“You just got here,” Wendy protested, her eyes pinning Blake in place for a second.
He smiled at her. “I’ll be back soon,” he promised. “Besides, I don’t want to monopolize you. The others haven’t had a chance to talk to you yet—and we wouldn’t want to upset your nurse now, would we?” he asked, smiling just a little too brightly at the woman waiting by the doorway. Their eyes met as he passed her on his way out.
The woman’s expression never changed. “Not if you know what’s good for you,” she replied in a low, even voice.
Blake wisely kept to himself the laugh that bubbled up in response.
He caught up to Emily a couple of steps outside the room and fell into step beside her as Katie led the small cluster of Atlanta Fortunes down the hallway to the nursery. It occurred to Blake, out of the blue, that he would probably be lost without Katie. She seemed to anticipate whatever needed doing before anything was said and had a knack of heading off problems before they actually became problems. The woman was worth her weight in gold.
And right now, she’d cleared the playing field for him so that he could talk to Emily alone.
“Something wrong?” he asked Emily in a hushed, lowered voice.
He noticed that she stiffened ever so slightly. “Why do you ask?”
He didn’t beat around the bush. “Because you don’t sound quite like the cheerful Emily I know. You’re okay, right?” He peered at her face and saw nothing to enlighten him. “No ill aftereffects from that little dustup with the tornado the other month?” he pressed.
“Is this you, being the concerned brother?” Emily asked, amused.
“Something like that,” he conceded, then asked, “What’s up?”
She sighed as they turned a corner. How did she phrase this without sounding strange? For a second, she pressed her lips together, debating just shrugging it off. But this was Blake and although they’d had their share of teasing—not to mention fights—they were close and she had never lied to him, at least not deliberately. Now didn’t seem like a good time to start.
She began slowly, like a child dipping a toe into the icy ocean tide. “The tornado got me thinking.”
“A lot of that going around,” Blake assured his sister. After all, if it hadn’t been for the tornado, he wouldn’t have realized that he had let the opportunity of his lifetime slip through his fingers without doing anything about it. “So, this thinking you did, where did it lead you?” he asked.
God, she never thought she would be saying this. Or feeling this. And yet, here she was, filled with this insatiable longing that was ripping her apart.
Emily took a breath and dove in. “I realized I wanted a baby.” She looked at him. He didn’t look surprised—or even amused. She decided that he couldn’t really be getting the full import of what she was telling him. Suddenly, it became important to her that he understand. “Badly. I want a baby badly—like that’s all I’ve been able to think of.”
Emily was older than he was. As far as he knew, there was no steady man in her life and maybe she was hearing her biological clock ticking—maybe the tornado had even set it off. He could sympathize with that.
“Stop thinking and do something about it,” he counseled.
She blinked. She hadn’t known what to expect from him as a reaction, but this certainly threw her.
“What?”
“Do something about it,” he repeated. “Get a plan. Something with teeth, like a campaign strategy.” He thought for a moment, then threw out various choices for her. “You could adopt, hire a surrogate, or go aggressively after the man of your dreams with the goal of starting a family. Those are just three options. But whatever route you decide is best for you, go and do it. Sitting and sighing and wishing isn’t going to get you anywhere. It certainly isn’t going to help you get a baby.”
Stunned, Emily looked at him. And then she smiled. “You know, for a younger brother, you didn’t turn out half bad.”
Blake held his hands up, as if to fend off her words. “Please, you’ll make my head swell.”
When she laughed, she sounded like her old self again. He knew then that she was going to be all right. And that he had succeeded in getting through to his sister. He had a very strong feeling that she was going to take his advice.
He watched her at the nursery window as she looked, not just at her new niece, but at all the other babies as well. There was love in Emily’s eyes. Love and wistfulness. Emily wasn’t just talking, she really wanted a baby.
Wow.
Quite unintentionally, his eyes met Katie’s as she glanced toward him over her shoulder. There was the woman who was going to help him attain his own goal, Blake thought with growing affection. It was getting to the point that he honestly didn’t know what he would ever do without her.
At times the thought struck him that he didn’t know how he could have gotten so lucky. It was as if Katie could almost read his mind, knowing what he needed before he even did. There weren’t many working relationships like that—or even regular relationships for that matter, he thought. She was, quite possibly, the total package. Smart, competent and beautiful to boot.
Was it his imagination, or had she gotten, well, more beautiful of late? Or was that just a result of their spending so much more time together? He wasn’t sure. All he knew was that the past few days he’d become more…aware of her than usual. He caught himself looking at her as if he’d never seen her before.
Had to be the close proximity, he decided. They’d all but been in each other’s pockets of late.
The next moment, his thoughts took off in another direction. He had to find a way to thank her for all the extra time she’d put in on this unorthodox project of his. It was only right. After all, there was nothing in her contract that said she had to help him find a way to capture his future wife’s heart. That was going above and beyond.
