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  “That’s your problem. You always have a great time.” Victoria surveyed him critically. “You need some trauma in your life.”

  “Hey,” Alec said. “I thought you loved me.”

  “I do,” Victoria said over her shoulder as she headed for the restaurant. “But I worry about you. Things come too easily for you. Women, work, it all just falls into your lap.”

  “I work very hard at what I do. Which reminds me—”

  Victoria turned in the middle of the lobby and nailed him with her eyes. “Have you ever failed? At anything?”

  “Of course, I haven’t failed.” Alec was outraged. “I just told you—”

  “If you haven’t failed, you’re not trying hard enough.”

  Alec glared at her. “Who told you this garbage?”

  “A friend of mine. Janice Meredith.”

  “Meredith.” Alec frowned. “The feminist what-sit. Marriage expert, right?”

  “Yes.” Victoria caught his sleeve and dragged him over to the row of gilt chairs he’d seen Dennie Banks use to con Trella that afternoon. “Sit down,” she said and pushed him onto a chair as she sat down beside him. “Janice is going through a terrible time right now—I can’t tell you why—but she’s fine. And do you know why?”

  Alec tried to be patient. “No, why?”

  Victoria smacked his shoulder. “Pay attention and stop patronizing me. This is important. Janice says it’s better to have taken a chance and tried, than never to have tried at all. If you haven’t failed, you’re only doing the easy things. A failure now and then tells you you’re stretching yourself.”

  “So you want me to stretch myself and fail.” Alec patted his aunt’s hand. “No, thanks. Listen, I need you—”

  “How long did it take you to get this woman to agree to dinner?”

  “What?”

  “This blonde you’re having dinner with.”

  “Brunette.”

  “How long from the time you met her to the time she said yes?”

  “About five minutes.”

  Victoria shook her head. “See, you’re going for the easy victory.”

  “That’s a terrible thing to say about a woman you’ve never met.” Alec grinned at her. “And I hope to hell you’re right.”

  “You know if you weren’t so charming, you’d be a rat,” Victoria said. “I’ll be very relieved when you settle down.”

  “Is this lecture over yet?”

  “Yes. Although you probably need a longer one.”

  “You have no idea what I need,” Alec said. “For all you know, I’m vulnerable and lonely.”

  “Ha.”

  “Fine. Be that way. Now pay attention. I need a favor.”

  Victoria smiled at him fondly. “Anything, darling.”

  Alec smiled back in spite of himself. “Did I mention I’ve missed you?”

  “Oh, I’ve missed you, too, darling.” Victoria patted his knee. “That’s why I sent you the invitation. I’m going to fix your life this weekend.”

  “No, you’re not,” Alec said. “Drop that idea entirely and listen. I need you to buy some real estate from a con man. And then I will arrest him.”

  “A con man?” Victoria frowned. “I thought you were on vacation.”

  “I am,” Alec said. “This is a freebie. Pure luck. My boss is flying in late tonight to talk to both of us. Can we meet you at eleven in your room?”

  “Of course,” Victoria said. “It sounds like fun.”

  “Well, it’s not.” Alec scowled at her. “This is serious work.”

  “This is what you do for a living?”

  “Yes.”

  She shrugged. “Then how serious can it be?”

  Alec stood. “On that note, I will leave you for my date. Would you like to join us for dinner?” he added politely, knowing Victoria would never do anything that dumb.

  “I’d love to,” she said, standing, too, and Alec started. “But I have a date of my own.” Alec glared at her, and Victoria grinned back unfazed. “That’ll teach you to make invitations you don’t mean.” Her eyes focused over Alec’s left shoulder, and when he turned to see, she waved to a distinguished graying man who was smiling at her. “There’s my date. I’m hoping he’s not going to be the stuffed shirt I’m pretty sure he’s going to be.”

  “Wait.” Alec caught her arm as she moved past him. “I need—”

  Victoria waved her hand at him. “Go amuse your blonde. And call me when your boss gets in.”

  “Brunette,” Alec said in exasperation, but he let her go and watched her move toward the stuffed shirt who beamed his appreciation. “Bad choice, Aunt Vic,” he said to himself, and then stopped. The stuffed shirt looked like prime Bond material. Maybe he should encourage Victoria to cultivate a taste for the overstuffed this weekend.

  Victoria and her date went into the restaurant, and Alec checked his watch and headed for the bar. Enough about Victoria’s dating problems; he was late to meet a beautiful crook.

  Chapter 3

  Dennie walked into the bar at seven and ordered a daiquiri. The bartender slid the frosted glass in front of her, and she opened her purse.

  “Let me get that,” someone beside her said, and she turned to see the g-dropping farm boy from the hotel door that afternoon, smiling at her shyly.

  “Brian Bondman.” He offered her his hand. “We ran into each other this morning.”

  He ducked his head and smiled again, and Dennie wondered why she’d suddenly begun attracting men with weak necks. All this ducking and peering up at her. There was enough aw shucks in this hotel to gag a maggot. Still, he was being nice, so Dennie shook his hand with tepid enthusiasm, but when he put some bills on the bar, she slid them back to him.

  “I prefer to pay for my own drink, thank you.”

  “Ah, you’re independent.” He shook his head at her apologetically. “Well, then …” He leaned closer, and she could see the deep blue of his eyes. He was probably doing that because he thought women loved deep blue eyes. He should have tried it on another woman. Dennie could spot colored contacts a mile away. He smiled at her. “How about letting me pay for dinner?”

  Someone tapped on Bondman’s shoulder, and Dennie turned to see her date for the evening. John-Boy meets Opie, she thought. Get me out of here.

  “That’s not a bad line, but I used it earlier,” Alec told him. “Sorry.”

  Bondman stopped smiling for an instant, and Dennie thought there might be a fight. Clash of the Nerds. She opened her mouth to head them off, but then Alec smiled at Bondman like a half-wit, and Bondman smiled back, much the same smile, and said, “No problem. Maybe my timing will get better later.”

  “Oh, it’s bound to get better,” Alec said, clapping Bondman on the back. “No hard feelings, right?” He looked past Bondman and smiled at Dennie. “You look super,” he told her. “Let’s go have dinner so I can show you off.”

  Dennie looked at them both. It was a good time to be giving up men if this was what the planet had to offer. If it wasn’t for needing Alec’s aunt to convince Janice Meredith—

  Alec looked her up and down. “Great dress,” he said. “Gosh.”

  It was going to be a long evening. She held out her hand. “Lead on, Macduff.”

  “Actually, that’s ‘lay on.’ ” Alec took her hand and helped her off the bar stool. “It’s what Macbeth said right before he lost his head.”

  “Well, don’t count on it happening again.” Dennie pulled him toward the door and away from Brian Bondman. “I’m hungry, but I’m not about to lose my head.”

  * * *

  Bond watched them go. The guy in the suit had to be one of those college professors. Talking like a hayseed and quoting Macbeth. Fine. He’d take him for every cent he had. And then he’d take the woman away from him too. He turned back to the bar and brooded on his plans for revenge and profit while he drank Dennie’s daiquiri.

  “So where did you learn Macbeth?” Dennie asked Alec when they’d been seated