Tempted in the Tropics by Tracy March

leveled her sharp gaze on Lane. “Did you have something to do with this?”
    If the whole St. Lucia thing was a matchmaking scheme to get Paige and that uptight jerk together, there was no way she was in on it.

Chapter Five
    Paige pulled her Mini Cooper into a parking space about a block away from the dress shop where Liza insisted they’d find the perfect bridesmaid’s dress in no time. That would be a fantasy come true for Paige because she hated to shop. Her super-stereotypical female pastime was baking. But today she’d left Cyn whipping up magic at Sweet Bee’s. Cyn was happy to help out, and she was thrilled to pick up the extra hours while Paige would be in St. Lucia. The Queen had done them both a huge favor. Cyn got a break from her, and Paige got a dream vacation.
    The wedding was less than two weeks away, so shopping had become urgent. Paige could hardly be a proper maid of honor without a proper dress. But Liza’s fashion sense was more like nonsense to Paige, so she braced herself for something kind of traditional and vowed to push for something hip.
    No doubt by-the-book Lane would choose something traditional, too, but he had nothing to do with this, and she didn’t care what he’d choose. She wished she could say she’d had a hard time picturing him in all the tropical paradise scenes in her head, but he showed up in every one as if he had some Photoshop superpower. He looked casual and sexy, tan and lean, with a ripped six-pack, relaxed and ready for something spontaneous. But he wouldn’t be looking at her like that any time soon…if ever. Not after what had happened at Hawthorne Manor last night.
    Paige had written the letter to get a reaction from Mrs. Hawthorne about Lane’s refusal to work with her—but not with him there . She’d had no idea he was on the guest list. Her stomach sank as she flashed back for about the fiftieth time to the glare he’d given her when Mrs. Hawthorne read the Sweet Bee’s letter.
    He really had no reason to be angry. Sure, she’d called him an uptight jerk. But that was the truth, and really a minor detail considering she was just trying to help her customers—his patients!—and he wasn’t. When he’d explained his reasons after Mrs. Hawthorne called him out, it had sounded more like him being detached or covering his own ass, neither of which Paige understood.
    “I’m determined not to interfere with Uncle Pete’s administrative processes or inconvenience patients by requiring them to fill out additional legal forms that might come under scrutiny,” he’d said, all official. “I’d also hate to confuse patients by interrupting their continuum of care.” That had sounded like a fancy medical excuse to Paige, but Sylvia seemed to buy it without question.
    He’d argued professionally and convincingly, looking each person there in the eyes at some point—each person except Paige. She had gazed at him flatly during his entire speech, waiting for her opportunity to scald him with a glare. For his finale, he’d said, “It really shouldn’t affect too many patients, and things will revert to normal as soon as Uncle Pete gets back.”
    Paige had heard that one before. At that point, she’d lost her appetite for pie, which literally might’ve been a first. Everyone at the table had agreed with Lane, while still commiserating with Paige, as they ate dessert.
    “It’ll all work out,” Sylvia had said to Paige, who half expected the others to join hands and start singing “Kumbaya.”
    None of them had any idea what the loss of any business would mean to her and the future of Sweet Bee’s. She’d chosen not to clue them in because Sylvia and Liza would’ve immediately offered financial help, and there was simply no way Paige would accept it.
    Now, she’d had some time to make sense of the crazy that had gone on during that dinner, without the stress of sitting across from Lane, knowing he would be crashing her St. Lucian holiday. Clearly