The Ex-Wife

Megan McNeil is genuinely happy to escort her little girls to their father’s wedding in Kauai, Hawaii—even though she feels like a third wheel. One gorgeous groomsman definitely disagrees. But are they both carrying too much baggage to begin a new romance?

The Best Man

Devlin Marshall won’t let anything spoil his buddy’s big day—not even his own rocky marriage. Secrets and mistrust have divided him from his Amy, but the love in the air seems to be catching….

The Sister

Family comes first. Deep down, Gabi Foster knows it, but this holiday is hurting her career. Can a sweet, sexy surfing instructor convince her that love is worth more than a business deal?

Praise for

USA TODAY bestselling author

RaeAnne Thayne

“A story of love, forgiveness and healing. Once again, Thayne proves she has a knack for capturing those emotions that come from the heart.”

—RT Book Reviews on Willowleaf Lane

“Thayne pens another winner by combining her huge, boisterous cast of familiar, lovable characters with a beautiful setting and a wonderful story.”

—RT Book Reviews on Currant Creek Valley

“Thayne, once again, delivers a heartfelt story of a caring community and a caring romance between adults who have triumphed over tragedy.”

—Booklist on Woodrose Mountain

Praise for USA TODAY bestselling author

Marie Ferrarella

“Ferrarella’s engaging romance takes a sad occasion and turns it into joy. The characters are fascinating and will leave readers eager to hear their stories.”

—RT Book Reviews on Innkeeper’s Daughter

“Crisp storytelling combines with sympathetic, genuine characters for an entertaining, heartwarming read.”

—RT Book Reviews on Cavanaugh on Duty

Praise for USA TODAY bestselling author

Leanne Banks

“Banks’…holiday story,

featuring two authentic and memorable leads,

is both heart-wrenching and heartwarming.”

—RT Book Reviews on A Maverick for the Holidays

“Banks’s prose sparkles with energy and heart…

the story strikes a true vein of gold.”

—Publishers Weekly on Some Girls Do

RAEANNE THAYNE

finds inspiration in the beautiful northern Utah mountains, where she lives with her wonderful family. Her books have won numerous honors, including four RITA® Award nominations from the Romance Writers of America and a Career Achievement Award from RT Book Reviews magazine. RaeAnne loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website at www.raeannethayne.com.

MARIE FERRARELLA

earned a master’s degree in Shakespearean comedy, and, perhaps as a result, her writing is distinguished by humor and natural dialogue. This RITA® Award–winning author’s goal is to entertain and to make people laugh and feel good. She has written more than 240 books for Harlequin and Silhouette Books, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide and have been translated into Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, Polish, Japanese and Korean. Visit Marie’s website at www.marieferrarella.com.

LEANNE BANKS

is a USA TODAY bestselling author with over sixty books to her credit. She has won many awards and accolades, but she is most thrilled to hear from readers when they enjoy her books. Leanne lives in Virginia with her family and her little muse, a four-and-a-half-pound Pomeranian named Bijou. You can learn more about Leanne on her webpage, www.leannebanks.com, and on Facebook, www.facebook.com/leanne.banks.

Island Promises

Hawaiian Holiday

RaeAnne Thayne

Hawaiian Reunion

Marie Ferrarella

Hawaiian Retreat

Leanne Banks

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Dan, Angela, Odell, Terri, Everett

and Val for all the fantastic island memories. Mahalo nui loa!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Hawaiian Holiday by RaeAnne Thayne

Hawaiian Reunion by Marie Ferrarella

Hawaiian Retreat by Leanne Banks

Hawaiian Holiday

RaeAnne Thayne

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER ONE

MEGAN MCNEIL WAS already exhausted.

By the time she’d herded two wildly excited seven-year-old girls, three carry-on bags, two backpacks, a wheelchair, a walker and a small cooler of medications that had needed to be hand-screened by security at O’Hare, she only wanted to curl up somewhere and take a nap.

It didn’t help that she really, really didn’t want to be here in the first place.

“We’re going to Hawaii. We’re going to Hawaii,” her daughter Sarah chanted in a singsong voice.

Grace added her own verse. “We’re gonna swim in the ocean. And I can’t wa-ait.”

A few passersby smiled at the identical twin girls and their exuberance.

“Yes, we are,” Megan said, trying to tug her shoes on again and stuff all their stray possessions—hoodies, cell phone, laptop—back into the carry-on bags. “It’s going to be wonderful fun, isn’t it?”

But first, they had to survive the nine-hour trip.

When everything was carefully stowed again, Megan hung Grace’s bag on the back of her chair, helped Sarah into her backpack, grabbed her own carry-ons and checked their gate assignment one last time. Of course, it would be the farthest one from their current position. Nothing about this trip was likely to be easy.

“All right, let’s go catch an airplane,” she said to her daughters.

“I’ll push,” Sarah insisted—as she so often did on the rare occasions when Grace’s moderate cerebral palsy tired her so much she needed the chair for distances. Sarah moved behind her twin’s wheelchair to do the honors.

“Thank you, sweetheart. We’re looking for Gate 21. Can you watch for that?”

“I’ll find it, Mommy,” Grace offered, ever helpful. They made their way, weaving and dodging around other travelers until they finally found the right gate. Even if Megan hadn’t seen the sign, she would have figured it out by the preponderance of brightly colored Hawaiian shirts

“Look! There’s Daddy,” Grace exclaimed, clapping her hands. She and Sarah both gave vigorous waves and Sarah called out to Nick.

He and Cara stood surrounded by family members, but when he heard Sarah he immediately hurried over to them.

“There’re my girls. I was starting to worry you wouldn’t make it!” He hugged Sarah tightly and kissed her cheek, then bent down to do the same for Grace.

After he had greeted their daughters, he turned to give Megan a warm hug.

“Thank you so much for doing this, Megs. It means the world to both Cara and me.”

She hugged him back, gave him a kiss on the cheek and then stepped away. He looked good, she had to admit—smiling, relaxed and far happier than he had ever been during their short-lived marriage.

“The girls are both over the moon,” she told him. “The beach and their dad’s wedding all in one trip. What could be more fun? I don’t think either of them slept a wink last night. I went in after midnight and had to put Sarah back in her own room or they would have giggled all night.”

She didn’t add that she wasn’t looking forward to a nine-hour flight with two tired girls. She could only hope they would nap a little on the way.

Before Nick could respond, his fiancée, Cara, approached them. She glowed with happiness. If she didn’t like the other woman so much, Megan might have been seriously annoyed at how great she looked, considering her own chaos of the last hour.

Cara hugged her. “You’re here! I was worried you would miss the flight.”

“We made it. No worries.”

She was happy for Nick and Cara. She really was. The two of them made a beautiful couple, the handsome firefighter and his blonde, lovely bride. They were deeply in love and it was obvious to everyone who knew them.

Nick had never looked at her the way he did Cara. Theirs hadn’t been a romantic destination wedding with all their closest friends and family, but rather frightened, hurried vows exchanged in her hospital room. She’d been on strict bedrest to avoid going into extremely premature labor with the twins.

Megan and Nick really had barely known each other, had dated for only a few months—and had slept together exactly twice. While she had liked Nick, and had been lonely and a little lost at the time, they never really generated much spark.

By mutual consent, they had both begun dating other people when Megan discovered she was pregnant, despite the condom Nick had used. As he was the only man she’d slept with in more than a year, she knew he had to be the father.

More than eight years later, she could still remember her stunned devastation when that pregnancy test turned positive. At the time, she was still a year away from graduating with her RN, living on scholarships and financial aid and the carefully parsed-out proceeds of her parents’ life insurance policies.

She could barely take care of herself, forget about another human being—and then came the further shock when an ultrasound revealed twin girls.

She and Nick had considered giving the girls up for adoption. That had seemed the logical decision for two people who had no real foundation to build a life together—and never really wanted to take that step in the first place.

But when she went into labor eighteen weeks early, everything drilled down to a fight for their daughters’ survival.

They had decided to marry so she and the girls could be covered by his medical insurance policy as a Chicago firefighter. It had seemed the logical, wise decision.

They’d never been in love, though they tried to pretend otherwise through the frightening weeks she’d been on hospital bedrest, each moment tense and anxious, then the long weeks while their girls were in the neonatal ICU, and afterward, when their life had become a blur of medical appointments and tests.

Eventually, they couldn’t pretend anymore. By the time the girls were two and Grace had been diagnosed with prematurity-related cerebral palsy, both of them had realized they made better friends and coparents than husband and wife. Megan had always considered their divorce the very definition of amicable.

Friendly or not, Megan still didn’t feel she belonged at this wedding.

Grace’s medical needs were complicated, though, between her overnight gastric-tube feedings, her medications and her breathing treatments. Megan couldn’t put her on a plane and send her away with just anyone. While Nick and Cara were experienced enough to handle any complications, and Nick’s mother, Jean, was comfortable caring for her, all of them would be focused on the wedding, not on a needy seven-year-old girl.

The hard reality was that Grace couldn’t go to Kauai unless Megan went along to take care of her, and Sarah—sweet, loyal, loving Sarah—wouldn’t attend her father’s wedding unless her sister could go, too.

