She asked Raine to join them for lunch at Kirk and Coral's and he accepted. They pulled up to the completely provincial and domestic scene only to find Casey and the nanny standing outside, she-- looking diminutive and weary, long straight blonde hair lank and untrimmed against her bony shoulders, pale skin creating a washed out espression against her heavy mascara. He rocked back and forth on his heels, his hands shoved into jeans pockets, his eyes focused entirely on the man in front of him.

Tracy blinked in shuddering annoyance. She'd forgotten Austin McQueen. She popped her lips as the engine cut and Raine pulled up behind her.

Austin McQueen was nothing if not eye candy. No wonder he thought she'd have known him already. He had that Hollywood star air she had come to know. Flair, competence, congeniality. These were only second to blonde good looks, a ruggedly cut chin, sideburns, and big teeth but the effect wasn't bad at all. He had on sunglasses, but she already guessed his eyes were arresting.

Another car pulled up and half thinking it was paparazzi, she turned to the back seat, undoing Danny's car seat without getting out. She slung the diaper bag over her shoulder.

"Gramma's house." Danny said. "Pool!"

"No pool today, love bug, it's Sunday!"

"Sunny!!! Sunbeams!" He was joyful, and kicked eagerly to get out as soon as she loosened him.

Raine opened the car door for her and helped the little guy out as he ran unerringly to Gramma's door. He smiled at her. "I didn't know this was a party." He said sardonically, and she knew he could hold his own, he wasn't the least intimidated, but he might have been slightly chagrinned to see he wouldn't have her to himself.

"I forgot about the party."

She squinted at Jolie and the lawn crowd, and Austin lifted his glasses as she walked by, to give her that very debonair once over. She knew the headache was about to blossom unforgivably. She had herbs for this, if she could get to them quick enough. As she held the door for Raine, she glanced at the other guy who had driven up. Not paparazzi.

She literally stumbled over the threshold and Raine instantly grabbed her elbow as she hefted the diaper bag onto her upper arm and made it through the door, but not without another look over her shoulder at the incredibly beautiful man now standing next to Austin McQueen out on the lawn. His dark charcoal colored hair captured highlights from the hazy sun in a way that dazzled her eyes, and his expression--good grief, could anyone have a more knowing and deliberately sharp gaze? She tore herself away from it, hearing Coral reprimanding Danny for something, and she hurried inside, heart beating in a bizarre heavy anticipatory thump. She blew out her breath.

"Is everything okay?" Raine asked politely, and she turned her most sparkling and attentive smile.

"Yep. Yes, it sure is. Couldn't be better. Are you hungry? I hope you're hungry. Mom made soup and bread, and she's famous for her soups and breads. Don't be modest now, Mom, you make the very best most scrumptious soups and breads on the planet!" She gave Coral a hug as she hung the diaper bag and her sweater on a hook and proceeded to put on a purple flowered apron. "Mom did you do your hair last night? It looks om...." She rescued Danny's small figure from the kitchen and handed him off to Grandpa Kirk. "Keep this little guy out of trouble, will ya, Daddy-o?"

Raine had taken off his suit coat and hung it beside Tracy's outer wear. He rolled up his sleeves. "What can I do?"

"Yes, baby doll, I did do it, much to my shame, now there's no one to blame but myself. If it's tinged orange, well, then it's my own fault! Here, young man, you can set the table."

Tracy got a water pitcher, giving Raine a grateful smile as the outside crowd began to wander in, still talking.

Raine had taken the silverware from Coral. He gave Tracy a raised brow and when she urged him on, he began placing the forks and spoons the way he'd been taught as a kid. Tracy nodded approvingly. She did not look up as Casey came through the door.

"So what the hell is this?" Casey crowed, his light eyes flashing in the dim interior fluorescents. Austin McQueen stepped in behind Jolie, the nanny. "Tracy you didn't mention we were having the whole group for dinner today. I couldn't be happier, except for your chauffer here. Is this the new body guard? Hi, Casey Crandall." He grabbed Raine's hand, pumping it up and down, knowing full well who he was. He'd seen him on the news helping Tracy the other night, he'd seen him at church. He'd seen him with Tracy.

Raine responded firmly, with aplomb, and Tracy finished scuttling back and forth with the water and the goblets. "Sorry, I guess I forgot to mention it. I found out kind of late last night that you spoke to Austin about a project. You forgot to mention it to me as well."

The other guy-- the beautiful man-- with high chiseled cheekbones, and the warmest, topaz jeweled eyes she'd ever seen stepped around Austin and zoned in on her space as she made her way back to the kitchen from the dining area. She could see silver at his temples, but he didn't look very old. In fact he looked very, very familiar.

"I'm Tracy." She managed pragmatically, unnecessarily, looking up into his face. The deep dimples puckered as he bowed to her gently, inclining just his head, and keeping his eyes on hers.

