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He tucked his chin in and simply looked down at her for a moment. "Because of Lily," he finally said, and a trace of sadness showed in the depth of his green eyes as he rearranged a tendril of her newly shorn hair against her cheek. "This is pretty, but I wish I could have been responsible for some of it."

"Lily has helped me a lot. She's made me feel prettier by teaching me how to achieve a good look for me. It gives me self-assurance, Chris, because for the first time in my life I actually feel fashionable, instead of like some dowdy poor relation. And she gave me the gift of trusting in my quilting talents, too. But that's peanuts compared to knowing you love me." She tipped her head back to look him in the eye. "It's nothing next to learning you've been working to affect a change in our lives. That's gotta be the biggest confidence booster of all. It makes me feel invincible. In charge of my life. And I want that, Chris—I want to grab my life with both hands and shake it up a little. To be confident and unafraid to try new things."

He grinned at her. "Then that's what you'll do. And to start, what do you say to trying out this newfound confidence in San Diego?"

"Is that where the job is?"

"Where this offer came from, anyway. I've had a few interviews, but I like this company best. They seem the most ethical, and they're the only ones who didn't push when I told them bringing corporate secrets from David's company is not part of the package."

Joy bubbled up in Jessica's veins and, laughing, she pushed until Christopher rolled over on his back and she lay sprawled atop him. Stacking her hands upon his chest, she propped her chin on them and looked down at her husband. Then she gave him a dreamy smile. "San Diego sounds perfect."

Chapter 21

The sheriff was not happy with Mrs. Beaumont when he learned she'd purposely not called him in until matters had come to a head. But the same woman who'd spent a great deal of time in the throes of hysteria, Lily noted with interest, now met the lawman's condemnation with utter equanimity. Mrs. B. was apparently too elated over David's and Glynnis's safe return to care if the sheriff approved or not. And when he turned his ire on Zach, she stepped right in to take full responsibility, making it clear that she had acted contrary to Zach's advice.

Lily watched the little drama unfold with fascination, but eventually pulled herself away to go down to the kitchen to assemble a belated lunch. It was funny, though, she mused, how people could rise to some occasions but completely fall apart on others.

A short while later she carried lunch to the dining room. As she passed the parlor, she glanced in and discovered that although the sheriff had left with Richard, others had arrived to take their place, and overall, the total number of people in the house had grown. Jessica, looking much improved, had come down with Christopher, and Zach's friends were there. Taking a quick head count, Lily unloaded her tray onto the dining room sideboard, then went back to the kitchen. It didn't take long, however, before she was headed back with additional servings. If there was one thing she was especially good at, it was making sure there was enough food to go around.

Zach must have spotted her on her second trip to the dining room, for his voice suddenly called out, "Hey, look! Soup's on! You want some help with that, lollipop?"

The entire boisterous group poured out of the parlor, and suddenly the dining room was alive with voices and laughter. Flashing her a sheepish smile, John Miglionni took the tray out of her hands. Jessica helped her set the table. Lily had barely straightened from arranging the last place setting of silverware when a big blond man with dark eyes and even darker eyebrows came over, hand-in-hand with a slender woman with glossy black hair and white skin. He introduced the two of them as Cooper and Veronica Blackstock, then gave her a thorough appraisal. His brown eyes were fiercely intelligent; the first words out of his mouth were not.

" Hoo-ahh" he breathed. "And you can cook , too?"

"Hey, that's exactly what I said the first time I saw her." John came up to join them. "The first part, anyway. I didn't know about the cooking." He grinned down at Lily. "It's a Marine thing," he explained. "A complimentary Marine thing."

Overwhelmed by the sudden wash of testosterone,Lily blinked at the two men, and Veronica nudged her husband. "Once you've rolled your tongue back into your mouth, isn't there something else you'd like to say to Lily?"

"Huh?"

"Like how sorry you were to make her drag Zach out of bed this morning?"

He stared at her as if she were nuts. "Why would I say that? There was planning to be done, Ronnie, and Zach would've been one unhappy little buckaroo if I'd let him sleep through it just because of a minor bump on the head." He turned to his friend, who was approaching with a filched bread stick clenched like a Havana cigar between his grinning teeth. "Wouldn't you, buddy?"

"Hell, yeah."

"And let me guess," Lily said dryly. "That's a Marine thing, too."

" Hoo-ahh ," Ronnie murmured, and the two women laughed.

Coop looked from them to his friends. "Women," he said, shaking his head.

Rocket gave a sage nod. "They're a mystery."

"Ain't it the truth?" Wrapping his arm around Lily's shoulders, Zach tucked her next to his side while he pulled her chair out from the table. He nodded at his friends over her head as he seated her. "There's just no understanding them."

All during lunch Zach teased Glynnis. He exchanged humorous insults with his Marine buddies, and was charming to all the women. And he laughed. He laughed so much it made everyone else at the table laugh, too, just from the sheer joyful sound of it.

Lily could barely keep her eyes off of him. She had never seen him like this. She had honestly believed she understood the depths of his distress over Glynnis's kidnapping, but what she'd seen must have been the proverbial tip of the iceberg, because this man at the table, this exuberant, head thrown back, happy-with-the-world man, was a whole new Zachariah.

A Zachariah who enthralled her.

And not only her, she discovered. After lunch, as she was clearing the table, Cassidy moved in and started flirting like crazy.

To Lily's disgust, Zach didn't seem to mind at all. Far from discouraging her, in fact, he laughed and flirted right back. Gritting her teeth and harboring hot thoughts about snatching a certain brunette baldheaded, she hefted her tray and headed for the door, suddenly feeling every bit the scullery maid Richard had labeled her. She pitied herself more with every step she took. Heck, even Jessica appeared to have deserted her this afternoon. Lily had caught a glimpse of her and Christopher heading up the stairs as if there were a four-alarm fire and they knew where the only extinguisher was kept. Feeling abandoned, she used her hip to ease open the dining room door.

"Here. Let me give you a hand with that."

Lily craned her head around to peer at Veronica as the slender brunette reached over her shoulder to hold open the door. "Thanks."

"You want me to grab the other tray over there?"

"Oh, please. That would be great."

Veronica followed her down the hall to the kitchen. "That was a fabulous meal."

Her mood lifting, Lily shot the other woman a smile. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. I just sort of threw it together, though, so I'm afraid it wasn't anything special."

"If that's the case, then I'd sure love to taste 'special,' because I thought it was fantastic." She set her tray on the counter and unloaded it with efficient competence. Pausing with the vinaigrette cruet in one hand, she looked over at Lily, who was loading the dishwasher. "Zach says you're a chef for a corporate yacht. That must be exciting."