A Merger...or Marriage?

Early summer had to be her favorite time of year, she decided, when the world was green and lovely. As she rode down one street and then another, she savored the smells and sights, so different from her life the past eight years in Manhattan.

The evening air was thick with the sweet smell of flowers, of meat grilling on a barbecue somewhere, of freshly mowed lawns.

She pushed herself hard, making a wide circuit around the edge of town before circling back. By the time she cut through the park near her duplex, she felt much more centered and better equipped to tackle the mounds of paperwork still awaiting her attention that evening.

The trail through the park took her past a baseball diamond where a game was underway. Because it seemed like such a perfect ending to her ride, a great way to celebrate a June evening, she paused to watch for a moment in the dying rays of the sun.

The players were young. She had never been very good at gauging children’s ages but since many of them still had their baby fat and seemed more interested in jabbering to each other than paying attention to the game, she would have guessed them at five or so.

She smiled, watching one eager batter swing at the ball on the tee a half-dozen times before he finally connected. The ball sailed into right field, just past a player who ran after it on stubby little legs.

“Run for it, bud. You can catch it. That’s the way.”

Anna jerked her head around at the voice ringing from the stands and stood frozen with dismay.

When Richard claimed another commitment, she had assumed he meant a date. Instead, he sat in the bleachers looking gorgeous and casual in jeans and a golf shirt, cheering on the towheaded little outfielder she assumed was his son.

For just an instant, she was tempted to ride away quickly so he didn’t think she was stalking him or something, but Lilli chose that inopportune moment to yip from her perch in the basket.

Drawn to the sound, Richard turned his head and she saw his eyes widen with surprise as he recognized her.

For one breathless instant, she thought she saw something else flicker there, something hot. But it was gone so quickly she was certain she must have imagined it.

She raised a hand in greeting and then—mostly because she didn’t know what else to do amid the awkwardness of the chance encounter—she climbed from her bicycle, propped it against the metal bleachers then scooped Lilli out of the basket before joining him in the stands.

“That must be Ethan out there,” she said.

“It is. We’re up one run with one out and just need to hold them through this inning and it will be all over.”

He turned his attention back to the game in time to cheer as the next player at bat hit the ball straight at the shortstop, who tossed it to first base. The fielder on first base looked astonished that he actually caught the ball in time to pick off the runner.

“I have to admit, I’m a little surprised to see you here,” Richard said after a moment when the crowd’s wild cheers subsided. “I wouldn’t have expected a T-ball game to be quite up your alley.”

Anna gave a rueful smile. “I only stopped on a whim. We live just a block away from here and have ridden through the park several times. This is the first game I’ve stopped at.”

“We?”

She held up Lilli and Richard raised one of his elegant eyebrows. “Is that a dog or a rat with a bad case of indigestion?”

She made a face. “Hey, watch it. This is the queen of my heart. Lilli, this is Richard Green. Say hi.”

The dog deigned to lift her paw but Richard only blinked.

“You’re kidding.”

Anna shook her head, hiding a smile. “I’m afraid not. She’ll be offended if you don’t shake.”

With a sigh, he reached out a hand to take the dog’s tiny paw in his, which was all the encouragement Lilli needed to decide he was her new best friend. She wriggled with delight and gazed at him out of adoring eyes.

This wasn’t the first time Anna had noticed her dog had a weakness for handsome men.

“So you said the center fielder is your son?”

Richard nodded. “He’s the one picking dandelions,” he said wryly.

Anna laughed. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I see three kids picking dandelions out there.”

He smiled and she wondered how she could possibly have forgotten the devastating impact of his smile. “Mine’s the one in the middle.”

As if on cue, the center fielder began to wave vigorously. “Hi, Daddy! Can you see me?”

Richard nodded. “I see you, buddy,” he called out. “Watch the ball, okay?”

Ethan beamed at his father and obeyed, turning his attention back to the game just in time as a pop fly headed straight for him.

“Right there!” Richard exclaimed. “You can do it!”

