Insanity. That was what this was. Who scheduled group dance lessons at eight thirty in the morning?

Anna stifled a yawn as she made her way down the stairs and into the now empty dining room, where she found the remnants of the eight o’clock breakfast she’d missed when she’d pushed snooze one too many times on her alarm. A morning person she was not.

Anna looked over what was left of the spread. Muffins, fruit, waffles, and two domed lids that, when she looked underneath, revealed rubbery-looking scrambled eggs and sausage. She stabbed a piece of melon and stuffed it into her mouth before grabbing a hand full of cheese cubes and looking around for signs of coffee.

Nice. A Keurig. At least she could guarantee her coffee was fresh and hot.

“Late riser, are we?”

She didn’t have to turn around to know whose voice that was, and she shrugged, not seeing why she had to offer any excuses to him.

Before Nick could comment again, she pushed the brew button, glad for the machine’s whirling that drowned out the possibility for any conversation. She stuffed two cheese cubes in her mouth while it finished brewing, hoping to avoid further discussion.

“Maybe tomorrow you could deign to join the rest of us for breakfast. I know Janie would certainly appreciate it.”

Seriously? She’d slept through her alarm, not that she should have to give him any excuses. “Why, Nick, I didn’t realize that my whereabouts were of such interest to you. Did you miss me? Is that it?” she asked, looking up to flutter her eyes at him.

Merciful Lord.

It was a kick to the gut to see him here, in the flesh again, after all these years. The years had been too kind to the guy. Figured.

She did a sweeping inventory of his many attributes.

Dark brown hair, thick and wavy. A hard, stubborn jawline that, even now, flexed as if he was gritting his teeth. Full, sensuous lips that had no business existing on such a brooding face. But it was his eyes that were the most memorable of all. Dark molten brown that glared unforgivingly at her. Although, today, there was something else in those depths other than anger and annoyance that she couldn’t figure out.

She turned away to grab her coffee, needing a reprieve from the intensity of his gaze.

“Ordinarily, I couldn’t care less about your whereabouts, Ms. Blake. My only concern is that my brother, Dax, and his fiancée have a fun, relaxing week celebrating with their friends and family in the days leading up to their wedding. And for now, that concern involves you in as much as Janie wants you present and participating to make this week perfect. Now that we’ve identified my concern, maybe we can discuss yours. What exactly are your motives in coming here? What angle are you playing?”

“What do you mean?” she asked as innocently as possible. “Janie’s my sister and you said it yourself, she wants me here as much as I want to be here.” Okay, so everything up to that last part had been true. “My, you’ve become paranoid in your old age, St. Claire. Just because I didn’t collapse in a fit of tears when Janie and I were reunited doesn’t mean I’m not happy to be part of her special day.”

“Paranoid or not, I have reason to be when it comes to anything that involves you,” he said in a dangerously raspy tone.

“You flatter me. I didn’t know I wielded such power over you.”

“I’d hardly consider—”

Whatever witty words Nick was going to say next were lost when a hulking mass of testosterone wrapped his arms tightly around Nick’s before pulling him down to the floor. The shock on Nick’s usually composed face as he went down almost made the entirety of this week worth it, and she didn’t try to hide her laughter at his momentary bewilderment.

It took Nick about three seconds to regain his faculties and flip the guy over, pinning his arm behind him.

“You’re losing your touch, dude,” the guy said from the ground before Nick released him and they came to their feet, both grinning. “Once upon a time, you’d have had me before you hit the ground.”

“I was distracted,” Nick said.

The new guy turned to look at her for the first time, his smile broadening as he did. “I’d say. And who exactly is this beautiful…distraction?”

For almost twenty years of Anna’s life, she’d never been even remotely considered beautiful and to hear the words now could still be something of a shock. Not that she had been a real eyesore or anything as a kid, but she had suffered a long stretch of awkward years, with the usual stringy, flat hair, bad teeth and acne, and the thin, scrawny figure of a prepubescent girl for longer than she’d have liked.

It took somewhere around her twenty-first birthday for the curves to come in, both top and bottom, and for her to find the calming influence of running to help keep her sane, healthy, and far more confident.

The confidence came easier now, and she was used to the compliments and attention, even used it to her benefit when necessary. Especially when trying to convince a source to share more than he should. However, under the watchful glare of the guy who’d known her back before the transformation, hearing a compliment felt different. Almost embarrassing.

