Jonathan insisted on running a bath for Jennifer after breakfast. Max cleaned up the kitchen and went out to the drugstore to pick up what she needed, and Jonathan went into her bathroom and put the plug in the bath and started the water.

He was leaning over to check the temperature when she came up behind him to put gentle hands on his back. "Thank you," she murmured, pressing a kiss to his shoulder.

When he was satisfied the water was hot but not scalding, he stood and turned to Jennifer, taking her in his arms. "You are very welcome, darling. Now, this bath is for you, but maybe another time we can take a bath together."

She smiled. "Oh I'd love that."

He leaned in to kiss her softly. "Good. Me too."

Jennifer told him not to leave when she took off her robe and underwear to get into the bath. He held her hand to keep her steady as she lowered herself down, sighing happily as the water covered her body. "Jonathan, this is heavenly," she said.

Jonathan sat down on the floor beside the tub to keep her company. "You enjoy, darling."

But before they could get too comfortable and Jonathan could spend too much time admiring how beautiful she looked in the water, the telephone rang.

"I'll get it," he said, hauling his body up off the ground. He closed the bathroom door behind him to give Jennifer her privacy and to keep the warmth from escaping.

Jonathan went to the phone in the bedroom, as that was the closest place, and answered it.

"Hello, Jennifer Edwards residence," he announced to the caller.

There was a slight pause. "Is this Jonathan Hart?" It was a man's voice. Older, if Jonathan had to guess.

"Yes, it is," Jonathan replied.

"Well hello, Mr. Hart. This is Stephen Edwards. Jennifer's father."

"Oh hello, Mr. Edwards. Have you made it to New York? Are we still on for dinner tonight?"

"I just got to my hotel. And we are very much on for dinner tonight. How about the Russian Tea Room at seven? I want to be sure we've got plenty of time to get to know each other," he said ominously.

But Jonathan was not deterred. He knew he'd make a good impression on Mr. Edwards. After all, his intentions were only good. He wanted to marry the woman he loved and treat her well and ensure her happiness and care for the rest of her life. Even with the strangeness of the last few days, surely no father would oppose a rich man who loved his daughter.

The two men confirmed the plans and hung up with the promise of seeing each other later. Jonathan heard the front door open, so he went out to greet Max. And of course, Max had gotten what Jennifer needed. Jonathan thanked him and took the brown paper bag with its contents back to the bathroom.

He knocked on the door. "Jennifer, can I come in?" he called.

"Yes, of course," she called back.

Jonathan went back in and found her still in the bath. He held up the bag. "Delivery from Max. I'll just leave this on the counter for you."

She smiled. Oh he loved her smile. "Thank you, darling. I'll have to thank Max, too. Who was on the phone?"

"Your father called to confirm dinner tonight. Seven at the Russian Tea Room."

Jennifer's face fell. "Oh, that's right."

"You're not looking forward to seeing him? Or do you think he won't approve of me?"

"I always look forward to seeing him. He's very important to me, and we're very close, despite not getting to be together very often. And I don't see how he or anyone could disapprove of you," she said.

Jonathan was curious about something she said. "When was the last time you saw your father?"

She furrowed her brow, thinking. "I think it may be about two years now. No, three. That's right, we got together for dinner here in New York when he was stopping for a few days on his way down to Buenos Aires from Barcelona."

That answer surprised him. She'd told him that her father traveled for his work as an art dealer, but he didn't realize the extent. "You haven't seen your father in three years?" he asked in disbelief.

"Well, neither of us stays in the same place too long. We haven't overlapped locations in a while. But we do talk every month or so," she defended.

Jonathan couldn't see how Jennifer could consider herself close to her father when they hardly spoke—once a month wasn't often to his mind—and hadn't seen each other in over three years! Of course, Jennifer had said that her father was her only family. Her Aunt Renee seemed to be in the picture, but Jonathan didn't know how close they were. He knew her mother had died, and Jennifer was an only child. Maybe Jennifer did consider the relationship with her father to be a close one. But how could a father claim to know and understand his daughter when he was never in the same country with her?

