Page 46 of About Last Night

"He isn't, except for golf. My sister is my hiking partner. And I like to garden—herbs, mostly."

"For your homeopathic treatments?"

She nodded, smiling. "Just for friends and family."

"You must have a lot of those, considering the size of the wedding." Then he winced. "Sorry—you said you didn't want to talk about it."

"It's okay. And most of the guests are on Steve's side—he has lots of colleagues and his parents have lots of friends." She smiled. "Including you."

Derek opened his mouth to reiterate he and Steve weren't close, but warning flags raised in his mind. He was already too-attracted to this woman… he didn't need to say things that would further break down the barriers between them. Indeed, Janine seemed to be studying his face, waiting for him to proclaim his loyalty to Steve. "Including me," he confirmed.

The room's phone rang, breaking their intense eye contact. They both sat frozen until the second ring had sounded.

"I could get it," she said. "But what if it's Steve?"

"I could get it," he said. "But what if it's your mother?"

Janine relented and walked over to pick up the handset. "Hallooo," she said in her best older lady impression, fully intending to hand off the phone if Steve was on the other end.

"Youmustbe sick if your voice is that distorted," Marie said, munching something fresh-and crunchy-sounding—maybe pineapple.

Mouthing to Derek that it was her sister, she flopped onto the bed facedown. "No, I was trying to disguise my voice."

Crunch, crunch."Why?"

She sighed. "Long story."

"Great, I just threw in a load of laundry, so I have plenty of time. I got your voice message that the wedding is off."

"Postponed," she corrected, perturbed.

"Whatever. I'm just glad to hear you're still alive. If you believe the news, everyone up there has the African flesh-eating disease."

Janine laughed. Marie could always lift her spirits. "It's not that bad, although a few more guests have fallen ill. Dr. Pedro of the CDC told me the hospitalized patients are responding to antibiotics. I'm hoping we'll be out of here in another day or two."

"Speaking of 'we,'" Marie said, her voice rich with innuendo, "how's your roomie? I assume he's still there since Mother was concerned about somebellmanin your room early this morning when she called."

"You didn't tell her, did you?"

"Of course not, and I made her promise not to call the room constantly."

Janine sighed. "Thanks."

"Well," Marie demanded, "how is your Best Man?"

From beneath her lashes, Janine glanced to the desk where Derek had returned to his computer, tapping away on the keyboard. "Uninteresting," she said in a tone meant to stem further discussion on the subject.

"Is he still sick?"

"There's a good chance his symptoms are allergy-related instead of what the other guests have come down with."

"It has to be tough, sharing close quarters with a virtual stranger," her sister probed, still crunching. "An attractive man and an attractive woman, at that."

With a last look at Derek's handsome profile, Janine pushed herself up from the bed and stretched the phone line across the room to the sliding glass door. She opened it, stepped onto the tiny balcony and closed the door to the smallest crack that would accommodate the cord. She drew in a deep breath of fresh air—pollen be damned—relieved for a few minutes of freedom from those four suffocating burgundy walls, and from those two captivating brown eyes. Slowly she exhaled, surveying the peaceful scene below her. Except for the fact that the grounds were deserted, and that two uniformed guards stood chatting at the corner of the building, one would never suspect the resort was under quarantine.

"Sis, are you there?"

Janine snapped back to attention. "Yeah, I'm here. I stepped out onto the balcony."

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