Dan All Over Again: Dan All Over Again / The Mountie Steals A Wife. Barbara Dunlop
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left, and of course he had clothes on then—”
Pam grabbed Cassie’s arm and gave it a good shake. “Get a grip, girl! Listen to yourself.”
Her mouth was watering around the candy. “I wasn’t sucking.”
“No, you were talking nonstop. You’ve worked hard to squash that impulsive, vivacious Cassie, and here she is trying to take over again!”
“I wasn’t rambling. I just had a lot to say. And I was surprised.” She’d worked so hard on getting rid of that going-on-and-on thing. “I never thought about him being here. I haven’t seen him since our divorce. Oh, I have a great idea!”
“You’re going to ask Dan if you can ride with him.”
“I’m going to ask Dan if I can ride with him. It’ll be perfect!”
“Now that would be impulsive, and a bad idea. A bad idea, indeed.”
“Not at all, since (a) I know him (b) I trust him (c) he was my favorite mistake, after all. Therefore, (d) it’s perfectly sensible.”
“Honey, there isn’t anything sensible about the way you’re looking at that man.”
There wasn’t anything sensible about the way she felt, either, all giddy and silly. “I’m just glad to see him, that’s all,” she said in her most sensible voice.
“Mmm.” She suspected Pam was assessing her with her arms crossed in front of her, but Cassie couldn’t take her eyes off Dan to see for sure.
“You know what’s going to happen, don’t you?” Pam asked.
“We’re going to be friends, nothing more.”
“You are so not going to be friends with that look on your face.”
“Stay here until I give you the sign. That means everything’s okay, and I’ll see you back here tonight. I’ll call when we return, and you can come get me.” Cassie took the cooler from her and started over. “Thanks for coming with me.”
Pam lifted up Sammy. “Er, Cassie? Forget something?”
“Of course not,” she said, placing Sammy back in the bag. “Just making sure you were paying attention.”
“Mmm.”
She caught herself sucking loudly on her butter rum again and crunched it up before she reached Dan’s boat. It was a nice boat, medium-size with a roof over the helm, and open in the back. Ooh, he still had a nice behind, though he’d always thought it was too small. In those tight shorts of his, she still couldn’t find anything lacking about that derriere.
That’s when he chose to turn around, catching her with goodness-knows-what look on her face. She laughed when he looked as shocked as she had earlier, even doing that open mouth thing.
He removed his sunglasses and blinked. “Cassie?”
“The one and only.”
2
IT FELT STRANGE TO CASSIE, seeing Dan like this, both familiar and exciting, and way too nice. His smile of surprise made her feel the same way she had all those years ago when they’d met, one of those wham-right-in-the-gut things. She’d been out on a boat with some friends, and they’d stopped at an outdoor bar on the water. Dan had been there with his fishing buddies, doing karaoke and laughing it up.
She’d passed him on the way from the rest room, and they’d been frozen right there. She’d never felt anything like it before. They didn’t know what to say, each fumbling over their words like two teenagers fresh into puberty. Finally they’d broken away and returned to their respective tables.
Then for the next hour, they’d caught each other’s gazes. He sang “The Captain of Her Heart,” watching her the whole time. It had given her chills. Afterward, she’d walked alone to the railing, and a moment later, he’d joined her. The rest was history.
History, she reminded herself. It was different now. This was only business and she was way over Dan.
“Don’t tell me you’re a contestant.” He walked to the closest edge of the boat and propped one foot on the side. “Or are you the prize for first place?”
She sputtered, but quickly contained herself. At least he hadn’t said the booby prize. “Hardly. Dan, I need your help. Hear me out before you say no.” She moved closer, catching the scent of the aftershave he used to wear, the scent she ended up wearing herself the rest of the day after they fell back into bed when their goodbye kiss turned into a you’re-not-going-anywhere kiss.
Back on track, woman!
“Okay, I work for an advertising agency, see, and this guy at work—he’s a real weenie—is trying to steal my account, well, it’s not my account yet, but they called me first, and now the weenie and my boss are saying I can’t handle this account because it’s a fishing tackle company, and what do I know about fishing tackle, which isn’t a lot actually, but I can learn, and I can’t let them get away with this, so please, Dan, will you let me tag along with you during the tournament, I promise I won’t bother you or scare away the fish or do anything to distract you, just observe and take notes, and possibly ask a few questions—”
He held up his hand. “You still do that.”
“Do what?”
“That—” he waved his hand in circles “—skimble-scamble thing that makes me crazy and leaves me with no argument because by the time you’re done, I can’t remember what you were even asking.”
“No, I don’t do that anymore. I just had a lot to say.” She felt herself grin sheepishly. “Did you say crazy?”
He regarded her for a moment, his mouth quirking. “Yeah, crazy.”
With a deep breath, she pulled another butter rum from her bag and petted Sammy who wanted to pop out. “I just wanted you to understand where I was coming from before you said no, and I hate to impose on you, but I don’t know any of these people, and I know you, so it would be really nice…” Her words drifted to a stop when he held up his hand. “I’m doing it again, aren’t I? What’d you call it?”
He nodded, but he was smiling, which was a good sign, she supposed. “Skimble-scamble. One of Granny’s words. For one thing, I have a rule: No women allowed on my boat during tournaments.”
She waved away that concern. “But I’m not a woman; I’m your ex-wife.”
He chuckled, a low sexy sound that shivered right through her. “You’re definitely a woman. And the ex part’s the second thing.”
She tilted her head, remembering how that little gesture worked on getting her way before. “But we probably had one of the nicest divorces ever.”
“Heck, Cassie, we were only married for seven months.”
“And two days.”
“And,” he continued, shifting to sit on the transom, “You took my dog.”
Sammy yipped at that and popped out of the bag. He loved the word dog. She bit her lower lip. “This dog?”
He gave her a wry grin. “Yeah, that dog. The one you’re still putting ribbons on. And a bell? You’re going to give him a cross-dressing complex.”
Sammy’s tail wagged like a maniac as he struggled to get to Dan.
“(A) The bell helps me keep track of where he is so he doesn’t get stepped on. And (b) he’s secure enough in his masculinity to overcome the ribbons.”
His laugh was a sputter. “The only reason you got him in the divorce was because you convinced me he was too feminine a dog for a guy. You did that skimble-scamble thing and had me completely befuddled.”
She