Jennifer sighed, settling herself back in the bath again. "It'll be nice to see him, at any rate. I just want to enjoy the visit and not have him interrogate you."

"Is that what he does to all the men you bring home?" Jonathan teased. Of course, that was just a saying and certainly not a reality, since clearly the Edwards family didn't seem to have any kind of home to bring a man home to.

"I haven't brought a man to meet my father since I was about seventeen," she replied. "My romantic life is my own, and other than knowing I'm not married at my age, my father doesn't know much about it. I think he'll be happy that I am getting married, once he knows you. He better be," she added darkly.

Jonathan was a little taken aback. "Why do you say that?"

She sat up and looked at him pointedly. "Because I adore you, and he's my father, and I won't let him even try to dim our happiness. I'm a grown woman and I know what I'm doing, and if you're the man I want to marry, he'll damn well be pleased about it!" she said, getting a little heated.

"Everything is going to be fine, darling," he told her in hopes of calming her down. "I haven't been introduced to too many fathers, but I think I'm pretty good at it. And I hardly think it'll be difficult to prove my intentions towards you."

"Oh really? Why's that?"

"Because I'm madly in love with you, and the only thing I want in this whole wide world is to make you happy for the rest of our lives," Jonathan said simply. And that was the truth. It wasn't so hard to be honest.

Jennifer let a small smile creep onto her features at his words, but her face returned to its worried state and she sighed, "Well, I sure hope Pa sees it that way."

"I love this car, Jonathan," Jennifer said as they sat in the front seat for Jonathan to drive them to the Russian Tea Room. It was only a dozen or so blocks from Jennifer's Upper East Side apartment, so rather than both Max with dropping them off and picking them up, Jonathan decided to take Jennifer in the Mercedes.

She was anxious about Jonathan meeting her father and trying to make conversation to distract herself. She was glad when Jonathan humored her with it. "Yeah? What do you like about it?" he asked.

"Well it's very comfortable and it's beautiful, and I bet it drives well," she said.

"It's my New York car, so we'll be in it whenever we're here. If you want to test it out while we're here, go right ahead." He stopped himself and then asked, "You do have a driver's license, don't you?"

Jennifer rolled her eyes. "Yes, I have a driver's license. I learned on an old T-Bird, actually. I'm a good driver. But I usually live in cities so I don't bother with it much. I haven't owned a car in a long time."

"Would you like one?" he asked, grinning.

She was wary of that tone of his voice. That was the same tone he'd used at De Beers when he offered to buy her two engagement rings. "Would I like a car?" she asked suspiciously.

"Yeah. You'll need one in LA. We can find one you like and get it for you," he said.

Jennifer had to admit he had a point. She would need a car in LA. The whole city was a great big freeway. Dionne Warwick sang about it. "I'll take a spin in this car tomorrow, maybe, and if I like it, we can get me one. But I don't like the silver."

"You don't?"

"Well, it's pretty enough, but I'd like something a little more colorful for myself, I think," she mused aloud. "Does this come in a convertible?"

"We can find you a colorful convertible," he assured her.

A moment later, they were at the Russian Tea Room. Jonathan tossed the keys to the valet and opened the door for Jennifer. She took his hand and let him help her out of the car. He held onto her hand and brought it up to his lips.

"Everything will be fine," he said softly.

Jennifer wished the butterflies in her stomach would believe him.

Dad was already there when they arrived—he had a tendency to be early to things, and Jennifer had noticed that Jonathan had a tendency to be exactly on time. He stood up from the table to greet them. He looked good, and he was smiling happily when he saw her.

"Jennifer!" he exclaimed, wrapping her in a big hug. Oh, it felt so good to be in his arms again. Nothing ever felt so safe or so comforting as when her father hugged her.

