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the offending BlackBerry after she interrupted his conversation with Dee earlier in the woods. ‘Please remember to turn off your BlackBerry next time you’re in the woods with the owls or the mountain lions. How could I live with myself if I were the cause of serious injuries to a man who takes such wonderful photos?’
    Dee chose that moment to return with a goody bag Harris figured contained a lot more than cake. The two women hugged and giggled their goodbyes while he stood back, wondering what the hell just happened and why he was the one who now felt unsteady on his feet.
    As the limo pulled away, Dee grabbed his hand and guided him back into the house, where cake had been served in the den in front of the big stone fireplace, and Ellis, who had finished his phone call, was pouring coffee.
    She waited until they were all settled with coffee and huge wedges of cake before she offered him a wicked smile. ‘I don’t know if Stacie was impressed with your show of manly strength, but I certainly was.’
    Ellis raised a questioning eyebrow. Harris blushed. ‘The woman’s dangerous,’ he said. ‘She tripped.’
    Ellis nodded. ‘She does that a lot. She’s not the most coordinated person in the world. Though you’d never know that when you put her in a room full of wealthy people she thinks can contribute to a good cause. Then she’s the picture of grace and charm.’
    ‘Well, I’m so glad you were there to catch her and carry her safely to the limo so she’ll have the chance to charm that room full of rich folks out of their money,’ Dee said.
    ‘Carried her to the limo?’ Ellis asked.
    ‘The woman’s dangerous,’ Harris grumped, ‘and personally I think it was pretty manipulative of her to get you to invite her for dinner too.’
    Ellis and Dee looked at each other and shrugged, so he continued. ‘And then she didn’t even have the nerve to confront me about why she was here.’
    ‘She was here because we invited her,’ Dee said. ‘And there was no manipulation. She was invited first. It gave us a chance for a little catch-up and made her trip to the airport easier with the limo. You’re the one who invited yourself along, Harris. And if you’d read your emails, you’d have known she was going to be here.’ She sat her coffee cup down, folded her arms across her chest and glared at him. ‘Were you rude to her?’
    ‘Not deliberately.’
    ‘What do you mean not deliberately? How can you be rude to somebody not deliberately?’
    ‘She accidentally overheard our conversation on the BlackBerry before dinner.’
    ‘Jesus, Harris!’
    ‘I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting her to sneak up on me.’
    ‘Did you apologize?’
    ‘Of course I apologized. Kind of.’
    ‘Well she didn’t seem too upset by whatever it was you said,’ Ellis commented.
    ‘Then the woman’s a saint, I’d say.’ Dee returned to sipping her coffee. ‘Because you weren’t very nice at all.’
    ‘Dee –’ Ellis laid a kiss against her temple and slid an arm around her. ‘It’s all right. Stacie can fight her own battles, and if she were really bothered by what Harris said, believe me, she’d have let him know.’
    ‘Dee’s right,’ Harris said. ‘I was rude. I’ll make sure I apologize properly.’ Even as he said it – and he meant it, he really did – he braced himself for what he figured would be a suggestion that he might apologize to her by listening to her proposal to have him exhibit his work for the opening of her gallery. But it didn’t come.
    They finished their cake in more companionable conversation. When they were done, Harris excused himself. He’d been up all night the night before and hadn’t slept much that day, so he was ready for a rest, and he knew Dee and Ellis had limited time together with their busy schedules, so he said his goodbyes.
    At the door, Dee gave him her usual bear hug and a kiss that almost missed his ear, and Ellis gave him a nod.
    ‘We still kayaking Sunday