One in a million, that was Katie Wallace, he thought. Smiling at her, he nodded absently.
It was hard for her not to lose her train of thought when he looked at her like that. But she couldn’t just begin babbling, at least not when his older brothers and sisters were around her like this. They’d think she was crazy—which she was, she silently acknowledged. Crazy in love with Blake.
And once he’s with Brittany, you’ll just be certifiably crazy, nothing more, she told herself with sick resignation. Face it, that day is coming, and soon. You can’t keep burying your head in the sand like this forever.
She pushed the thought aside. Later—she’d deal with the inevitable later. Right now, she had Blake’s siblings to contend with.
“I can’t tell you how good it is to be back in my own bed again,” Wendy said with yet another deep, contented sigh. It was two days later and Marcos and Katie had brought her home after she’d been discharged. There was only one thing to mar her happiness. “Everything would be perfect if I could have brought the baby home with me, too.”
“She’ll be here soon enough,” Katie told her reassuringly. She sat on the edge of Wendy’s huge bed, the way she used to when they were younger and sharing secrets they were sure no one else knew. “If I were you, I’d get all the rest and sleep I could now, because there won’t be any once MaryAnne is here—since you turned down your father’s offer to hire a nurse to help you,” she reminded her friend.
Wendy shook her head. “I want to be a hands-on mother,” she said with determination, “not an occasional one.”
“Still, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have someone here just part-time,” Katie advised. “Just until you get the hang of the routine. No one would think any less of you,” she promised, knowing how Wendy’s mind worked. “This is your first time as the mother of a newborn and every little thing’s going to seem like a crisis to you until you get used to the routine—and, more important
ly, to the aberrations.”
“How do you know so much?” Wendy asked with a mystified laugh.
Katie shrugged. She supposed that she did come off a little like a know-it-all. “I just read a lot, that’s all.”
Wendy inclined her head, leaning closer to Katie. “Okay, I’ll keep my options open. To be honest, Marcos said something along the same lines,” she admitted. “But I want to try to do this on my own first.”
Katie gave her friend an alternate choice. “You know, I could hang around, pitch in for a while if you like. I don’t have anything pressing to do anymore.”
“What about Project Brittany?” Wendy asked. “Has Blake finally come to his senses and decided to scrap that?”
Katie did her best to look as if the thought of Blake cozying up to Brittany didn’t tear her apart the way that it did.
“Well, the fundraiser that he wants to take Brittany to is this coming weekend and he feels that he’s fairly well prepared to get his campaign underway.” Each word she uttered felt like a sharp pin pricking her heart. “So there’s no more plotting a course of action for him,” she told Wendy. And then she sighed. “As a matter of fact, he wants to show me his gratitude by taking me out to dinner tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow night?” Wendy repeated, her eyes widening as she said the words slowly.
“Yes, tomorrow night.” Katie stared at her friend’s expression. “Why do you look like that?”
It was Wendy’s turn to stare—in disbelief. “Katie, don’t you know what tomorrow is?”
Since she had gotten here, it felt as if the days just fed into one another, especially after all the drama that had occurred with the way Wendy’s baby had been born. She thought for a minute, then said hesitantly, “Thursday?”
“It’s Valentine’s Day. Blake wants to take you out on Valentine’s Day,” Wendy emphasized.
Wendy was right, Katie realized. Tomorrow was Valentine’s Day. But she had her doubts that Blake had been aware of that when he’d made the offer. “I’m sure that he doesn’t realize that.”
Wendy drew herself up as best she could, given that she was still in bed. “We’ll make him realize it.”
“We?” And just how was Wendy going to hope to accomplish that when Katie was the one who would be going out with Blake?
Wendy’s smile was wide and dazzling in its confidence. “We,” she affirmed. “Go to my closet,” she instructed. It was impossible to miss her enthusiasm. “I have just the dress for you to wear.”
Fifteen minutes later, Wendy was shifting impatiently in her bed. “Well, come out,” she coaxed, raising her voice to carry through the bathroom door. “I want to see what it looks like on you.”
In her opinion, Katie was taking an inordinate amount of time putting on the sexy black dress that she had selected for her.
Reluctantly, Katie finally opened the door and came out, moving very hesitantly.
“Where’s the rest of it?” Katie wanted to know.
The slinky, black dress was clinging to her every curve. It only came down to her thighs and, although it had long, narrow sleeves that ended at her wrists and hinted at modesty, all hints vanished when she turned around. The dress was completely backless.
“There’s just enough to make it interesting,” Wendy told her. “Damn, but you look gorgeous!” she cried with no little pride. “And I’ve got just the shoes to go with that. A great pair of strappy high heels,” she elaborated, then cocked her head as she studied Katie’s reflection in the wardrobe mirror Katie was facing. “I’m going to have to fix your hair for you,” Wendy said. It wasn’t an offer, it was a given. One that made her grin in anticipation. “One look at you and that brother of mine is going to say, ‘Brittany who?’”
