“No naked men in your hotel room, huh?”

“Never.”

He helped himself to a sip of her tea. “How about your husband?”

“I don’t have a husband.”

“We could fix that.”

“Mmmmm.” She wondered about the legal problems involved in marrying a mythical man. If she married Ken Callahan would she also be married to Kenneth Knight? And if he had lied to her about his name and his job…what else had he lied to her about? Maybe Kenneth Knight had a wife. Maybe he had a whole pack of kids. She looked sidewise at Ken, feeling murderous inclinations.

He jumped away from her, instinctively raising a hand to his face.

The action took Chris by surprise. “Why’d you do that?”

Ken colored under his black beard. “I don’t know. I had the funniest sensation. I had this premonition of you breaking my nose.”

“Mmmmm.”

“That’s all you can say? Mmmm? Aren’t you going to assure me it’s ridiculous? Aren’t you going to tell me my body is safe in your hands?”

Chris narrowed her eyes. Another emotion was forming besides the hurt and confusion. It was anger. For the second time in her life she’d fallen victim to a scoundrel, and she was furious. “Of course it’s ridiculous,” she purred, thinking that breaking his nose would be small potatoes. Her retribution would be much more imaginative. More satisfying. More diabolical. She didn’t know why he’d perpetrated this charade, but he would pay. She lowered her lashes and let her eyes rake over his body. “It’s not your nose that interests me.”

He looked at her suspiciously. “You aren’t thinking of breaking anything else, are you?”

Chris slammed the lid of the wicker basket closed. “You’re cute when you worry. You get this little twitch at the corner of your mouth.”

Ken looked sidewise at her. “Are you mad at me for something?”

Mad? She couldn’t be any more angry. He’d violated her trust. He’d made a fool out of her. “No,” she snarled, “I’m not mad.”

“Maybe you just need to relax. There’s a nice motel about a mile down the road…”

Chris stood quickly and smoothed her sweater over her hips. “No,” she said firmly. “No sleazy motels. And besides I have a lesson.”

“I’m beginning to think the only way I’ll get any time with you is to take up ice skating.”

Chris buttoned the buttons on his jacket and handed him the lunch basket. “You couldn’t afford me,” she jibed. “Ice skating is expensive, and you’re an unemployed carpenter.” She waited for a reply, wondering if he would continue the lie.

“Just because I’m currently not working doesn’t mean I haven’t got any money.”

Chris raised her eyebrows. “Do you have money?”

“A little.”

“Care to elaborate on that?”

“Do you want a full financial disclosure?” His mouth tilted into a teasing grin that threatened to melt her skate blades.

“Maybe.”

“I’ll have my lawyer prepare something.”

Damn! Now he didn’t even have the decency to lie to her. He was going to continue this whopper on innuendo and flip remarks. “We can discuss this at dinner.”

“Okay.” He dropped a friendly kiss on the top of her head-and left.

Bitsy slung her arm around Chris’ shoulders.

“Everything all right?”

“Just perfect.”

“Uh-oh, I’ve seen that look in your eye before. That’s your ‘going for blood’ look. You looked like that when you beat Debbie Makovik out of the Junior title. I was at least a third of the way up in the stands and I could see that look in your eye…it sent chills down my spine…”

Bitsy pulled up to the curb and looked at Chris expectantly. “This is it, folks.”

Chris stared at her town house. “Are we here already? I don’t suppose you’d want to drive around the block three or four hundred times?”

“I assume you have a problem?”

“Boy, have I got a problem.” She held up her finger. “Look at this. What am I going to do with this? You know what this says? Engaged. Engaged. Engaged. You can’t miss it. It’s enormous.” She pulled her mitten over the diamond. “Maybe if I leave my mitten on…”

“Yeah, that would help, but it’s going to be hard holding a fork. If you’re that bummed out why don’t you just give the ring back?”

Chris sighed and sank lower in her seat. “I can’t,” she wailed. “I love this ring. And I’m ridiculously in love with Ken What’s-his-name.” She punched the dashboard. “And I hate him. The creep.”

“This is complicated.”

“The real problem is Edna and Lucy. I don’t want them getting all excited about this. I’m not sure what I’m going to do, yet.”

“Then why don’t you tell them that you’re engaged, but that you’re not planning to get married for a long, long time…maybe never.”

Chris nodded solemnly. “That sounds good.” She got out of the car. “I’ll go with that one.”

Chris opened the door and nodded a grim hello. She hung her coat in the hall closet, looked down at her mittened hands, sighed, and resolutely pulled the rag wool mittens off.

Edna saw it immediately. She put her hand to her mouth and gasped. “My stars! Well, for goodness’ sake.”

Chris pasted her best professional smile on her face. “Yes, I’m engaged. Your dreams have come true, Aunt Edna.” She saw a fleeting glimpse of emotion cloud Ken’s eyes. Hurt? She’d said it with unmistakable bitterness. Hell, the man isn’t stupid, she thought. And he isn’t insensitive, either. Chris lowered her eyes to the beautiful ring and whispered, “…and my dreams, too.” She was immediately horrified at the admission. Why had she said that? But she knew the answer. Partly because it was true, and partly because she didn’t want to hurt Ken. She wanted to make him miserable…but she didn’t want to hurt him.

“It’s beautiful,” Edna clucked over the ring. “It’s just about the nicest ring I’ve ever seen. And it’s big. It’s bigger than the diamond Margaret Kulesza got when she married that weasel-faced mortician back home in South River.” Edna shook her head. “Such a to-do over that scrawny undertaker. The man couldn’t even do a decent job of laying-out. Picked out terrible ties. And had a real heavy hand with the rouge. I don’t like that. I like when they lay you out to look natural.” She turned to Ken. “What do you think? Don’t you just hate to see a phony-looking stiff?”

“Yeah, now that you mention it…” He turned to Chris and mouthed “help!”

Edna ushered them into the kitchen. She took the wooden spoon to a pot of bubbling stew. “So, when’s the big day?” She ground a touch of fresh pepper into the pot and continued stirring. “We could have the wedding right here. Or would you want a church wedding? And a dress…you have to get a dress. I think ivory would look nice-you look good in ivory, Chris. You can’t wear white, of course, but ivory would be okay.”

“Actually, we haven’t set a date,” Chris said, shifting her weight from one foot to the other and avoiding Ken’s eyes. “It could be a long engagement-really long. Maybe we won’t ever get married. Maybe we’ll just be engaged for a long time, and then…”

Edna looked at her as if she were crazy. “Lord, being engaged makes you silly. Why the devil are you rambling on so? And you don’t want to wait too long. A Christmas wedding would be good; the house could be decorated with garlands and bows. I always wanted to have a Christmas wedding, myself. I was a June bride, but if I ever marry again it will be a Christmas wedding.”

She was losing control of the conversation…correction-she’d never had control of the conversation. Edna wasn’t even listening to her…no one ever listened to her…

Edna stirred more vigorously. The gravy slopped over the edge of the pot and small cubes of potato were ground into mushy oblivion as Edna became increasingly excited. “We don’t need a caterer. I could do it all. Little meatballs, and we could slice up a nice big roast beef. We’ll order the cake. I know a lady up the street that does wonderful cakes.”