Ethan held his glove out so far from his face it seemed to dangle from his wrist but the ball somehow miraculously landed right in the sweet spot with a solid thud.

Caught up in the moment, Anna jumped to her feet cheering with delight, along with Richard and the rest of the onlookers on their side of the bleachers.

“That’s the game,” the umpire called. “Final score, sixteen to fifteen.”

Anna held tight to Lilli as the little dog picked up on the excitement of the crowd, yipped with glee and vibrated in her arms, desperate to be part of the action.

“Great game,” she said after a moment. “Be sure to tell Ethan congratulations for me.”

“I’ll do that. Or it looks like you can tell him that yourself. Here he comes.”

An instant later, a small figure rushed toward them, his features bright with excitement as he launched himself at his father.

“Did you see that, Dad? I caught the ball right in my glove! Right in my glove! I won the game! Did you see?”

Richard hugged his son with enthusiasm. “Nice work! I’m so proud of you, bud. You’re getting better every game.”

“I know. I am.” He said it with such blatant confidence that Anna couldn’t help but smile.

Lilli, never one to sit quietly when hugs were being exchanged and someone else was getting attention she thought rightfully belonged to her, gave another of her love-me yips and the boy quickly turned toward her.

“Wow! Is that your dog?” he exclaimed to Anna, the baseball game apparently forgotten.

Anna set Lilli down, careful to hold on to the retractable leash while Lilli trotted eagerly to the boy. He instantly scooped her into his arms and giggled with delight when the dog licked the little-boy sweat from his cheek.

“What’s his name?” Ethan asked eagerly.

“She’s a girl and her name is Lilli,” Anna answered.

“I like her!”

She smiled, charmed by how much this darling boy resembled his father. “I do, too. She’s a great dog.”

“My name is Ethan Richard Green. What’s yours?”

She sent a swift look toward Richard, not at all sure if he would approve of her engaging in a long conversation with her son. He returned her questioning look with an impassive one of his own, which she took as tacit approval for her to answer.

“My name is Anna. Anna Wilder. Your dad and I knew each other a long time ago.”

“Hi.” He set Lilli on the ground carefully and held out a polite hand to her, a gesture that charmed her all over again.

She shook it solemnly, tumbling head over heels in love with the little boy.

“I’m very pleased to meet you, Miss Wilder,” he said, obviously reciting a lesson drummed into him by someone.

“And I’m very pleased to meet you as well, Mr. Green,” she answered in the same vein.

His solemnity didn’t last long, apparently, at least not with Lilli around. He knelt to pet the dog, giggling as she tried to lick him again.

“Would you like to hold her leash?” Anna asked.

“Can I?”

“If it’s okay with your dad.”

Ethan looked at his father, who nodded. “You can take her once around the bleachers but don’t go farther than that.”

The little boy gripped the leash handle tightly and the two of them headed away.

“I wouldn’t have pegged you for a dog person,” Richard said after a moment.

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. Just seems like a lot of responsibility for a single executive living in the big city.”

Though his words echoed her own thoughts of earlier in the evening, she still bristled a little that he apparently doubted she might possess the necessary nurturing abilities.

“It’s not always easy, but I make it work,” she answered. “What about you? I wouldn’t have pegged you for Little League games and car-pool duty. Talk about responsibility, Mr. High-Powered Attorney.”

One corner of his mouth quirked into a smile. “Point taken. Just like you, it’s not always easy but I make it work.”

She didn’t doubt it was a major juggling act—nor did she doubt Richard handled it with his typical elegant competence, just as she remembered him doing everything.

Both of them turned to watch Ethan and Lilli make their way through other onlookers and players back around the bleachers.

Richard sighed as the boy and dog approached. “You know this is going to be one more salvo in our ongoing, occasionally virulent we-need-a-puppy debate.”

She laughed at his woeful tone. “Sorry to cause more trouble for you. But Ethan is welcome to borrow Lilli anytime he’d like while I’m still in Walnut River.”

He looked less than thrilled at the prospect, which only made her smile widen.