So here Megan was, swallowing her social awkwardness at feeling like an interloper and focusing instead on her genuine happiness that Nick had found someone as wonderful as Cara to be stepmother to her twins.

“We should have thought to help you through security,” Cara exclaimed. “Was it a nightmare?”

“Not too bad,” Megan lied.

“The good news is, the plane is on time. They should be boarding in twenty minutes or so. Let’s find you a place to sit. Looks like there’s room over by my brother. I’m so excited you finally have the chance to meet him. He’s fantastic. You’ll love him.”

Cara led them over to a row of chairs with a few empty seats on the end and a convenient spot to park Grace’s wheelchair. She could see a tall guy with dark hair, but she couldn’t see his face—he was turned away, speaking with an elderly woman she guessed was a grandmother.

“He can help you carry all this stuff onto the plane. Shane, this is Megan, Nick’s first wife, and these are their gorgeous daughters, Sarah and Grace. Girls, this is my brother Shane. I guess he’ll be your new step-uncle.”

Her brother turned around with a smile...and Megan’s stomach did a somersault.

It was him. Sexy ER Guy.

Oh. She only needed this to ratchet the fun factor into the stratosphere. She felt as if she’d just thrust her face into a hot, steamy sauna and her vague sense of awkwardness at being here for Nick’s wedding suddenly nosedived into excruciating embarrassment.

She saw startled recognition flash in his blue, blue eyes before he smoothly hid it.

“Hi, Megan. Nice to meet you,” he said. Oh, how could she have forgotten that delicious voice? It had been one of the first things she had been drawn to a month ago during their brief ER interaction.

“Um, hi,” she mumbled.

“Sit by me,” Grace demanded of her sister, and Sarah dutifully plopped onto the aisle seat next to the wheelchair, which only left the spot right next to Cara’s extremely sexy brother.

Despite the heat still burning through her cheeks, she stood frozen with indecision. Oh, could this day possibly get any worse?

Nick’s mother, her former mother-in-law, Jean, came over just then. She brushed her cheek to Megan’s before greeting her granddaughters. “Hello, my darlings!”

Since their grandmother was there, Megan seized on it as a ready excuse to escape for a moment. “I need to go talk to the gate attendants about stowing the wheelchair when we board. I’ll be right back,” she told the girls.

They barely heeded her, happy to be surrounded by people fussing over them. She walked quickly away, feeling Shane’s gaze on her retreating back.

The gate attendant had her fill out a claim ticket for the chair, which would be stowed in cargo during the flight and would be waiting for them when they made their connection in Los Angeles. To her vast relief, he also told her those with special needs would be boarding in only a few moments. At least she wouldn’t have long to endure the torture of sitting next to Cara’s brother, whom she had treated abominably.

With deep reluctance, she returned to her daughters and sat down beside him, aware of his heat and strength. What could she possibly say to him that would explain her actions of a month earlier? She didn’t know where to start.

She was further relieved when he spoke first. “Your daughters are adorable,” he said. “How old are they?”

“Seven,” she answered. Her voice came out a little on the ragged side, so she tried again. “They’re seven.”

“How long have you and Nick been divorced?” he asked in an undertone, after a careful look to make sure the girls were busy with a couple of coloring books their grandmother had brought along.

She wondered at the hard note in his voice. “Five years now—which, incidentally, is about three years longer than the marriage lasted. Just in case you were wondering or anything.”

He glanced between her and Nick, who was holding hands with Cara. Shane’s sister. Megan forced herself not to squirm. She had long ago accepted that she and Nick had tried as hard as they could to make a marriage work that never should have happened in the first place.

Still, right now she would rather be anywhere else on earth than waiting to board a plane for her ex-husband’s destination wedding—alongside an extraordinarily great-looking guy she was fiercely attracted to. Especially when she’d acted like a stupid, immature girl around him the first time they’d met.

“How’s the shoulder?” she asked. As much as she’d like to pretend they were strangers, it seemed pointless.

He rotated his left arm reflexively. “Good. I get a little twinge here and there, but it was only a through-and-through, like the ER docs said. I was back on the job just a few days later. I’ll have to be a little careful body surfing while we’re in Hawaii, but other than that, I’m good.”

“Did they ever catch the guy who shot you?”

“Yeah. He’s in custody now. He was only a stupid kid trying to earn a little street cred by shooting at a cop. I’m still not sure he meant to hit me.”

“I’m glad you’re okay.” She might as well say it, just come out and apologize and clear the air, but the gate attendant’s voice suddenly came over the loudspeaker, inviting those with special boarding needs to come forward.

She stood. “That’s us, girls,” she said.

“We get to go on first?” Sarah’s eyes widened, as if someone had just offered her a free puppy.

“Aren’t we lucky?” Megan said dryly. To her, boarding a plane early only meant more time sitting in one spot, waiting to be jostled by other passengers trying to stow their luggage.

She grabbed their bags and started pulling one while trying to push the wheelchair with her other hand.

“Let me help.” Before she could protest that she could handle it, Shane grabbed the bag from her and started tugging the other one.

She reminded herself to be grateful. One of the first things she’d learned when she had twins—one with special needs—was to take whatever help was offered, even when her pride bristled.

The girls handed their boarding passes to the agent with excited flourishes that made the woman smile.

“Do you need further assistance aboard?” she asked.

“No. Thank you.

“We’re going to have to leave the wheelchair here for them to stow,” Megan told Grace at the door to the aircraft. “Do you want me to carry you?”

“No. I can walk,” she insisted.

Despite the stress and turmoil of the day, she wanted to hug her brave, wonderful, independent daughter who had come so far. Grace stood up from her chair and moved with her careful, stiff-hipped gait down the aisle.

“Look for Row 14, and seats C, D and E,” she said to Grace.

“There’s a coincidence,” Shane said behind her. “I’m in Row 14 as well. Seat F.”

The jet had two aisles, with two seats by the window, four in the middle and two more across the other aisle. She and her daughters and Shane were assigned the middle seats.

Since the girls didn’t like to be separated, she took the aisle for herself and settled Grace beside her, with Sarah on the other side next to Shane. At least the girls would provide a little buffer between them.

It was a good plan, in theory—until their grandmother boarded and settled into the seat across the aisle from Megan.

“Grandma, guess what?” Sarah said. She leaned across her sister and Megan to launch into a story about her soccer game that week, all while other passengers filed past.

“You’ll have to wait to finish your story,” Megan told Sarah, when she saw her daughter growing frustrated at each interruption.

“Why don’t you change seats with her, my dear?” Jean suggested. “It’s a long flight, and you surely won’t be able to entertain the girls by yourself.”

She wanted to argue, but knew she’d sound ridiculous explaining that she couldn’t spend the four hours until their Los Angeles connection sitting by the brother of the bride.

She forced a smile. “Sarah, do you want to sit by your grandmother?”

“Yes!” her daughter exclaimed. Aware of Shane watching the interaction with interest, she and Sarah traded places.

“I think we’re settled now,” she said, after swapping Sarah’s backpack for her own tote bag. “Sorry for the chaos.”

“It’s fine. You must be a brave woman to trek nine hours to Hawaii for your ex-husband’s wedding.”

She was fiercely aware of him beside her, edgy and uncomfortable, which didn’t bode well for the long flight to LAX.

“Nick’s a good father and our girls love him,” she said. “It didn’t seem fair to deprive them of the chance to see his wedding just because it would be hard.”

The flight attendants made an announcement about boarding quickly and storing luggage. She could see Grace and Sarah both growing increasingly nervous about the flight. By necessity, she turned her attention to calming her daughters while the flight crew prepared the cabin for takeoff.

A short time later, they were in the air. “There. You made it, girls. That was fun, wasn’t it?” She forced more enthusiasm than she really felt, since she wasn’t all that crazy about flying herself.

“I forgot how it made my tummy tickle when we went to Disney World,” Grace said.

“I like it!” Sarah exclaimed. “Can we do it again?”

“You’ve got four more takeoffs before we’re done—one more today and two on our way home.”

The flight attendant came on a few moments later and announced that it was now safe to use electronic devices. Sarah immediately asked for Megan’s tablet.

“Hey, Grace, want to play a game?”

Grace was always willing to play, and soon the twins were engrossed in the game, blonde heads close together in concentration. Megan pulled out a magazine from her tote, still strongly aware of Shane beside her in the cramped space.

She was going to have to talk to him, to explain and apologize for her actions. Why not do it now, while her daughters were distracted? She opened her mouth but he beat her to it.

“So, for the last hour I’ve been trying to figure everything out. Was it because of your daughters?”

She could feel heat rush to her cheeks. “My...daughters?”

He made a face. “I called that fake number you gave me three times, hoping each time I’d made some kind of mistake dialing. The elderly-sounding gentlemen on the other end of the line was not amused, by the way.”

Oh, she had been such an idiot. If she could go back and relive any moment in her life, it would be that night in the ER. She hated working a shift on the night of a full moon. Everybody acted out of character, including her.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I was so stupid.”

From the moment he walked in with a gunshot wound—not on a stretcher but on his own two feet—she had known the handsome police officer in the bloodstained uniform was trouble. He’d been charming and sweet and obviously interested in her. Something about the late shift and the crazy night and the way he looked at her had her acting completely unlike herself. She’d been fun and flirty, laughing and teasing him.

