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offoreboding in his chest. He was attracted to Alaina Montgomery—big-time. The wallop her smile delivered confirmed it; it wasn’t even directed at him, and still he felt reverberations clear to his toes.
    He frowned as he sat back and squared one booted leg over the other. He was definitely going to have to watch his step here.
    The call to Jayne was confusing to say the very least, but that was no surprise to Alaina. She only hoped her scatterbrained friend had understood the message. The theme music from
Star Trek
had been blaring in the background, making conversation virtually impossible. All she could do now was wait, she thought as she slid back down on her chair, carefully arranging her sinfully short skirt to cover the tops of her thighs.
    Dylan sipped the herb tea Mrs. Fletcher had served them, wondering what he was doing hanging around. He had been sufficiently vouched for. He was free to go. But … His gaze strayed Alaina’s way. She looked sort of forlorn now thatthe fight was over. She wasn’t at all the kind of woman he wanted to spend his time with, and yet …
    It was those legs, he thought, groaning inwardly as he watched her cross one lovely gam over the other.
    “So, you and Jayne went to college together.”
    “Yes. Notre Dame, class of ’77,” Alaina said, gritting her teeth as she realized she’d just dated herself.
    “Well, I know Jayne’s story. How did you end up in Anastasia?”
    Chasing rainbows
, Alaina thought, a small, rueful smile canting her lips. Running from one dream in search of another. Those weren’t the answers she gave, however. Admitting confusion was tantamount to admitting a weakness. That wasn’t something she did easily.
    She gave Dylan a careless shrug. “I was burned out. I needed a change of scenery.”
    So, she would be here only temporarily, Dylan decided. She’d said she was the youngest partner in the history of her firm back in Chicago. That meant she had ambition. Ambitious womendidn’t stay long in a town like Anastasia. They came for the sea air and a dose of simplicity and quaint coastal charm, then they packed their Gucci bags and climbed in their yuppie-mobiles and headed back to their corporate offices for another round of ladder-climbing.
    A sigh escaped him as his baser male instincts began mourning the departure of those mouth-watering legs.
    She was going to be here only as long as it took her to recharge her ambition and work up a new appetite for conquering the male-dominated world. That made her less dangerous to him, didn’t it? He knew she was all wrong for him, knew she wasn’t staying. With those lines of distinction drawn, didn’t that mean he could enjoy her company while she was here?
    It was truly remarkable the rationalization a great pair of legs could inspire, he thought. He was actually contemplating spending time with Alaina Montgomery. The idea settled in his mind, then drifted lower as he imagined all the ways he could enjoy those beautifully shaped limbs that were now encased in black mesh stockings. Let’ssee, there was looking, caressing, wrapping them around his—
    “What does one do at a bar and bait shop?” Alaina queried, more to get his attention off her legs than anything. The intensity of his dark gaze had her squirming on her chair. Of course, she pretended not to be affected in the least. Why, her hands barely shook at all as she lit her cigarette. It was a real victory of a woman’s higher nature over her animal instincts.
    Dylan sent her a devilish smile, knowing full well women like Alaina had an innate disdain for men who didn’t wear Brooks Brothers suits. A bar and bait shop was way out of the realm of respectability for her. He wondered cynically how bored she would have sounded had he informed her that he had once been a hotshot investment counselor. “I sell bait to sport fishermen, a buddy of mine rents them boats, then when they get back at the end of the day, they get drunk on my liquor and