Sydney found Russ in the den, fiddling with the fire. And for a moment she just stopped and stared. He wore a charcoal gray wool suit that fit him perfectly, accentuating his height and his wide shoulders. The suit looked as nice as any she’d ever seen, as did the silk tie in muted blues and grays. His hair, still slightly damp from his shower, had been neatly combed. When she came closer, she saw that he’d shaved. A tiny nick along his jaw gave him away.

He straightened and held out his arms. “What do you think? Do I pass muster?”

“Oh, you pass, all right.”

She wondered who picked out his clothes. The mysterious Deirdre?

She clenched her jaw. She was walking away and there would be other Deirdres. She didn’t need to know, didn’t want to think about them or about the man she’d always think of as the one who got away.

“You clean up good, too,” Russ said, “but I already knew that.” He held up his hand. “No, wait, let me state that more emphatically. You look fantastic and I will be sure to tell Rose she advised you well.”

“Thank you.” Sydney appreciated the compliment. She did feel pretty tonight and the fire in his eyes told her all she needed to know about how well her efforts had paid off.

“Ready to go?” he said.

“Absolutely. I’m not going to last long in these heels, so the sooner we can get to a table, the better.”

The Lake Linhart Country Club wasn’t actually in Linhart. It was across the lake from Russ’s house. He showed Sydney the lights visible from his back door, but it was about a fifteen-minute drive to get there.

The club reeked of old money. Russ told her that a group of oil barons of another era had built this place as a private playground, but during the oil bust of the 1980s it had been sold and converted to a country club with membership open to anyone willing to pay the modest dues. It didn’t feature the latest, most chic decor, but everywhere Sydney looked she saw quality, from the parquet floor to the wall sconces to the maître d’s tuxedo.

“Mr. Klein, how nice to see you again so soon,” the maître d’ said. “Your table is ready.”

“You must be a good customer.”

“Actually, I do a lot of work for the club, organizing wilderness adventures for the members. I even teach kayaking and windsurfing. So they know me.”

The dining room was small but elegantly appointed. They were led to a table right by a wall of windows, where they could look out onto the lake. The sky shimmered with stars. Sydney had never seen so many.

The evening was as perfect as any dinner date could be. The filet Sydney ordered was grilled to perfection; the red wine was hearty and seeped into Sydney’s exhausted bones, relaxing her. Even the background music set just the right tone of intimacy.

They talked of anything and everything, carefully avoiding any mention of the future they wouldn’t be sharing. They lingered over coffee late into the evening as their conversation dwindled to comfortable silence and they stared into each other’s eyes.

Sydney tried to find hidden depths in Russ’s eyes, answers to questions she hadn’t yet asked. He reached across the table and took her hand, lightly kissing the knuckles. “Let’s go home.”

Oh, yeah. She couldn’t stand up fast enough.

Once they were back inside the warm haven of Russ’s home, they took off their coats and then simply didn’t stop undressing. Their discarded clothing left a trail from the front door to the bedroom as they kissed their way through the house.

A night-light softly illuminated their love nest, where the king-sized bed awaited. They hardly spoke a word; no words were necessary. They were so attuned to each other that Russ knew exactly where she wanted to be touched, how fast, how slow. In turn, her instincts guided her eager, hungry hands and mouth as she charted a body that was already becoming familiar to her. Thoughts of him would haunt her for a long time to come, she was sure.

When they came together it was like coming home, a place she’d been in her mind many times but hadn’t even known she’d missed until now.

Their lovemaking seemed to go on in a timeless alternate universe and for a while Sydney forgot about deadlines and airports and bankruptcies and depressed fathers and sprained ankles. She forgot everything except loving this man in this time and this place.

Much later, as they lay entwined in the big bed, twisted sheets and blankets and pillows around them, Sydney realized with sudden clarity that she’d fallen in love. As preposterous as it seemed, she’d fallen in love with this exasperating, stubborn Texan with whom she outwardly had nothing in common.

She glanced at the illuminated dial on Russ’s watch. She had to get up in three hours. Get up, throw on her clothes and drive away, probably never to see Russ again. How was she going to do it? Did she really have to?

If not for her father, she could choose to stay and explore this miraculous thing that had come into her life so unexpectedly. But Lowell-she couldn’t leave Lowell to fend for himself. It was unthinkable.