“That was super fun,” Ethan exclaimed. “Can I do it again?”

“You’d better give Lilli back to Anna now, bud. Remember what I promised you after the game?”

“Oh yeah!” He handed the leash over to Anna. “We’re gonna get a shaved ice,” he exclaimed. “My dad promised I could have one if I was a good sport and didn’t get mad if I didn’t get on base again. Hey, do you and Lilli want a shaved ice, too?”

She slanted a look at Richard, who was again wearing that impassive mask.

Common sense told her to pick up her dog and run. She didn’t need to spend more time with either of the Green males, both of whom she found enormously appealing on entirely different levels.

On the other hand, all that awaited her at her place was more paperwork. And she couldn’t escape the sudden conviction that Richard wanted her to say no, which conversely made her want to do exactly the opposite.

“I’d love a shaved ice,” she proclaimed. “It’s thirsty work carrying a huge dog like Lilli around. Wears me right out.”

The boy giggled as he eyed the miniscule Chihuahua. “You’re super funny, Miss Wilder.”

She hadn’t heard that particular sentiment in a long, long time. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had thought she was anything other than a boring numbers-cruncher. She decided she liked it.

“You know what? You can call me Anna, as long as I can call you Ethan. Is that okay?”

“Sure.”

“Ethan, would you mind holding Lilli’s leash while I walk my bike?”

He nodded eagerly. “I won’t let go, I promise,” he said.

“Okay. I trust you.”

She slanted one more look at Richard, who was watching their exchange with only a slight tightening of his mouth showing his displeasure. She almost apologized for forcing herself into a family event but then gave a mental shrug.

They were only sharing shaved ices, not spending the entire evening together.

This was completely unfair.

Richard barely had time to adjust to the idea that she was back in town and here she was again, crowding his space, intruding in his carefully constructed life, making him think about things he had put on the back burner.

A casual observer probably wouldn’t be able to imagine that the coolly competent executive he had spent two hours with earlier in the day could be the same woman as this softer, far more approachable, version.

This Anna looked sleek and trim and sexy as hell, with all that gorgeous blond hair pulled back in a ponytail and her skin glowing with vitality.

She looked much like he remembered his old friend from eight years ago—bright and vibrant and so beautiful he couldn’t manage to look away for longer than a minute or two at a time.

She seemed completely oblivious to her allure as she walked beside him, pushing her bike. And he would have bet she had no idea how hard it was for him to fight down the surge of pure lust.

The evening was one of those beautiful Walnut River summer evenings and the park was full of families taking advantage of it. He greeted several people he knew on the short walk to the shaved ice stand but didn’t stop to talk with any of them.

“Do you know every single person in town?” Anna asked after a few minutes.

“Not quite. There are some new apartment complexes on the other side of town and I believe there one or two tenants there’re I haven’t managed to meet yet. I’m working on it, though.”

He meant it as a joke but she apparently didn’t quite catch the humor. “Are you running for mayor or something?”

He gave a rough laugh. “Me? Not quite. I’ve just lived here most of my life. You can’t help but come to know a lot of people when you’re part of a community.”

“Why did you stick around Walnut River?” she asked him. “You always had such big plans when you were in law school. You were going to head out to the wild frontier somewhere, open your own practice and work on changing the world one client at a time.”

He remembered those plans. He had dreamed of heading out West. Colorado, maybe, or Utah. Somewhere with outdoor opportunities like skiing and mountain biking—all the things he didn’t have time to do now that he was a single father.

“Things change. Life never quite turns out like we expect when we’re twenty-two, does it?”

He didn’t think he had ever confided in her the rest of those dreams. He had been desperately in love with Anna Wilder and wanted to bundle her up and take her into the wilderness with him.

She was quiet, her eyes on his son, who was giggling at her little rat-dog. “Maybe not. But sometimes it’s better, though, isn’t it?”

The fading rays of the sun caught in Ethan’s blond hair and Richard’s heart twisted with love for his son.

