The Sometime Bride

She certainly wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment—and he could keep the ring.
    Mike had shoved the box back in front of her, saying she could hang on to it until she felt ready. She’d given him a thin smile and said, “Fine.” It was only because he’d followed her when she’d excused herself to the ladies’ room that he’d witnessed her break the delicate ring free from its velvet prison and lob it into the pool before climbing into her black Jaguar and driving out of his life.
    Just like that.
    Alexia hadn’t even planned to say good-bye.
    Mike sat on the end of a lounge chair and studied the two rings in his hand. One glistening solitaire, the other an elegant arrangement of emeralds and diamonds. For all Mike knew, he thought, casting a tired gaze over the pool surface, there were others like these down there. Dozens, maybe. Heck, if he looked long enough, he might even find thousands.
    He could start his own business: Ring Finders Unlimited. He’d make a fortune on broken hearts…
    Mike blinked back the heat in his eyes and stared up at the star-speckled night, realizing just how cynical he’d become.
    It was really too late to drive back to the city, and his room for the night was bought and paid for. Plus, he still had mystery woman’s ring in the palm of his hand. Mike didn’t know how, but some way before he left here tomorrow, he was going to get that woman to take back her ring. Then maybe she could return it properly to whoever had given it to her in the first place.
    Not that it was Mike’s normal style to go inserting himself in other people’s relationships, but someone had to wise the female species up to the damage it was doing out there. And, since he had nothing left to lose, Mike thought, tightening his grip around his solitaire, it might as well be him.

Chapter Two

    Carrie sat at the small breakfast table, absentmindedly stirring her coffee.
    “Good morning,” a deep baritone echoed from above her.
    Carrie looked up at the dapper man in chinos and a button-down shirt. “Mike! I almost didn’t recognize you with your clothes on!”
    A couple at the next table set down their grapefruit spoons and stared.
    “I mean,” Carrie backpedaled, perspiration sweeping her hairline, “dry.” Oh, Criminy. Carrie picked up her cup, but Mike just grinned and pulled out a chair.
    “Mind if I join you?” he asked.
    Now that was a loaded question for eight o’clock in the morning. Carrie picked up the Style Section of the newspaper and rapidly fanned her face. “Sure, why not?” Anything, she thought. Anything to get this Greek Adonis to sit—and her to stop babbling like an idiot in this public place.
    “Listen,” he said, squaring his chair in with the table. “I think we got off on the wrong foot last night.”
    “Look, Mike,” Carrie said, reaching a hand across the table to touch his arm, then instantly regretting it. It had to be over eighty degrees inside, with the air-conditioning in this antiquated building malfunctioning, and yet, still, the contact sent shivers up her spine. “As far as I’m concerned, the two of us aren’t even going anywhere. So, wrong foot or no, it’s all water under the bridge.”
    “Or, into the pool,” he said with a smile that pinned her in place even though a very big part of her longed to spring from her chair and race from the room. What was it with her? What in the world was she afraid of? Mike…? And if it was terror she felt, then why did every inch of her skin vibrate with electric fire each time his sea-green eyes settled on hers?
    Carrie took a very long, deliberate sip of water, then set down her glass. “You know, I never got your last name,” she said with a smile she hoped looked pleasantly interested, not recklessly giddy.
    “Davis,” he said as a server sauntered over. “No,” he told her as she tilted the silver coffee carafe, “I’m not staying.”
    “You’re not?” Carrie asked before she could stop herself.
    Mike arched one eyebrow, and the slightest tingle took hold of Carrie’s tailbone. Damn it, she thought, shaking off the confusion. She was not attracted to this man, not attracted one iota. And she was going to prove it. To him—and the rest of the world, as well.
    “Please,” Carrie said in her most gracious Southern tone. “Do stay. It’s the least I can do for…”
    Their waitress colored slightly as Carrie’s words fell off.
    Mike accepted a cup of coffee then met Carrie’s eyes