Their lunch came, and they ate quickly.

"Dessert?" the waitress asked with a twinkle in her eye. She had served Emily many times before. "The usual, Miss Shann?"


Emily nodded, grinning. "No visit to Felicity's Tea Company would be complete without it. I'm afraid I'm a creature of bad habits. At least where dessert is concerned."

"Mr. Fischer? Sir?" the waitress said.

"Bread pudding," Aaron replied. "And give me two lemon curds, and a fruit tart to go. And I'll take half a pound of gunpowder tea also."

"I'll have the caramel egg custard," Michael Devlin said.

The waitress bustled away.

"What's the usual?" Michael asked Emily.

"You'll see," she said with a small grin. "It's difficult to explain."

"Now I am intrigued, Ms. Shann," he told her.

"Please, I think if we're going to work together you should call me Emily," she replied. "May I call you by your first name?"

"My friends call me Mick," he responded. "And I suspect we're going to be friends, Emily." Reaching across the table, he took her small hand in his big one and smiled into her blue eyes. Then he released her fingers as quickly as he had taken them.

God in his heaven! She blushed. She was behaving like one of her heroines. No. She was behaving like one of their friends. Her heroines weren't this sappy. To her relief the desserts came, along with another pot of hot tea.

"What is that?" he wanted to know, staring at the plate the waitress set before her.

"It's a very thin slice of Felicity's Death by Chocolate cake, and a thin slice of her boysenberry pie," Emily said. "I love them both, but I could never make up my mind which to have. So Felicity came up with this solution. Pretty cool, huh?"

He laughed. "It's obvious you don't have a problem with your weight." Then he spooned up some custard. "This is good. She really does use eggs, doesn't she? My gran back in Ballyfer-gus made custard like this. She's gone now, of course."

"I thought you came from Dublin," Emily said.

"I went to school and university in Dublin," he explained. "My parents were killed in an auto accident when I was twelve. Gran Devlin took responsibility for me, but she wasn't up to having a growing lad in her house year-round. I went back to Ballyfergus during my school holidays to stay with her. We only had each other, you see. Very odd for an Irish family, of course. Most of them are big."

"We have something in common then, Mick," she said. She liked the way he spoke of his grandmother. There was warmth and genuine affection in his voice.

"Emily was raised by her two grandmothers," Aaron spoke up. "Right from her birth. I knew them both. Wonderful women!"

"Were your parents deceased too?" Mick asked solicitously.

"No. They were both too young for a baby, and they had other plans," Emily replied. Then she laughed at his look, which was half-shocked, half-curious. "It's a long story for another time."

Mick Devlin shook his head. "Sounds like your life is worthy of a novel, Emily." Having finished his custard he put his spoon down. He was charmed by her. She was a practical woman with a sense of humor, and an obviously very romantic nature, he thought, smiling.

"No, it isn't," she said. "It's my life, and nothing more." She licked a crumb of the chocolate cake from the edge of her mouth. He was a good listener, Emily considered.

"So," Aaron said before another silence set in, "you two need to get together to discuss how we're going to make this slight directional change in your work, Em."

"It isn't slight," she replied. "I'm known for writing sweet, not sexy. I'm not certain you can teach this old dog new tricks."

"You're a good writer, Emily, and we'll start easy," Mick told her. "It would be too much of a shock to some of your readers if we went too quickly. But not all of them will be shocked, judging by what's selling today. Your core readers will buy the book because you've written it, and you will gain new readers based on the reviews," Michael finished.

"You're presuming that the reviews will be good," Emily said.

"They will be," he assured her. "You're good, and readers love you."

"You'll have your editor out to Egret Pointe for a weekend," Aaron suggested. "That way the pair of you can get to know each other, and you'll work better."

Emily looked slightly surprised. The thought of being alone in her house with this man was rather intriguing. But of course it would be all business, she reminded herself.

"I wouldn't want to intrude on Emily's privacy," Mick quickly said. He used the British pronunciation of the word: priv -ah-see. God, a weekend alone with this fascinating woman would be heaven. But of course it would be all business, he reminded himself.

"No, no, of course you must come out," Emily told him. "Actually, it's perfect. I haven't started the book yet, and your input will be invaluable. Best to get started immediately, I suppose." She didn't sound wildly enthusiastic.

"Before you get frightened, write your usual story, and retire into anonymity," Mick murmured candidly. His eyes met hers briefly.

"Yes," she admitted, wondering how he could know her so well already.

"So let's set a date now," Aaron said. What was going on? He sensed something between Emily and her new editor. But how could that be? They hadn't known each other two hours yet. And Emily didn't have a boyfriend. He wondered if she ever had. Yet he also knew she wasn't gay. Something was happening here, but what?

A cell phone rang, and Emily reached into the thin purse she had hung over the back of her chair. "Sorry, I have to take this. Rina? Where are you? Oh. All right. We're at Felicity's. I'll be ready." She snapped the phone shut. "It's Rina. She's ready to go home. She'll pick me up here in ten minutes, depending on the traffic. She said you are not to go anywhere, Aaron."

"Oy vay!" the agent exclaimed. Then he looked to Michael Devlin. "My sister," he explained. Then he turned back to Emily. "I thought she was having a day at Klinger's. This is a day?"

"She said there were too many anorexic matrons with tight faces and expensive boob jobs for her taste. She did a manicure, pedicure, and facial. You know Rina isn't good in the city anymore, Aaron. She's become a real country girl. She and Sam love Egret Pointe."

Aaron shrugged. "Who would have thought a girl from Riverside Drive and Eighty-first Street would grow up to be happy in a place called Egret Pointe?"

"Hey, we've got a Krispy Kreme now," Emily teased him.