Anna looked over the beefy guy who’d managed to take Nick down a peg or two with interest. The guy was hot in that overblown muscle-man kind of way with light brown hair, hazel eyes, and an easy grin. He was the exact type of guy she usually went for. Not necessarily the brightest, but always fun and—more importantly—uncomplicated.

She smiled, ready to find her own traction again. “Anna Blake. And you are?”

“Chris Walker. Groomsman extraordinaire. A little late to the party but something I’m glad to have rectified.”

Chris Walker. The name was familiar. “As in linebacker for the New England Patriots Chris Walker?”

“So you’ve heard of me,” he said, grinning wickedly. Oh, he was a charmer.

“Who hasn’t?” Nick said, sounding impatient. “Now that the introductions are over, we should probably join everyone else.”

“Don’t worry about St. Claire, Anna. As uptight as he is, he sometimes forgets how to behave in front of a beautiful woman.”

“I definitely won’t worry about St. Claire,” she said, amping up her smile to a megawatt volume. “I’m well aware of how uptight he can be.”

She could feel Nick’s ire from two feet away.

Chris chuckled. “Well, before we get too sidetracked, the future bride actually sent me here to retrieve you both. Would you be so kind as to let me escort you?” he asked, offering her his arm.

Without another glance at Nick, he led the way down the hall and toward the sunroom, where the clamor of voices and laughter was hard to miss. The bright room that had been filled with chairs and rugs last night was now cleared of everything except for the groomsmen and bridesmaids, who were chattering happily amongst themselves.

“Anna! There you are,” Janie cried and waved her over.

With a grateful smile and wave to Chris, she headed over to her sister, determined not to flinch when the smaller woman hugged her exuberantly again, especially when she was certain that Nick St. Claire was watching her more carefully than he should. “I want you to meet Lynette. She’s my wedding planner and dance teacher extraordinaire, who I’d be totally lost without. Lynette, this is my sister, Anna.”

Anna turned to the woman, a petite redhead with a quick smile and a tight handshake that left Anna’s arm socket a little sore. “Nice to meet you, Anna.” Not waiting a beat, she clapped her hands together to get the room’s attention. “Good morning, everyone! It’s nice to see such enthusiasm for today’s lesson. Now, we have a lot to learn this morning if you’re going to get the steps down by Saturday, so lets get started.”

“What exactly are we learning?” one of the groomsmen called out. Josh, was it?

“Are we doing some kind of flash mob dance?” Megan asked.

“Not exactly. At the reception, Janie and Dax will open the dancing with the couple’s first dance, a fun swing number that we’ve been working on for weeks. You all will be joining them about three minutes in. Don’t worry, I’ll show you exactly what we have in mind. You’re all going to look great.”

Anna’s belly sank. Swing dancing? That sounded far more complicated than she, the woman with two left feet, was capable of.

“What I need is for the women to line up first, and I’ll show you the basic steps. Then we’ll have the guys line up for the same. Once we have the steps down, you’ll join your partner so we can move on to a few more advanced moves. It’s going to be a piece of cake, I promise.” She clapped her hands again and moved to the center of the floor. “Ladies, line up here, please. Janie, you join them, too.”

Good grief. Let the humiliation begin.

Anna watched as Lynette moved deftly back and forth and then sashayed to the left, vocalizing her steps as she did so. She did it two more times, and Anna was aware of the other women already starting to move with her, their bodies rocking with the beat.

Seriously? Was she the only woman lacking the dancing chromosome?

“Remember, ladies,” Lynette called out, “we will always start with the right foot. Okay, now let’s all try it together. Keeping your weight on your left foot, take a step back with your right foot. Now, step that right foot forward. It’s a rock step. Let’s do it a few more times. Back and forward.”

Okay. This seemed easy enough. Back and forth. Back and forth.

“Excellent! Now we’re going to move on. When you step forward, don’t plant your foot, because we’re going to take three steps to your right. So, rock back, step forward, and then side, together, side. And back, and then rock step again.”

Wait. What?

She tried to imitate the woman but fell to the right not so gracefully. Again. The next time she put an extra step in. Crap.

“Anna. Anna. Look at me,” Lynette said in a patient tone. “Rock, step, side, close, side. Rock, step, side, close, side.”

She was well aware of how clumsy she was and how every other woman there already had the basic move down. From the corner of her eye, she caught Nick watching her with a dangerous shine in his eyes. Had he smiled, she might have gone over and kicked him.

