Two Little Secrets
Zach couldn’t believe he was thinking about marriage
It wasn’t something he’d ever thought about a second time. He was a pretty well-rounded dad, willing to do whatever was necessary for his kids.
But lately, he wasn’t thinking of marrying just for the children. He wanted to do it for himself, as well.
He’d liked those nights he spent with Ginna. Not just the sex, but the cuddling, the conversation.
He never considered himself someone who thought in terms of hearts and flowers, but it was easy to think that way where she was concerned.
Personality of sunshine. Smile that made a guy just feel damn good. And a pair of legs that had him thinking some even better thoughts.
Yes, it was way past time for him to tell Ginna about Emma and Trey. Especially since he also had to tell her he was falling in love with her.
Dear Reader,
Once again, Harlequin American Romance has got an irresistible month of reading coming your way.
Our in-line continuity series THE CARRADIGNES: AMERICAN ROYALTY continues with Kara Lennox’s The Unlawfully Wedded Princess. Media chaos erupted when Princess Amelia Carradigne’s secret in-name-only marriage was revealed. Now her handsome husband has returned to claim his virgin bride. Talk about a scandal of royal proportions! Watch for more royals next month.
For fans of Judy Christenberry’s BRIDES FOR BROTHERS series, we bring you Randall Riches, in which champion bull rider Rich Randall meets a sassy diner waitress whose resistance to his charms has him eager to change her mind. Next, Karen Toller Whittenburg checks in with The Blacksheep’s Arranged Marriage, part of her BILLION-DOLLAR BRADDOCKS series. This is a sexy marriage-of-convenience story you won’t want to miss. Finish the month with Two Little Secrets by Linda Randall Wisdom, a delightful story featuring a single-dad hero with twin surprises.
Best,
Melissa Jeglinski
Associate Senior Editor
Harlequin American Romance
Two Little Secrets
Linda Randall Wisdom
www.millsandboon.co.uk
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Linda Randall Wisdom is a California author who loves movies, books and animals of all kinds. She also has a great sense of humor, which is reflected in her books.
Books by Linda Randall Wisdom
HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE
250—WE GIVE THANKS
284—LADY’S CHOICE
293—APPEARANCES ARE DECEIVING
310—CODE OF SILENCE
325—SINS OF THE PAST
350—A MAN FOR MAGGIE
372—O’MALLEY’S QUEST
382—VOICES IN THE NIGHT
401—FREE SPIRITS
422—SOMETIMES A LADY
443—THIS OLD HOUSE
457—UNDER HIS SPELL
470—A MAN FOR MOM
487—THE COUNTESS AND THE COWBOY
515—NO ROOM AT THE INN
541—VEGAS VOWS
561—HE’S A REBEL
596—COUNTERFEIT HUSBAND
608—MOMMY HEIRESS
627—TWIST OF FATE
641—DO YOU TAKE THIS MAN…
671—NAUGHTY ’N NICE
681—MR. & MRS….& MRS.?
707—BELLS, RINGS & ANGELS’ WINGS
751—SHE’S HAVING HIS BABY
774—THE LAST TWO BACHELORS
831—MY LITTLE ONE
865—BRIDE OF DREAMS
920—TWO LITTLE SECRETS
Dear Reader,
When I came up with the idea of the Blind Date Bulletin Board, I wondered where the best place for it would be. Since there’s nothing else more relaxing than spending time in a day spa, and women tend to talk there, I thought, why not have single women talk about the lack of single men and bring up that, while so and so may not be right for them, he might be right for someone else. Hence, the bulletin board where a single woman could do a little browsing and just maybe find an available man, and after that who knows.
Naturally, this kind of book meant a great deal of research into day spas and all the amenities that go with it.
I only hope you, my readers, appreciate my hard work in this area.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Prologue
“Judgment for the plaintiff in the amount of five thousand dollars.” The striking of the gavel backed up the judge’s ruling. “Next time, madam, don’t choose a man who lies even when truth hits him in the face. And, sir, you are lucky you’re not in jail for the stunt you pulled.”