“Absolutely.” He paused. “And to answer your question about why I’m still here, mostly it’s because this is where my mother lives. She takes Ethan most days when I’m working and they’re crazy about each other. She’s a godsend.”

“Is Ethan’s mother in the picture at all?”

He wasn’t sure he could honestly say Lynne had ever really been in the picture. Their relationship had been a mistake from the beginning and he suspected they both would have figured that out if not for her accidental pregnancy that had precipitated their marriage.

“Is that the wrong question?” Anna asked quietly and he realized he had been silent for just a hair too long.

“No. It’s fine. The short answer is no. The long answer is a bit more…complex.”

He wasn’t about to go into the long and ugly story with Anna, about how Lynne hadn’t wanted children in the first place, how she had become pregnant during their last year of law school together, that she probably would have had an abortion if she hadn’t been raised strict Catholic.

Instead, he had talked her into marrying him.

Though she had tried hard for the first few months after Ethan was born, Lynne had been a terrible mother—impatient, easily frustrated, not at all nurturing to an infant who needed so much more.

It had been better all the way around when she accepted a job overseas.

“I’m sorry,” Anna said again. “I didn’t mean to dredge up something painful.”

“It’s not. Not really.”

She didn’t look as if she believed him, but by then they had reached the shaved ice stand. Ethan was waiting for them, jumping around in circles with the same enthusiasm as Anna’s little dog as he waited impatiently for them to arrive.

“I want Tiger’s Blood, just like I always have,” Ethan declared.

Richard shook his head. His son rarely had anything else but the tropical fruit flavor. “You need to try a different kind once in awhile, kiddo.”

“I like Tiger’s Blood,” he insisted.

“Same here,” Anna agreed. “You know what’s weird? It’s Lilli’s favorite flavor, too. I think it’s the whole dog-cat thing. Makes her feel like a big, bad tough guy.”

Though Ethan looked puzzled, Richard felt a laugh bubble out as he looked at her tiny dog prancing around at the end of her leash.

His gaze met Anna’s and for just an instant, he felt like he was back in high school, making stupid jokes and watching movies together and wondering if he would ever find the courage to tell the prettiest girl in school he was crazy about her.

They weren’t in high school anymore, he reminded himself sternly. She might still be the prettiest girl he had ever seen but he certainly wasn’t crazy about her anymore. The years between them had taken care of that, and he wasn’t about to change the status quo.

Chapter Four

The line was remarkably short and they had their icy treats only a few moments later.

“I saw a bench over there,” Anna said. “Do you want to sit down?”

Richard knew he ought to just gather up his son and head home. But he couldn’t quite force himself to sever this fragile connection between them, though he knew damn well it was a mistake to spend more time with her.

He was largely silent while they ate the shaved ice. For that matter, so was Anna, who seemed content to listen to Ethan chatter about his friends in kindergarten, his new two-wheel bike, the kind of puppy he wanted if his dad would ever agree.

Though Richard wondered how he could possibly have time to eat around all the never-ending chatter, Ethan finished his shaved ice in about five minutes flat then begged to play on the playground conveniently located next to the stand.

“Not for long, okay? It’s been a long day and you need to get home and into the tub.”

Ethan made a face as he handed Lilli’s leash back to Anna then raced off toward the slide.

“He seems like a great kid,” Anna said after a moment.

“He is. Seeing the world through his eyes helps keep my life in perspective.”

“He’s lucky to have you for a father.”

She paused, her eyes shadowed. “My dad’s been gone for six months and I still can’t believe it.”

Her father’s opinion had always been important to Anna. Maybe too important.

He had respected her father—everyone in town had. James Wilder had been a brilliant, compassionate physician who had saved countless lives during his decades of practicing medicine in Walnut River. He doubted there was a family in town that didn’t have some member who had been treated by Dr. Wilder.

But he didn’t necessarily agree with the way James had treated his children. Even when they were younger Richard had seen how James singled Anna out, how hard he tried to include her in everything and make her feel an integral part of the family.

