He gazed into the face of this woman who'd claimed his soul. "All right," he said. "I'll give up Wynette. We can move anywhere you want."

She frowned. "What are you talking about? I didn't mean forever. Jeez, are you crazy? Wynette's home. But I'm serious about getting my degree, so we're going to need a place in Austin, a.s.suming I get into U.T."

"Oh, G.o.d, you'll get in." His voice cracked again. "I'll build you a palace. Wherever you want."

She finally looked as dewy-eyed as he felt. "You'd really give up Wynette for me?"

"I'd give up my life for you."

"Okay, you're seriously starting to freak me out." But she didn't say it like she was freaked out. She said it like she was really happy.

He looked deep into her eyes, wanting her to know exactly how serious he was. "Nothing is more important to me than you."

"I love you, Teddy Beaudine." She finally spoke the words he'd been waiting to hear. And then, with a happy whoop, she threw herself at his chest, plastering her wet, cold body against his; burying her wet, cold face in his neck; touching her wet, warm lips to his ear. "We'll work out our lovemaking problems later," she whispered.

Oh, no. She wasn't getting ahead of him that easily. "By d.a.m.n, we'll work them out now."

"You're on."

This time she was the one dragging him. They raced back to the limo. He gave the driver a quick set of directions, then kissed Meg breathless as they rode the few short blocks to the Battery Park Ritz. They dashed into the lobby with no luggage and rainwater dripping from their clothes. Soon they were locked behind the door of a warm, dry room that looked out over the dark, rainy harbor.

"Will you marry me, Meg Koranda?" he said as he pulled her into the bathroom.

"Definitely. But I'm keeping my last name just to p.i.s.s off your mother."

"Excellent. Now take off your clothes."

She did, and he did, hopping on one foot, holding on to each other, getting tangled in shirtsleeves and wet denim legs. He turned on the water in the roomy shower stall. She jumped in ahead of him, leaned against the marble tiles, and opened her legs. "Let me see if you can use your powers for evil instead of good."

He laughed and joined her. He picked her up in his arms, kissing her, loving her, wanting her as he'd never wanted anyone. After what had happened that ugly day at the landfill, he promised himself he'd never again lose control with her, but the sight of her, the feel of her against him, made him forget everything he knew about the right way to make love to a woman. This wasn't any woman. This was Meg. His funny, beautiful, irresistible love. And, oh G.o.d, he nearly drowned her.

His brain finally cleared. He was still inside her, and she was looking up at him from the floor of the shower, a grin like spangled sunshine spread over her mouth. "Go ahead and apologize," she said. "I know you want to."

It would take him a hundred years to understand this woman.

She pushed him over, reached up to slam off the water with the flat of her hand, and gave him a look that was full of sin. "Now it's my turn."

He didn't have the strength to resist.

When they finally made it out of the shower, they bundled themselves in robes, dried each other's hair, and rushed toward the bed. Just before they got there, he went to the window to close the drapes.

The rain had stopped, and in the distance the Lady of the Harbor gazed back at him. He could feel her smiling.

Epilogue.

Meg refused to marry Ted until she got her degree. "Boy geniuses deserve to marry college graduates," she told him.

"This boy genius deserves to marry the woman he loves right now instead of waiting till she gets a diploma." But despite his grumbling, he understood how important this was to her, even if he wouldn't admit it.

Life in Wynette was dull without Meg, and everybody wanted her back, but despite numerous phone calls and occasional drop-in visits from various residents to her tiny apartment in Austin, she wouldn't set foot inside the city limits until her wedding. "I'd be tempting fate if I came back before I had to," she told the members of the library's rebuilding committee when they showed up at her door with a Rubbermaid pitcher of Birdie's mojitos and a half-empty bag of tortilla chips. "You know I'll get into trouble with somebody as soon as I hit town."

Kayla, who cut calories by eating only the broken chips, dug through the bag. "I have no idea what you're talking about. People went out of their way, right from the very beginning, to make you feel welcome."

Lady Emma sighed.

Shelby poked Zoey. "It's because Meg's a Yankee. Yankees don't appreciate southern hospitality."

"That's for sure." Torie licked the salt off her fingers. "Plus, they steal our men when we're not paying attention."

Meg rolled her eyes, drained her mojito, then kicked them all out so she could finish her paper on eutrophication. After that, she dashed off to supervise the undergraduate art major she'd hired to help fill the orders that continued to come in from New York. Over the outraged protests of Ted, his parents, her parents, her brothers, the library committee, and the rest of Wynette, she was still paying her own expenses, although she'd relaxed her principles long enough to accept Ted's engagement present of a shiny red Prius.

