“This is Dr. Lucille Menger.” He slipped a protective arm around her shoulders. “Our very talented new pathologist.”

Good job choice, Lucy. Not much need to worry about bedside manner.

Heath gave her a megawatt smile. “You and I seem to be the only outsiders tonight, so we’d better stick together. For all we know, these people could be serial killers.”

Her parents and brothers chuckled, but Lucille looked mystified. Finally her mental fog cleared. “Oh, that’s a joke.”

Annabelle shot a quick look at Kate, but beyond the flicker of an eyebrow, her mother wasn’t giving anything away. Annabelle’s irritation grew. Her brother had a track record for choosing these humorless brainiacs, but did anybody stage an intervention for Dr. Adam? No, they did not. Only for Annabelle.

Heath looked boyishly repentant. “A bad joke, I’m afraid.”

Lucille seemed relieved to know it wasn’t her.

Kate always booked the Mayfair Club’s second-floor private dining room for the Granger family’s Chicago gatherings. Decorated like an English manor house with polished brass and chintz, the room offered a cozy seating area near a mullioned bay window that looked down on Delaware Place, and they settled there for cocktails and birthday presents. Doug and Candace presented her with a gift certificate for a makeover at a local salon. No mystery who’d come up with that idea. Adam gave her a new DVD player along with a collection of workout videos, thank you very much. When she unwrapped her parents’ gift, she found an expensive navy suit she wouldn’t have been caught dead wearing, but couldn’t return because Kate had ordered it from her favorite working woman’s boutique in St. Louis, and the manager would squeal.

“Every woman needs a power suit as she gets older,” her mother said.

The corner of Heath’s mouth twitched. “I have a gift for Annabelle, too. Unfortunately, it won’t be ready until Monday.”

Candace pressed him for details, but he refused to say more. Kate could no longer hold back her curiosity about why he was here. “We never mind when Annabelle shows up without a date, even though she says it makes her feel like a fifth wheel. Asher client, you certainly had no obligation to be her escort, but…Well, I must say we’re all glad you agreed to join us…?”

She ended her sentence with an implied question mark. Annabelle hoped Heath would somehow put an end to her mother’s assumption that this was a mercy date for him, but he was more intent on playing the charm card. “It’s my pleasure. I’ve been looking forward to meeting all of you. Annabelle’s told me the most amazing stories about your banking career, Kate. You were a real trailblazer for women.”

Kate melted all over him. “I don’t know about that, but I will say things were a lot more difficult for women back then than they are now. I keep telling Annabelle that she doesn’t know how lucky she is. These days, the only obstacles standing in the way of a woman’s success are ones of her own making.”