The Sometime Bride

that peeked out from beneath her halter-style dress. “Well, sure. That—or a rock climber. Firefighter. Policeman…”
    Carrie bit her tongue, realizing how very much she sounded as if she were exercising her fantasies. And if she put her mind to it, Carrie was quite certain she could come up with one or two of those involving the well-built man beside her—clothed or not.
    It was probably getting close to checkout and time for Carrie to get back to her room. Her first order of business was calling her grandmother to tell her tomorrow afternoon’s bridal shower was off. It would be a sorrowful disappointment to her grandmother and all of her grandmother’s old friends who’d worked so hard in the planning. Not only that, they’d all been expecting to meet the groom! And here Carrie was having to show up empty-handed.
    Carrie cast a sideways glance at the man beside her, a totally absurd notion popping into her brain. No, he wouldn’t. She wouldn’t even dare to ask!
    “You know the worst part about all of this?” Mike asked, still studying the water. But Carrie truly couldn’t imagine anything worse than the look on her grandmother’s face when Carrie confessed she’d let another eligible bachelor slip right through her ineffectual fingers. “It’s my reunion.”
    “Reunion?” Carrie asked.
    Mike grimaced. “High school. And for once, I thought I’d finally have a fighting chance to prove them wrong.”
    Carrie heaved a deep sigh, grateful that her own twentieth was still a good, safe five years away. Other than business success, she’d had nothing to show for herself at her tenth, so hadn’t gone. By her twentieth, she’d been certain she’d have a dashing man—perhaps even a baby or two—on her arm. Now, she wasn’t so certain.
    “Which one is it?” Carrie asked, thinking she knew but feeling it only polite to ask.
    “Twentieth,” Mike reported with a frown. A frown that didn’t much become him, Carrie decided. His was an open, expressive face meant for love and laughter. Carrie blinked hard at the thought, wondering where that love part had come from. “And the sad thing is—after all these years—I’m only going to prove those fellows right.”
    “Which fellows?” Carrie asked.
    “The ones who voted me ‘Most Likely to Remain a Bachelor’.”
    “Hmm.”
    Mike turned to look at her, his eyes catching a glint of sunshine bouncing off the spreading oaks that surrounded the pool area. They were deep-green eyes and swimming like the ocean, a deep, lulling current Carrie was quite sure she could get lost in if she wasn’t very, very careful. “That’s not why I proposed to Alexia, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
    “Alexia?” Carrie pondered. “Sounds very—sophisticated.”
    “That’s a polite way to put it.”
    Carrie laughed. “Well, I’m sure not the most objective one to pass judgment at the moment.”
    “And you and yours?” Mike asked. “Mr. So-Wonderfully-Terrific you felt compelled to chuck his ring into the pool?”
    “Well, I doubt I could be very objective about him either,” Carrie admitted, sheepishly studying her toes through the straps of her sandals. “But then again, men like Wilson Haywood don’t deserve much objectivity.”
    Mike cracked a grin. “Wilson, huh? Sounds very—sophisticated.
    Carrie’s lips pulled into a smile.
    “Say,” Mike began, his eyes lighting with mischief. “I’ve got it! How about we get your Wilson together with my—”
    “Afraid it wouldn’t work,” Carrie said, shaking her head. “Wilson’s already taken.”
    “That fast? That’s gotta be some kind of… Oh,” Mike said, his smile fading in understanding. “No wonder you chucked his ring! So tell me, what was it with this guy? Deaf, blind, or stupid? Or possibly all three?”
    Carrie let loose a belly laugh, delighted with the turn this conversation had taken. “All three, I guess,” she said, giggling into her hand. “And your girl? Alexis?”
    “Alexia,” Mike corrected.
    Carrie shrugged.
    “You’re right,” Mike agreed. “Really doesn’t matter anymore now, does it? I mean, you give a gal the perfect ring…”
    Carrie suddenly realized she still had Mike’s ring clutched in her hand with the other. “Oh my goodness,” she said, attempting to pass it over. “Here! I almost forgot!”
    Mike shook his head. “Finders, keepers.”
    “Now, wait a minute! You left this on the table by accident!”
    Mike gave her a sly wink. A