"Pa, I'm so glad to see you. I've missed you," she murmured. She didn't want to let him go.

It was Dad who pulled away first. "And this must be Jonathan Hart."

Jonathan gave his best warm, charming smile and held out his hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Edwards."

"Call me Stephen, Mr. Hart," Dad said, shaking Jonathan's hand. His smile at Jonathan wasn't the same as it had been when he smiled at Jennifer. It wasn't in his eyes now.

"And please call me Jonathan," he answered.

Jennifer could feel the tension between the two men, and she felt a sudden urge to run out of the restaurant. It didn't help that she was already a bit short-tempered and trying to ignore her cramps. But she had to push all that aside. She and Jonathan were going to be married and build a life together, and this was where it had to start. Plastering a smile on her own face, she said, "Shall we sit? I'm starved."

She was given a reprieve from any tensions while they all looked at the menu and ordered a round of martinis for them all and decided what to have for dinner. But when the waiter took their menus, the small talk about food ended.

"So, Jonathan," Pa began, "Jennifer hasn't told me much about you. Though to be fair, she hasn't known you long. Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself? Perhaps starting with how it was you ended up asking my daughter to marry you?"

His tone was polite but Jennifer knew he was going for the jugular.

Jonathan was unfazed. "Well, I suppose it's a strange story of how I ended up proposing to Jennifer. It only happened a few days ago, but it feels like longer. I was in London to discuss a merger with Kingsford Motors, but it was kept quiet to appease the board of directors. Jennifer and every other reporter in the city were hounding me for information. And Jennifer happened to sit next to me in the bar at the Ritz while I was hiding out from the press. I had no idea that she was the woman who had been harassing me over the phone, but I saw she was beautiful, so I struck up a conversation. She told me her name was Louise Tobin."

"Well that was very clever of you, Jennifer," Dad praised.

"Thank you," she answered, sipping her martini. And strangely enough, that's what she'd been doing when she met Jonathan and told him her name was Louise Tobin.

"So I take it she got her story out of you?"

"Not exactly," Jonathan replied. "You see, we had a wonderful night on the town. Drinks and dinner and dancing and talking and everything. But I'd just flown in from London so I was jetlagged out of my mind and…" He stopped talking, realizing that he had been about to tell her father that Jennifer had come back to his hotel room and then he'd promptly passed out. He caught her eye to silently ask for help.

Jennifer stepped in. "He fell asleep. He thought I'd stayed the night with him, but he fell asleep from the jetlag and all the drinks, and so I went home."

Jonathan proceeded to explain that the next morning, a story by Jennifer Edwards was in the London Herald all about Kingsford Motors and Jonathan Hart. He was furious and still had no idea that Louise Tobin who had arrived to bring him breakfast was the Jennifer Edwards he was cursing. Dad even managed to chuckle a bit at that.

In the end, Jennifer brushed over most of the story. "It was all a lot of corporate espionage and hijinks designed to ruin the merger and disgrace Jonathan, and my name was just used as the vehicle. I didn't write that story at all, even though Jonathan did tell me what he was really doing in London. But we spent all day running around the city in car chases and escaping on a ferry boat down the Thames and eventually getting those evil men arrested at the Tower of London, of all places. And then Jonathan got me detained by the police."

She couldn't help herself. It was too amusing to resist. She almost felt bad for the way that Pa glared at Jonathan, but she was giggling instead.

Jonathan explained, "I knew I wanted to see her again and talk to her and…well, honestly, at that point, I was so in love with her I could hardly see straight." He paused and looked at Jennifer with that besotted look she adored. He continued, "But I had to fix things with Kingsford Motors and I didn't want to lose her. And it was a mean thing to do, telling the police she'd been going around the city under a false name, but at least I knew where she was when I finally was able to track her down again."

"I was so upset because this perfect man I'd fallen in love with had done such a rotten thing, I was ready to get on a plane to come back to New York so I'd never have to see him again. I was heartbroken, really. And then the police took me from the airport before my flight!"

