“I’m a Madison. I was bound to pick the wrong woman.”
“That’s a cop-out excuse if I ever heard one and you know it. You will not use it again, do you hear me?”
He halfway lowered his lashes. “Yes, ma’am.”
She subsided slightly. “It’s not like you’re the only person on the face of the earth who made a mistake when it came to selecting the right mate, you know. I didn’t do any better.”
“Yes, you did. You just got engaged. You never got married.”
She made a face and forked up another bite of toast. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. The only reason I didn’t make the mistake of actually marrying Doug was because he very kindly dumped me before we got to the altar.”
“What was he like?”
“He’s a lawyer, a partner at a very prestigious firm in Portland. We met when I did his sister’s wedding. We had lots of things in common.”
“He fit all the criteria on the Mr. Right list you gave me that night on the beach?”
She winced. “You remember that list?”
“Never forgot it. Made a profound impact on me.”
“Why?”
He picked up his coffee mug and swallowed meditatively. “Probably because I knew I’d never come anywhere near to meeting even half the requirements and specifications on it.”
His words blindsided her. “It really bothered you that you couldn’t make my Mr. Right list?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Good grief, that’s crazy. You were never interested in me. To you I was just some naïve, prissy little overachiever. Miss Goody Two-Shoes, remember?”
“It wasn’t the fact that I personally couldn’t make your Mr. Right list that bugged me. It was the fact that there was such a thing as a Mr. Right list and you knew all about it.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“See, I didn’t even know the damn list existed,” Rafe explained patiently. “That put me at a serious disadvantage. And when I found out that women like you had one and the kind of stuff that was on it, I knew I was in deep trouble.”
She shook her head once, dazed. “I don’t get it. What do you mean?”
He exhaled slowly. “I’ll tell you something, Miss Goody Two-Shoes. That night on the beach you were all those things you just said—naïve and prissy and all that. But I figured you were also an authority on one important thing. You knew what it took to make a good marriage.”
“Me? But I’d never been married.”
“True, but you’d been raised in a family that looked pretty damn perfect to me. Happily married parents and grandparents. No divorces. No scandals. I assumed that you knew what it took to make it all happen.”
Understanding dawned. Rafe had no firsthand knowledge of how a good marriage functioned because, unlike her, he’d never witnessed one close up. Divorce ran as strongly as green eyes in the Madison clan.
“I see. Well, if it makes you feel any better, I have concluded that my original Mr. Right list was flawed,” she said.
“Yeah? Why?”
She propped her elbows on the table and rested her chin on the heels of her hands. “I’m going to tell you something that I’ve never told anyone else. I swear, if this gets out I will throttle you, Rafe Madison.”
“Sounds interesting.”
“The truth is, Doug had his own list, and I failed to meet all of his specifications and requirements.”
Rafe blinked. Then his mouth curved slowly into a grin. “The guy had a Ms. Right list?”
“Yep. He was decent enough to point out the areas in which I was deficient. He made suggestions for improvement. I got ticked.”
Rafe’s grin metamorphosed into a chuckle. The chuckle erupted into a full-throated roar of laughter.
She watched him, wondering if he was going to fall out of his chair. Winston, ears cocked, looked intrigued. Rafe’s howls filled the kitchen.
It took a while for him to pull himself together. Hannah filled the time by pouring herself another cup of coffee and feeding Winston a scrap of leftover French toast from her plate.
Rafe’s shoulders eventually stopped shaking. He sprawled in the chair, one hand on his flat belly, and subsided slowly into a grin.
“Sorry.” He didn’t sound sorry at all.
“I’m glad you find it so amusing.”
“I have to know,” Rafe said. “Where did you fall short?”
“Why should I tell you?”
“Because I just cooked breakfast for you.”
“Hmm.” He had a point. “I fit most of the criteria, you understand. I came from a successful family. I was well educated. I had demonstrated initiative and determination by founding my own business. I was well connected in the community. I shared a lot of Doug’s interests.”
“But?”
She made a face. “But it turned out that Doug was making long-range plans to enter the political arena. He’s a good man. I think he really has something to contribute. But he needed a wife who could handle the sort of social and personal demands that go with that kind of job.”
“Hence the list.”
“Yes. The more I realized that he was serious about a political career, the more we both came to the conclusion that I couldn’t handle being a politician’s wife.”
Rafe reached for the coffeepot. “Welcome to the select club reserved for those who fail to make the Mr. and Mrs. Right lists.”
“Gee, thanks. Is there a merit badge?”
“No. So, tell me, what did you do with your own list?”
She hesitated. “I amended it.”
He glanced at her with a strange expression. “You mean you’ve still got one?”
“Yes. But it’s a lot shorter now.”
“Huh. What’s on it?”
“I really don’t think—” She broke off at the sound of a car turning into the drive.
Winston was at the door in a flash. He gave the appropriate warning woof. Alert but not yet alarmed. On the job.
The low rumble shattered the fragile intimacy that had enveloped the kitchen. Rafe turned his head to check the drive. Hannah followed his gaze. The fog had burned off enough to allow her to see the vehicle that was approaching the house. A green Volvo.
“Anyone you know?” Rafe asked.
“I don’t recognize the car.”
“Want me to hide in a closet?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She pushed back her chair and got to her feet. “I’m sure it’s just a friend of my folks’ who found out that I’m in town and stopped to say hello.”