One month later

Gracie Sweet looked around at what she and Beth Masters had called their lair, their working environment. Or the professional, politically correct phrase—their office. It looked like an office, and yet it didn't look like an office at all. Together, she and Beth, along with a young architect, had worked overtime to make the long room that ran the entire length of the house work friendly. Both of them always looked forward to starting work at eight each morning.

One entire wall was a row of French doors that led out onto a tiered deck that was full of pots of flowers and hanging ferns. It also offered a view of the backyard, awash with flowers and healthy shrubs. The opposite wall held an exotic fish tank with one-of-a-kind tropical fish that both of them doted on. They'd named them Larry, Moe, and Curly after the Three Stooges. In truth, they had no idea whether the fish were male or female.

The two end walls were covered with paintings by local artists, and each painting had its own story. In the middle of the room, two long, custom-made desks sat back-to-back so that the two women could converse with each other while they worked. Each desk contained five computers. At the end of each desk were four printers, which had each been replaced three times because of the heavy usage.

Because they both liked music, surround sound had been one of the first things both women had insisted on when they began making the conversion from household living space to work space.

The long, spacious room had two alcoves that allowed for a tiny kitchen with a table, two chairs, a microwave, a toaster oven, and a refrigerator. The opposite alcove was a small lavatory.

Gracie sat down at her workstation and turned on all the computers. She looked around as they booted up. She felt sad, just as sad as she'd been every day since Beth had left a month ago. She dreaded what was to come and didn't know if she could really pull it off or not, but she'd promised Beth she'd do her best. If her best turned out not to be good enough, she would simply fall back and regroup. Beth was just a phone call away.

Gracie reached down into one of the deep drawers and pulled out a bright yellow folder that said Jake Masters on the cover. Beth's dossier on her brother. She'd read it before. In fact, she had pretty much memorized the contents. The pictures of the virile Jake burned into her brain. Before pictures. There were no after pictures, of Jake in his wheelchair. There were even some pictures of Moose Dennison, Jake's old trainer, who was also his mentor, his best friend, and his houseman. Beth had said earlier to make a friend of Moose, and she would be in like Flynn. Whatever the hell that meant.

Gracie smiled when she saw the home page on the computer. Perfect Match. And then a picture of a man's hand clasping a woman's hand. She hit the key that would take her to the in-box to check the overnight mail. As always, there were hundreds of e-mails that required a response. She'd get to them before bedtime even if it took her till the middle of the night. It was Beth's Rule Number One. All e-mails were answered the day they came in. That alone, Gracie knew, was the main reason Perfect Match was so successful.

Gracie moved then from the e-mails to the satellite offices and checked in one by one. As was her daily custom, she hit New York first since they were in the same time zone, then Chicago, Texas, and lastly, California. She quickly scanned the overnight reports and was satisfied that there were no blips that required her attention.

Gracie bit down on her lower lip and dreaded hitting the key that would take her to the site that Jake Masters was supposed to be working on. No activity. She hadn't expected anything less. Well, today was the day she was going to shake up Mr. Jake Masters's world. If she hadn't been working behind the scenes here at Beth's house and taking care of business unbeknownst to Jake Masters, the thriving matchmaking service they'd slaved over would be halfway down the drain.

She played back the conversation she'd had with Beth last night and winced at her partner's tirade against her brother. If it were up to Gracie, she would have told Jake Masters where to get off from the git-go. If there was one thing Gracie Sweet couldn't stand, it was a person who wasn't motivated by at least something. Otherwise, why bother getting up in the morning?

Gracie stood up and walked over to the printer, where a copy of an ad she'd run on the Internet for all of ninety seconds was sitting. Just long enough for her to print it out so she had a bona fide reason to show up at Jake Masters's door. She stuck it in her briefcase, along with a doctored up resume that said she'd worked as an assistant to the owner of another matchmaking company and had oodles of experience. The reason for leaving was because the company was being sold, and the new manager was going to do her job himself with the help of his girlfriend, and thus eliminate her robust $210,000 annual salary plus health benefits, sick pay, and vacation pay that added another $25,000 to her total compensation package.

If Jake Masters decided to verify her résumé—which Beth said he would not do—but if he did, it would all check out, thanks to having friends in high places.

Gracie didn't bother turning anything off because she knew she would be back in a few hours. Today's mission was, as Beth put it, to get Jake riled up enough that he would join the land of the living. Gracie wasn't so sure, but she was game if it would help Beth.

Gracie took a last look at herself in the mirror hanging on the bathroom door. She looked good, just the way the magazines said a woman who was applying for a job should look. Her hair was neat, her makeup perfect, she smelled good, and her Armani suit fit like it was made for her tall, lanky form. The clear-lens glasses she would put on to complete her professional look were in her pocket.

Time to go. She looked over at the massive dog that was her constant companion. "You have to stay behind, Giz. I won't be long." The big dog looked up at her and barked. Then he lowered himself and wiggled under her desk. "You know what to do if anyone breaks in. You go for the jools, and you hold on till I get home." Gizmo barked again, and Gracie giggled.

Muttering to herself, Gracie marched out of the house to the driveway, where her bright red Jeep Cherokee waited. She and Beth had bought the Jeeps at the same time so they would get a good deal. Beth was frugal, but then so was Gracie. They both loved bargains. They were so much alike it was almost scary.

As she drove to Jake Masters's house, she recalled the conversation she'd had last night with Beth. Beth had told her she'd called Moose and left a message saying that Gracie would be arriving at ten o'clock and to have the gate open, at which point she'd turned off her phone so that neither Moose nor her brother could say no to the meeting.

Gracie knew she was going in cold. Would she get tossed out on her ear? She had no clue. If so, it wouldn't be for lack of trying. The part she hated about all of this was that her life was changing, and if there was one thing in life Gracie Sweet hated, it was change of any kind. Beth was just the opposite, and that was why they got on so well and made the business work. Jake Masters was a whole other story. And yet Beth had such faith in her, Gracie simply could not...