And then he’d asked for her phone number and reality had crashed back down. She couldn’t go out with him. She didn’t even know the man, and he certainly didn’t know the real her, the stressed-out, overscheduled mother of twins.

Then she’d been called into a trauma, and in a panic she’d scrawled a fake number.

“So?” he asked now. “Did you brush me off because of your daughters?”

“If it’s any consolation, at the moment I did it I felt terrible,” she admitted. “As soon as the trauma crisis was over, I went back to give you my real number, but by then you’d been discharged.”

Under other circumstances, she might have been tempted to look up his information but that would have violated privacy laws and she could have been fired.

“You could’ve just told me you weren’t interested,” he said. “I’m a big boy. I can handle a little rejection—but for the record, I prefer outright rejection to that kind of sneaky thing.”

She winced. “I know. You’d think I was in high school or something. All I can say is, I messed up. I’m really sorry.”

CHAPTER TWO

SEEING THE EMBARRASSMENT in her gaze, Shane wasn’t sure what to think about Megan McNeil.

She was either crazy or had considerable grit to show up for her ex-husband’s wedding to another woman. He wasn’t sure which yet.

Even a month later, her rejection stung.

He had really liked Megan. Okay, he might have been a little woozy from pain medication—even a through-and-through round from a .38 hurt like hell—but he could have sworn they’d forged a connection.

His mind replayed their interaction. While she’d helped him out of his uniform she had been sweet and solicitous, a beacon of warmth on a bitter winter night that had turned to hell.

When she asked if he wanted her to call someone for him, he had floundered. His parents weren’t in Chicago, Mom was on one coast, Dad on the other. Having them at the hospital would have been a nightmare of drama and accusations. He could have called Cara, of course, but this was only a minor injury and he didn’t want to bother her.

When he told Megan he didn’t need her to call anyone, she had become even more solicitous and kind. He’d noticed she wasn’t wearing a ring and at some painkiller-induced moment had asked if she was dating anyone. She’d blushed in a way that had completely charmed him, and said that she was divorced but she didn’t have time to date.

He’d never thought to ask if a couple of cute twin girls were the reason she was so busy.

“Was it something to do with hospital policy?” he asked now. “Are nurses not supposed to date patients?”

“I wouldn’t strictly be breaking any rules. But that wasn’t it. Not really.”

She glanced briefly at her daughters—the smaller one with the twisted limbs and her active, inquisitive sister—and then back at him. “As you’ve probably figured out, my life is...complicated. I haven’t dated anybody seriously since the divorce. I’m out of practice and, I’ll admit, I panicked.”

He shifted his long legs in the uncomfortable space, surprised at her candor. “I can be a scary guy, I guess. That’s not necessarily a bad thing when you need to get information out of a perp, but it has its disadvantages when it comes to the dating scene.”

A hint of a smile peeked out at him. “You didn’t scare me. I liked you. A little too much,” she confessed.

“I felt the same way,” he answered. “Which is why I hounded some old guy in Irving Park three times, hoping I’d only misdialed.”

She sighed, and he saw more of that entrancing blush seep over her soft features. “Please, can’t we start over? I’m so embarrassed about the whole thing. It would be great if we could pretend we only met at the gate before boarding the plane. I really don’t want to have to spend the whole wedding trying to avoid you.”

After a moment’s thought, he stuck out his hand. “Hi there. I’m Shane Russell, brother of the bride.”

She gave him a relieved smile and held out a small, capable hand. “I’m Megan McNeil. I, er, used to be married to the groom.”

They shook hands briefly, before her attention was diverted by a question from her daughter.

Shane picked up his book again, aware of a strange mix of relief and disappointment. While his ego was a little appeased to know he hadn’t been completely wrong about the attraction that had simmered between them, it was more than a little disappointing to discover that attraction was doomed to die a fruitless death.

As much as he was drawn to her lush mouth, those blue eyes, those lovely, sweet features, he wouldn’t do anything about it. A month ago, he might have, but she was right. Her situation had just become too complicated.

* * *

THE FLIGHT BETWEEN Chicago and Los Angeles was far easier than Megan expected. The girls were both relaxed and comfortable. She read to them for a while, they watched a movie, they played a game or two, and before she knew it, the flight crew announced they were preparing to land.

“What can I do to help?” Shane asked as they taxied to the gate.

While Nick was a great father, she handled most things on her own these days. The chance to lean on someone else was as novel as it was welcome. “If you could help me with the bags, that would be great. It might take a while, though. I’m afraid we’ll have to wait for the wheelchair to be brought up from the cargo hold.”

“I don’t mind.”

He traded knock-knock jokes with the girls while the rest of the passengers filed out. When they left the plane, the wheelchair was waiting for them.

“This is quite a complicated procedure,” Shane said, as Megan pushed Grace into the terminal.

“I guess you can see why we don’t travel much. The kids and Nick and I went to Disney World a few years ago, but that’s as brave as I’ve ever been with them. Car trips are actually much less complicated than flying.”

“Except we can’t drive to Hawaii,” Grace offered. “Grandma said so.”

“Unless you’re a really good swimmer,” Shane said. “Or know how to ride a dolphin.”

“I rode a horse, once,” Sarah chimed in. “It was brown and had a black tail and mane. It was super fun, but we didn’t go swimming.”

He grinned at her daughter, and Megan’s stomach started whirling as if she were riding a dolphin in wild circles. He really was gorgeous, with sun-streaked brown hair and eyes the deep green of a mossy forest. Add to that how sweet and charming he was with her daughters, and she was in serious danger of making a fool of herself.

They made it to their gate just in time to board the connecting flight that would take them to Lihue.

He again stepped in to help her stow their bags in the overhead bin and settle Grace into her seat.

“Looks like I’m behind you a couple of rows for this leg of the trip. If you need my help on the flight, I can see about trading with someone to be closer.”

Megan told herself she wasn’t sorry for a little space to catch her breath, regain equilibrium. “You’ve done more than enough already. Thank you for all your help. I would have been sunk without you. Girls, can you tell Cara’s brother thank you for helping with our bags?”

“Thank you,” Grace said, her voice soft but her smile genuine.

“Thanks!” Sarah held out a little fist to give him a bump, something she did with Nick all the time.

He chuckled and obediently pressed his knuckles against hers, then added a complicated little side twist and top pound that made Sarah grin.

“Safe flight,” he said, before moving a few seats behind them to allow the other passengers to board. She did her best not to feel a little bereft.

“He’s nice, Mom,” Grace said. Her eyes drooped with fatigue, and Megan hugged her close, making room for her daughter to rest her head in the crook of her arm.

“Yes. Yes, he is.”

To her relief, Jean again sat near them to help entertain the girls on the long flight. By the time the captain turned off the seat belt sign, though, it was obvious the excitement and anticipation of the day were taking their toll on the girls.

They started to become petulant and cranky with each other and with her. The mood might have shifted quickly into frustration if she hadn’t pulled out their story again, ducked her head to theirs and read quietly to them. After only a few pages, both girls’ eyelids grew heavy. They fell asleep at almost exactly the same moment, as they often did.

She decided to follow their lead and steal a moment to close her eyes while she had the chance. When she awoke, she found the girls playing quietly with their Barbies, and she realized they would be reaching Lihue in only an hour.

There. Like so many other things in her life, the reality of a transoceanic flight had turned out to be far less painful than she’d imagined.

Still, by the time the plane landed, she and the girls were more than ready to escape the tight confines of their seats.

“We’re going to Hawaii.” Sarah started chanting her little song again.

“We’re gonna swim in the ocean,” Grace added.

“We’re not going to Hawaii anymore,” Megan told them. “We’re here!”

“Can we go swimming in the ocean today?” Sarah asked.

“I don’t see why not. But we have to make it to our hotel first.”

They were again last to leave the airplane. She was deeply grateful when Shane stopped to help them.

“You made it!” he said to the girls.

“Finally!” Sarah said with an exaggerated, long-suffering tone that made him smile.

They walked down the concourse to find Nick and Cara waiting for them with magenta-edged flower leis. “Welcome to Hawaii, girls!” Nick said. He put one over each of their necks with a kiss on the cheek and then added one for Megan, too.

“Thanks again for dragging them all the way out here. You’re the best ex a guy could ever want.”

She rolled her eyes as the heady scent of plumeria drifted to her. “I do my best.”

The bride and groom were distracted by others in the wedding party, and Megan began heading toward the baggage claim area.

“Oh, look at all the flowers. It’s so beautiful,” she exclaimed as they moved through the open-air terminal.

“Is this your first trip to Hawaii?” Shane asked.

She nodded. “You’ve been before, I take it.”

“A few times. Only once to Kauai, when I was a kid.”

He waited and helped her retrieve their checked luggage, and even carried the bags outside for her into the sweetly scented air. “You’re staying at the resort with everyone else, right?”

“Yes. That’s the plan. Cara made all the arrangements for us.”

“I’m renting a car. I can give you a lift to the resort.”

“Nick and Cara have arranged for a wheelchair taxi to pick us up. Thank you, though.”

“I’ll see you there, then. Girls, aloha.” He made the hang loose sign.

“What does that mean?” Grace asked.

