“I’m fine. The last few days have been challenging,” she said, wanting more than ever to sink into his strength.
“You’re taking care of yourself,” he said, more as an order than a question.
She nodded.
“Your father is angry with me,” he told her.
“Why?”
“I wouldn’t let him pay for the rehearsal party.”
Kate smiled. “Ah, you attacked his masculinity.”
Michael scowled. “I was trying to protect his wallet.” He glanced across the room and nodded. “Here are the friends I mentioned to you.”
Kate took in the two men as they stepped closer. Both wore guarded, assessing expressions. “Kate Adams, meet two of the most successful alumni of the Granger Home for Boys, Justin Langdon and Dylan Barrow.”
Justin and Dylan gave Michael sideways glances, then turned their attention to Kate. Justin extended his hand. “Michael’s a catch since he hit the big time. Best wishes.”
It took a moment for his message to sink in. Justin clearly felt protective of Michael. He probably thought she was a gold digger. Kate smiled broadly. “You mean since he hit eight figures.”
Justin watched her carefully. “That’s the bottom line, isn’t it?”
Kate sighed. Now she understood why Michael had harped on the money angle. “Just between you and me, I’m not marrying Michael for his millions,” she whispered. “I’m marrying him for his potential.”
Justin wrinkled his brow in confusion. “Financial potential?”
Kate shook her head. “No. This is related to cookies.”
He looked at her as if she were crazy and she decided that was okay. She turned to Dylan. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. It means a lot for you to be here for him.”
Dylan shook her hand and kissed her cheek. “Our honor,” he said and won her heart.
“I ran into someone the three of you might know. I happened to be over near the Granger Home and met a woman named Alisa Jennings.”
“Alisa,” Dylan said, his expression growing intense. “What was she doing?”
“Just paying a little visit to the home. She told me she grew up there. Her mother was the cafeteria manager.”
“The cookie girl,” Justin said. “She used to sneak cookies to us when we had to shovel snow.”
“What were you doing at Granger?” Michael asked quietly.
Too quietly, Kate thought and felt her nerves shake. “Showing Mom the town. Alisa was lovely. She said she’d just moved back here.”
“I thought she was engaged to a politician in Connecticut,” Justin said, then glanced at Dylan. “Didn’t she have a crush on you?”
“Long time ago,” Dylan said, but Kate got the distinct impression there was more beneath the surface.
Kate’s mother clapped her hands together. “Time for the rehearsal. Kate, you go to the back of the chapel, and Michael, come up front. Where’s your bridesmaid, Donna?”
“Right here,” Donna said, rushing in the door. “Sorry I’m late.” She stood beside Kate while Betty issued instructions. “I kept thinking you would come to your senses and cancel,” she whispered.
“Get thee behind me, Satan,” Kate muttered, unable to dodge the enormity of what she was about to do.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Donna asked, concern shadowing her baby face. “You can still back out.”
“It’s not a matter of being sure in the traditional sense. It’s more a matter of trying to make the best choice in an imperfect situation.”
“What a practical attitude. I wonder if the wives of Henry VIII said the same kind of thing,” Donna said slyly.
Kate frowned at her friend. “Michael may be arrogant, but he doesn’t have a guillotine in the basement. Besides, you’re my maid of honor, so you’re supposed to be supporting me, not encouraging me to run away.”
“I’ll encourage you,” she promised. “I’m taking you out on the town after the rehearsal party.”
“You know I can’t drink.”
“You can’t drink, but you can dance,” she said with a sweet smile that brought to mind discarded halos.
“Time for the maid of honor,” her mother said.
Kate swallowed a strangled sound of panic as her father approached her. Donna gave her arm a squeeze and silently mouthed the words, You can still escape.
“Here you go, baby,” Tom Adams said, offering his arm.
It’s still just practice, Kate repeated to herself as she slowly walked up the aisle. She looked into Michael’s eyes and took a deep breath. It would be okay, she told herself. It had to be.
“Dearly beloved,” the minister began, but Kate was too aware of Michael by her side to hear anything else. Her father kissed her cheek and left, then Michael enveloped her hand in his.