From an outsider’s standpoint, Richard thought James’s efforts only seemed to isolate Anna more, reminding her constantly that she was different by virtue of her adoption and fostering resentment and antipathy in her siblings.

“I tried to find you at the funeral to offer my condolences but you must have left early.”

She set her plastic spoon back in the cup, her features suddenly tight. “It was a hard day all the way around. My father’s death was such a shock to me and I’m afraid I didn’t handle things well. I couldn’t wait to get out of there and return to New York so I could… could grieve.”

He found it inexpressibly sad that she hadn’t wanted to turn to her siblings during their moment of shared sorrow.

“Have you seen Peter or David since you’ve been back?”

“No. Only Ella, today at the hospital.” Her brittle smile didn’t conceal the hurt in her eyes. “I’m quite sure they’re all going out of their way to avoid me.”

“They may not even be aware you’re back in town.”

“You know better than that, Richard. They know I’m here.”

She was quiet for a moment, then offered that forced smile again. “It’s not exactly a secret that NHC has sent me here to close the merger after six months of problems. I might not have received an angry phone call from holier-than-thou Peter or a snide, sarcastic email from David, but they know I’m here.”

He didn’t want to feel this soft sympathy for her but he couldn’t seem to keep it from welling up, anyway.

She had created the situation, he reminded himself sternly. Why should he feel sorry for her at the estrangement with her siblings when she had done everything possible to stir up their wrath?

She shrugged. “Anyway, I’m sure J. D. spread the word he was meeting with me today.”

She rose suddenly and threw her half-eaten shaved ice in the garbage can next to their bench. He had the distinct impression she regretted letting her emotions filter through.

“Which reminds me, I’d better go. I’ve got a great deal of paperwork to file after today’s meeting.”

He didn’t think the reminder of their adversarial roles in the takeover was at all accidental.

She picked up her little dog and set her in a carrier attached to the handlebars of her bike. In bike shorts that hugged her trim, athletic figure, she looked long and lovely and so delectable she made his mouth water.

“It was nice bumping into you and meeting Ethan. Thank you for letting me share a little of your evening together.”

“You’re welcome.”

She gave him one more small smile then, to his surprise, she stopped at the playground to say goodbye to Ethan. She even went so far as to take the dog out of her carrier one last time so the petite creature could lick at Ethan’s face.

Their interaction touched something deep inside him. In his experience, most women either completely ignored his son or went over the top in their attentions, fawning all over Ethan in an effort to convince Richard how maternal they could be.

Anna’s interest in Ethan seemed genuine—and it was obvious his son was smitten by her.

Or at least by her little rat-dog.

After a moment she gave Ethan one last high five, settled Lilli in her carrier again and rode away with one last wave to both of them.

He watched her go—as he had watched her go before. He sighed, his mind on that last miserable day when she had left Walnut River.

He still wasn’t sure exactly why the hell she had left—or, more importantly, why the memory of it still stung.

They had been good friends through high school and he could admit to himself now that he’d always had a bit of a crush on her, though he hadn’t fully realized it until college.

They went to different universities for their undergraduate work. He was at Harvard, but since she had only been a few miles away at Radcliffe, they had seen each other often, but still only as friends.

Though he could sense his feelings for her deepening and growing, they had both been running in opposite directions. He was headed for law school while she was busy preparing for med school.

But one summer night after their first year of graduate work everything had changed.

By a happy coincidence, they had both been home in Walnut River temporarily for the wedding of a friend. Since neither of them had dates, they had decided to go together—again, strictly as friends.

But he had taken one look at her in a sleek, pale-blue dress he could still remember vividly and he hadn’t been able to look away.

They had danced every dance together at the wedding reception and by the time the night was over, he’d realized he had been hiding the truth from himself all those years.

He was in love with her

Deeply, ferociously in love.

And she had returned his feelings—or least, she had given a good imitation of it.

After the wedding festivities were over, they had gone to his house for a late-night swim. His parents were gone and he and Anna had stayed up long into the night, sharing confidences and heady kisses, holding hands while they looked at the stars and savored being together.