"I hate this," she complained to Stephanie when Thursday's workday ended. "Arrangements by Dana" was holding corporate meetings all week. Five different companies, one-day sessions each. Four down, one to go.

"What?" Stephanie looked over at her.

"These business functions. This is not what I set out to do."

"But they've solved the financial woes."

"True," Dana reluctantly agreed. "I guess I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth."

At periods like this Dana wished she were more like Stephanie. Dana was the fretter, Stephanie the optimist – and if Stephanie's optimism was misplaced, she could roll with the punches. She didn't end up tied in knots over situations she had no control over.

Steph and Jay might eat casseroles more often than steak, but Stephanie loved her nursing assignments and adored her husband. She even took joy in all the mundane tasks with Dana's business. Right now Dana hated her life. And now she was opening her mind to the possibility of Alex as a husband, he hadn't even mentioned marriage again. For all she knew, he might never bring it up again. All her hopes and plans could go awry. Dana was tired and unhappy and lovesick.

It was nine-thirty when the telephone rang – Alex. Although he didn't discuss love or marriage, mostly he said all the right things, talked like a man who missed her, told her he'd see her the next day. But when Dana put down the phone, she felt more alone than ever. The conversation had been too brief. She wanted to talk in depth about their relationship.

Three more hours. She was apprehensive about seeing Alex again, but no matter how many obstacles Dana had erected for them as a couple, she had taken a page from Stephanie's book and was being optimistic, daring to imagine an existence with him by her side. She could almost feel her heart soar as the minutes rolled off the clock. No more presidents, vice presidents and secretaries and comptrollers. She had a whole weekend free – a weekend she hoped to spend entirely with Alex.

Alex had suggested a date tonight and she accepted before he could get the details out of his mouth.

Stephanie had left for an early shift at the hospital and Dana was clearing away the dirty coffee cups and leftover papers in the solarium. The rest of the cleanup could wait until tomorrow.

She toted a plastic trash bag with her, dumping refuse as she circled the room. She grabbed a stack of brochures and annual reports and tossed them in. One of the reports missed the bag and fell to the floor, lying open. The inside coversheet read "Zomba Enterprises" and scribbled beneath was AJ McLean.

Dana dropped the bag and picked up the report. After studying it for a few moments, she glanced at her watch, then rushed to her office. It was just after four, probably not too late to get the information she needed.

Alex called from Houston Intercontinental saying his plane was delayed and suggesting she meet him at his condo. The setting was incidental. Any place would suffice for the showdown Dana had in mind. Alex might be plotting to lure her to his private domain for seduction, but Dana's thoughts ran more to homicide.

"How could you do this?" she hissed as Alex opened the front door, shoving him away when he tried to take her into his arms.

"That's a hell of a greeting. What am I supposed to have done now?" he growled, reacting in kind to her furor.

"You didn't have faith I could make it on my own, so you played fairy godfather." She waved the report in his face. "I thought I was doing so well, but you had major influence with every damn one of those businesses coming into my place."

"Not every one." He went behind the bar and mixed himself a Scotch and soda. "So I intervened a little. Big deal. What difference does it make?"

Dana threw a hand in the air. "All along I've turned down your offers to help. But you never got it, did you? I needed to climb out of my predicament on my own."

"I caused the predicament in the first place. I fix what I break."

"You used your influence to create business for me."

"So? It worked, didn't it? Can you honestly say you'd have survived without my help?"

"Believe me, I could survived without you!"

"No doubt. But would 'Arrangements by Dana' have made it?"

It would have been oh so gratifying to shout yes, but Dana knew her business would have sunk like the Titanic if he hadn't intervened. "Possibly not. But if I did make it, I'd have the satisfaction of pulling myself up, not having someone to rescue me."

"Is that so important to you?"

"Haven't you been listening to me? Yes, it's important."

"Then you don't belong in the business arena. Being successful means accepting help whenever and wherever it comes your way. As long as it moral and legal, you take it. And it doesn't diminish your capabilities one iota."

"So what do you want – my eternal gratitude?"

"No, I just want you to behave like a sensible business woman, not a hysterical female."

