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  Angela reached for Levi’s hand. “Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet Levi Eaton. Levi, these are my parents, Benton and Dianne Chase.”

  “I’m honored to meet you,” Levi said, shaking Dianne’s hand before repeating the gesture with Benton.

  Tall and slender with coppery skin and snow-white thinning hair, Benton narrowed his deep-set dark eyes and stared at Levi. “You’re an Eaton?”

  Levi nodded. “Yes, I am,” he said proudly.

  The older man squinted slightly behind the lenses of his glasses. “You look a lot like Solomon Eaton.”

  He smiled. “He’s my father. Do you know him?”

  Resting a hand on Levi’s shoulder, Benton led him away from his wife and daughter. “I met your father a couple of years ago when we got together for a fundraising golf tournament in Palm Springs. I’d heard through the grapevine that the president wanted to appoint him to the federal circuit court. I was sorry to hear Solomon declined. It’s not often someone of your father’s stature turns down a position like that. Forty years ago black judges were as scarce as hen’s teeth—especially in the South.”

  “Are you a judge?” he asked Benton.

  “Yes.”

  Levi managed to mask his surprise behind an impassive expression. “I expected you to talk to me about dating your daughter, not talk about my father.”

  Benton waved in a dismissive gesture. “I promised myself I would stop commenting on the men Angela dates. It’s a lost cause. She claims she doesn’t want to be involved with any of them.” He shook his head. “The only thing I can do is hope for the best for my baby girl.”

  “Hey, Dad, Levi,” said a familiar voice. Levi turned to find Duncan standing behind them. “I see you’ve met the best pediatrician I’ve ever had the honor of working with.”

  Benton’s smile was dazzling. “So, you’re a doctor?” He patted Levi’s shoulder. “How do you like working in Maywood Junction?”

  “It’s a lot different from my New York practice.”

  “You should see him with the kids, Dad. He’s incredible. I don’t know what we’re going to do when he leaves in a few months.”

  Levi felt slightly uncomfortable. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Levi said.

  “You’re thinking about…” Duncan was interrupted when Dianne and Angela joined them. His eyes swept over Angela’s revealing dress. “Who are you trying to hurt in that getup?”

  Dianne shot her oldest son a stern look. “Duncan, please.”

  Levi shifted his position, wrapping an arm around Angela’s waist. “I happen to like what she’s wearing,” he said defensively.

  Angela flashed a Cheshire cat grin. Tilting her head, she smiled into Levi’s laughing eyes. “Why thank you, sweetie.”

  Duncan wasn’t amused. “I just hope sweetie doesn’t have to bust a few jaws tonight.”

  Shaking her head, Dianne managed a brittle smile. “Levi, you’re going to have to excuse my son. There are times when he can be a little overprotective of his sister.” She looped her arm through Duncan’s. “By the way, where’s your pretty little girlfriend?” Her voice changed, becoming syrupy sweet.

  Duncan’s dark mood vanished when he smiled. “Myla went to the ladies’ room.”

  Resplendent in black silk and brilliant diamonds, Dianne Hitchcock Chase patted her coiffed hair. “Now that the weather is warmer I’d like to have a little something at the house next Sunday. Duncan, I’d like you to bring Myla.” She smiled at Angela. “Of course I’d love for you and Levi to join us.”

  Angela met Levi’s gaze. “Levi and I will have to talk about it.”

  He shook his head. “I promised Angela I would cook for her next Sunday, but there’s always the following Sunday. We’ll be there, won’t we, darling?”

  At that moment Angela wanted to drive the heel of her shoe into his foot, but thought better of it. She was accustomed to making decisions in her relationships, but apparently she’d underestimated her date. He was as good at playing the game as she was.

  She gave her mother a plastic smile. “You can count on us being there.” She dug her nails into the palm of Levi’s hand. “Do you mind getting me something to drink?”

  A slight frown furrowed his smooth forehead. “What would you like?”

  “Surprise me,” she drawled facetiously.

  Her eyes narrowed when she glared at his departing figure. Angela felt as if she was losing control, that it was as if Levi could read her mind and had flipped the script. She’d promised to take him to the Derby, but still hadn’t agreed to go to Philadelphia for his family reunion. Now he’d invited himself to Sunday dinner with her family.

  Duncan carefully observed the exchange between his sister and Levi, and winked at Angela. “Play with fire and you’ll get burned, Sis,” he whispered in her ear.

  “Go find Myla,” she countered.

  Grabbing her hand, Duncan led her away from earshot of their parents. “I’m going to ask you a question, and I need you to tell me the truth.” Angela nodded. “Do you like Levi?”

  “What’s there not to like. He’s perfect but…”

  “But what, Ang?”

  She averted her gaze. “You know I don’t want to get involved.”

  “Neither does Levi.”

  “How do you know that?”

  Duncan leaned closer. “Levi was seeing someone, but he broke it off when she wanted more than friendship.”

  Angela stared at her brother. “Are you saying he’s only interested in a platonic relationship?”

  “Look, Sis. Levi and I don’t have detailed conversations about who we do or don’t sleep with. But he’s told me that he doesn’t want a permanent relationship. What I do know is that he’s a good guy and the kids love him, and you’re both looking for the same thing.”

