Kevin watched Molly in the water while he waited for the garbage company to show up with the new Dumpster. He spotted a flash of crimson as she jackknifed, then dove beneath the surface. Buying that particular swimsuit for her had been a big mistake. It showed way too much of the tempting little body he was having an increasingly hard time ignoring. But the suit’s color had caught his eye yesterday in the boutique because it was almost the same shade her hair had been the first time they’d met.

Her hair didn’t look that way now. It had only been four days, but she was taking care of herself again, and her hair was the same rich color as the maple syrup he’d poured over the pancakes she’d made. He felt as if he were watching her come back to life. Her skin had lost its pasty look, and her eyes had begun to sparkle, especially when she wanted to give him a hard time.

Those eyes … That wicked slant shouted to the world that she was up to no good, but he seemed to be the only one who got the message. Phoebe and Dan saw brainy Molly, the lover of children, bunnies, and ridiculous dogs. Only he seemed to understand that Molly Somerville’s veins had trouble rushing through them instead of blood.

On the flight back from Chicago, Dan had lectured him about how seriously she’d always taken everything. How as a kid she never did anything wrong. What a good student she’d been, a model citizen. He’d said that Molly was twenty-seven going on forty. Twenty-seven going on seven was more like it. No wonder she’d made a career as a children’s book author. She was entertaining her peer group!

It galled him that she had the audacity to call him reckless. He’d never have given away fifteen million dollars. As far as he could tell, she didn’t know anything about playing it safe.

He saw another flash of red in the water. All those years of summer camp had made her a good swimmer with a steady, graceful stroke. And a nice, neat body … But the last thing he wanted to do was start thinking about her body again, so he thought about the way she made him laugh.

Which didn’t mean she wasn’t a pain in the butt. She had a lot of nerve trying to poke around in his head, since it was screwed on a lot tighter than hers ever would be.

His eyes flicked back over the lake, but he couldn’t see her. He waited for a flash of red. And waited … His shoulders grew tense as the surface remained smooth. He took a step forward. Then her head bobbed up, little more than a dot in the distance. Just before it disappeared again, she managed to shout one faint word.

“Help!”