"I'm Richard."

"Oh! Of course you are! Richard Mann! I knew I knew you! You were just in a movie I saw, Sudden Risk. It just came out! Great job, man! You are an incredible action thriller guy!" She put on her happiest, cutest dumb blonde smile and moved past him quickly, as the tea kettle boiled over with her hot water for herbal tea. She reached it just as his hand closed over the handle.

"Let me help you, you've got your hands full." She was holding a towel and the water pitcher full of ice. But she forgot to back up.

He stepped into her space, brushed against her and she staggered as something weird happened. Richard's eyes shot up to hers in astonishment, but he said nothing, simply poured her water into the mug with the tea bag. His long fingers moved unhurriedly away from her, but not before he ran one lightly over her hand feeling again the strange shock she had felt a second before, or rather the lack of shock.

Her insides crumpled, her lips bit to one side, as she tried to process what that was. Richard simply moved into the dining room, and introduced himself to Raine, instantly finding a rapport as he'd recently starred in a film involving a military operation in World War Two. Their two voices rose in normal enthusiasm and mutual interest as guys do, and Tracy felt her breath whoosh out of her, not realizing she'd been holding it.

Coral bustled back in, and they two began to pull the beautiful soup tureens out of the warmers to put them on the table. Coral began her recitation about where she'd collected each tureen. Tracy smiled benignly having heard it all before.

She put Danny in his booster chair beside her, and Casey and the nanny took the other side. Danny ignored Jolie completely, which made Tracy suspicious that she wasn't a very good nanny. But she bowed her head for the prayer as Kirk said it.

Conversation during the meal sporadically involved every person at the board, as well as several private or condensed versions now and then. It never lacked for buzz. But Tracy's eyes strayed to Raine's on her right, quirky and amused, enjoying himself as he was regaled with Kirk's service stories. She elbowed Casey when he tried to touch her, and kicked him under the table like a quarreling teenager when his hand fell to her thigh. Her color was high after that, drawing attention from both of the handsome young actors Coral couldn't stop gushing about. Danny was a joy.

After the meal Coral never ever cleared up or did dishes, that had always been left for the children, and she went to entertain or relax out on the patio with Kirk and almost everyone. Jolie came in to help Tracy.

"Sorry, this seemed to have been sprung on you this way." Jolie carried a stack of bowls to the sink, looking wan and pale.

"Casey makes plans and expects everyone to fall in line."

"We've both been really sick. I guess it just slipped his mind. He did give you the card though, right? He just forgot to tell you what it was about?" She started loading the dishwasher.

When she pulled up her sleeves to keep them from getting wet, Tracy saw the track marks, and closed her eyes instinctively appalled.

"Can I ask you something personal? Are you doing drugs?" She could be forthright and blunt when it suited her, that tactful side hadn't yet matured.

Jolie backed up quickly, dripping water down her arm. Her eyes were wide and dilated and Tracy had the further shock of realizing she was under the influence right now.

The two women stared at each other anxiously, and then Tracy stepped forward, grabbed Jolie's arm and turned it palm up. The track marks were clear. "Look, I guess you're not just the nanny, if you're partying with him as well, in fact, I assume you're not the nanny at all. But you're not fit to be taking care of my son!"

Jolie brushed her lank hair over her shoulder, finding some mettle somewhere deep inside, her eyes bristled and her cheeks got some color as she defiantly twirled herself into the counter at her back, and braced herself weakly. "You don't understand! Casey needs you. He needs you to help him get back on his feet. You have to get the band back together, that was the best thing in his life. It's all he ever talks about. You-- the perfect Tracy. You have it all going for you! But--." She craned her neck forward looking for all she was worth like a rattled hen, and Tracy puckered her lips to keep from laughing nervously. "It's me he loves. Me! I'm carrying his baby! I'm his true love."

Tracy reached behind her and slammed the water spigot off, never taking her eyes off the pale and wobbly girl in front of her.

"That was unexpected." She murmured indelicately, wondering how she was supposed to respond to that kind of announcement. Not just living there, supposedly taking care of Danny for him, but sleeping with him and partying with him too! She forced herself to swallow and look Jolie levelly in the eye. "Well, at least I don't have to worry about marrying him any longer."

Jolie clapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes filling with tears. There was a door leading from the kitchen to the side yard where trash cans were stashed, and she flung herself through it, hair flying behind her.

Tracy might have followed her-- she was obviously in distress—and Tracy knew firsthand the kind of violent havoc Casey could cause when he was crossed. But standing in the arched entrance from kitchen to dining area was that marvelously handsome shock thrower, Richard Mann. His arms were crossed over his chest and his left foot was also crossed over his right as he leaned against the wall, having obviously observed the last few moments.

*****