“That’s called a shaka. It’s a Hawaiian greeting that kind of means hello, howzit, thank you, aloha. All that stuff.”

Sarah caught on immediately and did the same gesture back to him, twisting her wrist back and forth with delight, but Grace struggled with the fine motor skills necessary to stick her thumb and pinkie out at the same time.

“That’s not right,” Sarah told her sister, and Grace huffed a little with frustration.

“Here, like this.” The big, rangy cop bent down to her level and took her little hand in his to help her make the gesture.

“There it is. That’s it. Perfect.”

She beamed at him, and he grinned right back and kissed her on the forehead. As Megan watched them, something warmer and sweeter than the Hawaiian breeze settled in her chest.

Off the airplane, the girls seemed to gain a fresh wave of energy. All the way to the resort, they chattered excitedly with their driver, Pete, a big, warm native Hawaiian who was delighted to show them around his beautiful island.

“There it is! There’s the ocean,” Sarah said every time the road to their resort passed through the dense trees that opened up to that impossibly blue water.

The resort was beautiful, lushly landscaped with fringy palm trees, banyans with tangled, twisting trunks, bright explosions of colorful flowers. Megan had never seen anything as exquisite.

“You girls have a great time, now,” Pete ordered them after he helped them out and handed their bags to a waiting bellhop. “I’m gonna be checking to make sure you are.”

Sarah and Grace giggled at him and did their best shakas, which earned a wide grin and the gesture in return.

“Shootz. That means I’ll see you lateh.”

“Shootz,” both girls chorused at him with delight.

Megan had a feeling they were going to have a very interesting vocabulary before this trip was over.

By the time they checked in with the helpful hotel staff and caught a small wheelchair-adapted golf cart to their cabana, her own words failed her.

“Wow! The ocean is in our front yard!” Sarah exclaimed.

The ocean was their front yard. Their small cabana was perhaps twenty-five feet from the surf, with a wide lanai featuring a plump upholstered wicker settee and two chairs overlooking the water.

Inside, the cabana had two bedrooms, a small living area and kitchen, and a comfortable, wheelchair-accessible bathroom. The cabana’s location and size were luxuries she was completely unaccustomed to.

She needed to unpack, but while the girls were exploring their temporary home, she leaned against the lanai railing and watched baby breakers ripple to the shore. She was aware of a vague sadness, a melancholy emptiness. The cabana was beautifully romantic, the sort of place meant to be shared with someone special.

“It’s so blue,” Sarah exclaimed softly from beside her, and Megan forced herself to shake off her mood. She had someone special to share it with. Two incredible daughters. She was truly blessed.

“I want to swim in the ocean, Mom. Can we?” Grace asked.

“Yes!” Sarah exclaimed. “Can we go now?”

“Don’t you want something to eat first?” she suggested. “We can order room service and swim after an early dinner.”

“No. Swim now, then eat!” Grace said.

In that moment, Megan resolved to savor this. She might feel out of place watching her ex-husband marry the love of his life, but they were here in one of the most beautiful places on earth, with a vast ocean in front of them. She wouldn’t waste a moment feeling sorry about all she didn’t have. Instead, she would focus on her many gifts, starting with these two wonderful daughters.

“Let’s do it,” she said, gripping two hands in hers. “I think I know just where to find our suits.”

CHAPTER THREE

YEAH. HE COULD get used to this.

After settling into his cabana, Shane grabbed one of the cold beers in the refrigerator—thoughtfully arranged by his sister, he guessed, and headed out to his oceanfront lanai.

He stretched his legs, which still felt achy and cramped after a long day of trying to cram six feet, two inches of height into a space obviously designed for juvenile pygmies.

He took a sip of beer just as his sister walked up the steps.

“Hey there,” he said. “How’s my favorite bridezilla?”

She made a face. “Admit it. I’ve been amazingly bridezilla-free.”

“You have,” he agreed. “You picked a great place. The resort is beautiful.”

She smiled. “Better than the pictures online. All the reviews were right.”

“Don’t you have wedding plans to arrange?”

“Not right this minute. I came to check on you. I’m sorry I didn’t have much time to spend with you on the flight.”

“That’s what happens when you fly first class. No time for the little people.”

He gave a mock wince when she socked him and she gasped. “Oh! I forgot all about your shoulder injury. I’m so sorry. Did I hurt you?”

Cara had always been too tenderhearted for her own good.

“Not at all,” he answered. “I was shot in the other arm.”

His teasing earned him another smack on the same shoulder, which made him smile.

She didn’t smile back. Instead, she sank down beside him on the rather uncomfortable settee, her features troubled. She twisted her fingers together on her lap and gazed out at the lovely setting, tension radiating from her.

He waited for her to tell him why she had really come. When she didn’t say anything, he finally spoke up. “Okay, what’s wrong?”

She glanced at him, her eyes a murky green. “Have you heard from Dad?”

He and their father tended to avoid each other whenever humanly possible.

“Not lately,” he answered.

“I had a voice mail from him when we landed. He’s coming to the wedding, after all. He’ll be here tomorrow and he’s bringing...wait for it...wife number five. Sherri or Sharon or something like that. The message was a little garbled, but I figured out they were married last weekend in Reno. Isn’t that great?”

He listened to her listless tone and wanted to punch something. Trust Hal Russell to do whatever he could to screw things up if at all possible. He didn’t know how to answer her and had to take a few deep breaths to keep from spewing anger that had absolutely nothing to do with her.

“Oh, Cara.”

“Mom is arriving tomorrow, too. She’s going to flip when she finds out.”

“She can deal,” he answered sharply, determined to make sure of it. “Don’t worry, kid. This day is about you and Nick, not about Dad and his wedding du jour or Mom and her drama. I won’t let either of them ruin your big day.”

“Do you really think you can stop them?” she asked.

“I’ll figure something out, even if I have to handcuff them in their cabanas.”

She laughed at that. “I would love to see that.”

He smiled. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. I only brought one pair, though I could probably round up a zip tie somewhere. Don’t worry, I’ll talk to both of them, make sure everybody keeps things civil.”

Their parents despised each other, which had certainly made for an interesting childhood.

Cara leaned her head against his shoulder. “I love you, Shane. Have I told you that lately?”

He threw an arm around her, wishing, as always, that he could do more to make things easier for her. Though four years younger, Cara had been about the only stable thing in his tumultuous childhood. By necessity, they’d clung together to survive the storm-tossed seas of divorce, remarriages, custody battles, family court hearings.

“Love you back, kid.”

They sat that way for a few moments while the sea whispered against the sand. Finally Cara sat up, looking up the beach toward a few of the other cabanas.

“Oh, look. Megan’s taking the girls swimming.”

He followed her gaze and found Megan wearing a hip-skimming, pink swimsuit cover-up, carrying Grace on her back. Sarah skipped along beside them holding a basket full of beach toys.

The late-afternoon sunlight glowed in her burnished hair. A few feet above the wet sand mark, Sarah threw out a towel and Megan carefully lowered Grace onto it.

The scene touched a soft chord inside him, for reasons he couldn’t have explained.

“She’s pretty awesome, isn’t she?” Cara murmured.

“I just met her,” he lied. “She seems to be.” He spoke in a guarded tone, not liking the note of insecurity in his sister’s voice.

“I’m not jealous of her, I promise. You can get that worried look out of your eyes. I like her too much. I know both she and Nick tried hard to make their marriage work. They care about each other, but I don’t think they were ever really in love. The marriage was shaky from the beginning, and just never recovered from the stress of the girls being so sick at birth. It’s just...I want to be a good stepmother, and I’m not sure where to start, especially when she’s so great with the girls. Why would they need me?”

“They strike me as pretty easy girls to love. That’s about all they need from you, isn’t it?”

She sighed. “I hope that’s enough. I’m going to be a stepmother. I’m suddenly feeling bad for the rotten way I treated wives two, three and four. I can’t feel guilty about Sherri or Sharon or whatever her name is, since I haven’t met her yet.”

“You have nothing to be guilty about. None of them wanted to be bothered with us. You, on the other hand, already care about Grace and Sarah, and they like you.” He’d figured out that much, hearing them talk about the wedding. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”

She leaned her head on his shoulder again for just a moment before rising to her feet. “In the interest of saving my sanity and my nerves, I’m going to choose to believe you about that. I love Nick too much to back out now. Thank you. A bunch of us are going to dinner later, if you’re interested. Around eight.”

“I might be. I’ll let you know.”

After she left, he took another drink from his beer, listening to the light music of the girls’ laughter on the trade winds.

They were having the time of their lives playing in the waves, and he suddenly wanted to be out there with them.

So why wasn’t he?

He battled indecision for another minute before he hurried into the cabana for his board shorts.

* * *

“IT’S SO WARM!” Sarah exclaimed, trailing fingers through sea water. “Remember how cold Lake Michigan was last summer?”

Megan shivered at the memory, which seemed a distant lifetime ago. “Yes. I think my teeth only stopped chattering last week.”

Sarah giggled, bouncing a little on a wave that rolled past them. They were in only about eighteen inches of water, barely to the girls’ chests when they were sitting on the sandy bottom.

“What about you, Gracie?” she asked.

