Annabelle managed a weak smile. “Busted.”

Heath shook Ian’s stalled hand without giving anything away, but Annabelle knew sudden death when she saw it.

“Nice to meet you, Ian,” he said. “And, Gwen…Good to see you again.” He nodded in the general direction of her stomach. “Fast work. Congratulations.”

Gwen simply swallowed. Annabelle felt Heath’s fingers coil around her upper arm. “Would you excuse us? Annabelle and I need to talk.”

Just like that, the book club sprang into action. “No!”

“Don’t move!”

“You’re not taking her anywhere.”

“Forget it.”

Heath’s expression was a cluster bomb about to detonate. “I’m afraid I’ll have to insist.”

Kevin looked puzzled. “What’s going on?”

“Business.” Heath marched Annabelle toward the screen door. If she’d tossed a sweater over her head, it would have been a bona fide perp walk.

Molly shot ahead of them. “I’m coming with you.”

“No,” Heath said flatly. “You’re not.”

Krystal shot Phoebe a frantic look. “You scare everybody in the NFL. Do something?”

“I’m thinking.”

“I know…” Molly grabbed her daughter and thrust her toward Annabelle. “Take Pip with you.”

“Molly!” Phoebe shot forward in outrage.

Molly regarded her sister helplessly. “How rough can he get if he has a three-year-old watching?”

Phoebe snatched her niece out of harm’s way. “Never mind, sweetheart. Mommy’s having one of her crazy spells.”

Gwen made a faint, fluttery motion with her hand. “Annabelle, I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

Annabelle managed a shrug. “Not your problem. I brought this on myself.”

“Exactly,” Heath said. And then he steered her out the door.

They walked without speaking for several minutes. Finally they reached a grove of trees, and that was where he turned on her. “You conned me.”

More than once if she counted this morning, but she hoped he hadn’t figured that out. “I needed a sure bet to get you to sign the contract, and Gwen was the best I had. I promise, I was going to tell you the truth sooner or later. I hadn’t worked up the nerve.”

“Now there’s a surprise.” Those cold green eyes could have cut glass. “Bait and switch.”

“I—I’m afraid so.”

“How did you get the husband to go along with it?”

“A—uh—year of free babysitting.”

A blade of wind cut through the clearing, ruffling his hair. He stared at her for so long her skin started to itch. She thought of all she’d put herself through this morning…For nothing.

“You conned me,” he said again, almost as if he were still trying to take it in.

Apprehension knotted her stomach. “I couldn’t see another way.”

A bird shrieked overhead. Another screeched in response. And then the edges of his mouth crinkled. “Way to go, Tinker Bell. This is exactly what I’ve been talking about.”

Just because Heath approved of Annabelle’s scam didn’t mean that she escaped a lecture about business ethics. She defended herself by saying, truthfully, that it wouldn’t have occurred to her to do something so dishonorable to any other client.