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On the other hand,
    sometimes women knew their boyfriends were philanderers and didn't care, or liked the freedom it afforded them. Steve was
    probably well on his way to becoming a wealthy man, and money could make people overlook a variety of indiscretions.
    Either way, it was none of his business. He wet his parched lips. "What do you want me to tell him?"
    She averted her eyes, and he could see the wheels turning in her pretty head. When she glanced back, she looked hopeful.
    "Nothing?"
    He smirked. Nothing like honesty to get a marriage started off on the right foot. "You got it, Pinkie. Nothing happened. We
    ran into each other in the lobby as I was leaving."
    "Okay." Her smile was tentative as he increased the distance between them. "Well, goodbye," she said, then waved
    awkwardly.
    He nodded. "I'll leave Steve a message when I get to the airport and I'll touch base with him next week."
    "We'll be in Paris for two weeks," she called.
    "Better him than me," he said, knowing she couldn't hear him. He waved and smiled as if he'd said something inanely nice,
    then turned and strode toward the exit, his steps hurried. He couldn't wait to feel blue-grass under his feet again. Steve and Jack
    could have the high life and the high-maintenance women. Right now he'd settle for a honey of a good advertising idea.
    And a good night's sleep to banish the memory of Steve's bride in his bed.

    * * *
With mixed feelings swirling in her chest, Janine watched Derek's broad-shouldered frame walk out the door. She was off the
    hook. She could leave now and Steve would never know she'd been there. Derek had said he wouldn't mention the incident,
    and for some odd reason, she believed him. His seriousness had struck her—he was a man with a lot of responsibility. What
    had he said? That he'd left at a busy time to attend a ceremony he didn't believe in?
    Actually, she should be feeling nothing but giddy relief. Instead, she had the most unsettling sensation that something …
    important … had just slipped through her fingers…
    Janine shook herself back to the present. She still had tomorrow night—technically, tonight—after the rehearsal dinner to
    broach the issue of having sex with Steve. Leaning over to massage her heel, she acknowledged she might have to regroup and
    come up with a different outfit, but Marie would think of something.
    She headed toward the pay phones, threading her way through the people in the lobby. She was tempted to offer assistance to
    the medics, but they seemed to have everything under control, and she was still feeling the effects of the wine. Tomorrow
    morning—correction, in a few hours—she'd call that nice Mr. Oliver to make certain the problem had been resolved. The last
    thing she needed was to have the entire wedding party food-poisoned at the rehearsal dinner. Her mother was already on the
    verge of a nervous breakdown.
    She picked up the phone and redialed the apartment using her memorized calling-card number. Her sister answered on the
    first ring.
    "Marie, thank God you're home."
    "I just walked in the door. I stopped on the way home to pick up pineapple juice. Why aren't you, um, busy?"
    "Because Steve's not here."
    "What? But he answered the phone when you called."
    "No, his best man answered the phone. Steve gave the guy his room because the man was sick and didn't feel like going out
    with everyone else." She waited for the revelation to sink in and was rewarded with a gasp.
    "You mean, you greeted the best man wearing that pink getup?"
    Janine relived her humiliation yet again. "Noooooo. I mean, I crawled into bed with the best man wearing this pink getup."
    For once, she had achieved the impossible—Marie was struck speechless.
    "Marie, are you there?"
    "Are you saying—" her sister make a strangled noise "—that you put a stroke on the best man?"
    "No!" she snapped. "We sort of realized the mistake, Marie."
    "At what point?"
    Janine remembered the kiss and experienced her first