  She gave him a skeptical look. “Why are you playing matchmaker?”

  “Because I hear that you’re still going out with losers. The best way to get over Robert is to date a decent guy. Excuse me, but I have to look for my woman.”

  Angela stared as her brother walked away, her eyes landing on the one person she loathed seeing again standing only a few feet away.

  Chapter 5

  Angela felt a shiver run up her spine. Recovering quickly, she tilted her chin defiantly as the man with whom she’d once planned to spend her life came face-to-face with her. To say that time had not been kind to Robert Gaskin was an understatement. He was only thirty-eight, but appeared much older. There was a sallow undertone to his light brown face. His shoulders were rounded, and what had been a thick head of hair was now thinning. She noticed a slight puffiness under his eyes and a gauntness that belied fatigue. His suit hung from his body as if his six-foot frame had shrunken.

  Karma is a bitch, she thought, as she suppressed a smile. But her sense of triumph turned to shame when the possibility that maybe Robert was sick suddenly occurred to her. That was something she wouldn’t wish on her worst enemy. The anger she thought she would’ve felt dissipated in an instant as Angela stared impassively at the man she believed she’d been in love with.

  “I was hoping you’d be here,” Robert said, smiling.

  Angela’s cool expression did not change. “How have you been, Robert?”

  His light brown eyes moved slowly over her face. “Let’s just say, I could be better. You look absolutely beautiful.”

  “I agree.”

  Angela turned when she heard the familiar baritone. Levi had come up behind her. “Thank you, sweetie,” she crooned when he handed her a Bellini. She winked at him. “Love, I’d like for you to meet Robert Gaskin. Robert and I were what you would call an item back in the day. Robert, Levi Eaton.”

  Levi offered his right hand.
“It’s nice meeting you,” he drawled facetiously.

  Robert was slower in extending his hand. “How long have you and Angela been…been together?”

  “Not long,” Angela and Levi chorused. They shared a grin.

  Massaging his forehead with his fingertips, Robert glanced down at the toes of his shoes. “Levi, can you please excuse us? I’d like to speak to Angela alone.”

  A look of annoyance shadowed Levi’s face. “If you want to talk to Angela, then I suggest you ask her directly.”

  Robert stood up straight and pulled back his stooped shoulders. “Angela?” His expression was hopeful.

  “I’m sorry, but there’s nothing to talk about,” she said.

  “Angela, please.”

  “She said no,” Levi intoned. A harsh edge had crept into his voice, as he and Robert engaged in what had become a stare down.

  Robert was the first to look away. “It doesn’t matter. Savannah and I are moving back to Louisville, so I’m sure I’ll see you around—especially at family functions.”

  “I doubt that,” she countered. “We have nothing to say to each other. You said it all five years ago. The only thing I’ll say is that I wish you and Savannah the best.”

  She turned her back, struggling not to lose her temper, and unable to believe she’d felt even an iota of pity for that selfish cretin. For Robert it’d always been about him. That is what had drawn her to Robert. Despite being considered an egghead by his friends, there was another side of the man few got to see. She’d been the exception. Whenever they went away on vacation together, Robert was always the life of the party. He was the first and the last one on the dance floor. And after one or two drinks he was completely uninhibited—especially in the bedroom. And with her limited experience with the opposite sex there were occasions when Angela felt overwhelmed and uncomfortable. If or whenever they argued it was usually about sex. He’d called her a prude, and said she didn’t know what it took to please and, therefore, keep her man. Well, in the end she didn’t please or keep her man and he’d strayed. If it had been any other woman but her best friend, Angela wouldn’t have taken it so hard. Savannah Jenkins was the sister Angela never had. She trusted Savannah, confided her deepest secrets and her unconditional love for Robert.

  Resting her hand on Levi’s jacket sleeve, she leaned into him for physical as well as emotional support. “Get me out of here before I take off my shoe and clock his ass.”

  Smiling, Levi led her across the ballroom and outside through a set of French doors to the patio. Wedding guests strolled along the paths leading to English, boxwood and Japanese gardens. They stopped next to a planter with a large palm.

  What she hadn’t known at the time was that her fiancé had been sleeping with her best friend, who was also her maid of honor. They’d managed to keep their affair a secret until the night before she and Robert were to be married. At the time, she hadn’t cried, because she wasn’t able to. Pain, humiliation and rage had shut down her emotions. It was as if she was on autopilot.

  “Were you really going to hit him?”

  Angela took a long sip of her cocktail. “I don’t know.” She stared at a flowering azalea bush. “I’ve never hit anyone in my life.”

  Levi pressed his chest against Angela’s back. “You never had a fight when you were a kid?”

  She shook her head. “No. Not when I had four older brothers and one younger. We’re only two years apart.”

  He kissed her hair. “Are your other brothers coming to the wedding?”

  “No. Ryder, he’s the youngest, owns a cattle ranch in North Dakota. When he’s not herding cattle, he’s riding them in rodeos. Zane, Langdon and Jared decided to stay away, because they didn’t trust themselves not to, as they put it, ‘stomp the hell out of Robert.’”