He chuckled, then got back to business. "So when should Mick come?" he asked her. "This weekend? Next?"

"Either is all right with me," Emily said. "I'll go with Mick's schedule."

He'd planned to look for a small summer rental at Montauk this weekend, but small rentals could always be found, especially if he didn't quibble over price. And besides, he wanted to know more about Emily Shanski, a.k.a. Emilie Shann. "This weekend will be fine," he said in his deep, lilting voice. "I've been back almost six weeks, and haven't had a weekend in the country yet. I like the country. Where would you recommend I stay?"

"Aaron has my number. Call me and I'll give you directions. Of course you will stay with me," Emily said almost breathlessly. A tall, handsome man with an Irish lilt in his voice wandering about the town would certainly attract attention in Egret Pointe. If she kept him bottled up in her house and garden for the weekend no one was likely to see him, and there would be no gossip about the good-looking guy with Emily Shanski.

"Good, good," Aaron said, relieved that it was all now settled. He let Michael Devlin pay the bill, and took the box with the tarts and the bag of green gunpowder tea from the waitress. They bade Felicity good-bye, introducing Michael Devlin before they went. Rina was just pulling up in her Lexus as they stepped out onto Madison Avenue.

She honked and waved.

"I will bid you good-bye, Emily," Mick Devlin said, smiling at her. "For now. I'll look forward to the weekend. I think we'll get some good work done. Aaron, I'll call you." Then he was off, striding down the street.

Rina had pulled over into a fire lane to allow Emily to get into the car. "Hey, big brother," she said. "When are you and Kirk coming out to open the cottage?"

"I'll ask him," Aaron said. "You look mah-vel-ous, Rina. Have you lost weight?"

"Go screw yourself, sweetie. Call me," Rina said as Emily climbed into the car and belted herself up. "Ta!" She gunned the car out of the fire lane, and back into the midafternoon traffic.

"Bye, Aaron," Emily called to him before Rina's window rolled up tightly.

"Who was the hottie with you?" Rina Seligmann wanted to know. "My God! Tall, dark, and handsome. You don't see too many of them today. Is he straight? Or is he one of Aaron and Kirk's friends? And why were you all having lunch together?"

"He's my new editor," Emily said. "Rachel's retired. It's a long story."

"It's a long ride home," Rina said. "Get talking, sweetie."

Rina Seligmann, nee Rina Fischer, and Aaron's younger sister, was the wife of Egret Pointe's beloved doctor. Her husband had cared for both Katya Shanski and Emily O'Malley until their deaths. Rina had known their granddaughter, Emily, most of her life. Actually, the young woman sitting next to her was the same age as her oldest child. She listened as Emily outlined her morning with Aaron, and her luncheon with her new editor.

"Aaron doesn't want to move you to another publisher?" Rina asked.

"I suppose that will be the court of last resort," Emily said slowly, "but it really wouldn't make a whole lot of sense, if we can avoid it. All my backlist is with Stratford, Rina. Even with my name and sales record, it would be starting over again."

"It makes me so damned mad that none of this is your fault," Rina said.

"It's like Rachel said: I'm a pawn on a chessboard. If I'm going to check the bitch queen, I have to pull this off. J. P. Woods doesn't give a shit for me. She just wants Martin to make her Stratford's new CEO so she can get back at Mick Devlin."

"Do you think you can work with him?" Rina asked. "I mean, without trying to jump his bones. He really is outrageously attractive. I'm glad he's not gay. That would really be a waste. Still, if he were gay we could all be friends, and cause gossip in town."

"He seems very nice," Emily said. Nice wasn't quite the word she wanted, but it would have to do. How could she tell Rina that this man she had just met had her thinking about being on a beach naked with him?

"Nice? Nice? The guy is gorgeous, sweetie," Rina exclaimed. The Lexus swerved just slightly. "Hell, I wish I were your age."

Emily laughed. "You haven't looked at another man since you met Sam," she said. "Why, you've even made him your hero when you watch the Channel."

"Now, who told you that?" Rina demanded to know.

"You did, when you first introduced me to the Channel," Emily answered her. "You said you thought of the two of you in your younger days."

"I talk too much," Rina muttered. "So what have you been using the Channel for, sweetie? Isn't it fun?" She chuckled.

"I'm just an observer," Emily said. "I imagine my books, and have the characters act it all out. It gives me a chance to see if it's realistic and not just silly."

"You don't put yourself in the heroine's role?" Rina was surprised.

"Good grief, no!" Emily exclaimed. "Why would I do that?"

"Well, I thought you might, since you don't have a boyfriend," Rina replied. "Did you ever have a boyfriend, Emily? I didn't think Katya and Emily O were that strict."

Emily thought a long moment, and then she said, "You know, Rina, I don't think I ever have had a real boyfriend. I mean, I like guys, and I was social in college, but no one ever really touched me emotionally. There was never any time, and the story of my parents' little misstep never really went away. I got the feeling the second I hit high school here that everyone was watching to see if I'd screw up like Katy and Joe. You know, some of my teachers taught them. That's why I took all those AP courses, so I could graduate early and get the hell out of Egret Pointe. But then I came back."

"But you were very popular at Egret Pointe High," Rina said. "And you were the class president for four years running."

"No one else wanted the job." Emily laughed. "Katy and Joe were king and queen popular. I was the likable nerd. Oh, I went to pep rallies, and games, and even a couple of dances. But I never let a boy get too close. And then I did college in three years too. Wellesley, like my mother. No boys at Wellesley." She chuckled. "And then just before I graduated Aaron sold my first book to Stratford, and the rest is history. I was a writer. I had a career, and no time for men. Actually, when I see some of the girls I went to school with I don't think I've missed a whole lot."