“I love it,” she declared, beaming and wiggling her legs. In the water, Grace enjoyed a freedom of movement she didn’t have elsewhere. She had more control over her muscles, somehow able to countermand the disrupted neural pathways created by the hypoxic brain bleed that had caused her cerebral palsy shortly after birth.

“I think a fish just nibbled my toe!” Sarah exclaimed.

She flopped onto her stomach and stuck her face straight into the water, emerging a moment later with wide-eyed delight on her dripping features.

“It did! I saw four little fish! They’re silver and orange. Can you see, Grace? Can you?”

Grace might have been able to move better in the water, but she’d never mastered her fear of submerging her face.

She peered a few inches above the softly rippling water, straining hard to see into the depths. “I can’t see anything but water,” she complained.

“They’re right there. Try harder.”

“What are we looking at?” a male voice called out and Megan jerked up from her own scrutiny of the depths to discover Shane wading toward them, a pair of board shorts hanging low on his hips.

His shoulders were broad and muscled, and her toes suddenly tingled as if a whole school had started nipping them.

“There are fish down there,” Grace announced, with all the wide-eyed glee of someone declaring the clouds had suddenly turned rainbow colors.

He smiled down at her with a soft tenderness, and Megan’s stomach fluttered. “Is that so?”

“Yes. Sarah felt one bite her toe. They didn’t bite mine, though.”

“Lucky.”

“I wanted one to bite me. I don’t like to put my face in the water, so I can’t see them, but Sarah said they’re there.”

“I saw them,” Sarah declared. “Look, there’s another one.”

Shane obediently lowered his face to the water. “Oh, I see him. You’re right.”

He lifted his head, only inches away from Megan’s. That fluttering went into double time.

“You know, there are boogie boards with snorkel windows on them,” he informed her. “Grace could lie on the board and look right down into the water.”

Sarah snickered. “You said boogie.”

Grace giggled, too, and Megan had to hide a smile as Shane rolled his eyes at her.

He pulled the board out from under his arm. “For your information, missy, this is called a boogie board. It helps you ride the waves.”

He turned to Grace. “Want to try it?”

Grace gave a little nod, though she looked apprehensive.

He held the wide board steady in the small waves while Megan helped Grace stabilize on it.

“Hold on to the sides. That’s it,” Shane said. He supported the board and angled it to take best advantage of the waves. A slightly bigger one rolled to shore and she laughed when she rode up and down on it.

“That made my tummy tickle like the airplane!” she said.

He grinned. “It can do that.”

Megan really tried not to notice how sweet he was to entertain her daughter—or how gorgeous he looked doing it.

All the headaches of traveling with children, especially one with special needs, seemed to float away on the tide as she watched her daughter’s joy at riding the waves.

“Go Gracie!” Sarah yelled, clapping her hands. After a minute she turned to Megan. “Do you think I could have a turn when Grace is done?”

“You’ll have to ask Shane.”

He overheard. “Sure you can. Just give us a minute.”

After a few more waves, he tugged Grace back to Megan, lifted her off, then helped Sarah onto the board.

While Megan and Grace sat in the warm, shallow water, he tugged adventurous Sarah out to where the waves were slightly bigger.

Grace, in Megan’s arms now, gave a little yawn that for just an instant made her look like a fragile baby bird.

When Shane returned Sarah to Megan, he held out the board to her. “Do you want a turn now?”

She ordered her stupid hormones to calm down.

“No. Thank you, though. I need to get these little mermaids onto dry land for dinner and bed. We’re still on Chicago time, I think. It’s been a long day today, with more fun planned tomorrow.”

“If you take the board, I can carry Grace up to the house for you.”

He knelt down in the water, offering his broad, comforting back. “Hop on, Ariel,” he said over his shoulder.

Grace and Sarah both giggled, clearly infatuated with him. Grace threw her arms around his neck and he stood easily, wading through the waves and sand toward their cabana.

“Outdoor shower first, girls,” Megan said, following along with Sarah’s hand in hers. “We need to wash all this sand off out here.”

He lowered Grace to the little bench beside the shower. “Thanks for the boogie boarding,” Megan said, trying not to stare at all those gleaming chest muscles, or the small, puckered red scar on his biceps from the gunshot wound.

“No problem. I’ll see you all later.”

His fingers brushed hers as he grabbed the board. His smile encompassed her and her daughters, then he turned around and headed back into the waves. He waded a little ways, then dove in with quick, sure movements, heading for deeper water.

“Mommy?”

Sarah’s tone indicated that wasn’t the first time she’d tried to get her attention, and Megan jerked her focus away from Shane and back to her daughters, where it rightfully belonged.

CHAPTER FOUR

SHE SLEPT WITH the windows open and the sound of the sea lulling her to a deep and dreamless state...and awoke to pearly dawn splashing across the white and red hibiscus embroidered on her Hawaiian quilt and the quiet, endless murmur of waves licking the sand.

For one disoriented moment, she couldn’t think why she had brought the girls’ sound machine into her bedroom, then she realized that it wasn’t some kind of white noise sleep aid, it was the actual ocean.

She and the girls were in Hawaii, staying in a beautiful ocean-side cabana. Nick and Cara were getting married the next day.

She stretched and sat up. Though the clock on the bedside table read barely five-thirty, she was abruptly wide awake.

She loved working the night shift at the hospital for the flexibility it gave her with her daughters’ schedules, but as a result her body had become conditioned to odd hours and quick transitions from sleep to full consciousness. She wasn’t very good at sleeping in.

The ceaseless rhythm of the waves seduced and entranced her. Was it as beautiful as she remembered here?

She climbed out of bed and padded through the silent house to the lanai. Yes. In the pale pink predawn light, the water looked a mysterious, alluring green. Palm fronds rustled in the breeze, and the air was heavy with the scent of ocean and flowers.

She felt as if she were the only one awake this early, as if she had the entire Pacific to herself. A sudden, fierce urge to stand at the water’s edge to greet the sunrise washed over her.

Why not? How many chances like this would she have?

She hurried back to her room and threw on the first thing she grabbed in the closet, a soft, loose sundress the color of newly ripe peaches. She quickly pulled her tangled hair into a loose ponytail and picked up the video baby monitor she sometimes still used when Grace was sick, grateful for the impulse to pack it at the last minute.

A quick check of the screen told her the girls were still sleeping soundly, so she unplugged the little monitor and slipped it into her pocket, then walked out into the quiet.

The sun hovered just below the horizon, the puffy clouds glowing orange and pink and pale lavender in the gathering light. She could hardly take her eyes off it as she turned to walk down the ramp of the lanai to the sand.

Only then did she notice three boogie boards propped next to the front door. Two of them had little clear windows for looking beneath the surface.

She stared. What in the world?

A note was attached to the biggest one, written on resort stationery that flapped in the breeze. She pulled it off, knowing instantly who had left these on the porch.

“We can’t let Gracie miss the fish,” Shane had written in bold, masculine handwriting.

She pressed one hand to her mouth as she reread the note, warmth spreading through her like baby breakers reaching the shore.

She couldn’t believe he’d gone to so much trouble on their behalf. She ran her fingers along the smooth curve of the largest board.

If she wasn’t careful, she could be in very grave danger of falling for a man like him.

She’d have to use extreme caution over the next few days. She couldn’t afford to risk her heart, not when she had two girls who depended on her to be strong.

After tucking the note in her pocket with the monitor, she walked barefoot down the steps. The sand was cool and soft between her toes as she walked to the water’s edge, the warm, sweetly scented trade winds rippling the cotton of her dress around her legs.

Shorebirds walked on gawky legs in the froth, and a few more wheeled and called overhead. She headed back to the dry sand and sat down, knees to her chest, to watch them as the sun inched higher and painted the clouds with more vivid color.

She was alone with the birds until she spied somebody jogging in her direction from the far edge of the beach.

She knew who it was even before she could make out his features in the pale light. She recognized the breadth of those shoulders, the brown hair glinting with streaks from the sun. Of course, the faded gray Chicago Police Department T-shirt was a bit of a giveaway.

The instant he spotted her, he changed course and headed in her direction.

“You’re up early this morning,” he said when he was close enough to speak without yelling. “The time change must be messing with you, too.”

“I decided a Hawaiian sunrise was too rare an event in my chilly Chicago life to miss.”

“The girls are still asleep?”

She pulled the monitor from her pocket and held it out for him to see.

“That’s handy.”

“It has a range of a hundred-fifty feet. I can be back in the cabana in a second.”

To her discomfort, he plopped down beside her, all those hard muscles just inches away. Again, she had to force herself not to stare, focusing instead on his kindness to her and the twins.

“Thank you for the boogie boards. That was a lovely thing to do.”

He shrugged, his expression embarrassed in the glowing sunrise slanting over his features. “I only rented them. I figured, what are you going to do with boogie boards back in Chicago?”

“It’s still wonderful.”

“It was a complete whim. I headed into Lihue last night for dinner and there was a surf shop open right next to the restaurant, advertising board rentals. It seemed like fate.”

“The girls will be thrilled. I was tempted to wake them up for a test run the minute I saw them on the porch. Fortunately, I came to my senses in time and decided to enjoy five minutes of quiet.”

His mouth twisted into a smile. “Until I came running along to disturb the peace.”