“Yay, Ginna!” The cheers echoed in the room.
Ginna Walker strolled to the center of the hair salon and dropped into a deep curtsy. No easy feat, considering her narrow short skirt.
Now her voice echoed out of the speakers. “Naturally I am very happy with the judge’s decision. The judge could tell he was lying about the money being his. The account was in my name only. He lied to bank personnel and cost that teller her job as a result. I just wish he’d been punished, too.”
A man’s surly voice was next. “I can’t believe the judge believed that bleep! lies. That money was supposed to be in a joint account. The only reason that bleep! did this was because I have a new life and she’s jealous.”
Ginna laughed out loud.
“The man never stops. A so-called joint account that only carried my name on it. I still can’t figure out how Denny duped that teller into letting him clean it out,” she told her friends and co-workers. “Could anyone remind me why I married such an idiot?”
“Because he had a cute smile and he reminded you of a puppy,” Cheryl, one of the nail techs, said.
“Because you said he actually listened to you,” Nora, one of the other hairdressers, put in.
“Because he sent you three dozen red roses on Valentine’s Day,” was added.
“Yes, but he used my credit card to pay for them,” Ginna said ruefully.
“That was your first clue he was a total jerk,” Sonia, one of the masseurs, piped up.
“I should have divorced him right there and then.” Ginna picked up the television remote control and switched it off. “It would have saved me a lot of trouble.”
Her friends kept pity from their gazes as they looked at her. They all knew exactly why there had been a divorce, but those sorrowful facts were neatly tucked away. It had taken a while before her smiles were spontaneous again.
CeCe, the elegant owner of the Steppin’ Out Salon and Day Spa, rose from her chair and walked over to Ginna. She rested her hands on the younger woman’s shoulders.
“Do not worry, my little Ginna. You will find a man who will see you as the treasure you are,” she told her.
Ginna looked at her boss, who everyone considered ageless. She could be thirty. She could be sixty. The woman’s beauty, Ginna thought, was the type that began from within. Anyone who worked for CeCe was considered a part of her family.
“Then if you say so, it will come true,” she said lightly. “But you don’t mind if I wait awhile before the perfect man comes my way?”
CeCe’s laughter was light and musical to the ear. “My dear, love doesn’t come at your beck and call. You answer its call.” She hugged her and stepped back. “Ladies, we have all this lovely champagne to finish,” she announced.
Ginna walked over to the table laden with rich pastries, bottles of champagne and a lazy Susan holding various fresh vegetables with a dip nearby. She picked up a custard-filled éclair and bit into it.
The lounge for the Steppin’ Out spa clients was a restful area with love seats and chairs that were designed for comfort, as well as looks. Exquisite paintings of European pastoral scenes hung on the walls. Many a woman enjoyed the plush feel of the mint-green carpet underfoot. The wide-screen television in one corner was encased in elegant walnut, used to play specially created videos showing the spa’s amenities.
Since the spa was closed this evening, the employees took over the room to watch Ginna’s television debut on one of the popular courtroom programs.
“Yes, but then you wouldn’t have had your twenty minutes of fame on television,” Phoebe, one of the spa’s estheticians said, and busied herself with a nail file. Cheryl clucked her tongue, muttering about proper shaping as she took the file out of Phoebe’s hand and finished the job herself. “Or gotten more than he owed you.”
“If he hadn’t out and out lied in court, she probably would only have awarded me the money he took,” Ginna admitted. She dropped into one of the chairs in the salon and spun around. “He did it to himself.”
“And what are we doing with the money?” Nora asked in a singsong voice.
Ginna grinned broadly.
“I am taking the vacation of my dreams.”
“THIS IS A JOKE, right?” Zach Stone looked at the sheets of paper his sister had unceremoniously thrust into his hand.
