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widened, as if surprised at the admission.
    “I’ve been told I’m too results oriented,” he said, “that sometimes I have a tendency to go for the gold and forget common courtesy. I’m trying to change. So I hope you’ll accept my apology, have dinner with me and we’ll start again.”
    Her expression softened.
    Excellent. He picked up a menu to hand to her.
    No, thanks,” she said, moistening her lips. “I appreciate the offer…and the apology, but I’d better save my appetite for the party.”
    Heat burned in his chest. He shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
    SOMETHING IN JILLIAN YEARNED to say yes. But her gut instinct told her to stay as far away from this man as Jupiter.
    The waitress came back with their drinks and took his order for a steak sandwich, French fries and onion rings. Just as the waitress was leaving, he asked, “You sure you don’t want something to eat?”
    She smiled. “I’m sure.” And she hoped to hell her stomach didn’t growl. She’d been so upset over his earlier visit she hadn’t been able to eat a thing. Now he seemed so concerned, so genuine and sincere…but he’d already lied to her once to get something he wanted.
    Just then a man and woman with two children were led to a table on the other side of the patio. As they passed, one little boy dropped his ball. Adam caught it on the bounce and tossed it back to the child with a smile. When the kid caught it, Adam gave him a thumbs-up.
    He had an ease with children, a trait not all men possessed. He’d been just as at ease with Chloe, she remembered.
    “You have children?” she asked.
    “No, but I have some awesome nieces and nephews.”
    “Nice. How many?”
    He let out a whoosh of breath. “I lost count at six or seven.”
    “So you’re from a big family, then?” She didn’t know why, but she’d thought of him as someone without much family. A loner.
    “Maybe by some people’s standards. But in the Ramsey family, anything less than half a dozen is small. We were six. Four girls, two boys. All my sisters are married and pressuring me to get with the program.”
    “And you don’t like the program?”
    He eased back in his chair and looked directly at her. Drummed his fingers on the table. “Hey, I think it’s great.” A beat later he added, “For other people.”
    So. He wasn’t married. And didn’t want to be. The quickness with which he’d said so sounded like a man who’d had a bad experience. Like her friend Patti who, after her divorce, had vowed to never ever get married again. Until she fell in love six months later.
    “How about you…brothers and sisters?”
    Shaking her head, she said, “No.” She’d never met the half sister from her father’s second marriage, and had only learned of the girl after she’d died from a drug overdose. Someone from social services found her when searching for a relative to decide what to do with the remains. Dina. Her name was Dina.
    “An only child,” he said, as if that was somehow significant.  “I can’t imagine what that might be like. Lots of perks, I guess. No sibling rivalry, no hand me down clothes. No having to share the candy, or babysit the youngest in the family.” He grinned.
    “No big brother to stand up for you when kids picked on you, no sister who’ll play house with you, or who’ll help fix your hair and makeup.” She smiled. “Good and bad both ways.”
    She reached for her drink and took a sip. And all this small talk was just putting off the inevitable.
    The photos. She had to see the photos.
    The waitress brought his food. “Help yourself to some fries,” he said and shoved his plate toward her.
    “No thanks. I love them, but calories I don’t need.”
    He leaned back in his chair, his eyes dancing over her. “You don’t look like a woman who needs to worry much about that.”
    He smiled then, a wide, dazzling smile as his gaze raked over her…or seemed to…from her