Anna lost her focus and stepped with the wrong foot, landing on Sara’s foot next to her. “Oh! Sorry!”

“I think we’re getting it, ladies,” Lynette said, not meeting Anna’s gaze. “Let’s move to the side and keep practicing, but for now, guys? Let’s line you up.”

Now this should be good. Men were renowned for not easily keeping the beat. She had to be better than them, right? Particularly Nick St. Claire.

Lynette explained the steps, which were essentially the mirror image of the ladies’, starting with stepping the left foot back. Anna smiled while anticipating the train wreck about to happen, her focus most particularly on Nick, who…

Nailed it.

Of course he did. To rub the salt in deeper, he turned and gave her a gloating smile as if he knew she’d been waiting for him to fail.

“I think we’ve got the idea. Okay. It’s time to partner up,” Lynette instructed.

Partner up? Anna glanced over the group, wondering who she’d torment with her painfully awkward dance movements. Jake and Josh she’d met last night, but she was pretty certain that Megan already had her eye on Jake, and Josh—

A thick pair of hands grabbed her by the waist and she squealed.

“No worries, Anna,” Chris said and winked at her. “You’re with me.”

Anna turned to see how the rest of the group partnered up, noticing immediately how Janie’s maid-of-honor runner up, Sara, headed directly toward Nick.

Having done more digging last night into the bridal party’s history, Anna wasn’t surprised. If the gossip was to be believed, he and Sara had been quite the item last year, even on the verge of their own engagement when it all fell apart for unknown reasons and they went their separate ways. Nick’s jaw was set in that familiar grimace as Sara planted herself in front of him.

“All right. Now let’s give it a whirl. And…” Lynette counted off the steps again, this time watching and walking around the room to coach everyone along.

Oof. Chris’s foot landed on hers.

“Sorry.” He grinned, looking abashed. Seconds later, it was her turn to apologize when she landed on his foot. Meeting each other’s eyes, they burst into laughter. They tried the steps again, this time each moving with the wrong foot before laughter overcame them.

“Wonderful, you two, you’re dancing beautifully,” Lynette said. But she was talking about Nick and Sara, who were moving together in total sync. Show-offs.

Her attention broken, she stepped on Chris’s foot, who didn’t seem to mind as he continued counting his own steps under his breath. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all. At least she had a partner in crime in her ineptitude.

“Hold up, everyone.” Lynette was looking at Anna and Chris with a speculative gleam. “I think we need to do a little shake-up. Anna? Sara? Could you two ladies switch partners for me?”

No. No no no no no.

From the look on Sara’s face, she didn’t appear any happier about the order.

“Come on. Quickly, ladies. I want to try an experiment.”

Not seeing much choice, Anna walked across the room to stand next to Nick, whose face turned into a mask as she drew near.

“We know that Nick and Sara have the moves down beautifully, so let’s see if we can take Anna’s and Chris’s dancing up a little higher. Now, let’s try it again.”

She had to touch Nick. No, not just touch him, but rest her right hand over his while her left arm rested on his other arm.

“Let’s just get this over with,” he muttered and held his hand out.

Anna took his hand, highly aware of his other hand resting on her left shoulder blade, something that hadn’t bothered her with Chris but, with this man, felt entirely too intimate. She tried to relax, sure he could feel her tension as they moved to the steps as Lynette called them out. If Nick noticed her distress, he didn’t give any indication.

If he could be so unaffected by this intimacy, so could she. She smiled.

Immediately Nick lost his footing.

“Is there a problem?” she asked.

His hand tightened over hers. “Just that whenever you smile, I immediately grow nervous.”

Noted. She’d definitely have to smile more often around him.

Lynette recounted the steps, and when Anna stepped back, she was surprised to see Nick move back in perfect time with her. When she moved forward, he was there, just as when he guided her to her right with the side steps.

“Much better! Wonderful” Lynette cried. “Pay attention, everyone. The person you’re dancing with right now is going to be your partner for the big dance. I know things are going to be busy over the next few days until the reception on Saturday, but I expect all of you to find the time to work together and finesse your moves. Okay. Let’s try it again, everyone, only this time I’m going to add music. Then we can experiment with some turns.”

Permanent? She was stuck with him?

Smile, Anna. Don’t let him know you’ve just entered the seventh circle of hell.

* * *

Nick was annoyed. Annoyed as much at Anna as he was himself. Letting her get to him like she was. After everything she’d done to him, almost destroying not just his chance at the student body president but his reputation and entire high school career, Nick should be barely tolerating holding this woman so closely to him.