“Do I look like I’m kidding?” She tapped the top paper. “Happy birthday, big brother.”
“Lucie, my birthday’s seven months away,” he said dryly.
She shrugged off his statement. “Then think of it as two weeks in heaven. Sun, sand and surf. Maybe you’ll even go wild and have a hot island romance. It wouldn’t hurt you, you know.”
“Romance?” He started laughing. “Lucie, I have two kids who will be starting kindergarten next year. My life consists of Big Bird and Elmo. Not spending my days on a tropical island beach.”
“Then I suggest you start thinking about it, because you leave next week.” She held up a hand to forestall the arguments she expected to hear. “Emma and Trey will be staying with us.”
“Terrific. While I’m gone, Nick will teach Trey how to hack into a government computer, and God knows what will happen to Emma while her brother is in prison,” Zach muttered in a dark voice.
“He hasn’t done any of that for the last three months,” his sister reminded him.
Zach thought about telling her he’d caught his eight-year-old nephew at his computer and the moment he was sighted the boy shut everything down. Zach had nightmares for a week about a member of a secret government agency coming knocking on his door.
He was positive the boy would run the country one day.
“Zach, you need to get away,” Lucie said softly but forcefully. “You haven’t done one thing for yourself since the twins were born. You need this.”
“I took a vacation six months ago.”
“Taking the twins to Disney World doesn’t count,” she argued. “As it was, you turned it into a working vacation by coming back with enough material for a few months’ worth of your column. Fine. You want more material? Go to Hawaii and write about a single dad at a singles resort.”
“I’ll have plenty of time for myself when they graduate from college.” He feared he was losing the battle. Lucie was like a Gila monster. Once she sunk her teeth into something, she didn’t let go.
She shook her head. “It doesn’t work that way. I planned this trip to give you everything you could ever want. Just pack up some casual clothes and suntan lotion and you’ll be all set.”
Zach got up and walked over to the patio doors overlooking the backyard. He watched his son and daughter playing tag with their cousin outside.
Since the day their mother died giving birth to them, he’d focused his life on giving them a rich full life in an attempt to make up for what they’d lost. By doing that, he’d pushed his own personal needs to one side. He couldn’t even remember when he’d last gone out on a date.
He didn’t want to take the trip his sister was generously giving him.
Maybe he should tell her to take the trip in his place, and he’d watch Nick for her. Maybe she’d even find a man who could handle the boy.
The offer hovered right there on his lips.
Chapter One
People were not meant to fly.
The previous day, Ginna had been scrubbed with sea salt, waxed, exfoliated, massaged, moisturized, moussed and polished. Her skin glowed and felt smooth as silk. Thanks to her co-workers’ efforts, she was sent off to have the time of her life.
If only she didn’t have to fly to achieve it.
Ginna Walker was known to be fearless. With three brothers, she’d had to be. Over time, she’d handled snakes, lizards and even a scorpion named Ralph.
But when it came to walking into a large cylinder that a human and computers navigated through the air, she didn’t do as well. If it hadn’t been so expensive, she would have opted for a cruise.
Except the movie Titanic stayed with her much too long.
So she’d armed herself with motion-sickness medication, a couple of paperback novels and a positive attitude to get her over the Pacific Ocean.
She made her way down the aisle to her seat. She pushed her carry-on bag into the overhead compartment, then settled herself in the window seat assigned to her. She opened her book and pretended not to hear the jet engines warming up or feel the faint rumble under her feet.
“Excuse me, I’m afraid you’re sitting in my seat.”
She looked up into a pair of brown eyes that rivaled Casper’s, her German shepherd’s.
“I don’t think so.”
He didn’t move. “I do think so. You’re in my seat.”
She looked up at him, refusing to back down.
“This is seat 15C and my ticket reads 15C.” She pulled her ticket out of her bag and showed it to him.
As if not to be outdone, he brandished a ticket with the same seat number printed on it.
