Beth met her eyes dubiously. “But what are you going to do when you see Garrett at the rehearsal dinner? At the wedding? When are you going to tell him?”
“After the wedding. I can’t do it before. I want Molly to enjoy her day,” she said miserably.
“No, no, no, that’s not a good plan. It might be too late, Kate. He might be engaged by then to another woman!”
Pain wrenched through Kate’s insides. “I don’t expect him to stop his plans for me. Honestly. We could be better parents if we weren’t together than if we are forced to be together.”
“You’re afraid, Kate, and that’s okay. But you’re turning into a coward. Where’s the girl I know? The Kate I know would fight for him. Stop being afraid that he will break your heart. You’re breaking it yourself without even letting him know that he has it.”
Kate couldn’t reply.
But the words replayed in her head like an echo of a truth she wasn’t sure she was prepared to listen to when she had a pregnancy to deal with.
Was Beth right?
Was Kate so afraid of letting him in that she was running away, not from being hurt by him, but from loving him?
Oh, God. And now what was she going to do about Miami?
Kate was turning out to be one of those pregnant women who had nausea every morning, and it wasn’t fun at all. But at least by Thursday evening at Molly and Julian’s rehearsal dinner at the Gage mansion, she felt better. The wedding was to be held this upcoming Saturday at noon, and the gardens had been bursting with activity all day as contractors had started delivering tables, chairs...the works. Through the windows on the other side of the living room, Kate could see the beautiful white trellis that would serve as the chapel, halfway to being fully erected.
It was going to be a beautiful wedding.
Her heart soared as she watched Molly and Julian laugh while talking to the minister. Julian towered behind Molly, who seemed to be leaning back against him as if he were a pillar. His arms were loosely around her, his chin resting on the top of her head.
There was no doubt in Kate’s mind when she saw them that they belonged together. Molly had always loved Julian, but Kate hadn’t realized that Julian had loved her sister back until a couple of months ago.
She’d always believed in having one soul mate...until, at eighteen, she’d realized that the man she thought might be her soul mate didn’t seem to agree. He’d never openly touched her like Julian had touched Molly, but now she kept remembering the way he’d made love to her.
Did he care about her? Or was this all about her leaving?
“There you are!” Kate heard the booming voice of Eleanor Gage from nearby, and in the same instant, spotted the person she was speaking to as he came into the room.
Dressed in a black suit and gleaming silver tie, Garrett made such a striking figure that the atmosphere altered dramatically with him near. His beautiful face looked thoughtful and intense as he kissed his mother on the cheek, then lifted his head and seemed to be scanning the area for something. His gaze stopped roaming when he saw her, and she couldn’t breathe.
With an expression almost of relief, he came over. He had such purpose in his step, and her heart almost stopped when she saw the way his eyes glimmered with...happiness?
Oh, God, she was going to die when she had to tell him.
“We should’ve driven over together.”
His liquid black eyes raked her figure, and her pulse skyrocketed as though he could suddenly see with some sort of X-ray vision the little baby growing inside her. For a moment she thought he knew. He knew her secret and it would all be out in the open.
Drawing in a deep breath, she blew a loose strand of hair out of her face. “I hitched a ride with Beth and Landon.” The thought of being alone with him in the close confinement of his car again both terrified and excited her.
The more distance she kept from him, the smoother her plans would run.
He seized her elbow and pulled her along the room, leading her to the terrace doors. “Come with me outside.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to talk to you, Kate.”
She let him lead her to the exact spot they’d visited on his birthday, when he’d found out she was leaving. Rather than release her, his hand stayed on her elbow as he smiled and took in her dress with the thirsty eyes of a man who intimately knew her.
The situation worsened when he bent his head and his voice caressed her ear, its texture a seductive black velvet. “So what have you been up to? Besides avoiding me?”
She ducked, not wanting him to know he still made her knees weak, her insides mushy. She wished—goodness, she wished—that Garrett wasn’t considering marriage to another woman, so that Kate wouldn’t dread the moment she’d have to mention a child was on the way so much.
“Working and...packing.”
“Packing,” he repeated without any inflection whatsoever.
The fact that his hand was on her elbow, causing all sorts of ripples of want inside her, made her drop her gaze to take in the contrast of his tan skin with her fair complexion. As though that were an instruction for him to let go, he dropped his hold.
His eyebrows pulled low over his eyes—eyes that were hard with frustration.
“Kate, honestly, what the hell are you running from?”
Anger flared inside her. What else would she be running away from but him? “What do you care if I leave? Why are you so hell-bent on stopping me? Go and worry about your heiress!”
“I will, but you come first, Kate. You’ve always come first for me. Before anything in the world. And I happen to be responsible for you, Kate.”
“Oh puhleeze! Responsible, my fanny. I’m a grown woman, Garrett, a fact that you can attest to yourself. Why do insist on continuing to treat me like your sister?”
“Sister? Kate, I freaking slept with you!”
Her eyes widened in shock. Her throat clogged with emotion, and she spun around toward the glass doors. “I can’t do this right now. Not here. Not now.”
He stopped her with one hand. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. But it would be very damn simple for me to marry an heiress right now if it weren’t for the fact that you and I made love, Kate.”
“We had se—”
“We made love.”
His eyes glowed down at her fiercely. Crazily, she even thought she saw longing there. But if he longed for her, why would he even consider marrying anyone else?
“I told you it was a mistake. Please just carry on with your plans, and I’ll carry on with mine.”
“God, you’re so stubborn, Kate.” He propped his elbows next to hers on the balustrade and gazed outside, his expression pained. “You’ll never be able to forget your father died because of me, will you?”
She swallowed and shook her head. “No. That’s not true. I don’t blame you, Garrett. You were just a boy, and you wanted to help your father. Like you always want to help everyone. You misunderstood what I said. I might have blamed you for a time because I needed someone to blame. I was so angry.”
“Me, too.” He leaned forward and stared at the cluttered tables and chairs out on the lawn, and Kate watched his profile as the urge to touch him began to