He definitely disturbed her peace, but not for the reasons he probably thought. She wasn’t about to tell him otherwise, though.

“What are you three planning today?”

She pointed to the water. “Sand, surf, sun. That about covers it.”

His low laugh sent nerves shivering down her spine—which only intensified when he shifted closer to her, stretching out long legs covered in dark hair.

“Are you interested in a drive around the island a little later? I wouldn’t mind playing tour guide. We could go see a couple waterfalls I know, visit some quiet beaches, maybe head up to Kailua.”

The invitation both thrilled and terrified her. Spending a few hours in a car with the man likely wasn’t the best way to protect her heart.

“I don’t know,” she stalled. “Things can be hard with Grace’s chair. She can use the walker most of the time, but we would have to take the wheelchair along in case she gets too tired.”

“I rented a big Jeep. There should be plenty of room for the chair and walker in the back, and I can easily lift her in and out.”

She should say no. The word hovered on her tongue. But the girls would love to see one of the plummeting waterfalls the island was known for and a little more of the island than this stretch of beach outside their cabana.

She supposed she could always arrange for a rental car and venture out on her own, but spending time with him was much more appealing. The twins would certainly love it, given how drawn they were to him.

“That could be fun,” she finally allowed, though she wanted to call the words back the moment she said them.

“Great. Shall we say noon? That’ll give you time to play around in the water for a while. And I know the girls have a hula lesson this morning, too. We can grab lunch on the way somewhere and still be back for the rehearsal dinner tonight.”

Ah, yes. The rehearsal dinner. Nick and Cara wanted the twins in the wedding party. They had to practice their role, which meant Megan wouldn’t be able to manufacture a convenient excuse to skip it.

“Sure. Okay. That would work.”

From the monitor, she heard a little cough that her maternal instinct told her came from Grace. She pulled it out to check and saw that both girls were still sleeping, cough notwithstanding.

“Everything okay?”

“For now. They’re pretty sound sleepers. I think I’m still safe for a few more moments.”

She turned her face back to the sunrise, which exploded with color now above the horizon.

“It must be hard, on your own with twins.”

She flashed him a look and saw his expression was compassionate, not judgmental. “Some things are hard. I won’t lie about that. Two parent-teacher conferences, two sets of homework every night, two girls nagging me in the store to buy them a treat. Most of the time they’re a joy, though. I wouldn’t trade our life for anything.”

“Do you ever wonder if things might have been easier if you had...” His voice trailed off, as if he had suddenly reconsidered what he’d been about to say.

“Stayed married?” she finished for him.

His expression turned rueful. “Sorry. That was a rude question and none of my business.”

She bumped his shoulder with hers. “My ex-husband is marrying your sister in roughly thirty-six hours. I’d say that makes it a little bit your business.”

“There is that.”

She wrapped her arms more tightly around her knees while the breeze lifted strands of hair that had escaped her ponytail. “I care about Nick. I always will. But we’ve both discovered we’re much better as coparents than we ever were as a couple.”

“I can see that. The girls seem very happy.”

“That’s the important thing, as far as I’m concerned.” She glanced over at him. “What about you? Have you ever gone through this?”

“What? Marriage? Not me. On the morning of my mother’s third marriage, when she was stuffing me into yet another tuxedo for another trip down the aisle with her, I decided that when I get hitched, it will be forever. I think this was a year or so after my father’s fourth wedding. I was about thirteen by then.”

She’d guessed something of the sort from what Nick had told her about Cara’s family. Sympathy squeezed her chest. She couldn’t imagine that. Her own parents had been deeply in love until the day they were killed together in a car accident when she was in nursing school.

Sometimes she thought their dying together had been a gift, as neither would have been able to live well without the other. A gift to them, anyway. As an only child who had always had a particularly close relationship with her parents, the loss of them both at the same time had been a devastating blow.

She’d figured out a long time ago that her grief after their deaths was one of the reasons she’d hurried into a relationship with Nick. She’d been lonely and adrift, seeking a connection that had never really been there.

“For the record,” Shane murmured after a long moment, “I like Nick. He makes my sister happy. But I’m beginning to question his sanity to let someone like you slip away.”

Heat seeped through her at his words, and she gazed at him with startled eyes. It seemed natural and perfect—there, alone with the sunrise and the water and the few shorebirds pecking across the sand—when he leaned forward and kissed her.

CHAPTER FIVE

HER BREATH CAUGHT and she froze, his lips warm and delicious on hers. Oh, it had been so long. She had really, really missed kissing, the slide of mouth against mouth, skin against skin, the wild flutter in her stomach.

The breeze swirled around them and the ocean whispered and she didn’t want this lovely moment to ever end.

She kissed him back, her hands curled into the cotton of his T-shirt. Since her divorce, she had focused only on being a good mother, a good nurse. The unleashed heat of Shane’s mouth and tongue and hands reminded her she’d lost something along the way. She had forgotten that, at her core, she was still a woman, with needs and desires she’d worked hard to suppress.

He eased away from her a little, breath ragged and blue eyes glazed with hunger.

“Yeah. Nick is definitely crazy,” he said, his voice gruff. He leaned in for another kiss, his arms around her, pulling her against his hard chest.

They kissed for a long time, while the sun rose higher in the sky. She didn’t want to stop, but a muffled cough from the monitor in her pocket acted like a cold splash of water.

Oh.

What was she doing here, wrapped around Shane Russell like some kind of tropical vine?

This close, she could see his irises, speckled glints of silver in the blue. She could also see a certain light reflected there that looked suspiciously...tender.

An answering emotion flooded through her. Yes. She could fall in love with him very easily. She thought of his help and care on the long flight, and how sweet he was to rent boogie boards for her and her daughters.

He could break her heart like the tide washing over a sand castle.

Hearing a sleepy little huff from the monitor, she gathered all her strength and wrenched away from him, her heart pounding.

“I...need to go,” she said, feeling flustered and off balance, rocked to her core by the kiss. “The girls will be up, and I don’t want them to wonder where I am.”

“Right.” His voice was still rough, his expression dazed. She supposed it was small consolation that he’d been just as affected by their kiss.

“I’ll see you later.”

She fled back to her cabana before he could say anything else.

* * *

SHANE WATCHED MEGAN hurry into her little house as if she were being chased by reef sharks.

His head still swam from the dizzying shift in emotions, but one clear thought rose above the rest.

He shouldn’t have kissed her.

He was intensely attracted to her. Something about those big green eyes, her delicate features, that small, curvy body just did it for him.

Not only that, but he greatly admired her caring and concern for her daughters. She obviously loved them deeply. It showed in everything she did, from her attention to their comfort on the flight over, to her delight last night playing in the water with them, to the video monitor in her pocket this morning.

He couldn’t even imagine the guts she must have needed to drag her twins across the ocean for their father’s wedding to another woman. He couldn’t help but respect that.

Yeah, he liked her—way too much. He gazed out at the endless rows of breakers. Despite his attraction, both physical and emotional, he knew she wasn’t for him.

He’d made a vow a long time ago, after years of seeing the chaos his parents created in his life and Cara’s, that he wouldn’t drag other children through that kind of turmoil. Kids had a rough enough time making their way in the world. They didn’t need new people moving in and out of their lives, the stress of separate visitations, the drama of being forced to adjust to a different family dynamic.

He had a strict no-kids policy and he intended to stick to that.

No matter how difficult it was.

* * *

“TELL ME THE truth. Is this uncomfortable for you?”

Megan glanced over at Cara, stretched out on a beach towel next to her in a cute blue bikini, soaking up sun.

“Uncomfortable? No. Unfair, absolutely. We’re roughly the same age and you look tanned and buff while I look like a pasty-white cream puff.”

“Spray tan is a truly wonderful invention. But you know that’s not what I mean. I’m talking about this whole destination wedding thing. While I was dreaming and making plans, I should have thought things through and realized how difficult it would be for you to haul Grace and Sarah all the way out here.”

“They’re having the time of their lives. Look at them.”

Cara and Megan both shifted to watch Nick haul a giggling Grace around on the boogie board Shane had provided. A few yards away from them, Sarah was busy building a sand castle masterpiece, tongue lodged firmly between her teeth.

Her daughter must have felt them watching her. She looked up briefly. “I’m almost done. See, this is the princess’s bedroom. When the bad guys come to take over her kingdom, she’s going to jump out that window to her horse so she can fight them. And then she’s going to Hawaii to get married.”

Megan blinked a little at the explanation but she couldn’t fault the spirit behind it.

She and Cara grinned at each other as Sarah jumped up to get more water in her bucket.

“I won’t lie,” Megan said as she watched her. “The trip here was hard work, but I would’ve hated for the girls to miss seeing their dad get married. You know I’m happy for you both, right?”

Cara gazed at her, a little teary-eyed, then reached out and squeezed her fingers. “You’re about the most amazing person I’ve ever met, Megan. You know that?”

Megan rolled her eyes, though she couldn’t help being touched. “You should know better than that by now.”

“I’m serious. I can’t believe I’m so lucky to have you and the girls in our lives. Before I met you, I was so afraid you would hate me. My mom has hated every single one of my dad’s subsequent wives, including the one he’s bringing to the wedding. And she hasn’t even met her yet.”