“After you repeat your vows, I’ll say you may now kiss the bride and present you—”
Michael swooped down and kissed her. Chuckles followed. “You looked like you were about to faint,” he told her, concern darkening his eyes. “We should have gone to Vegas.”
After the small rehearsal party at a local hotel where Kate faked drinking the champagne and smiled through the toasts, Donna whisked her away to a noisy, crowded nightspot.
“Refresh my memory,” Kate said. “Why are we here?”
“This is your last night as a single woman. We’re here to tear the house down. Your assignment is to dance with at least twenty-five men.”
“Twenty-five!”
Ignoring Kate’s protests, Donna glanced around and crooked her finger at a man across the room. “It will make you forget what a huge mistake you’re making. Here’s number one.”
So Kate took to the dance floor and shook and shimmied to everything from disco to rap. Donna was right about one thing. The whole exercise was wonderfully mind-numbing. Around number twenty-one however, physical reality began to intrude. Pregnancy had not made her more energetic, and what Kate really wanted was a cot.
She’d successfully avoided the slow dances, but when a romantic song by Savage Garden began to play, she was tugged into a familiar pair of arms. Kate glanced up at Michael. Her heart leaped. “What are you doing here?”
“Looking out for your welfare,” Michael said in a dark voice. “Will Donna have you dancing on tabletops soon?”
“She’s trying to cheer me up.”
Michael dipped his forehead against hers and slid his hand dangerously low on her hip. “Are you saying you’re not ecstatic to be marrying me tomorrow?” he asked in a velvet voice that indicated his ego wasn’t suffering in the least.
“Your friend thinks I’m marrying you for your money,” she said, annoyed with her attraction to him. She had always been drawn to him when he looked like this, shirt collar unbuttoned, tie loosened, and hair slightly mussed. Too touchable.
“Justin,” Michael said. “He believes marriage is the giant sucking sound in many men’s bank accounts. He’ll never get married.”
“That’s what you said,” Kate reminded him.
“I had other reasons,” he said, backing her into a corner and skimming his lips over her neck. “You don’t look pregnant,” he murmured. “There’s something about me knowing it while no other man in the room has a clue that makes me want you. It’s our little secret,” he said, nudging her mouth up to his and sucking at her lips while his lower body undulated against hers.
Despite her weariness, Kate felt a shot of pure heat. The tips of her br**sts grew sensitive to the brush of his chest against her. “Why are you trying to seduce me?”
“It feels a helluva lot better than that blasted wedding rehearsal did. I’m taking you out of here,” he growled and she was too tired to protest when he led her to his car. Kate waved to Donna on her way out the door.
Michael helped her into the car, then slid into the driver’s side and closed the door. He immediately backed his seat away from the steering wheel and pulled her onto his lap.
Surprised, Kate blinked at him. “What is this?”
His eyes looked dark and dangerous. He lifted his hand to her head and slipped his fingers through her hair. “I know what’s been running through your mind since the rehearsal.”
Kate fought a rush of nerves. The man could not read her mind, she told herself. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve been reviewing all the reasons not to marry me.” He released her hair and slid his hand down to cup her chin and rub his finger over her mouth. “Over and over, you’ve been thinking of all the things that make you nervous about me.”
“You don’t make me nervous,” she denied, disliking him for nailing her feelings so accurately.
He leaned close enough to kiss her, close enough to rattle her nerves even further. He found her pulse in her neck with his index finger, then spoke against her lips, “You’re lying. If you keep thinking that way, there’s no way you’ll make it through the wedding tomorrow. You’ve been wallowing in all the bad stuff. Now it’s time for you to think about the good stuff.”
“What good stuff?” she asked, still peeved that he’d cornered her.
“There must be something you like about me, or you wouldn’t have continued to work as my assistant.”
“You pay well.”
He widened the gap between his legs and leaned back slightly, reminding her of his sexuality. “Correction. There must be something you like about me or you wouldn’t have made love to me like a firestorm two and a half months ago. You said you cared about me, remember?”
Weary and edgy, she looked away and remained mute. She didn’t want to contemplate the things about Michael that she found so compelling. She wanted to keep a clear head, and that wasn’t easy sitting on his lap.
“Okay,” he said, leaning his head back against the head rest. “I can wait all night.”