She glanced at his ticket and smiled. “Amazing, my ticket says the same thing. Besides, haven’t you ever heard of possession being nine-tenths of the law and all that?”
“I guess we’ll need a third party to figure this one out,” he said, pushing the call button.
The flight attendant was warm and helpful as she took both tickets to investigate. When she returned, she was equally apologetic.
“I’m very sorry, Mr. Stone, but somehow the same seat assignment was made for both of you,” she told him. “As Ms. Walker’s ticket was purchased first…” Her voice fell off. “I’m afraid we have no more window seats. In fact, we’re full except for the middle and aisle seat here.”
He nodded. “That’s fine with me.”
She handed them back their tickets and went about her duties.
“Sorry about that. I’m Zach Stone.” He held out his hand.
“Ginna Walker.” She felt his warm palm slide across hers.
Not bad at all. She judged him to be a couple of inches over six feet and nice-looking, with dark-blond hair she knew would lighten under the Hawaiian sun. It needed a good shaping, her keen hairdresser eye noticed. Soft yellow polo shirt, khaki-colored pants. A pair of glasses stuck out of his shirt pocket.
Maybe the flight won’t be so bad, after all.
All the way to the airport, Zach had busied himself with instructions for Lucie about the twins. His sister looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.
Which he had. He was leaving his precious babies with his sister and her son, a child who aspired to be number one on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.
“Nothing is going to happen to the twins,” Lucie had said firmly, steering him through the security checkpoint and toward the gate. She held on to him as if she feared he would bolt in the opposite direction. “Emma always knows when Nick is trying to con her and she keeps Trey out of trouble. You just enjoy your vacation. And remember what I told you. For the next two weeks, no mention of your kids. You’re a single man out for relaxation. That’s it. And if you get lucky—” she paused “—I packed what you’ll need in your shaving kit.”
Zach groaned. He really should have made a run for it, but he knew his bloodhound of a sister would only drag him back. The woman was relentless.
He dropped into the aisle seat and adjusted his seat belt. He wouldn’t be surprised if Lucie had stationed herself by the door, prepared to stand there until the plane left the ground. With him in it.
An exotic fragrance he couldn’t hope to name floated from his seatmate. Nothing overpowering but enough to tempt the senses. The lady was ready for her vacation in the islands in a short black knit skirt that bared a pleasant amount of leg and a blue silky top that stopped a couple of inches short of the skirt’s waistband. Brown hair that shone with gold and coppery highlights was pulled up and back in a curly ponytail that cascaded down her back. The eyes that watched him were a startling shade of blue. They were large and liquid, meant to captivate a man. Her voice held a husky note that was equally enthralling. Zach, the kid, would have stuttered his way through an introduction. Zach, the man, almost swallowed his tongue.
Maybe this vacation won’t be so bad, after all.
Since his seatmate was engrossed in her book, Zach opened the book he’d brought with him. With Lucie so insistent on his finding some romance in the islands, he wasn’t about to allow her to choose his reading material.
As they took off, he glanced out the corner of his eye and noticed her knuckles were white as she gripped the book.
“Flying’s safer than riding in a car,” he said in a low voice, in the hope of relaxing her.
“Cars remain on the ground while planes, which are infinitely heavier, go up in the air and have the chance of coming down when least expected,” she murmured.
He noticed she started to relax once the plane had leveled off, even if one leg still had a habit of jiggling up and down. Which drew his attention back to her legs, which were as nice as the rest of her.
“Don’t worry, I won’t start screaming or anything,” Ginna said. “I couldn’t sleep last night, so I turned on the TV. Big mistake. I think every disaster movie ever made was on. I channel-surfed from crashed planes to earthquakes to tornadoes to sinking ships. You watch enough of those and anyone with normal intelligence would be afraid to leave the house.”
“I guess that could get a person thinking,” Zach admitted, silently amused by her candor. A logical man to the core, he couldn’t imagine that watching a few disaster movies would keep him off a plane.
