"Couples with children don't just break up. It's not that simple."

Gin didn't mention the other woman Marsha had talked a 46 a about. Who knew what really went on inside anyone else's relationship? Trying to respect Solley's privacy, she said, "I know this is a tough time for your family and that things are stressful. I don't want to cause a problem."

Solley sighed. "You're not the problem. I'm just saying, things are delicate at home and incidents like this can become ammunition against me."

Gin wanted to point out the double standard that seemed to be at work. Was she supposed to tiptoe around this woman and her children to spare the feelings of a cheating partner?

Was Solley so invested in her relationship she couldn't see the irony in that?

"Sure. I understand." She met Solley's eyes. They were a calmer sea green now that the storm had pa.s.sed.

After a long hesitation, Solley said, "We probably were a bit too...familiar or overenthusiastic with each other, or something. I can understand why Jed might have mistaken what he saw."

A sensible woman would agree and move on, but Gin gave in to an impulse. "Was he mistaken?"

Solley tensed visibly and her generous mouth tightened along with her voice. "Yes, he was." Her eyes dared Gin to challenge her.

Gin opted to defuse the rising tension. As though she hadn't noticed Solley's distinct unease, she said, "Hey, we're doing some reshoots this afternoon, just low-key stuff, nothing extreme." She placed a hand lightly on Solley's arm. "What say I take the kids with me? Give you some s.p.a.ce. Let's call it an aI'm sorry I didn't deal with this at the time' apology.

Please?" Her dark eyes pleaded.

Solley felt herself soften. The heat from the hand on her arm traveled up to her tense shoulders and she relaxed a a 47 a little under the pleasant tingle. "I guess I could fi nish a few errands."

"Yes, you could head into town. Do some shopping. Have lunch. Chill." Gin stopped talking, aware that she was almost babbling.

"Sounds good. But be careful, okay?" Solley's tone hardened. "No leaping, climbing, jumping, dangling, or other hazardous activities."

Relieved, Gin said, "Trust me, it'll just be a stroll. I promise."

"Redheads really do have a bad temper," Gin observed as she sat at the kitchen table having a light lunch with Janie, Marsha, and the Rayner kids. She studied the white-blond mops of wind-crazed hair across from her, noting absently, "It's strange how all her children are incredibly blond."

"Let me explain," Janie said. "First of all, yes, she is an evil, bad-tempered b.i.t.c.h when she wants to be. Also, apparently redheads and brunettes always produce fair-haired children.

It's a genetic thing."

Marsha and Gin both digested this interesting news while regarding the mopheads opposite.

"You mean someone dark like me would have blond kids with Solley?" Gin mused out loud.

Marsha obviously found the idea fascinating, while Janie paused, evidently tallying up the many things wrong with that statement.

"Again, let me explain," Janie said. "First of all, you are not a brunette, you have ink-black hair. Secondly, the genetic rule applies only to Caucasians, as far as I'm aware, and you're Asian. And last but not least, I don't think you could get my a 48 a sister knocked up no matter how hard you tried. But if you do have the secret of parthenogenesis, please share it with Marsha as it would save us a small fortune and a lot of time."

Laughing, Gin said, "I wish."

"By the way." Marsha indicated Will's left eye. "Check out that bruise now."

Janie examined her nephew's face in consternation.

"Those frozen peas were a big help."

They'd tried the improvised ice pack as soon as Gin walked in the door with the children half an hour earlier. Will wasn't the only casualty of their time together that morning.

Jed had a sprained wrist from a fumbled jump off his aunts'

balcony. The sprain was only minor, but Gin had bandaged it just in case. She didn't want Solley thinking she'd neglected her kids.

"I think we should put the patch back on him." Marsha produced the black pirate's patch Will had found in Gin's trailer. He'd insisted on wearing it all morning.

"Cool," he said, eagerly sliding it back over his injured eye. "Wait till Mom sees this."

"Indeed." Gin winced at the thought. So much for the sedate stroll she'd promised.

"Oh, you really are a grand example," Marsha drawled smugly.

"What are you talking about?"

"We've got Jed leaping about like a lemming, almost breaking bones. And Will tried to poke something into his eye."

"Also," Janie chimed in, "G.o.d only knows what weird s.h.i.t these kids will be up to in later years after what they witnessed on the couch last night." She shook her head sagely. "They're at such a delicate age in their sociopsychological development, too."

a 49 a "I can see I'll have to closely monitor your access to Junior M." Marsha tut-tutted.

