Because a Husband Is Forever by Marie Ferrarella

and California were synonymous to her, but that was only because she’d grown up there. Everyone always felt that their home was the epicenter of everyone’s focus, she mused just as the food server returned with their orders.
    â€œFast,” Ian commented in a low voice.
    â€œThey like to keep things moving here,” she said as she dug into her food with unabashed relish. “Dimitri’s thinking of buying out the store next door and expanding.” He made no comment on the information. Big surprise. Dakota retreated to the previous topic. Her family. “My mother’s Joanna Montgomery.” Watching his expression, she saw no sign that the name might have meant something to him. Sorry, Mom, not everyone’s a movie buff. “She’s an actress.”
    He raised one eyebrow at the information. His late mother had been a homemaker, struggling to create harmony between two men who had nothing in common aside from their surname and choice of profession. She was the rock of the earth. Actresses, he felt, were the complete opposite. “Your whole family is in show business?”
    â€œMy older brother, Paul, is an accountant.” She didn’t bother adding that he worked for a major studio.
    Ian nodded. “Good for him.”
    There was something about the tone that rubbed her against the grain. She silently took offense for both her mother and her father. “But my grandfather’s in the business,” she informed him. “Waylon Montgomery.”
    Her almost-silent eating companion’s head jerked up. By the surprised look on his face, Dakota knew she’d hit pay dirt. So the man did watch television. A sliver of triumph worked its way forward.
    Ian’s fork was suspended in midair. “You’re kidding.”
    â€œIt’s in my official bio,” she deadpanned.
    â€œSavage Ben’s owner is your grandfather?” Ian asked. Savage Ben had been a cult favorite TV program in the early eighties and was still living happily in reruns around the world.
    He couldn’t believe it. Waylon Montgomery had a face that had been lived in years before his hair had turned white. Not that he’d ever given the matter any thought, but if he had, he would have imagined that the man would have fathered rather homely children, not someone who took men’s breath away in a wheelbarrow.
    â€œOne and the same.” Impulse put the words in her mouth. “He’s coming out at the end of the month to do an interview. I could arrange for you to meet him if you like.”
    â€œI—my son and I used to watch that on Saturday mornings together.” The last thing he wanted was for her to think of him as one of those people without a life, whofaithfully attached themselves to celebrities and went out of their way to see them.
    The piece of personal information took her by surprise. So did the strange pang she felt.
    The man was married.
    That didn’t matter, she silently insisted.
    Dakota forced herself to focus on what he’d just said. Maybe Ian Russell was warming up to her. Or maybe finding out who her grandfather was had momentarily shaken up his world.
    â€œAnd then what?” she coaxed, trying to get him to continue. “He outgrew it?” Kids were rebelling and trying to act cool sooner these days. She’d never gone through a rebellion herself, but all her friends had. She’d been in the minority.
    Ian looked back at his plate as he resumed eating. “I wouldn’t know.”
    There was something about the set of his shoulders that got to her. She paused a moment, wondering if she should hold her tongue. But then, that had never stopped her before. “You’re divorced, aren’t you?”
    Ian looked at her. He wanted to tell her that she had no right to probe, but curiosity got the better of him. “Does it show?”
    â€œIn a manner of speaking,” she allowed. “You don’t strike