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they’d all grown up into such vibrant but distinctive women.
    As girls, they’d been cookie-cutter versions of each other, varying only in height. Oh, they’d been gorgeous enough to catch his attention and leave him tongue-tied, but they’d worn their hair in similar styles and dressed in variations of the same shorts and halter tops. Back then, there had been no mistaking the family resemblance. In fact, only those who knew them well could keep them straight. Josh hadn’t known them at all. They’d been on the periphery of his life, a taunting reminder of what an outsider he was.
    Josh studied them quizzically, then asked Mike, “Isn’t there another sister?”
    “Jo,” he said at once. “She still lives in Boston. You knew the D’Angelo sisters, growing up?” Mike asked.
    “Not really. It’s more like I knew of them. We didn’t exactly travel in the same circles.”
    “But didn’t Melanie say your family knew their grandmother?” Rick asked.
    “Fairly well, as a matter of fact,” Josh admitted. “But you know how kids are. They find their own friends, especially in the summertime around here.” Determined to move on, he asked, “How did you meet them?”
    “Maggie and I met in Boston,” Rick said. “I stepped in at the last minute to handle a photo shoot for her magazine. She came down here, and I followed her.”
    “Melanie and I met here,” Mike explained. “She was staying at Rose Cottage for a bit.” He grinned. “Sort of the way Ashley’s staying there now for a little R and R.”
    Rick gave Josh a considering look, then added pointedly, “History tends to repeat itself at Rose Cottage.”
    Not this time, Josh thought. Not that he wasn’t attracted to Ashley. He was. Not that he didn’t intend to see more of her while she was here. He did.
    But his life was in chaos, and something told him hers was, as well. That made it a very bad time to be thinking in other than the most immediate terms. Dinner. A few laughs. That kind of thing.
    When he glanced around the table, he noticed that four pairs of eyes were regarding him way too speculatively. The only eyes that counted, however, were watching him with unmistakable wariness. Clearly, Ashleywas no more inclined to be railroaded into a relationship than he was. And wasn’t that all that mattered?
    “Maybe you and Ashley should get together to work out a settlement for the damages from the accident,” Maggie suggested without any attempt at subtlety.
    “We’ve taken care of that,” Ashley replied at once.
    To his shock and dismay, a streak of totally unfamiliar perversity sliced through Josh. “I’ve been thinking maybe we were a little too hasty. Neither of us was thinking too clearly.”
    “I was thinking just fine,” Ashley retorted. “I offered to pay for all the damages since it was my fault. That offer still stands.”
    “As a lawyer, you should know an offer like that could open you up to exorbitant demands,” Josh countered. “You’ve admitted guilt. You couldn’t possibly have been thinking clearly or you would never have done such a thing.”
    “I was taking responsibility for my actions,” she retorted. “You turned me down.” Her gaze narrowed. “Are you changing your mind? Suddenly feeling the onset of whiplash, perhaps?” she inquired tartly.
    If it would keep the fire in her eyes, Josh would have prolonged the argument as long as possible, but they were being watched with total fascination by everyone else at the table. He didn’t want to encourage the meddlers.
    “Possibly,” he equivocated, rubbing his neck. Sure enough, sparks of indignation lit her eyes.
    “Well, be sure to let me know when you’ve made up your mind,” Ashley replied, a hint of sarcasm in her tone. “Why is it that men can never make a decision about anything?”
    “Hey,” Rick and Mike protested in unison. “Don’t turn this into some sort of gender war and drag the rest of us into it,” Mike went on.
    “Uh-oh,”