by Sara Daniel
No doubt Caleb hated the idea. Well, if he had designs on her sister, he better get used to her being around.
They migrated into the dining room, set up with dozens of square tables for four. She positioned herself across from Penelope, leaving the seats on their sides for the men. The wait staff immediately uncorked wine bottles, filling each glass and leaving the bottle on the table.
Caleb stood and raised his glass, commanding the attention of the entire room. “A toast. To Forever. May it rebound and give children a stable environment to grow up in.” He thrust his glass high then lowered it to clink against Penelope’s.
Why didn’t he just slap her in the face? Olivia had been a fool to torture herself by coming here.
Ethan rose next and proclaimed, “To Penelope’s Pleasures, the perfumes taking the universe by storm. And to the beautiful, talented woman behind it all.”
“Here, here,” she joined in.
“To opportunities I never dreamed I’d have,” Penelope said, clinking her glass around the table.
All three turned expectantly. Olivia studied each face and spoke her deepest wish. “To love. May it blossom in even the hardest heart.”
“Love.” Ethan toasted her sister then her.
Caleb held his glass away from the others. “Petty comments aren’t appropriate for a toast.”
Toasting love was petty, fitting for the emotional, selfish person he pegged her as. Willing away the urge to cry, she stared into her sparkling glass. She didn’t belong in New York at a party for a corporation whose ideals she didn’t believe in. She should be home, preparing her house for the foster children who would be moving in soon.
Setting his wineglass on the table, Caleb turned to Penelope. “How do you feel about spouses being friends?”
She blinked. “I don’t know why anyone would want to marry someone she couldn’t be friends with.”
“Excellent.” He beamed as if she’d aced a pop quiz. “What is your opinion of the other points of Forever?”
A Forever test. Olivia had flunked out of that school.
“They haven’t applied to me so far, but they make sense. If my spouse doesn’t treat me with respect and understand my world, who else will bother?”
Caleb smiled. “You are wise beyond your years. We definitely have the beginning of a very strong friendship.”
Whatever his plan, Olivia hated it already. She had to do something to avert the impending disaster. “Penelope, who were you were talking to earlier?”
“Some journalist tried to pick her up,” Ethan grumbled.
“And I sold him my perfume instead.” She clinked her wineglass to Ethan’s and drank a hefty swallow.
Caleb’s forehead scrunched, and he reached for Penelope’s hand. “You already work yourself day and night. I want to you to spend time with me at the end of the day.”
“You do?”
The conversation warranting a drink, Olivia reached for her glass.
“I want to marry you,” Caleb said.
“Marry me?” Penelope gasped.
Olivia's hand jerked. Her wineglass slipped through her fingers and crashed on its side. The shimmery golden liquid trickled across the table and dripped on the floor, but she couldn't move to clean the mess or, more imperative, to stop the train wreck smashing into her heart. The man she loved had proposed to another woman.
Of course Caleb didn’t love her sister. He was trying to save his career and his childhood dream. But knowing his motives didn't stop the hurt. She couldn’t fix the problems in his life, especially when he viewed her as one of them.
She could only watch while another woman took her place at his side. Someone else would make his dreams come true. Hers never would.
Chapter 20
Penelope couldn’t possibly be drunk on half a glass of wine. But if she wasn’t drunk, why had she hallucinated a marriage proposal?
Caleb squeezed her hand. “I’m not suggesting we elope. A long engagement where we get to know each other, solidify our friendship and bond with Liam is appropriate. You may think I’m acting prematurely, but I want my intentions apparent from the start. You’re too important for me to lose.”
“You’re only worried about losing Forever,” Ethan scoffed.
Caleb’s gaze didn’t waver from hers. “We’ll have a Forever marriage. We’ll show everyone how to make it work. Will you marry me, Penelope?”
She pulled her hand free. Since she wasn’t hallucinating, she needed to think.
She’d received a genuine marriage proposal from a handsome, wealthy, successful, famous man. The answer should be obvious. Yes.
Whom she barely knew and didn’t love. The answer should be obvious. No.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“I’ll tell you what to say,” Ethan thundered. “You don’t love him. You can’t marry him.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.” She jumped to her feet. Caleb pressured her from one side and Ethan from the other, while Olivia stared at her like she’d sprouted horns and a forked tongue. How had her sheltered, boring life gotten so complicated?
She ran outside and gulped in the damp, chilly air. Traffic whizzed down the street, slopping slush over the curb. Horns blared. She missed the quiet of the frigid February nights at home.
“How can you even think about marrying him?” Ethan appeared in front of her, fists balled on his lean hips.
She retreated against the brick building. “I haven’t thought about it. No one’s given me a chance to.”