Not from the way he talked about her, Katie thought. Although she hated raining on Wendy’s parade, she didn’t want to give her best friend false hope, either. “I really, really doubt that.”
“I don’t,” Wendy countered cheerfully and with the confidence of a person who was seldom wrong. “Now, remember, when you enter the restaurant, walk as if every man in the room is looking at you.”
“If I think that, I’m not going to be able to take a single step,” she protested.
“Yes, you are,” Wendy told her firmly, “because you know that every one of those men looking at you is living in the moment—and envying my big brother like hell.” There was pure joy in Wendy’s eyes. “This is going to be magnificent!” she prophesied gleefully, clasping her hands together in anticipation.
Katie tried her best to smile and ignore the full squadron of butterflies that had suddenly shown up as she began to earnestly think about tomorrow evening and all the different possible ways that she could embarrass herself.
Blake had chosen Red for his dinner with Katie, because he was familiar with it and because Marcos was the manager, so he knew the food was always excellent.
What he obviously wasn’t familiar with, he thought ruefully, was the ordinary calendar. He’d been so busy with the campaign and with learning all the different things that Katie had come up with to help him win Brittany’s heart, he’d somehow remained totally oblivious to the fact that today was Valentine’s Day.
How could he have been this blind? He hadn’t even sent Brittany a card. If his plan had only gone a little faster, he would have taken her out on the big day instead of having dinner with Katie. Well, there was nothing he could do about it now, he thought with resignation.
He was definitely going to have to pick up something to give to Brittany as a gift at the fundraiser. A belated Valentine’s Day present, he thought wryly. He knew without being told that women didn’t like being forgotten on this all-important day. But there was still Saturday. He managed to convince himself that it would be more surprising that way. Brittany definitely wouldn’t be expecting a Valentine’s Day gift three days after the actual day had gone by.
Maybe a pair of diamond earrings would do the trick.
No, diamond earrings would be too common a present for someone like Brittany. No doubt she probably owned at least half a dozen pairs.
He’d ask Katie, he decided.
Katie had had her fingers on the pulse of this thing right from the beginning—she’d know what kind of a gift to suggest to him. No point in his racking his brain about it now.
Katie, he couldn’t help thinking with more than a trace of admiration, seemed to be up on just about everything. Lucky thing she had decided to come work for him when she graduated rather than pick some other, possibly more lucrative firm. Otherwise, who knew if he could even begin to pull this off? Her suggestions had been invaluable.
Because of her, he was more than confident that he was going to be successful. This time next week, Brittany and he would be back together and very possibly on their way to planning a wedding.
Blake glanced at his watch. Katie should have been here by now.
Where was she?
It wasn’t like her to be late. She was usually early. He had offered to pick her up, as usual, but Wendy had insisted that he go on to the restaurant, pick out a table and wait for Katie there. She’d told him that Marcos would bring Katie with him when he returned from his break. Since she’d come home from the hospital, he looked at every break as an opportunity to drive home and look in on her.
Had to be nice, Blake mused, to be in love that way. He wanted what Wendy and Marcos had. What Scott and Christina had.
He wanted a woman to love who loved him back.
He wanted Brittany.
Growing a tad impatient, Blake scanned the dining area, looking to see if Katie had arrived yet. But the only woman he saw walking in was a really hot-looking young woman who appeared, at least from where he was sitting, as if she was loaded for bear. She was certainly turning heads a
s she moved through the room.
Some guy was really going to have his socks knocked off tonight, Blake mused as he continued scanning the immediate area.
Okay, so where was Katie?
Most of the tables were full. The entire dining area was filled with couples.
And him, alone, he thought, darkly.
Maybe he should just postpone this, take Katie out to dinner some other time when there was more light available, he thought philosophically.
Tonight the tastefully decorated restaurant seemed fairly dim, due to the fact that a tall, white candle burned brightly in the center of each table. Including his.
Blake rose to his feet. He was going to go find Marcos and leave a message with him for Katie. Maybe Katie hadn’t even come with Marcos, but if that was the case, wouldn’t Marcos have come to tell him that? Of course, maybe they were stuck in traffic.
Preoccupied, Blake pushed in his chair.
Maybe—
“Hi, Blake, you’re not leaving, are you? Am I that late?”
Recognizing her voice, Blake turned to answer Katie and the words dried up on his tongue, along with his ability to draw a sufficient breath. The sexy woman he’d noticed walking into the dining area just a couple of seconds ago had just walked up to his table—and him.
She was Katie.
Chapter Thirteen
“Katie?” Blake heard himself asking uncertainly. “Is that you?”
“Of course it’s me,” she said, sliding easily into the chair opposite his. “I am the only one you asked to meet you here tonight, right?” And then she looked up at him and saw the strange expression on his face. As if he was still trying to place her. “Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have a smudge on my face or a leaf in my hair?” she asked.
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