"Again!?" Dad exclaimed.

"No, it was the concierge at the Ritz posing as Scotland Yard on my instruction. I had him pick her up and take her back into the city so I could ask her to marry me," Jonathan told him.

Jennifer added, "He had banners put up on the Tower Bridge, can you believe it?" She couldn't stop herself from grinning at the memory of the moment that had irrevocably changed her life.

Unfortunately, Jennifer's father was not similarly charmed. "Jennifer," he said sharply. "You mean to tell me that this man had you taken by the police and then put some banners on a bridge and you agreed to marry him? You told me you fell in love with him in two hours!"

"I did," she said. "That first wonderful night we went out."

"He didn't even know your name!"

"The name hardly matters, Stephen," Jonathan interjected. "She could tell me tomorrow that her name isn't Jennifer Edwards, it's Mary Queen of Scots or whatever else. She's more than just her name. And I fell in love with the wonderful woman that she is."

"Even though she lied to you?" he countered.

Jonathan shrugged. "We cleared all that up. I can't blame her for trying to do her job. I know she's very good at it. I mean, she must be if she's written three books. I haven't read them yet, but I'm sure they're terrific," he added with a grin.

Jennifer felt a flutter of pride at that. "Thank you, darling. I'll make sure you get a copy of each of them. Signed by the author, even," she teased.

But Pa still wasn't smiling. "How will you fare in marriage with that impulsive nature, Jonathan? You spent three months with the Stephanos heiress and didn't marry her. Or how about Irene Darrow? I hear you were on and off with her for a year."

These were not names that Jennifer knew, and her stomach tightened. And it wasn't due to her cramps.

"I've been with women before I met Jennifer," Jonathan conceded. "And I had good relationships with each of them. But they weren't the right women for me."

"And Jennifer is?"

"She is," Jonathan said confidently.

Pa still wasn't convinced. "How could you possibly know that after less than a week?"

"I have spent more time with her in less than a week than you have in the last three years, so I think I might know her a little better than you do at this point," Jonathan snapped.

Jennifer's heart skipped a beat. She hadn't expected Jonathan to be the one to get angry. And she certainly hadn't expected him to derive that conclusion from what she'd told him about her relationship with her father. She sat there, frozen, waiting for Pa or Jonathan to say something.

Pa was cold when he responded, though it didn't address Jonathan's accusation. "What kind of life can an international industrialist give to an ambitious woman like Jennifer?"

Thankfully, Jonathan's ire had already cooled. He calmly answered, "I've been very successful. And success has made me a lot of money. And money has given me a lot of freedom. And my freedom is Jennifer's freedom. Whatever she wants to do, wherever she wants to go, it's hers. Anything in my power to give to her, I want to make sure she has. I didn't propose to Jennifer on a whim, Stephen. I've never proposed to any woman in my life. But I proposed to Jennifer after knowing her for two days because I learned in those two days that she is the most incredible, perfect woman in the world. She is brave and intelligent and ambitious and beautiful and soft and kind and funny and everything I could have ever hoped for in a person and more. I proposed to her because when I saw the prospect of her getting on a plane and never seeing me again, I realized I couldn't imagine any future for myself without her in it. So you want to know what kind of life an international industrialist can give Jennifer? A life of love and adventure. That's what I've promised her, and I didn't become an international industrialist without being able to deliver on my promises."

Jennifer stared at him, jaw practically on the floor, as he gave that speech. Those were all things she had heard from him, in one way or another, already. But to hear him proclaim it all to her father like that was almost unbelievable. Jennifer truly couldn't believe that a man so wonderful could love her so much. But here he was.

She gathered her wits and swallowed back the lump of emotion in her throat. Jennifer took Jonathan's hand on the table. "And I believe him, Pa," she said earnestly. "You know I'm a good judge of character. You know I'm not one to be bamboozled by shiny things. I know he loves me, and I love him. And I hope you can believe us both."