before I really needed to. But I did it because it was pretty obvious why you and Kristy arranged the dinner. It isn’t going to happen.”

“Why not?” Zoe asked, her voice full of hope. “Don’t you like him?”

The hope in Zoe’s voice reminded Jill how much Zoe wanted a whole family. A familiar arrow of guilt tinged with more regret shot through Jill, poking a wounded spot on her heart that had never really healed. Zoe had been deeply affected emotionally by her parents’ divorce, something Jill agonized about on a daily basis. Oh, how she wished she could somehow magically obliterate Zoe’s pain.

But after a lot of soul-searching over the years, Jill had come to terms with the fact that as long as she was the best mom she could be, Zoe would be just fine, even without a live-in dad. She would provide unlimited, unconditional love and support to her daughter, no matter what.

But she wasn’t a magician, and one thing she couldn’t do was wave a wand and provide an instant family for Zoe. That was an impossible dream that was not going to come true, and it would save Zoe a lot of heartache and fallen hopes if she understood that now.

“He’s very…charming,” Jill said, telling the truth even as she needed to make sure Zoe understood that her thinking a man was charming didn’t mean love and happily ever after were just around the corner. “But…well, Zoe, I’m not interested in a romantic relationship.”

She hoped Zoe would accept that fact and move on. At nine, Zoe certainly wouldn’t understand Jill’s deep-seated need to protect herself from being dumped again. Especially since Jill really didn’t want to trash Doug to Zoe. While Zoe didn’t see her dad very often, they spent enough time together that Jill would never risk ruining their fragile bond by criticizing Doug.

“Don’t you want to fall in love again?” Zoe asked with all the innocence and hope of a naive, stars-in-her-eyes young girl who, of course, had never had her heart ripped out by someone who was supposed to love and cherish her for all time.

Jill hesitated, formulating an answer that would appease Zoe’s curiosity without Jill having to try to explain how down on love she was—and why. She’d never shared those feelings with anyone. “Love isn’t something I crave like I used to,” she said, basically speaking the truth, although there were times when she missed the companionship and closeness inherent in a romantic relationship. “I’d rather focus on my business than on trying to find a boyfriend.” At least her business would stick by her instead of deserting her, leaving her heartbroken and aching.

Zoe looked at her, her blue eyes full of doubt. “Oh, come on, Mom. You can’t tell me that the restaurant is going to take the place of love.” She rolled her eyes. “That’s just dumb.”

Dumb, maybe, but safe. “The point, honey, is that I’m just not interested in Brandon, especially since he owns The Steak Place, and I need you to stop trying to get us together. I’ll have a talk with your grandpa and tell him, too.”

“Does it really matter that much that Mr. Clark has a restaurant, too?”

“Yes, it does,” Jill replied, fully believing her own words. “You know how hard I’ve worked to make The Grill successful.” She’d leave it at that, deliberately vague. The last thing she wanted to do was share the gory details of her financial worries with her daughter. No child should have to worry about something like that.

Zoe looked at her for a long moment, chewing on her lip, a sure sign the wheels were spinning in her brain. Then she let out a long sigh and picked up a Harry Potter book. “Whatever you say,” she said in a manufactured tone that told Jill that Zoe was going to ignore every single thing Jill had told her. “I’ve got reading to do.”

“So you understand that the matchmaking has to stop, right?” Jill asked, needing Zoe to speak the words to convince Jill she’d back off.

“Sure, Mom,” Zoe said, smiling brightly. Too brightly. “I get it, okay?”

Jill stared at her daughter, her eyes narrowed. Zoe seemed to be taking all of this really well, and that raised a huge red flag. She knew her daughter well enough to know when Zoe was placating her so she could ambush her down the line. Zoe was nothing if not stubborn.

Weary of the whole thing, Jill decided not to push the issue anymore tonight. She would have plenty of time to get her point across to Zoe tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that.

“Okay.” She stepped back and gently pulled the door closed behind her, feeling a real headache coming on.

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