"Who's Junior M?" Janie asked.

Marsha's eyes guiltily dropped to Janie's fl at belly.

"Oh, I see." Janie snorted. "I can't even get you to look at an AI Web site, yet you've managed to name the baby? And you." She fl ashed her eyes in Gin's direction. "You're groping my sister and trying to mutilate my nephews. What kind of zoo do you think my house is?"

There was only one bona fi de way out of this conversation.

"I have an appointment," Gin said, jumping to her feet. "Gotta go."

"Oh, no, you don't." Janie gripped her wrist. "You're not leaving us to deal with her. When she sees those injuries, you're the one in the fi ring line, got that?"

"They're nothing," Gin protested.

"That's exactly what you can tell her," Marsha said cheerfully. "And I want front-row tickets."

"Oh, my G.o.d," Janie breathed in alarm as a vehicle approached the house. "You better steel yourself. This is not going to be pretty."

Gin craned so she could see out the window. Solley's Ford Escape slid to a halt and she jumped out and unloaded several bags of shopping. She looked so carefree, Gin wanted to rush out and distract her, anything to delay the inevitable.

But before she could take a step, Will catapulted from his seat and out the kitchen door.

"Look at me, Mom. I'm a pirate," he yelled happily.

Not to be outdone, Jed charged after him, waving his bandaged wrist. "I nearly broke my arm."

Gin followed him as far as the door and physically winced at his shouted words. She threw a desperate look back to a 50 a Marsha, who was already trying to blend into the wallpaper.

"She's going to kill me, isn't she?"

Marsha nodded a solemn affi rmative. "Leave me all your money."

"What happened, sweetie?" Solley gathered Jed into a hug. She seemed completely relaxed, except for the laser beam look that unerringly picked out Gin, who was lurking in the shadow of the kitchen doorway.

"I was doing a stunt."

Gin swallowed hard. She could feel the blood draining from her face even as her feet drew her forward.

Solley stared suspiciously at Will's pirate's mask, then lifted the edge enough to reveal the huge bruise. "How did you hurt yourself?"

"I don't know." Will pulled away from her. "Did you get ice cream?"

"Yes." Solley fi xed her gaze on Gin. "Why is my child half blinded?"

"Well," Gin began awkwardly, "he was in my trailer...and he somehow managed to stab himself with a mascara brush.

I mean, it's a lot less than it looks. It stung a little bit, but the doc washed it out and put some drops in. He said the bruising came from Will rubbing his eye too hard. The patch was more to placate him than anything, really."

"A mascara brush," Solley repeated fl atly.

"I think he's got a movie makeover thing going on. He really loves the patch." Gin could hear herself making feeble excuses and could see how unimpressed Solley was. Adopting a different tack, she said, "Look, I'm sorry. I think I'm cursed around your kids."

"And Jed?"

"We all know how mad Jed is about stunts." Janie emerged a 51 a from behind Gin. "None of us thought he'd play Tarzan from the upper fl oor. You can't blame Gin for that. He could just as easily have copied some of the mad stuff Marsha does."

"I've been bringing him here since he was a baby and that hasn't happened."

"You're right." Gin tried groveling, since explaining herself wasn't working. "I take complete responsibility."

"I suppose we can only be thankful that you didn't decide to immolate yourself," Solley said, unmoved. "Or stick your head in a blender. Perhaps if you had merely gargled with bleach..."

Gin could see the brooding storm in Solley's eyes and thought a tactful retreat best, but each biting word seemed to nail her to the ground. There was nothing she could do here except grab a shovel from Janie, so she could dig a hole where her remains could be buried in the sand later.

"This is meant to be a relaxing family holiday," Solley snapped. "Dan's going to freak if I bring the kids back looking like they've done a tour with the Marines."

"I'm so sorry. It never occurred to me he would copy the balcony leap."

"If you knew anything about children, you'd realize what should anever occur' most defi nitely will," Solley lectured.

Gin lowered her eyes as a fl ash of pain made her wince.

The words really stung. Solley had no idea how much, and Gin wasn't going to tell her. The loss of her son was still too painful to put into words. Behind her, Janie couldn't fi nd a coherent sentence either. Only a few strangled squeaks emerged.

