Skinny Dipping (The Au Pairs 2)

"Don't be boring! Just remember, mention my clients when you talk to the press. Deal? Have a great summer! And I hope you come to my party at Seventh Circle next week! Toodles!"

Mitzi pulled out of the driveway and the Toyota Prius pulled in.

"Who was that?" Jacqui asked, getting out of the car with Philippe and the boys.

Mara looked around at what Mitzi had left her--two rolling racks full of designer clothes, several bags of shoes and accessories, a velvet case of pearls, and a shiny black BMW convertible.

"Um, I'm not really sure," Mara said, amazed at her good fortune. "My fairy godmother?"

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guess who's

coming to dinner?

TWO WEEKS AFTER ELIZA AND JEREMY WERE REUNITED at Seventh Circle, Eliza opened the door to find him standing on her doorstep with a bouquet of flowers. They had seen each other only once since then--Jeremy's brutal work schedule kept him in the city more often than not, and they'd already had to reschedule dinner twice. Her parents were totally harassing her to let them meet her "young man." They were old-fashioned that way, and Eliza hoped that the dinner would go well, or at least go quickly, so she and Jeremy could get out of there and finally be alone.

"For your mom," Jeremy said, handing her the white Astor lilies. Their clean fragrance filled the room.

"That's so sweet. Come on in," Eliza said. She'd worn her hair back in a demure chignon and had tied a black satin ribbon with an antique locket around her neck. She knew Jeremy liked it when she looked pretty and girlish, and so she'd chosen her clothes carefully--a white Chloe eyelet

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cotton dress and pink Delman ballet flats. She was pleased that he looked so professional in his tan linen suit and sky blue dress shirt. He'd loosened his conservatively striped tie just a bit, and he looked the perfect picture of a young, successful banker.

"Dad, this is Jeremy. Jeremy, this is my dad, Ryder Thompson," Eliza said, leading Jeremy into the living room. Her father, a tall, large man with a gleaming crown of silver hair, stood up to shake Jeremy's hand.

Ryder had worked on Wall Street, too, before he'd been caught dipping a little too often into the bank's coffers. Eliza still couldn't believe it had been such a big deal: It was his company, wasn't it? Didn't that count for something? Sure, she remembered how they used the company jet for weekend trips to Paris, but so what? The papers had said that even Eliza's two-hundred-thousand-dollar Sweet Sixteen party at the Rainbow Room was paid for by the company's dime, but plenty of her dad's associates were there, so it was sort of like a business function. In any case, that hadn't stopped the subsequent

investigation, lawsuit, and humiliation. The Thompson family had weathered it as best they could, keeping their chins up and finally hightailing it to Buffalo when Manhattan became unbearable and unaffordable.

Her parents had made it clear that it was very important that Eliza date a suitable boy, someone appropriate to her background and breeding, despite everything that had happened in

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the last couple of years. Eliza hoped Jeremy would pass her parents' litmus test. They could be a little strict when they chose to be, and for the first time Eliza missed the freedom she'd experienced last summer, when she'd lived on her own and hadn't had to answer to anyone except the Perrys, who were away or indifferent most of the time.

"Gin?" Ryder asked Jeremy, holding up a silver cocktail shaker.

"Whatever Eliza is drinking is fine, thanks, Mr. Thompson," Jeremy replied.

Eliza's dad frowned as he poured Jeremy a glass of white wine but made no comment. The four of them sank into the linen couch.

"I must apologize--this is not to our standard," Eliza's mother, Billie, said, her hands nervously fluttering about her throat as she looked at the collection of porcelain dolls in a china cabinet with distaste. "But Eliza did so want to be back in the Hamptons this year, and we thought..."

"It's very nice," Jeremy assured her. "I like these old houses. They have a feeling of security to them, don't you think?"

Eliza's mother smiled warmly at him. "I like older architecture as well."

"Jeremy grew up in the Hamptons," Eliza offered, unwittingly trying to make it sound like Jeremy was more like them. Not that she really cared what her parents thought--she didn't think like

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they did anymore, not really, anyway. If she did, she would have been after Garrett Reynolds, not Jeremy Stone. But it would just be so much easier if they liked him.

"Oh, where?" Billie asked, brightening.

"Southampton," Jeremy said.