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over her bare shoulders. “She wasn’t pleased we were calling it quits. But she also knew Conrad and I weren’t making each other happy. So in the end, she wanted what’s best for me.”
    Ginger glided over to the bar, and poured herself a glass of ginger ale. “What about your parents?” She slanted him a curious look. “How did they feel about you getting divorced?”
    Rand took off his bow tie, undid the first two buttons on his shirt and hooked his jacket onto the back of a chair. “I think they were relieved, given that it wasn’t much of a marriage. It only lasted a month.”
    Ginger looked as if she thought his hasty divorce didn’t bode well for the two of them, either. She sat on one end of the sofa and propped her stocking-clad feet on the table. “How come?”
    Rand picked up the fruit plate and settled next to her on the sofa. He munched on a tart green grape.
    “Turns out that Diandra expected access to my trust fund once the ring was on her finger.”
    Ginger leaned over and helped herself to a strawberry. “And you refused.”
    Rand turned to face her, balancing the plate on his bent knee. “That trust is my safety net, in case anything ever happens that leaves me unable to work.” He draped his right arm along the back of the sofa. “I’m not going to live on it.”
    Ginger’s brow furrowed. “Diandra didn’t know that before you two said ‘I Do’?”
    Rand let out a mirthless laugh. “I had told her as much. She never thought I’d stick with it when we could have used it to live luxuriously. Anyway, as soon as she saw I was serious, she filed for divorce. When that didn’t change my mind, she ended it for good.”
    Ginger made a soft sound he couldn’t even begin to interpret. “How old were you?”
    “Twenty-two.”
    Her eyes widened. “Wow.”
    “Yeah.”
    She tilted her head and took a longer look. “And since?”
    Rand shrugged. “There’s been my work, as an environmentalist. And you.” She flushed in response. “So what about you?” He ate another grape. “How long were you married?”
    She toyed with a wedge of peach and lifted it to her mouth. “Four years.”
    He watched her savor the juicy fruit. “What happened?”
    She shrugged. “I realized Conrad was never going to take me seriously in a professional sense.”
    He sensed that was the least of it. Frustrated she wasn’t being more forthcoming, he searched her eyes and pressed on. “You felt disrespected?”
    “And then some. Plus...” She hesitated.
    He waited.
    She bit her lip. “I had the feeling deep down that something was missing between Conrad and me. Anyway, we split up two years ago. Got a quickie divorce. And all my mother’s done since is try to talk me out of the oil business and into another marriage that will last.”
    Rand saw trouble ahead. “Uh-oh.”
    “Yeah.” Ginger wrinkled her nose. “She won’t be happy when this union ends in divorce, too, but that is a problem for another day. My task right now is to get some sleep, ASAP.”
    Rand couldn’t argue that. She was pregnant, after all. It had been a very long day. “Need some help getting out of that dress?”
    Looking lovelier than ever, she stood, pivoted and arched a delicate brow. “Really?”
    “Hey.” He lifted his hands in mock surrender. “Just offering.”
    “Mmm-hmm.” Shaking her head, Ginger went over to the luggage stand and opened her overnight bag. Blinked, and blinked again. A litany of frustrated words followed.
    “What?” Curious as to what had her so upset, Rand rose and sauntered over. Ginger held up a very sexy white negligee in one hand and a very feminine sundress, equally unlike her, in the other. Aside from that, and a handful of very brief satin-and-lace undies, another pair of shoes, an unopened package of pantyhose and a toiletries bag, there was nothing in the bag. Trying not to imagine what she would look like in all or none of the above, he quipped, “Not what you were