  Angela took another sip of her cocktail. The blend of peach nectar infused with dry champagne lingered on her palate. She rested the back of her head against Levi’s shoulder, closing her eyes and moaning silently when he wrapped his arm around her waist. It had been so long since she’d felt the peace she felt now that Angela thought she was dreaming.

  “What happened between you and Robert?” Levi whispered in her ear, shattering the spell.

  She opened her eyes. “He cheated on me with my best friend who was my maid of honor. I have no idea how long they’d been sleeping together. Most of the time Savannah claimed she didn’t even like Robert and thought he was all wrong for me.”

  “He was wrong for you but right for her.”

  Angela smiled. “I didn’t realize they were involved until Robert called me a couple of hours after the rehearsal dinner to inform me that he and Savannah were at the airport. They were flying to Vegas to get married because she was pregnant.”

  “Why did he wait until the last minute to tell you?”

  “Because he’s a coward. He was afraid to face my father and brothers,” she said. “We’d decided beforehand to keep his condo because it was larger than my place, but I didn’t know that Robert had sold his condo months before, and had paid the new owner not to move in until after the wedding date. I also didn’t know he’d bought a house in Frankfort and had gotten a position teaching engineering at Kentucky State University. I was blindsided from all directions.”

  Levi noticed some of the guests were watching him and Angela. Had they thought of him as another of the guys she dated who was here today, gone tomorrow?

  “Now he’s back,” Levi spat out. The three words were filled with anger.

  Turning to face Levi, Angela stared up at him. “I’m over him, Levi.”

  “You may be over him, but it’s apparent he isn’t over you.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Robert wants you.”

  She shook her head. “He can’t have me.”

  Eyes narrowing, Levi leaned in closer. “Do you hate him?”

  “No. Though there was a time when I believed I couldn’t live without him. But hate had a way of eating you up inside, and I’d found myself going to bed angry and waking up even angrier. Then, one day I stopped and I told myself it was best that it happened before we were married and had children. I wouldn’t want my children to ask me where Daddy is or why he isn’t coming home because as sure as the sun rises each morning, I would’ve thrown him out without batting an eyelash.”

  “What about Savannah?”

  A wry smile crossed her lips. “The only thing I can say is if Robert cheated on me, he’ll cheat on his wife.”

  “So it’s over?”

  The smile on Angela’s face made her look angelic. “It’s beyond over.”

  “What if I make certain it stays over?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I can help you out, but I don’t want to be mister one-oh-one.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Your father told me you weren’t serious, that you’re seeing a lot of guys.”

  A wave of heat suffused Angela’s face. “I haven’t dated that many guys.”

  “How many is not many?” Levi asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Give me a figure, sweetie.”

  Angela compressed her lips. “It could be around a dozen.”

  “It has to be more than a dozen, Ang,” Levi drawled, using her nickname.

  “Okay, less than twenty.”

  There was a hint of amusement in Levi’s dark eyes. “Do you realize some women don’t have twenty dates in a lifetime?”

  “I didn’t sleep with any of them. And there were times when months would go by and I wouldn’t have a date.” Angela knew she sounded defensive but she didn’t want Levi to believe she was a loose woman, as her grandmother used to say.

  “Then let�
�s be exclusive.”

  Her gaze caught and held Levi’s. She thought about his proposition and decided that Levi Eaton was not only a good candidate to be Mr. Right Now, but he could also provide great material for the hero of her novel. For Angela it was a win-win.

  “Okay,” she said softly, “I’ll go out with you.”

  Levi set his glass on a nearby table and took Angela’s, placing it next to his. Cradling her face in his hands, his eyes softened into a smile. He’d never had to work so hard to get a woman to agree to out with him but there was something about Angela Chase that made it worth it. Lowering his head, Levi kissed her forehead. “Do you know what this means?”

  Angela blinked, feeling slightly lightheaded. She anchored her arms under his shoulders to keep her balance. “No. What does it mean?”

  “We are officially a couple.” She lowered her thick, black lashes in a demure gesture, charming Levi completely.

  “Does that also make you my man?”

  Levi kissed her forehead again. “Do you need a demonstration?”

  “No…no,” she said much too quickly. “I believe you.”

  “Then, I guess it’s all good.” They shared a smile, a smile usually reserved for lovers. “Are you ready to go back inside?”

  Angela nodded. Levi was perfect. He was someone her mother would approve of and someone her father seemed to like. She liked him and so did Miss Divine. Yes, she mused, dating Dr. Levi Eaton was the best of all possible solutions, if only to prove to Robert that she hadn’t been pining over him.

  “Yes, I’m ready.” What Levi didn’t know was how ready she really was.

  Hand in hand Levi and Angela returned to the ballroom, which was a lot more crowded now. She spied Traci craning her neck, no doubt looking for her.

  “There’s my cousin waving to us. Come, Levi. I want to introduce you to her.”

  Traci Freeman wove her way through the crowd toward Angela and the most delicious-looking man she’d seen in a long time. Now, if Angela wanted to trade him in for the next one, then Traci was more than willing to take him off her hands.