Stranger in Paradise (Home Front - Book #2) by Barbara Bretton Page A

to nuptials.” Nigel paused to puff on his pipe. “As you see, hasty decisions run in the family.”
    “Any regrets?”
    Nigel considered the question. “Not a one. We’re an unlikely couple but a happy one.”
    “Did you know the moment you saw Roxie?”
    Smoke encircled Nigel’s head as he exhaled. “Even before. The second I heard her sweet voice singing ‘White Cliffs of Dover’ I was a lost man.”
    “So you don’t think we’re crazy.”
    “Of course I do. Completely daft. The odds are against you, my dear fellow.”
    “The odds didn’t stop you,” Mac pointed out.
    “When you’re my age, the odds are already against you. Why not tempt fate?”
    “So you give us your blessing?”
    “I don’t believe in blessings, Mac. Neither does Jane. I did precious little for her when she was younger. I doubt I have the right to tender blessings at this late date.”
    “She must have brought me here for a reason.”
    “A gesture, perhaps. I wouldn’t presume to guess.”
    Mac leaned back in his chair and dragged a hand through his hair. “I’m confused.” It had seemed so clear to him a few minutes ago. They hadn’t really come to Nigel’s flat for the typewriter, had they? Unless he was as crazy as Nigel seemed to think, he was certain they had progressed beyond that stage.
    “You’ll learn soon enough. Jane keeps her own counsel. I’ve known her all her life and she’s an abiding mystery to me.”
    With one sentence Nigel had summed up Jane’s allure. Mystery. You could sense the darkness about her, an underlying sorrow that tempered her delicate beauty with steel. A man could spend years with a woman like Jane and never come close to understanding what made her tick.
    “Ready for a cuppa, gents?” Roxie bustled into the room, carrying a tea tray. Her showgirl bosom jutted forward like the prow of a ship. “Cream. Sugar. The first strawberries of the year.”
    Jane glided into the room behind Roxie. He watched as her huge blue eyes went from Nigel to himself then back to Nigel again.
    “Well,” said Jane, sitting down next to Mac. She held herself straight as a soldier, hands clasped primly on her lap. Only the faintest trembling of her elegant fingers gave her away. “And how have you gentlemen been getting on?”
    Nigel looked over at Mac. The twinkle in his faded blue eyes could have lit half of London. “I would say we have an understanding, wouldn’t you, Mac?”
    Mac looked over at Jane. “I would.”
    “No difficulties?”
    “None that I know of.” Mac turned to Nigel. “How about you?”
    “Not a one, my boy.”
    She looked so young and hopeful. “Truly?”
    He reached for her hand. “Truly.”
    “How wonderful,” she said with a gentle sigh. “We can borrow the typewriter.”
    Mac threw back his head and laughed. Life with Jane wasn’t going to be dull. That much was certain.

Chapter Three
    “You changed the wallpaper.” Catherine Wilson Danza ran her hand across the pale yellow and white kitchen walls. “I like it.”
    Nancy, who was slicing onions for their cookout, looked up at her sister. “You noticed.” She reached for another onion. “Gerry still doesn’t realize I’ve changed anything.”
    Cathy laughed and plucked a tomato from a pile that had already been sliced. “Men don’t notice anything until the bill arrives,” she said, biting into the tomato with her even white teeth. “We had our new living-room suite for three months before Johnny realized he was sitting on a blue sofa instead of a red love seat.”
    Leave it to Cathy to come up with a topper. Not that Nancy was jealous or anything. After all these years, Nancy had left jealousy far behind. Plain and simple, awe had taken its place. Her older sister had just turned thirty-one a few days ago and you’d be hard-pressed to believe it. Her hair was the same lustrous honey blond it had always been, although it was now swept off her face into an elegant chignon as befitted her position as