Solley looked appalled with both of them. "It seems I'm the one cursed with you around my kids, Gin. Obviously you won't be happy until we're all lifted out of here by air ambulance. Thank you so much for the relaxing afternoon."

a 52 a She shoved past Gin and Janie and dumped her purchases on the kitchen counter.

"Solley, wait." Janie rushed after her. "You're making too much of this. They're kids, and they're just having fun. Boo-boos happen."

Solley spun round, face pale, green eyes livid. "You know as well as I do what Dan's planning. I'm not going to lose my children over her." She pointed at Gin.

Gin sucked her breath sharply, momentarily winded by the accusation. "I would never do-"

"But you already did. You promised to look after them and I come back to fi nd them black and blue? I'm in a custody battle here. Dan's trying to take the kids away from me. And I won't lose them...I can't lose them." Her fears put a harsh edge to her voice. As though she knew she was exposing too much raw emotion, too much of her inner self, she struggled visibly to rein in her temper. "They're everything to me. I'm not going to lose them over your negligence."

Stricken, Gin could only watch helplessly as Solley walked out.

Gin slowly mounted the veranda steps. She'd worked late over last-minute rushes, glad of the diversion from Solley's brooding silence and her own guilt that she had caused anxiety to someone who already had plenty to cope with. Gin totally understood Solley's stress levels concerning her kids, given a nasty divorce and custody battle pending. She would have been even more careful if she'd known the facts.

Hearing voices on the back deck, she ambled along the sun-baked redwood boards to the rear of the house. A quick glance a 53 a in the open kitchen door brought her to a halt. Solley stood in the shadowy interior, bent over the open oven, inspecting what smelled like a tray of cookies. Her emerald swimsuit was covered by a T-shirt that rode up over her bottom, revealing an expanse of long, tanned legs.

Nice calves. Gin observed the musculature with a professional eye. Nice hamstrings and glutes, too. Her gaze traveled across the toned skin to the intimate shadow between Solley's thighs. Gin swallowed hard. Her captivation puzzled her. So did the increasing awkwardness she felt around Solley.

Normally she wasn't the type to encroach on another's personal s.p.a.ce, but she found herself drawn to Solley, eager for a smile or a word.

She'd seen sparks of the real woman buried under the crushing anxiety Solley seemed determined to carry alone, and she wanted to see more. She wanted to win this woman's trust and help her, but instead she had failed her somehow. Perhaps she was being overly sensitive because Solley seemed to be mad at her most of the time. She had a right to be upset about Jed and Will, but Gin sensed there was more to her p.r.i.c.kly mood than the minor injuries her children had sustained and the fear of consequences from Dan.

Gin backed up a step, all too aware of spying on Solley as she puttered about in the kitchen baking cookies for her kids.

Imagine if she were caught. How would she explain herself?

I'm like a moth. I know I could watch her this way forever...

She was so engrossed, she didn't notice Janie helping a stiff and sore Marsha along the veranda until she met their mystifi ed stares. They peered past her to see what culinary spectacle had caught her attention. A blissfully unaware Solley was still bent over the oven.

Gin gave a tight, polite smile and quickly walked away.

Her escape wasn't fast enough. Janie and Marsha's voices carried as they trailed after her.

a 54 a "Was Gin checking out my sister's a.s.s?" Janie sounded shocked.

"Please," Marsha muttered, "even I check out your sister's a.s.s."

When the cookies were reduced to a plate of crumbs, Solley took her kids down to the sh.o.r.e for one last splash before bedtime. Standing there casually watching the loves of her life bounding through the breaking waves, laughing and shrieking at the antics of Nelson, Solley felt a great melancholy descend.

So much was up in the air, she didn't know when she'd be able to bring the children back here again. Soon they would have to go home and face an uncertain future. The thought made her eyes sting, and she quickly blinked away her tears as she heard footsteps behind her.

She turned to fi nd Gin standing silently, watching the kids frolic.

"Oh, I didn't realize you were there." Solley was surprised that Gin had joined her, after being snapped at in the afternoon and ignored throughout dinner.

"I won't interrupt." Gin's voice was warm. "I just wanted to apologize again. In your situation, I'd have been pretty angry, too."

Solley sighed heavily. "I owe you an apology. I'm just strung out these days, and foul tempered. I know it was an accident. If you're not used to being around children, they can lead you a merry dance."