"If you cared about me at all, you'd recognize why I feel so hurt. You'd–"

"Care about you? I've done every damn thing in the book to prove to you I care. Your problem is that you wouldn't recognize the truth if it was painted on a billboard in your front yard. I've said it before and I'll say it again. You're a fraud.

"You set yourself up as this big proponent of love, but Dana Evans doesn't really know what she's talking about. Love isn't all violins and candy. It's not a big show, a frothy confection of a wedding. It's everyday commitment, being there when you're needed, trying to help a person out if it's within your power to do so."

"Never having to say you're sorry when you're wrong?" His big speech sounded good, too good.

"No. It's being able to say you're sorry when you've fouled up. And being able to accept an apology when one is owed to you."

"So are you apologizing?"

"For sending you business, no. For calling you a fraud, no. I stand by what I've said. Take it or leave it."

"I see. I'm sure I sound terribly ungrateful, but I think I'll leave it. By the way, I despise training and business seminars. I never realized how much." When Alex didn't respond, she added, "Maybe it's best that I go." She wanted him to argue with her, to wrap her in his arms, but he merely reached for her purse and handed it to her.

"Maybe it is," he said.

Dana meekly accepted the handbag and left, fighting tears. She got in her car and drove a few blocks, holding the steering wheel with one hand and wiping away the now-flowing tears with the other. When she noticed a coffee bar, she stopped. She could have used a cup of solace right now, but coffee would be the next best thing. She needed a haven to regain her composure, to figure out just what had occurred at Alex's.

Alex was mistaken about her. She didn't think love was some fantasy. She knew it was give-and-take and – Had she done any giving? Not really. And she hadn't even been very good at the taking.

So her pride was hurt to discover she hadn't saved her company single-handedly. Was pride so important, more important than love? Alex may not have been the traditional knight on a white horse, but he had rescued her and she reacted like a woman betrayed. Although she disliked the business seminars, they had kept her afloat so that she could get back to what she loved best – weddings. Alex would probably accuse her of never being satisfied. And he'd be right. How could she have been such an idiot?

A half hour later she was parked at the security gate at Alex's condominium. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but Mr. McLean has gone out," the attendant advised. "Is there a message?"

"No. . . no message. . . good night."

When she returned to Torrence Place, Alex was there, gently rocking on the swing. A gush of relief coursed through her whole body. "Oh, thank goodness," she said aloud, racing up the steps to meet him. Dana didn't know what to expect, but felt encouraged by the bouquets of flowers surrounding him – strictly, last-minute supermarket purchases, but so many that several toppled off the swing when he rose.

"I was about to give up," he said.

"I went back to see you, but. . ."

"I've already started after you." They stood apart, as though neither knew what to do or say, then Alex took control. "I've obviously done a poor job of showing you how much I love you."

"No, oh, no," she protested. "I've been wearing blinders. Maybe you could show me again."

"And you'll believe me now?"

"I think I'm finally ready to."

"I was such a dunce, rushing you like some highschooler with raging hormones. No wonder you were wary. I should have been less impatient, more understanding. As you may have guessed, darling, I'm too used to getting what I want when I want it. My eagerness almost cost me what I hold most dear. I even pushed you into work you didn't like to salve my conscience and to hurry things along."

"We've both been fools. Everything happened too suddenly for me and I drew away like some threatened maiden."

"There's no reason for you to ever be threatened by me. Dana, you once said you wanted a man who couldn't bear waking up in the morning without you by his side. Well, dearest, I've developed a chronic case of insomnia. I don't want to fall asleep because you won't be there when I wake up and it's tearing me in pieces. I love you, Dana. Tell me what to do, how to say it better, because frankly I'm at a loss."

From day one, Alex was in charge, always had the answers, yet now he seemed vulnerable. . . just as she was. He'd said all she wanted, done all she wanted, now it was her turn. "I love you, too, Alex. Desperately." She'd plunged in this far, why not go the course? "Is that marriage offer still open?"

He smiled. "Las Vegas? Tonight? Tomorrow?"

"Anywhere. Anytime. The sooner the better."

Chapter 24
Chapter 22
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