"You gave me a car," she said to him, "and all I have for you is this lousy money clip."

But Ted loved his money clip, which she'd fashioned from a rare Greek medallion of Gaia, the G.o.ddess of the earth.

Ted wasn't able to spend nearly as much time in Austin as they'd originally planned, and even though they talked several times a day, they desperately missed being together. But he needed to stay close to Wynette. The group of carefully selected investors he'd been a.s.sembling to build the golf resort had finally come together. The members included his father, Kenny, Skeet, Dex O'Connor, a couple of well-known touring pros, and a few Texas businessmen, none of them involved in plumbing. Amazingly, Spence Skipjack had resurfaced all full of bl.u.s.ter about putting the "misunderstanding" behind them. Ted told him there was no misunderstanding, and he should stick to making toilets.

Ted had maintained controlling interest in the resort so he could build it exactly as he envisioned. He was jubilant about the project but overworked, and with construction scheduled to begin soon after their wedding, it would only get worse. Although he frequently talked about how much he needed someone who shared both his vision and his trust working at his side, it wasn't until Kenny drove to Austin and cornered Meg for a private conversation that she realized the person Ted wanted working with him was herself.

"He knows how much going back to school for your master's degree means to you," Kenny said. "That's why he won't ask you."

It didn't take Meg more than five seconds to decide her master's degree could wait. Working with the man she loved on a project like this was her dream job.

Ted was jubilant when she asked if she could work with him. They talked for hours about their future and the legacy they intended to build together. Instead of poisoned land, they'd create places where all families, not just wealthy ones, could gather to have a picnic or throw a ball-places where kids would be able to catch fireflies, listen to birds sing, and fish in clean, unpolluted water.

She ended up scheduling her wedding for exactly one year, minus one day, from the date Ted was to have walked Lucy down the aisle, a decision Francesca hotly protested. She was still complaining about it when Meg-diploma finally in her possession-returned to Wynette three days before the ceremony.

While Ted raced into town to unveil a new display at the reopened library, Meg plopped onto a counter stool in her future mother-in-law's kitchen for breakfast. Francesca pa.s.sed a toasted bagel across the counter. "It's not as if you didn't have plenty of dates to choose from," she said. "Honestly, Meg, if I didn't know better, I'd swear you were trying to jinx the whole thing."

"Just the opposite." Meg slathered blackberry jam over her bagel. "I like the symbolism of bright new lives arising from the tragic ashes of the past."

"You're as odd as Teddy," Francesca said in exasperation. "I can't believe it took me so long to realize how perfect the two of you are for each other."

Meg grinned.

Dallie looked up from his coffee mug. "People round here like that she's a little odd, Francie. It makes her fit in better."

"She's more'n a little odd," Skeet said from behind his newspaper. "Hugged me yesterday for no reason at all. 'Bout gave me a heart attack."

Dallie nodded. "She's strange that way."

"Sitting right here," Meg reminded them.

But Skeet and Dallie had moved on to discuss which of them was better suited to give her golf lessons, disregarding the fact that Meg had already chosen Torie.

Francesca once again tried to get Meg to spill the details about her wedding gown, but Meg refused to talk. "You'll see it when everybody else does."

"I don't understand why you let Kayla see it, but not me."

"Because she's my fashion consultant, and you're merely my nagging future mother-in-law."

Francesca didn't bother to argue the second point, only the first. "I know as much about fashion as Kayla Garvin."

"More, I'm sure. But you're still not seeing it until I walk down the aisle." She gave Francesca a sticky kiss on the cheek, then ran off to the inn to meet her family. Not long after that, Lucy arrived.

"Are you sure you want me there?" Lucy had said over the phone when Meg had asked her to be part of the wedding party.

"I couldn't get married without you."

They had so much to talk about, and they drove to the church where they could catch up without anyone eavesdropping. Ted eventually found them lounging at the side of the swimming hole. The initial awkwardness between the former lovers had vanished long ago, and they chatted like the good friends they were always meant to be.

The rehearsal dinner was at the country club, just as it had been the first time around. "I feel like I've stepped through a time warp," Lucy whispered to Meg not long after they arrived.

"Except this time you can relax and enjoy yourself," Meg told her. "It'll be entertaining, I promise you."

And entertaining it was, as the locals cornered Jake and Fleur to sing Meg's praises. "Your daughter was the best executive employee I ever had at the inn," Birdie told them with all kinds of earnestness. "She practically ran the place. I hardly had to do anything."

"She's quite bright," her mother replied with a straight face.

