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a banker’s wife.”
    “I can’t imagine anyone bullying you.”
    “My family consists of my father and two brothers. All of whom are large, brilliant, and eminently respectable. I am neither large, brilliant, nor particularly respectable. Especially not after that fiasco in California. But I have finally put my foot down when it comes to living my own life. It took me long enough, and it’s been a constant battle. Dad and the Brothers Grim are all very concerned for me.”
    “Brothers Grim?”
    “Nolan and Jeffrey. I love them both dearly, of course, but they are the spitting image of my father. They’re all convinced that things started going wrong because I moved to California. You know how California is. At first they were all relieved when I moved out of state, but now they’ve decided I’m going from bad to worse in Dallas.” She gave a short laugh. “Maybe they’re right. What about your family?” she continued. “I don’t imagine they approve of your Acapulco lifestyle,” Sabrina went on thoughtfully.
    “My father is career military. A retired colonel. Saw action in World War Two and Korea. My mother is the perfect colonel’s wife. I try not to inflict myself on them any more than is strictly necessary. The mess I made out of my last mission was hard on them.”
    “Was there anyone else for whom it was difficult? A wife?” Sabrina couldn’t stop the question, although she regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth.
    Matt drained the last of his whiskey and contemplated that query. “Being an officer’s wife can be very difficult,” he said neutrally. “I was gone a great deal of the time. My career had to come first. That’s the way it works in the military. Ginny began to feel very frustrated in more ways than one, I guess. She decided to put a little fun back into her life. And that brings me to the explanations I wanted to make tonight,” Matt concluded roughly.
    Sabrina stilled. “Last night is somehow tied up with your ex-wife? I’m not sure I want to hear this.”
    “You said you’d listen.”
    “I’m listening.”
    Matt paused, clearly searching for the words. “Ginny’s vision of being an officer’s wife consisted of dinners at the officers’ club, glittering receptions and afternoons at the golf course. But my job kept me away a lot of the time, and when I was home I did a very minimal amount of socializing. I always considered that side of my career a real chore. Eventually Ginny went looking for the kind of fun and excitement I wasn’t giving her. She spent a lot of time doing what you were planning to do last night. When you came over to me in that bar, all I could think about was how I’d feel if you were my woman and I was home in Dallas.” He broke off. “Hell, I told you this was complicated.”
    “Groveling usually is.”
    He shot her a lethal glance. “I guess I’d had one too many whiskeys before you approached me, and then we had a few more drinks. I kept thinking of Ginny, of all the times I was gone and she was out playing around with anything in pants that caught her eye. Then I imagined her first attempt at deliberately picking up a man.”
    Sabrina shivered. “You confused me with your ex-wife, didn’t you?”
    “No. The two of you are as different as night and day. On one level I could see that. Which is why I felt I had to, uh, show you that you weren’t cut out for that kind of life.”
    “Oh, my God.” She groaned. “You’re going to claim that assault was your way of teaching me a lesson?”
    Matt shifted uneasily. “I had some notion of showing you that there’s nothing romantic or exciting or special about that kind of encounter.”
    “Did it occur to you at any point that I was old enough to decide that for myself?” she asked tightly.
    “I wasn’t thinking about your age. I was thinking about you. The way you are. Something in me didn’t want to see you being changed into someone hard and cold like Ginny.”
    “Amazing