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absolutely knockout body under all those layers of clothes had practically taken his breath away. He hadn’t been able to get the image of those slender, well-shaped legs, the smooth white skin and the subtle bounce of her breasts out of his mind. He’d lost a good ten minutes of every hour daydreaming about her. He’d wasted another five cursing himself because of it.
    Now he was running behind for his fishing date with Jason. He’d promised to meet him at four, but at three-thirty the construction crew started balking over the quality of some of the materials that had been delivered that morning. Hank went with them to check up on the complaints and found they were valid. The materials were obviously an inferior grade. Whether it was a simple mistake or an outright attempt to defraud the company, it meant a waste of time and money to correct.Had it not been caught, it could have been disastrous down the line. It was the sort of corner-cutting he and Todd had never tolerated on one of their jobs.
    Furious, he spent the next hour on the phone trying to reach the supplier, whose assistant was amazingly adept at evasion. No doubt she’d had a lot of practice. He slammed the phone down for the fifth time, then glanced at the clock. It was already four-thirty. He picked up the phone again and called Miami, this time for Todd.
    “Do me a favor, would you, and see if you can straighten this mess out,” he requested when he reached his partner.
    “I’ll try, but you’ve dealt with this guy before. Can’t you get anywhere with him?”
    “I might be able to if I spent the next hour hanging around waiting for him to get back to me, but I have an appointment.”
    “One that’s more important than this?”
    Hank hesitated. He could understand Todd’s amazement. In all the years they’d known each other, Hank had never walked out in the middle of a fight. He actually enjoyed sparring with the more difficult personalities.
    Before he could think of an adequate response, Todd demanded, “Okay, buddy, what’s up down there?”
    Hank evaded. “Nothing.”
    “Let me guess. You’ve got a heavy date at five in the afternoon.”
    “Not exactly,” he mumbled. He was used to the teasing about his active social life, but today it made him even more irritable than usual. He’d have hung up if he hadn’t known that Todd would only call back withmore amused taunts. As a recently reformed ladies’ man himself, Todd’s wit could be particularly barbed and uncannily accurate.
    “What, then?” he was asking now.
    “I’m going fishing.”
    Todd’s hoot of laughter could have been heard clear to Marathon without benefit of the phone line. Hank bristled. “What’s so damn funny about that?” he growled.
    “The last time you went fishing, you got seasick. You swore you’d never go near a boat again unless it was the size of the biggest liner in Carnival’s fleet.”
    “I’m not going in a boat. I’m going to stand on a dock.”
    “Ah-ha,” Todd said slowly. “It’s all beginning to make sense. As I recall, Ann loves to fish. Did she talk you into this?”
    “Why would you think that?”
    “Because you would never decide to spend the evening this way on your own, but with a woman involved, now that’s another story entirely.”
    “Actually, it was not Ann’s idea. Not exactly anyway. I’m in charge of dinner tonight. Since she turned down hamburgers and we had chicken last night, that left fish and if I don’t get out of here in the next ten minutes, it’s going to be too dark for me to see to bait the damn hook.”
    “You could stop at the fish market.”
    “It wouldn’t be the same. Besides, I promised Jason.”
    “Jason?”
    “One of the kids.”
    “I see. Sounds domestic.”
    “Cut it out, Todd. Will you call the supplier back or not?”
    “I’ll call him.”
    “Thanks.”
    “Hank?”
    “Yes?”
    “The fish market’s right on the highway. You can’t miss it.”
    “Go to hell, buddy.” He