“I don’t hate you, Cara,” Megan assured her. “Nick and the girls both love you, and that’s more than enough for me.”

Cara squeezed her fingers again before flopping over onto her back. “See how lucky I am?”

Megan didn’t have an answer to that, so she just rested her cheek on the rough weave of the towel and watched Sarah put the finishing touches on her castle.

A few moments later, nerves jumped in her stomach when she heard Shane’s voice.

“So this is where everybody’s hanging out.”

She looked up to find him standing near his sister, again wearing board shorts that bared all those delicious muscles.

Feeling at a disadvantage stretched out at his feet in a skimpy bathing suit, she rolled over and sat up.

“Oh. Hi.”

“Hey! Hi.” Sarah beamed, delighted to see him. She offered up a shaka, which he returned with a grin. “Look at my castle. Isn’t it awesome?”

“Truly spectacular. You did all that yourself?”

“Well, my dad helped a little, but I did most of it.”

“Looks like that parapet is tilting a little. Do you mind if I help you with it?”

She frowned. “I don’t see any parrot pet.”

“Parapet,” he said with a smile. “It’s that tower thingy there.”

He plopped down on the sand by Sarah’s creation and straightened one angle with deft motions. “There you go. Now it won’t fall down when it’s attacked by hermit crabs.”

Sarah giggled. “Not hermit crabs. The bad guys are coming to take over the castle from the princess but she’s going to jump out the window onto her horse and fight them and she’s going to chase them into the ocean.”

He blinked a little. “Okay, then. Good plan.”

Cara stood up. “I think I’ll take one more dip before I go in and shower. Sarah, do you want to come with me? We can look for more fish out there.”

“Okay!” Eager for more time in the water, Sarah dropped her sand shovel and hurried to pick up her boogie board.

Only after they took off together did Megan realize this left her alone with Shane. She wanted to chase after them but couldn’t figure out a graceful way to pull it off, especially when all she could think about was his exploring mouth, his tongue sliding against hers, the strength in those muscles as he’d held her.

She flushed, not quite sure what to say to him.

He was the first to break the silence. “Look, I’m sorry about what happened this morning. I shouldn’t have kissed you. I promise, it won’t happen again.”

Though she agreed in theory, his words still sparked a little pang. “It wasn’t your fault,” she finally said. “I didn’t exactly push you away. It’s easy to get carried away by this romantic setting.”

“The romantic setting,” he repeated.

She shot him a quick look. “Sure. Sunrise, beach, palm trees. Paradise makes people lose their heads.”

“It is beautiful,” he agreed. He gazed out at the water for a moment before turning back to her. “I would still love to take you and the girls around the island, but I completely understand if you want to take a pass, given the circumstances.”

That would be an easy out. She could rent a car herself or just hang out here on the beach with the girls.

But she wasn’t a coward. Hadn’t she raised two daughters mostly on her own the last five years?

“We’re both adults,” she said quietly. “I think we can handle a little inconvenient attraction.”

Before she realized what he intended, he reached for her hand almost casually, his fingers twining around hers. “Is that what you call this?”

“What else?” she countered, tugging her fingers away.

“To tell you the truth, I’m not really sure.”

She knew. Trouble. That’s what she would call this attraction that seemed to seethe and eddy around them like the frothy waves on the sand.

“I think I’ll go back in the water while I have the chance,” she said, escaping the currents tugging between them to head to her own boogie board. “Do you still want to take off about noon?”

“What is that, about an hour and a half? Will that give you enough time?”

“Yes. I’ll swim for a minute and then take the girls over to their hula lesson. We’ll meet you at our cabana after we clean off.”

“Deal.”

He grabbed his own board and headed for deeper waters while she waded toward the others.

* * *

“EVERY TIME YOU turn a bend in the road, the view becomes more breathtaking. How is that even possible?”

Shane shifted his gaze from driving for just an instant, enjoying Megan’s wide-eyed excitement immensely. The craggy, raw green mountains and stunning blue sea seemed even more spectacular when viewed from her perspective.

“I’d forgotten how beautiful it was,” he said. “It’s the Garden Island. I’ve been to Oahu, Maui and Hawaii, and I think I’d have to say I still like Kauai best. If I had to picture the Garden of Eden, this would be the place.”

“I love the flowers most,” Sarah announced.

“I liked the waterfall. It was huge,” Grace said. In the rearview mirror, he saw her hide a yawn after she spoke.

Both girls looked tired, probably still struggling a little with the time change.

“Chicago in January seems like another planet right now. It’s tough to think about returning to below-zero temperatures and bitter winds.”

He had enjoyed the last few hours with them and hated thinking this magical time had to end.

“Hey, Shane, is that a geyser?”

He looked down where water shot high through huge lava rocks. “No. That’s called a puhi, or blowhole, like what whales have. Water comes up through a lava tube then shoots out. Pretty cool, isn’t it? This one is called Spouting Horn.”

He pulled into an overlook and they watched it for a while. Okay, if he were honest with himself, Megan and her daughters watched the blowhole. He mostly watched them.

They, not the beauty of the island, were the real reason he didn’t want to return to Chicago. He would treasure the memory of their few hours together always. He loved being with them—Grace with her quiet courage and strength, Sarah with her energy and her inquisitive mind, and Megan, who drew him to her like the moon directing the tides.

All of them were entwining their way around his heart.

“I came here when I was a kid and heard a story about this place. I guess there’s some Hawaiian legend about a giant lizard that used to patrol this area and was trapped in the lava tube. According to the legend, that’s her breath coming out, and that noise you hear as the water rushes through is her roar.”

He wasn’t sure where that memory came from, but the girls seemed fascinated by it.

“How old were you when you came here before?” Megan asked, while Sarah and Grace were busy listening for the giant lizard.

“Around eleven or twelve, I think. Cara would have been eight, maybe. Our dad and his third wife brought us here.”

“You must have had fun,” she said cautiously.

His laugh was rough as memories he’d submerged a long time ago shot to the surface like water through that blowhole. “Not really. They didn’t want us along.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

“It was another of the endless custody battles in the war my parents waged after their divorce. Dad and Gina had already made arrangements to come here by themselves over the holidays. Then Mom reminded him a few weeks before Christmas break that this was his year to have us for Christmas. She’d already made her own plans that didn’t include us, and she wasn’t going to change them.”

He’d really wanted to like Gina, but it had been tough when she’d made snide comments throughout the trip about having to bring them along.

He could hear her and his father fighting about it every night of the trip. At least they waited until they thought he and Cara were asleep.

“It wasn’t the most pleasant vacation of my life. I was old enough to feel the tension between them and to know we weren’t wanted.”

Her features softened with sympathy. “How terrible for you.”

“Yeah. Let’s just say I didn’t handle it well. I spent the whole week acting like a little shi— Er, jerk, which didn’t make the situation any easier for anyone. Not one of my prouder moments. I think Gina walked out about two months later. I always felt like that one was a little bit my fault.”

“That sounds awful. You poor things.”

He hadn’t wanted her sympathy. Really, he couldn’t imagine why he had told her all that in the first place. Something about her warm expression and gentle compassion managed to draw out things he had no intention of telling anyone.

“With that sort of history here, I wonder why Cara wanted to have her own wedding on Kauai.”

“She was a few years younger,” Shane said. “I’m not sure she understood all the nuances, you know?”

“That makes sense.” Megan paused for a moment.

“I gather your parents have been around the wedding block a few times.”

“An understatement. Five for my dad, four for my mom. I’ve got enough ex-stepmoms and -stepdads to make a basketball team, complete with manager and a couple bench warmers. What about you?”

She gave a wistful sigh. “I was really blessed. My parents had more than two happy decades together. They were older when they had me—my mom was nearly forty and my dad a few years older. I was an only child. All I remember from growing up was how much we laughed together. Our house was always filled with joy. We loved each other.”

He noted her use of the past tense. “What happened to them?”

She focused her gaze on her daughters, who weren’t paying any attention to them. “On their twenty-fifth anniversary, they were driving home from dinner when they were T-boned by a drunk driver. Both of them died instantly.”

“I’m sorry.” On impulse, he reached for her hand and squeezed her fingers.

She looked down at their joined hands and then up at him with a tremulous smile. “That was about a year before I met Nick. My parents would have been crazy about the girls and I know they would have been fantastic grandparents. I still get sad when I think my daughters will never have the chance to know how wonderful their grandparents were.”

“They know. I’m sure you tell them. They’ll know your parents through the memories you share with them.”

Her smile deepened and she squeezed his fingers. “Thank you. You’re right. I think I needed that reminder.”

“Can we see another waterfall?”

He shifted his gaze to the girls. “I think that can be arranged. Or if you want, we can visit a cookie factory right here on the island.”

“Cookies!” Grace said promptly.

“Yay! Cookies!” Sarah added her vote.

“I guess that settles it,” he answered, smiling at Megan before he backed out of the viewpoint and they continued on their way.

CHAPTER SIX

SPENDING THE DAY with Shane had been a huge mistake.

That evening, as she dressed carefully for the wedding rehearsal and dinner, Megan wanted to kick herself for ever agreeing to let him give them the tour in the first place.

