She saw him smile at Caroline's exuberant welcome . . . but it was the same kind of smile as he'd shared with his sisters. "Congratulations on your baby," he said, his voice gentle.
Caroline beamed. "Can you tell? I'm not showing yet. I can't wait to get big and Madonna-like! Oh, and I want the glow everyone talks about—I so want the glow!"
Zach's lips quirked. "I don't think you need to worry. You already glow."
Caroline laughed. "You're a charmer, aren't you?" She looked to Annie. "I like him, Annie. He'll give you beautiful babies."
"Caro!" Annie didn't know whether to blush or thank her cousin for breaking the ice so completely. Several people laughed, and Zach sent her a teasing smile, his eyes heating in a way they hadn't for Caro.
"How did you know?" her mother asked pointedly. "Caroline is right—she's barely showing. Even most women don't notice."
"Her scent, Mrs. Kildaire," Zach replied with open candor. "Changelings always know when a woman has a life within her."
"A breach of privacy, wouldn't you say?" Kimberly raised an eyebrow.
Zach shrugged. "It's simply another sense. Ours just happens to be keener in that area—no different from an M-Psy being able to see inside the body, or you yourself being able to tell her condition because you know the subtle physical signs."
Annie bit the inside of her cheek to keep from interfering. Caro took the chance to whisper, "Oh, he's good. Wherever did you find Mr. Scrumptious?"
Annie threw her a quelling look. "Where's Araan?"
"My darling husband is driving back from a meeting in Tahoe. He'll probably make it in time for dessert." She smiled. "I know what you're having for dessert."
Annie felt Zach's hand move on her waist. It was obvious he'd heard Caro's outrageous prediction, and that he liked the idea. However, when she looked up, it was to find his attention not on her, but on someone else—a stranger her mother had just waved over.
"This is Professor Jeremy Markson," she was saying. "This is Annie's . . . friend, Zach Quinn."
Given that her own temper was close to igniting, Annie figured Zach would blow this time—he'd been blunt in saying he didn't share. But, to her surprise, he remained completely relaxed.
"Markson." Zach inclined his head in masculine acknowledgment. "What's your field, professor?"
"Molecular physics," Markson said. "It's a fascinating subject. Do you know anything about it?"
Arrogant twerp, Annie thought. "No, I don't, Professor," she said before Zach could respond. "Perhaps you'd care to enlighten me."
The professor blinked, as if he hadn't expected her to speak. "Well, I—"
"Tell them about your latest project," her mother encouraged, shooting daggers at Annie.
Markson nodded, and off he went. Annie's eyes began to glaze over after the first few minutes. "That's so interesting," she said, when he paused for breath. "Do you work with my father?"
"Yes." He beamed.
"Where is Dad?" Annie asked, deliberately changing the focus of the conversation.
Her mother waved a hand. "You know your father. He's probably lost in research." The words were light, but Annie heard the hurt Kimberly had never quite stopped feeling. "He promised he'd try to be here by the time dinner was served."
Which meant, Annie knew, that they'd be lucky if they saw him tonight. "What's on the menu?" she asked with a smile, hating that bruised pain in her mother's eyes.
Kimberly brightened. "I made your favorite vegetable dish fo an entree." Her words were sincere, her love open. "Don't start, Caro," she said, when Caroline opened her mouth. "I made your favorite pie, too."
"That's why you're my bestest aunt."
Thankfully, the conversation stayed light and easy from then on. They were about to move into the dining room when wonder of wonders, her father walked in. Erik Kildaire was dressed in the rumpled clothing of a man for whom looks mattered little, but he seemed to be with them today, rather than in his head.
Her mother's face lit up from within, and Annie smiled. "It's good to see you, Dad," she said, accepting her father's enthusiastic kiss on the cheek. Love swelled in her heart, but it was a love that had learned to be cautious. She'd never had the tangled relationship with her father that she had with her mother, but that was probably because he'd never been around to argue with her. A different kind of hurt altogether.
"And who's this?" he asked, looking Zach up and down while sliding one arm around her mother's waist.