Everyone went into the room but Nate. He hung back.
She shook her head.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m the big brother of the groom. He asked me to come, so I did,” Nate said. “This is why I wanted us to chat earlier. Just clear the air. Like I said, I was a jerk, and I’m sorry. I don’t want anything to mess up Hunter’s wedding.”
Oh.
When he said it like that, he sounded so reasonable. And she realized that coming to Cole’s Hill had more consequences than she’d thought. She was losing her professional edge because of Nate. Part of it was the way he made her pulse speed up; another, bigger part was the fact that he was her daughter’s father and she hadn’t told him. And the cost of keeping that secret seemed higher than she might be able to pay.
“Sorry. I’m just a little short-tempered today. Must be the jet lag.” Though with only a one-hour time difference between here and Vegas, she knew jet lag was a bit of an exaggeration.
“Don’t be. It happens to the best of us. After the tasting we can get a drink and talk. It’s obvious we’re going to need to.”
She nodded. She had to check in with her nanny, Pippa, and make sure that Penny would be fine for the evening. “I have one more appointment, and then I can meet you for a drink.”
It would have been so much easier to just say no if Nate wasn’t...well, so likeable and charming. And if she didn’t have Penny. But she did. And now she was going to have make a decision that she’d thought she’d already made.
Cake tasting. There were times when Nate wondered what had happened to his family. Though he didn’t begrudge Hunter his happiness or his wedding, Nate liked things the way they’d always been: when the Carutherses were out working hard, playing even harder and making respectable mamas lock up their daughters.
“What do you think?” Hunter asked, pulling Nate aside so that they could speak privately for a moment.
“About what?”
“The cake. Do you have a preference?” he asked.
Nate shook his head. “I do like the idea of your groom’s cake being shaped like a football field.”
“That was discussed fifteen minutes ago. Where is your head?”
He looked over at the pretty redhead taking them through the different types of jam and icing that could be used between layers. Kinley. She was too much in his head. Going for a drink had stupid written all over it, but he’d never been one to back down from anything, even when it went against his own better sense.
“Don’t do it,” Hunter said.
“Don’t do what?” Nate asked. Though he knew what his brother was talking about.
“She’s practically family,” Hunter said. “Marcus is like a second dad to us. Don’t mess with her.”
Too late. Nate recalled every detail of the weekend that he and Kinley had spent together; a part of him didn’t want to ever forget it. Another part didn’t believe it could have been as good as he remembered. But he knew it was. Then he remembered that silly little handshake she’d limited him to this morning at the bank and the rush of energy that had gone through them when they’d touched.
“I’m just looking.”
“Make sure that’s all you do,” Hunter said.
He clipped his brother on the shoulder with his fist. “I don’t take orders from you.”
“You do now. Ferrin really wants this wedding to be special. And that means not letting you, Ethan or Derek screw anything up. So be good.”
“When have any of us ever been good?” Nate asked. He wasn’t going to mess up Hunter’s wedding. As much as he was against marriage himself, he really liked Ferrin and thought she was perfect for his brother. Hunter hadn’t enjoyed being single the way the rest of the Carutherses did. His college girlfriend had been murdered and suspicion had fallen on Hunter for a good ten years before the real murderer had been convicted. So the only women Hunter had dated were those looking for a thrill...until Ferrin came along.
“I won’t do anything to hurt your wedding,” Nate promised.
Hunter reached over and squeezed his shoulder. “I know you won’t. You’ve always looked out for me.”
“Someone had to,” Nate said. He loved his brothers and had always been the one to stand up for them.
“You two done over there?” their mother asked.
“Yes, ma’am. I was just saying how much I liked the mandarin filling,” Nate said, luckily recalling the last cake he’d tasted.
“That’s the one I am leaning toward as well,” Ferrin said.
“Honey, that’s my favorite, too,” Hunter said, giving his fiancée the sweetest, sappiest smile Nate had ever seen. What the hell had happened to his brother?
“Then it’s decided,” Kinley said. “I have your other preferences marked down. Are you happy with this bakery? We can have one of our specialty bakers from Beverly Hills fly in and talk to you as well.”
“We’d like to keep it local as much as we can,” Ferrin said. “Hunter and I want this to be as authentic as it can be.”
Kinley made some notes in her notebook, her hand gliding across the page. Nate couldn’t help remembering the tomboy she’d been and the time he’d caught her sitting under one of the scrub oaks out in the pasture crying because her teacher said she had the worst handwriting in the class.
He shook his head. Where had that old memory come from? He had spent hours under that tree showing her how to write until her handwriting had been passable. It wasn’t that he’d had the greatest handwriting, but Nate had never liked to be second best at anything. So he’d practiced a lot, and he remembered how grateful little Kinley had been that he’d helped her.
The women had moved to leave the room, but Ethan and Hunter hung back. Hunter just shook his head, but Nate noticed that Ethan watched until Kinley had rounded the corner.
“Dang. That Kinley sure has changed,” Ethan said. “She makes a man—”
“Don’t. She doesn’t make you anything, Eth.”
Both of his brothers turned to stare at him, and Nate knew he’d showed his hand without meaning to. But he wanted her. She had been his once and he knew himself well enough to know that he was going to try to make her his again. He didn’t think it would last longer than it took her to plan Hunter’s wedding, but damned if he was going to let any other man—especially one of his brothers—make a play for her.
“The lady might have something to say about that,” Ethan said.
Nate shrugged. “We’re having drinks tonight.”
Ethan put his hands up. “Fair enough. I was just saying she sure isn’t the girl who used to follow us around on horseback.”
“No, she isn’t,” Nate agreed. He thought of all the changes he’d seen in Kinley and how much he appreciated each one of them. She’d been a party girl once, but she’d matured past that and he could see that she was stronger now. She’d changed and he acknowledged that he hadn’t really, but one thing he knew for sure was that he still wanted her. And he was pretty sure they weren’t finished with each other yet.
There had been something in her eyes when he’d shaken her hand earlier, maybe attraction, maybe something more. Whatever it was, he was hungry to explore