Getting ready for dinner had been a trial. At first she’d thought she should wear her most conservative dress, but they weren’t a very conservative family, and so she’d waffled back and forth before settling on the red velvet dress Sam liked so much. It was just a coincidence that he liked it, or maybe it was a good indication the rest of the family would like it, too.

Not that it mattered if they liked it, of course. She wasn’t trying to impress them. In fact, it was extremely unlikely she’d ever see any of them again after tonight.

On the other hand, it wasn’t every day one took dinner with America’s leading scientific family. If she was a little nervous, a little on edge and anxious to please, it was only to be expected.

Oh lord, what if all they talked about was science? She knew nothing scientific, not a single thing. Quickly she started to run through any half-remembered scientific facts or newspaper articles she’d read, but her brain was a muddle. If only she’d had time to do some studying before dinner! But she’d had a meeting with her publisher that afternoon, and of course it had run long, and by the time she’d gotten back her hair had completely collapsed, her boot lace had broken, and—maybe Sam really was on to something with that shoe lacer-upper, although goodness it would need a new name—

“You’ve met them before, you know,” Sam said.

“What?”

“It’s not like you have to impress them. They already like you.”

“I—of course I’m not worried about impressing them.”

“Uh-huh. So why are you nervous?”

“I’m not nervous. That’s ridiculous.”

“All right. So it’s a coincidence you’ve examined your reflection in every shop window we’ve walked past.”

“I haven’t!”

There was a long pause. When she finally got up the nerve to look at him, he was smirking at her.

“Perhaps I’m just very vain,” she said.

“All right,” he agreed.

“I’m not—Oh!” She broke off in frustration and, she had to admit it, nervousness.

“You are,” he said, and the smirk widened into a grin. “You’re nervous about meeting my mother. Because you’re wondering what she’s going to think about us traveling together, and you’re wondering what I’ve told her about you, and because, let’s face it, you’ve fallen for me a bit and there’s some part of you that’s trying her on for mother-in-law status.”

“Why, you—” Nervousness fled in the face of outrage. “That’s the most arrogant—Samuel Moore, I swear on my life, I have never met anyone more outrageous than you.”

“That’s more like it,” he said, and escorted her up the front steps and through the wide, ornate doors.