Ginna leaned over. “If I’d seen one more movie showing a plane crash, I wouldn’t be here,” she confided in a low voice. “I’m not a good flyer. When my mother was six months pregnant with me, she was on a plane that developed engine trouble and could have crashed. Which is why I usually spend my vacations at places you can drive to.”
“That could limit your options,” Zach commented.
Ginna shrugged. “I live in Newport Beach a short drive from the beach, a little over an hour’s drive from the mountains, maybe a couple of hours from the desert. I think I have most of the bases covered if I want to get to one of those places. Anything else, I plan for a longer drive.”
“Yet you’re flying five hours to a Pacific island.”
“I got a great deal from a client who’s a travel agent,” she said, then went on to clarify, “I’m a hairdresser.”
“Funny, I got a great deal from my sister, who happens to be a travel agent,” Zach said dryly.
Ginna raised her plastic glass of diet soda. “To travel agents who know where the deals are.”
Zach tapped his glass against hers. “The plastic clink isn’t as satisfying as crystal goblets, but we know the sentiment is there,” he said.
She nodded. “Exactly. The thought is there. So what do you do, Zach?”
“I write a magazine column,” he replied, figuring it was close enough to the truth.
“Really? Let me guess. A travel column. How to fly and arrive in one piece.”
“Are you sure you don’t write fiction in between haircuts?” he joked, relieved she’d answered her own question.
She shrugged. “I’ve been told I have an overactive imagination, but I can’t even write a decent letter. I guess when someone says they write a magazine column, I tend to automatically think of the wilder side of the business. Someone who’s free and easy, able to pick up and go when they please. And you seem to be a good flier.”
“I was in Florida not all that long ago.” He figured that was the truth without adding that his trip involved Disney World from a four-year-old’s point of view.
“My parents took us there years ago. Did the Disney World thing. They had just as much fun as we did.”
“We?”
She nodded. “I have three brothers and one sister. Keeping tabs on all of us wasn’t easy. Mom once said if she could have, she would have hooked transponders on us so she’d know where we were at all times. Dad said if they lost one of us, it would just be one less mouth to feed. We figured he meant it.”
“Close-knit family, then?”
“We’re all pretty close in age and I guess we’d qualify as a gang. Makes family gatherings interesting,” she said candidly.
“I just have the one sister,” he said. “There’re times when I feel as if she’s three people in one.”
As the flight progressed, Zach found himself enjoying this time with Ginna. He couldn’t remember meeting such an open and honest person. The last lovely woman he’d talked to was the kids’ pediatrician. He was relieved he could carry on a conversation with a woman without discussing eating habits and how best to handle a child’s fears at night.
They made jokes about the airplane food served to them and discussed movies, books and even touched on current events. Zach was definitely enjoying himself.
So why is she looking at me the way a surgeon looks at a critically ill patient?
THIS IS EXACTLY what I need. Time away from work and the attention of an attractive man.
Ginna gave a start when she was positive the plane lurched in a way it shouldn’t have. She relaxed when the pilot’s voice came on and announced they would be landing soon. She was looking forward to planting her feet on solid ground again.
At the same time, she was reluctant to leave this small space with Zach.
She breathed another sigh of relief when the jet’s wheels touched ground with barely a bump. They soon stood up and slowly filed down the aisle.
The moment they stepped onto the jetway she could feel the difference in the air and atmosphere. Zach walked by her side as they headed for the luggage carousel. He took her carry-on bag for her.
“I understand the hotel has a shuttle bus,” he said, after learning they were staying at the same hotel.
“That’s what I was told also,” she replied.
“Why don’t you call the hotel and request the shuttle to pick us up? I can watch out for the luggage if you tell me what yours looks like,” he suggested.
“My nieces offered to let me use their Barbie suitcases, but I explained I needed something a lot larger.” She laughed. “It’s a large teal soft side with a hot-pink band around it.”