Zoey tugged on an exquisite set of Egyptian earrings. "You have no idea how much she's improved my wardrobe." She slipped her hand into her pocket where Meg happened to know she'd stowed a glittery bottle-cap necklace she could slip on when Hunter Gray's mother appeared.

"The country club hasn't been the same since she left," Shelby gushed. "You would not believe how difficult it is for some people to distinguish between regular Arizona iced tea and diet."

It was Kayla's turn, but Birdie had to poke her in the ribs to drag her attention away from the gorgeous Koranda brothers. Kayla blinked and dutifully did her part to burnish Meg's reputation. "I swear I gained six pounds after she left, I was so depressed. Her jewelry was practically keeping my shop afloat. Plus, she's the only woman other than Torie and me with an appreciation for cutting-edge fashion."

"Y'all are too dear," Meg drawled. And then, loudly, to her parents, "They take their electroshock therapy together. That way, they get a group discount."

"There is no grat.i.tude in that girl," Shelby sniffed to Lady Emma.

Torie grabbed a crab puff. "We could always put her in charge of the city playground committee. That'll teach her to disrespect us."

Meg groaned, Lady Emma smiled, and Lucy was befuddled. "What's happened?" she said when she caught Meg alone. "You totally fit in here. And that's not a compliment."

"I know," Meg replied. "It sort of sneaked up on me."

But Lucy was mildly miffed. "They were never anything but polite to me, so clearly, I wasn't good enough for them. Me, the daughter of the president of the United States. You, on the other hand-Miss Screwup-you, they love."

Meg smiled and lifted her gla.s.s toward the Crazy Women of Wynette. "We understand each other."

Fleur drew Lucy away, Ted joined Meg, and together, they watched Kayla and Zoey move in on Meg's brothers. Ted took a sip from his winegla.s.s. "Shelby told your parents she's pretty sure you're pregnant."

"Not yet."

"I figured you'd probably tell me first." He gazed toward the women. "Or maybe not. You're absolutely sure you want to live here?"

Meg smiled. "I couldn't live anywhere else."

He slipped his fingers through hers. "One more night, and then that stupid s.e.xual moratorium of yours is over. How I ever let you talk me into it, I'll never understand."

"I don't know that you can exactly call four days a moratorium."

"It sure as h.e.l.l feels like one."

Meg laughed and kissed him.

By the next afternoon, however, she was a bundle of nerves, and neither Lucy, nor her five other bridal attendants, could calm her down. Georgie and April, along with their famous husbands, had flown in from L.A., while Sasha had arrived from Chicago. It hadn't felt right to get married without Torie and Lady Emma, and they all looked stunning in simply cut, sleeveless, dove gray silk dresses, each with a slightly different set of rhinestone b.u.t.tons running down the back.

"Kayla's putting 'em all up on eBay for us when this shindig is over," Torie announced to Meg as they gathered before the ceremony in the church's antechamber. "She says we'll make a fortune."

"Which we'll give to charity," Lady Emma stated firmly.

Fleur got predictably teary-eyed when she saw Meg in her gown. So did Torie and Lady Emma, although for a different reason. "You're sure about this?" Torie whispered to Meg as the bridal party moved into the narthex for the processional.

"Some things are meant to be." Meg clutched her bouquet tighter as Lucy arranged the short train. The gown, with its structured corset top, fragile cap sleeves, and slim, delicately embellished silhouette, plunged to a deep V in the back. She wore it with her mother's fingertip wedding veil and tiara of Austrian crystals.

The trumpets sounded, a signal for Ted to enter at the front of the church, along with Kenny, his best man. Although Meg couldn't see her bridegroom, she suspected a convenient shaft of sunlight would choose that moment to spill through the stained-gla.s.s windows and put another one of those ridiculous halos around him.

She was getting queasier by the minute.

Lady Emma had lined up the bridesmaids. With a gathering sense of panic, Meg watched April step off first, followed by Torie and then Sasha. Meg's hands were clammy, her heart beating too fast. Georgie disappeared. Only Lady Emma and Lucy were left.

Lucy whispered, "You look beautiful. Thanks for being my friend."

Meg tried to smile. Really she did. But Lady Emma was heading down the aisle, and only Lucy was left, and Meg was cold all over.

Lucy moved.

Meg's hand shot out, and she grabbed her by the arm. "Wait!"

Lucy looked over her shoulder.

"Get him," Meg said on a wheeze of panic.

Lucy gaped at her. "You are kidding me, right?"

"No." Meg gulped for air. "I have to see him. Right now."

"Meg, you can't do this."

"I know. It's horrible. But ... Just get him, please?"

"I knew coming here was a bad idea," Lucy muttered. Then she took a deep breath, fixed her old White House smile on her face, and headed down the aisle.