Not be wondering things like why she smelled as sweet and fresh as she did or whether she would flash those pretty eyes at him in anger if he pointed out how she’d missed the beat three of the last five counts.

He needed to hear her say something ridiculous so he could go back to his safe feelings of justified anger.

“Tell me about yourself, Anna. How did a girl who once aimed for working for The New York Times find herself writing frivolous gossip bites for The Daily Rundown?”

That did the trick, as Anna’s eyes narrowed and she glared at him. Only, in the process, her anger also flushed her cheeks, making those same eyes shimmer. “I wasn’t aware that you followed my work so closely.”

He hadn’t, at least not until he returned to his room last night and looked her up. He had to admit, despite the shallowness of the topics, her stories were all well written and had that easy-to-read flow that would suck people in. She always had been a good storyteller.

“I had some time on my hands,” he said vaguely. “Don’t tell me, you were fired from a job working for a larger paper because you forgot to verify your sources? Maybe got the paper sued for libel?”

“Funny,” she said.

Nick reached for her other hand and they practiced another turn. He noticed that, now distracted from her nervousness, she was actually improving.

“Not that it’s your business,” Anna continued, “but you’d be surprised at the number of new journalists who graduate with a degree every year, all vying for a few ever-dwindling job opportunities. But I haven’t given up. Who knows, I might be the staff writer on the LA Times who gets the chance to write about your fall from grace in another ten years.”

He bit back a smile. “Not a chance. So tell me more about how this entertainment news beat of yours works? Because for someone who pretends not to know a lot about me or what I’ve been up to over the years, the St. Claire name has certainly popped up on more than a few occasions in your circulation.”

“We have more than one person on staff,” she said sharply. “Fortunately, the news as it’s related to the more…local celebrities and personalities, usually gets covered by some of the less-experienced staff.”

“Ah. So you’re so good at dredging up the muck that you get to dredge the muck on the big hitters. How…impressive.”

“I guess if I had a parent who had the right connections, a name that resounded with readers, you know, something like how you started your own career off right out of the gate, my prospects would have been better. But everything I have, everything that I’ve written and where I am is because of my efforts, my work alone. And that’s enough for me.”

Nick couldn’t argue there. He sometimes wondered whether he would have taken the win as city supervisor a couple of years ago had he not had the family name. But he wasn’t going to deny his roots, deny his family’s political renown to satisfy his ego. He just counted himself lucky. But Anna wasn’t as nameless as she pretended. Not anymore.

“Well, now you’re something of a celebrity within your own right, wouldn’t you say? After the story that ran in the Chronicle, people know who you are. They know your father. Are you saying that if the Times came knocking at your door tomorrow because they’d seen your story and wanted to hire you—writing under the Van Hollins name, of course—you wouldn’t jump at the chance, even though you knew that you only got it because of your father’s name?”

Instead of an easy denial, a claim that she would never sink so low as to rely solely on her family’s laurels to move ahead, Anna’s brow crunched up as she considered this.

“Interesting dilemma, isn’t it?” he asked, unable to help himself as he savored this small victory of having quite possibly got the better of the woman.

“Not a dilemma at all. I would never, not even for a minute, take possession of that name. The man didn’t deign to give it to me when he was alive, and I would never take it now on his death, no matter what it might afford me. I will never be a Van Hollins,” she said vehemently.

The force with which she said the words left him little doubt she meant what she’d said. The history of her father’s not recognizing her, acknowledging she was his, was not water under the bridge. Enough that she would cut off her nose to spite her face if the opportunity arose.

He supposed he couldn’t blame her. Nick had no qualms about his family name because he was proud of it, proud of his connection to such men and women who had done so many positive things for others.

Anna had no reason to feel similar pride or connection to the Van Hollins name or family. She’d as much as said so.

“Then that begs the question,” he said softly, “if you eschew the Van Hollins name so much, and all that it represents, then…why are you here? Why would you want to help the other daughter of the man who so obviously slighted you for all these years?”

The guilt that crossed her face in that moment was all the confirmation that Nick needed. He’d been right. There was another reason she was here, and he was going to find out.

But by the set of Anna’s jaw as she glared at him, he knew that he wouldn’t be finding out anything more from her right now. He had time, however.

Nick smiled. The prospect of ferreting that truth out of this spirited and stubborn reporter was something he might even look forward to.