At the thought of her father, she remembered she hadn’t called to let him know she wasn’t coming home tonight. Russ was asleep, snoring softly. She slipped out of his grasp, which was tenacious even in sleep. The room was cold and she had no nightgown or robe. So she improvised by locating Russ’s discarded dress shirt and wrapping it around her. She hugged herself and inhaled deeply. The shirt smelled of him. Maybe she could steal it, take it home with her, put it in her bed so she could inhale of him at will.

She had it bad, all right.

She wondered where she’d left her purse. Nero was sprawled out in the entryway, snoring. After searching everywhere for her purse, she realized Nero was sleeping on it, using it for a pillow.

“Hey, you.” She nudged him with her toe. The dog opened one tired eye, identified her as friend and wagged his tail. “Yeah, well, that cute act isn’t going to get you very far if you’ve slobbered all over my suede purse.”

She tugged her small clutch out from under the dog’s head. Aside from a bit of dog hair, it didn’t seem much worse for wear. She dug out her cell phone.

There were no messages, so her father hadn’t called her. He must not be too worried. She decided, though it was the middle of the night, to call him. He would probably be asleep, although his sleep was iffy these days. But the message would be there for him when he woke up.

When her father picked up, she was so surprised that for a moment she didn’t say anything.

“Sydney? Honey?”

“Oh, hi, Dad. I didn’t expect you to answer. What are you doing up?”

“Just prowling the house. Couldn’t sleep. Something wrong?”

“No, I just forgot to call and let you know I wasn’t coming in until tomorrow. I was afraid you’d be worried.” She wandered into the living room and curled up on the sofa.

“I figured getting a flight out would be near impossible with the weather, so I wasn’t too worried. Are you at your aunt Carol’s?”

“No, I’m…Oh, Dad, the most wonderful, terrible thing has happened. I’m in love.”

“No kidding? So that’s what this mysterious trip was all about.”

“It didn’t start out that way, but that’s how it’s finishing up.”

“You don’t sound completely happy. Don’t tell me the fella doesn’t love you back.”

“I honestly don’t know. It’s just that, regardless of how he feels, he’s here and I’m there and that makes things difficult.”

“Well, now, it shouldn’t,” Lowell said. “Don’t forget your mom and I were from different parts of the country, too. But we worked it out.”

“Yeah, you moved to New York. But that’s never going to happen in this case. Russ would never leave his precious Hill Country. And I wouldn’t want him to. He wouldn’t be happy in the city.”

“Even with you?”

“Not even with me.”

“Well, there must be some way to work it out. Couldn’t you move down there?”

Sydney was surprised her father would suggest such a thing. For the past year he’d been completely dependent on her and they both knew it. “Oh, I don’t think so, Dad. New York is my home.”

“Now, if you’re just sticking around because you’re worried about your old man, don’t. I’ll get by.”

But he wouldn’t. He needed her, at least for a while longer.

“We’ll talk about it when I get back,” she said. “I don’t have to make any decisions right now.”

“Sydney, honey, if you love this man, don’t let him get away. Maybe it’s an old-fashioned notion to believe in fate, but I do. I know there was one woman fated for me and I found her. Once I found her, I didn’t let her go. Not till I had to, anyway.” He paused and she knew he was struggling once again with his grief.

Please don’t let him start crying. She couldn’t stand it when her formerly invincible father resorted to tears.

To her surprise, however, he continued speaking, his voice clear and strong. “Don’t let your life be filled with thoughts of what might have been. Don’t settle for almost good enough.”

Sydney swallowed hard at the reminder of the love between her parents. They’d been so different from each other and yet they’d had the happiest of marriages. Was it at all possible that she and Russ…Her heart beat a little faster just thinking of the possibilities.

Maybe she didn’t have to say goodbye forever. Oh, but she didn’t even know if Russ felt the same way. He might freak out if she told him how she felt. Lots of guys wanted nothing to do with love and commitment. Maybe there was a reason he’d reached his thirties without marrying-such as an aversion to commitment.

“Sydney, you still there?”

“Yeah, Dad. Just thinking about things. Are you taking the sleeping pills Dr. Stevens prescribed?”

“Nah. I’m not taking any of those pills anymore. I want to feel like myself again.”