The afternoon had been filled with priceless moments. Eating delicious coconut shrimp at picnic tables beside a roadside truck with a million-dollar view of the surf. Having her breath snatched away by the sheer wonder of the steep jagged cliffs of the Na Pali Coast. Watching him tenderly carry Grace on his back down a secluded beach to show the girls a sea turtle—a honu—that had come out of the water to bask in the sun.

She was falling hard for him.

She pressed a hand to her chest, already aching at the impending loss. Except for when he’d held her hand for a brief time, he’d been careful to keep things between them casual and light. She sensed invisible barriers and had no idea how to breach them—if she even dared.

This was ridiculous, she told herself. What did it matter if he maintained distance between them? She couldn’t be falling in love with the man. She barely knew him. She was letting her heart get carried away by the excitement of an exotic location and the break from her usual life. Vacation crazies. That’s what this was.

She only had to make it through tonight and the sunset wedding the next day. In less than forty-eight hours, she would climb back on an airplane that would take her and her girls home, back to their carefully organized life. She’d be able to clear her head once she was away from the trade winds and the palm trees and the endless, seductive murmur of the sea.

She hurried to the other room, where the girls were sitting in the new flowered sundresses she’d bought them that afternoon at a little shop in Princeville. They were entranced with a show on TV, which meant they hadn’t had the chance to mess up their clothes yet.

“I’m finally ready,” she told them. “Sorry about the wait. Should we go?”

“Yep,” Grace said. “The show got over right this minute.”

Both of her daughters smiled at her, looking bright and cheerful, and her heart ached with love for them. They were the most important people in her life, she reminded herself. Not a gorgeous police detective with a sweet smile and shoulders big enough for the weight of the world.

She grabbed a couple of delicately scented plumeria blooms from the bouquet on the table and stuck one behind each girl’s ear. “There. Now you look like proper Hawaiian princesses.”

“You need a flower, Mommy,” Grace insisted.

On impulse, she picked another flower from the bouquet and stuck it behind her ear.

Sarah pushed her sister’s wheelchair as they took the walkway between the cabanas that led to the area of the beach where the wedding would take place the next evening.

When she arrived, Jean and her daughter, Nick’s sister, immediately seized on the girls, asking them all about their day and the things they’d seen.

She was aware of him there, speaking with Cara and a handsome, rather distinguished-looking older man she hadn’t met yet. Hanging on the man’s arm was an exquisitely dressed woman who didn’t look much older than Shane.

She recognized enough similarities between the older man’s features and Shane and Cara to realize this must be their father and his new wife.

She thought of the pain she’d heard in Shane’s voice that afternoon as he talked about his father’s behavior. Even though it happened many years ago, she had to fight the urge to head over to give him a piece of her mind.

She controlled herself, forcing her attention back to the conversation between the twins’ grandmother and aunt.

An older woman she also hadn’t met yet approached the wedding party, greeting a few of Cara and Shane’s other relatives. She was heavily made up and appeared to have had recent Botox injections, judging by her falsely placid expression.

Out of the corner of her eye, Megan watched the woman approach the other group and give Cara a big, overly dramatic hug. Megan didn’t miss the scathing look she sent Shane’s father and the younger woman with him.

This must be the mother of the bride, she guessed. For Cara’s and Nick’s sake, she really hoped their parents could manage to keep the peace until the wedding was over.

As she didn’t have a direct role in the wedding—of course—during the rehearsal Megan mostly sat on the sidelines and did her best to prompt Grace and Sarah in their responsibilities as flower girls. Grace used her walker and moved with her somewhat labored gait, though she seemed to relish her role, pretending to toss flower petals with abandon.

Megan made a mental note to advise her to pace herself during the real ceremony and not empty her whole basket in the first few feet.

After the rehearsal, the wedding party moved to a small reception room inside the hotel for the catered dinner. Nick’s sister and mother took charge of the girls, leaving Megan feeling a little at loose ends.

She was contemplating taking the girls after dinner and returning to their cabana when the mother of the bride approached her, drink in hand.

“I understand you’re Nick’s first wife,” she said without preamble.

She wasn’t quite sure what to say or why she’d been singled out for the woman’s scrutiny. “Yes,” she answered carefully. “I’m Megan McNeil.”

The woman’s forehead furrowed as much as she could manage and she took a healthy drink.

“I’m Donna Porter, Cara’s mother. I have to say, I was stunned—just stunned—when my son told me who you were. I can’t believe you actually flew to Hawaii for your ex-husband’s wedding to my daughter.”

She blinked a little at the woman’s temerity. What business was it of hers why Megan was there? She didn’t have to explain herself to anyone, especially not the half-drunk mother of the bride.

As much as she wanted to bluntly tell the other woman off, Megan decided starting a confrontation would only complicate an already sticky social situation.

“My daughters wanted to see their father get married,” she answered. “As you can probably see, one of my twins has special needs. I couldn’t just send her to Hawaii on her own.”

Donna appeared to digest that, glancing at the girls and then back at her. “Wow, you’re a bigger woman than I am. I never would have dragged my kids to one of their father’s many weddings. Of course, I would have gone broke trying to make it to all of them. He’s on, what, his fifth?”

“I don’t know,” Megan answered.

“He is. That’s him, over there. My delightful first husband, Hal. Have you seen that little tramp he married this time? Ridiculous. She’s half his age! Doesn’t he know he’s making a complete ass of himself?”

Again, Megan didn’t quite know how to respond and settled for making a noncommittal sound.

“I’ve half a mind to go tell him so.” Donna picked up her drink and started to slide her chair back. Megan shot a quick look at Cara, busy talking to a couple of other wedding guests. Donna had obviously had a little too much to drink. The last thing the bride needed right now was the stress of her mother causing a scene at the rehearsal dinner.

Megan looked around for someone to help her rescue the situation, but Shane was busy talking to Nick and a couple of Nick’s friends, and Cara was distracted with her father and his new wife.

She would have to take things into her own hands, she realized. She quickly placed a hand on Donna’s arm. “I love your earrings. Where did you get them?”

“Oh, these? I made them. I took a beading class at the community center in my condo development. Aren’t they beautiful?”

“Yes. I’d love to know how to do that.”

“It’s not hard.” Donna launched into an explanation that was mostly over Megan’s head. From there, Megan moved on to asking about the Florida community where she lived, what books she liked to read, and interesting people she’d met, all while trying to substitute Donna’s drinks for water.

Forty minutes later, Megan’s eyes were gritty and sore with fatigue, as if somebody had tossed a handful of beach at her.

She couldn’t blame her sudden tiredness on lingering jet lag. Keeping the mother of the bride distracted and happy was more exhausting than dealing with the twins on a sugar high.

People were beginning to leave, and Megan decided she should take the twins back to their lodgings to get some rest. She was just about to make her excuses to Donna when Shane approached them.

As soon as Donna spied him, she jumped up and slipped an arm through his.

“Megan, this is my son, Shane,” she said, her voice only slurring a little. “Isn’t he a gorgeous one?”

Despite her exhaustion, she had to hide a smile at the embarrassed look in his eyes.

“Absolutely,” she answered with total truth.

“Girls started calling him at home when he was twelve years old. Can you believe that? And they haven’t stopped for a minute since. He ought to be the one getting married, don’t you think?”

This time her smile broke free. “I think that’s for Shane to decide.”

“Mom, can I walk you back to your cabana?”

She pouted a little. “Already? I was thinking I would hang out at the bar for a while.”

“Are you sure?” he pressed. “Tomorrow will be a big day. You don’t want to be off your game for Cara’s wedding. You know you’ll want to look your very best in the pictures. And aren’t you spending the day helping her get ready?”

“I guess you’re right. It was lovely talking to you, Megan.” She gave Megan a rather sloppy hug and kiss on the cheek. Apparently they’d bonded over talk of beads and books.

“You know what my son needs?” Donna said suddenly. “A nice girl like you!”

Shane looked horrified—by his mother’s behavior or her words, Megan wasn’t sure. She tried not to be hurt by the possibility that he was horrified at the idea of needing someone like her. Still, she couldn’t help being annoyed that he obviously didn’t appreciate the energy she’d just expended on his and Cara’s behalf.

“Come on, Mom. Let’s get you home.”

“If I have to,” Donna huffed, gathering up her purse.

After a long look at Megan—one she couldn’t quite analyze—Shane gripped his mother’s arm and led her away from the reception room.

Megan sighed and went to gather her daughters, wondering if she would turn out like Donna someday, alone and unhappy.

* * *

AS WAS OFTEN the case, Megan somehow found an extra measure of energy after she helped the girls through their evening routine—medication, bath, pajamas, story—and settled them into bed.

After they were asleep, she sat out on the lanai with the video monitor and a book, listening to the whispering palm fronds and the soft, soothing sound of the waves.

All the craziness of the evening seemed to fade away out here in the breeze. She drew in a deep breath, relaxing her neck, her shoulders, her trunk. She leaned her head back against the cushions of the settee and closed her eyes, letting the quiet peace seep through.

She might have dozed off. She wasn’t sure. But when she opened her eyes, she found Shane standing a few feet away, watching her.

He still wore the dress slacks and the Hawaiian shirt he’d worn to the wedding rehearsal, and he looked strong and handsome in the moonlight.

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