Her Sweet Talkin' Man by Myrna Mackenzie

you?”
    He chuckled. “My mother’s ghost would rise up and smack me good if I did. That’s not what this is about,” he assured her. “I don’t beat up aging men.”
    But that aging man had once been a very young man, a dashing young man who apparently had seduced Ace’s mother.
    Crystal glanced at Ace and wondered how many women had fallen under his spell.
    â€œI won’t hit anyone,” he promised. “I never intended that. And I would not subject you or Timmy to that.” He nodded toward her little boy who had gotten bored with the grown-up talk and fallen asleep in his car seat, his cowboy hat slipping off his head to lie half-crushed beneath his chubby pink cheek.
    She parked the car outside the massive structure of the country club in the large lot west of the main building, climbed from the car and circled round to free Timmy from his car seat. His body was heavy with sleep, his arms and legs rubbery, his head flopping over.
    â€œI’ll carry him,” Ace said, and he took her son from her.
    He held him reverently, her fatherless child. But Crystal also noticed that Ace stiffened slightly whenever the boy moved. And when she led him past the gardens, across the enormous porch, into the building and back to the nursery, he looked relieved to be divested of his package. It was obvious that though he seemed to like her child, he still wasn’t comfortable with the thought of having one of his own.
    She shouldn’t have felt that sharp little pain at the thought. After all, she’d already walked this route. But then, this was her son. She wanted everyone to want him.
    Not everyone would, though, she knew. It was just a fact of life, one she still struggled with.
    â€œAll right, ready to meet the family?” she asked, striving for brightness.
    He placed a restraining hand on her bare arm, sending warmth and awareness straight into her. “Not achance I’m going to drag you into this.” His expression was stern.
    She couldn’t help the look of confusion that crossed her face.
    He shrugged and smiled. “What I mean is, thank you for the ride, but I accepted because Fiona said that you were going, anyway, and because I wanted to make sure that the jerk who attacked you earlier didn’t follow you. He hasn’t. But now that we’re here, I’m not dragging you into this any deeper. The Carsons are obviously your friends. Furthermore, they don’t have any more reason to like me than I have reason to like them. In fact, they have every reason to be suspicious of me and to order me out of here. I might as well tell you that their suspicions would not be without grounds. I’m not a violent man unless someone’s being threatened, but I’m not likely to feel too kindly toward the family that made my mother’s life a joke and a humiliation. So you and I part ways for now. Go circulate, Cinderella. Just be careful. Not all men—”
    â€œâ€”are trustworthy. I know,” she said with a smile. “A wise man told me that earlier this evening.”
    He rubbed his jaw. “Check back with me on that ‘wise man’ thing at the end of the evening. You might change your mind.”
    She hoped she’d changed her mind about some things, because right now Ace Carson looked very much like a man she wanted to kiss. And she had the feeling his kisses would be very difficult to forget.
    Â 
    What in hell was he doing here? The question played through Ace’s mind again and again as he located Fiona and followed her across the lobby of the main building of the Lone Star Country Club, an impressive structure that stretched up four stories. She led him into the elegant blue-and-ivory Empire Room, one of several dining rooms that were apparently available. The whole place smelled like luxury, redolent with flowers and the colognes of the well-heeled men and women who mingled here.
    My mother might have