It was like waiting for the other shoe to drop, although it was a little hard to place the vengeful Dominick she’d seen last night in the man she discovered in the kitchen a few minutes later. He was with her mother, trying on the bow-tie that matched the deep green colour of the bridesmaid dresses that he was expected to wear as her partner at the wedding.
It was a little unnerving to hear Dominick’s throaty laughter and her mother’s girlish chuckles when Kenzie had been steeling herself to face her arrogant and demanding husband of last night.
Admittedly Dominick did look slightly ridiculous with the bow-tie around his neck above the black tee shirt, but Kenzie didn’t think it was funny enough for this amount of hilarity …
She stood in the kitchen doorway simply staring at the two of them, marvelling at this slightly softer Dominick, and wondering if he was actually aware of how relaxed he looked. Probably not.
Dominick didn’t let his guard down often. And last night he had made it pretty plain that with her he didn’t intend letting his barriers down at all.
Nevertheless, it was still a little unnerving to see Dominick so relaxed and at ease with her mother. Unless it was all an act? Was this all an effort on his part to show he was keeping to his side of their bargain?
That was probably nearer the truth!
‘Am I interrupting something?’ Kenzie finally murmured.
Dominick’s laughter faded quickly, his expression mockingly questioning as he turned to look at her.
Confirming to Kenzie that he really was just continuing the act, and that he intended giving her no reason whatsoever to complain about his behaviour in front of her family.
Her mother continued to smile. ‘Dominick and I were just thinking he looks like one of those male strippers—just before he whips his clothes off and leaves on only the bow-tie.’
Kenzie deliberately didn’t look at Dominick again as her dark brows raised towards her mother. ‘And when did you last see a male stripper?’
The last time Kenzie had seen Dominick, he had actually been naked so there was no way she could meet his gaze at the moment!
‘Never.’ Her mother gave an exaggerated sigh of disappointment.
‘Mother!’ Kenzie chuckled affectionately.
Nancy shook her head ruefully as she gave a smile that encompassed Dominick as well as Kenzie. ‘That’s the trouble with you youngsters—you think you were the first to discover the attractions of the naked body!’
‘Not me,’ Dominick drawled, having discovered this morning that, in spite of his usual reticence, he actually liked this older version of Kenzie. He was finding it very hard to remain aloof from the happiness this family felt on the day of the youngest daughter’s wedding. ‘It’s obvious that you and Donald discovered it at least four times in the last thirty years!’ he teased.
Nancy gave a becoming blush. ‘I guess I deserved that one!’ She grinned. ‘Kenzie, I have to go and telephone the florist and find out why the flowers haven’t arrived yet, so I’ll leave you to get Dominick some breakfast.’ She gave her daughter an affectionate pat on the cheek as she moved to the door. ‘Don’t forget we’re leaving for the hairdresser’s in half an hour,’ she reminded her before going to make her call.
Now Dominick and Kenzie were alone in the kitchen, although it was obvious from the closing of doors overhead, and the sound of loud voices, that they were far from the only people in the house.
Dominick reached up and unfastened the bow-tie from around his neck to hold it loosely between his fingers as he looked across at Kenzie.
She looked about sixteen this morning, dressed in those jeans and a fitted green tee shirt the colour of her eyes, the silky length of her hair secured in a band.
She raised her long dark lashes and met his gaze, memories of their time together last night deep in their depths.
They were the same memories that had haunted Dominick for the rest of the night as he’d sat down here in the kitchen drinking coffee. Half of him had wanted to go back upstairs and finish what they had started, but the other half of him had known this wasn’t the time or the place. What happened between him and Kenzie in the future had to be on his terms. Anything else was unacceptable.
Kenzie had walked out on him, and he didn’t intend letting her get away from him again until he had exacted his pound of flesh in payment for that.
Literally!
In the meantime he was determined to keep strictly to his side of the bargain, giving Kenzie no way out of fulfilling her side. None at all. However unacceptable to her his terms turned out to be …
‘Your mother mentioned something about breakfast,’ he reminded her abruptly, more for something to say than any real appetite. Although he had so much coffee in his system it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to eat something.
Kenzie drew in a ragged breath. Whatever she had been expecting Dominick to say it certainly hadn’t been something as prosaic as requesting breakfast.
Although the alternative, discussing what had happened last night, wasn’t a good idea, either!
‘Of course.’ She moved to search through one of the cupboards. ‘I’m afraid we’re more geared to the wedding today than—ah, toast or cereal, or both?’
‘Cereal will be fine,’ he assured her dismissively. ‘What are you having done to your hair?’ he questioned as he got the milk from the fridge and carried it over to the table.
‘It’s going to be styled into curls with peach-coloured flowers entwined,’ she answered, her thoughts elsewhere as she carried over a couple of boxes of cereal and two bowls to the table, placing them down before sitting opposite him. ‘Dominick—’
‘I had no idea there was so much planning and organization involved in a wedding,’ he cut in determinedly, knowing by the frown on her face that he wasn’t going to like what she’d been about to say. ‘Ah,’ he murmured, looking at the two cereal boxes, ‘Flakes or flakes!’
She grimaced. ‘Everyone is a little—distracted, today.’
‘Understandable in the circumstances.’ He nodded, pouring the milk over his cereal.
They couldn’t even talk to each other any more, Kenzie realized with a pained wince as she poured herself a cup of black coffee, acutely aware that Dominick hadn’t found the same awkwardness when talking to her mother earlier, or having fun over a bow-tie.
‘You missed out on all of this, didn’t you?’ he suddenly remarked thoughtfully.
Kenzie blinked, looking up at him with a frown. ‘Living at home? But I moved to London years ago—’
‘I’m not talking about the living at home, Kenzie,’ he said impatiently, putting his spoon down in the barely touched cereal and pushing the bowl away, the darkness of his gaze easily holding her. ‘Wouldn’t you have liked your wedding to be like this? The excitement of a church wedding, with all your family around you, instead of being whisked off to Las Vegas in the way that you were?’
‘Well … yes, it would have been nice,’ she acknowledged slowly. ‘But it wasn’t what you wanted—’
‘I don’t believe I was talking about what I wanted,’ Dominick stated, sitting back in his chair to look at her analytically.
Kenzie avoided meeting his piercing gaze. ‘I don’t think talking about this now serves any purpose whatsoever, Dominick,’ she told him wearily, pushing away her empty coffee-cup.
‘Why’s that?’ he challenged. ‘Has Carlton already promised you the white dress when the two of you get married?’
Kenzie drew in a sharp breath at the deliberate provocation. ‘Even if he felt that way about me—which