Eclipse Bay

manuscript of the most recent addition to his successful suspense series to the editor. “I’m taking Carson to Disneyland, and then we’re going on down to Phoenix to see Sullivan and Rachel. Probably be gone for most of the month. You know how to reach me if you need me.”
    “It’s about time he married again,” Hannah said to Winston. “Amelia has been gone for three years now. He and little Carson have been alone long enough.”
    Winston jiggled his brows.
    “Yes, I know. I’m a fine one to talk.”
    She punched the key for the last message…and nearly fell off her chair when she heard Rafe Madison’s unmistakable, bottom-of-the-sea voice. Her heels came down off the desk with a small thud. She sucked in a half-strangled breath and sat forward abruptly. The Chardonnay sloshed wildly in the glass. Several drops went over the rim and hit Winston between his ears.
    He looked up from his bone with a puzzled expression.
    “Sorry, Winston.” She grabbed a napkin and blotted the wine off the top of his head. “I was a little stunned there for a second, but I don’t think I’m going to faint or anything.”
    She tossed the napkin into the wastebasket, inhaled slowly, and took a steadying swallow of wine.
    She had not heard his voice in eight years, and although this time around it was only a recording, it had the same impact on her tonight as it had the last time. Small flashes of electrical energy snapped through her nerve endings. Her stomach seemed to float in midair.
    “This is Rafe Madison…”
    The last conversation she’d had with him flitted through her mind. Good luck with that five-year plan of yours. I hope things work out the way you want.
    She wondered if he’d ever gotten his act together.
    “…Got the message you sent through your lawyer. The answer is no. Looks like we’ve got a few things to talk about, and I don’t plan to do it through our attorneys. See you in Eclipse Bay.”
    “No?” The old memories went up in smoke and the present came crashing back. She stabbed the replay key.
    “…The answer is no…. See you in Eclipse Bay.”
    She had not misunderstood. His answer to her offer was loud and clear.
    “I think I’ve got a problem, Winston.”

    She dropped the bombshell on her sister the following morning.
    “What do you mean, he refuses to sell?” Lillian demanded on the other end of the line. “That house belonged to our great-aunt, not his. He can’t refuse to sell.”
    Hannah listened to the muffled sounds of a printer in the background. Lillian was hard at work. She ran her matchmaking firm, Private Arrangements, out of an office in a high-rise located only a few blocks away from the one in which Hannah and Winston lived.
    “You were there when Isabel’s will was read,” Hannah reminded her wearily. “She left the house equally to Rafe and me. The lawyer says he can do whatever he wants to do with his half.”
    “Hmm. Maybe you didn’t offer him enough money.”
    “The negotiations didn’t even get that far. I just sent a message to him through the lawyer telling him that I would be willing to buy out his half of the house. I expected him to come back with a price.”
    “What on earth do you suppose he plans to do with half of Dreamscape?” Lillian mused.
    “Who knows?” Hannah frowned at the array of wedding photos that decorated her office wall. “But I have plans for Dreamscape, and I’m certainly not going to let him stand in my way.”
    “You’re going to meet with him in Eclipse Bay, aren’t you?”
    “Doesn’t look like I’ve got much choice. I want Dreamscape. Somehow I’ve got to talk him out of his share of the place.”
    “We haven’t heard much about Rafe in recent years. Just that he got married and divorced.”
    Hannah thought about her midnight conversation with Rafe. The men in my family aren’t much good when it comes to marriage…. Figure the odds are against megetting lucky…
    “Divorce is a Madison family tradition,” she said quietly.
    “Unfortunately, it’s a very common tradition for a lot of families these days.” Lillian made a tut-tut sound. “I don’t know why so many people refuse to see the obvious. Marriage is a partnership. It should be entered into the same way one would go into any serious business arrangement. All the factors should be examined from every angle before a commitment is made.”
    “Lillian—”
    “There’s a staggering amount of scientific evidence that suggests that couples