“If you want to think about something, think about this.” His lips slammed into hers. Then his tongue swept in, taking over, claiming her secret recesses as his own.
Her head fell back and would have scraped the bricks behind her, but he cradled her with his hand, captivating her with his sensual onslaught. A more sophisticated woman would have held her own and turned the tables on him. But she had no power and no will to stop him.
Chest heaving, Ethan wrenched his mouth free. “You can’t marry another man when our kisses are hot enough to burn your sexy dress off.”
She hadn’t thought about any other man, or her dress for that matter, while his mouth covered hers.
“Admit it. I unlock a side of you you’ve never explored before.”
She couldn’t deny the terrifying truth.
“You belong with me.”
Wrong. She didn’t belong with a man so far out of her league. His kisses enflamed her. Yet she couldn’t even work up the nerve to kiss him back.
Caleb, though, didn’t make her lose her grip on reality and herself. She didn’t stutter to a stop when his hand brushed her arm. With him, she could bask in her new sophisticated, successful image. She’d never shed her geeky awkwardness around Ethan.
“Get out of my way. I’m going to marry Caleb and you can’t stop me.” She brushed by him into the restaurant.
He didn’t try to stop her. She had no rational reason for wishing he would.
* * * *
Caleb pushed out his chair but didn’t stand. Penelope wanted time to think, a request he wanted to honor. But his brother had followed her outside, a move that could ruin everything.
Olivia’s head blocked his view of the door. Since her awful toast, he’d tried not to look at her. Now he couldn’t tear his eyes away.
“So you want to be my brother-in-law?” she asked, her gaze glued to his left shoulder where he probably had a stain or wrinkle or some other domestic imperfection.
He absolutely did not want to be her brother-in-law. Whatever family interaction Penelope intended to preserve would be too much and too little at the same time. For Liam, he had no choice but to endure it.
“I didn’t consider my relationship to you when I proposed to your sister.” He shouldn’t have, anyway.
“Even though you don’t love Penelope, do you care about her?”
He shifted on the hard seat, hating the conversation and his choices. “Of course. She’s going to be my best
friend.”
“I don’t care what she’s going to be. I want to know right now. Do you care?”
“I’m not a robot. Of course, I care.” He cared that he’d never again hold Olivia in his arms. He hated Forever so fervently he wished he’d never gotten into the marriage business at all.
“Would you jump in front of a subway train for her?”
“That’s ridiculous. You’d think twice—”
“Ethan wouldn’t.” Her blue eyes glittered as she stared him down. “He’d put her life before his own. He threw away a safe, comfortable career to take a chance on her potential.”
If his company was so safe and comfortable, why did he squirm with the knowledge he’d jeopardized it so badly he couldn’t fix it alone?
“Which brings me to another point,” Olivia continued. “You won’t be jealous of your wife’s accomplishments, are you? With her blossoming perfume business, you need to consider becoming a stay-at-home dad so your kids don’t grow up with emotional issues from taking second place to their parents’ careers.”
He’d proposed to Penelope to give Liam the stability of Forever, although the backlash from his employees had rushed his timing. The idea of having additional children with anyone other than Olivia held no appeal.
“I’m sorry for the things I said about Austin. He’s a great kid with no emotional problems. I look forward to spending time with him as my nephew and I’ll spend plenty of time with Liam. But I can’t take time off from Forever for something I can pay a babysitter to do.”
“You have the perfect theory to bring happiness to children everywhere, but you plan to let someone else raise your children while you tell everyone how to raise theirs? Your noble goals are nothing more than a smoke screen to make money.”
Grasping at straws as he tried to avoid self-destructing left him no illusions of his own nobility. At least he’d been right about love. The derision in Olivia’s tone assured him the bottom had fallen out of hers.
“My goals always put children first, especially my own, which is why I asked your sister to marry me.”
She flinched.
Damn. She loved Liam more than her sister did, more than anyone. If putting children first truly topped his priority list, he should have proposed to Liam’s first choice for a mother.
Penelope reentered the restaurant, heading toward him. Dread filling his stomach, he rose to his feet.
“I’ve decided to accept your proposal.” She held out her hand.
As he accepted the formal handshake, Olivia picked up her purse and marched away.
Pain exploded in his chest. Bring on the hurt. Push the knife in and twist it. He’d suffer the agony without complaint because he deserved it. Olivia did not.
Penelope picked up her wineglass and downed it. Then she picked up Ethan’s glass, polishing it off as well. “Is there more wine in the bottle?”
“Not nearly enough.” He split the contents between them and flagged down a waiter for more.
* * * *
With Austin in school, the leaky toilet replaced, the downstairs renovations underway, guests making summer reservations, and The Forever Marriage little more than a joke for the pundits, Olivia’s dreams were coming true. Her parents not only approved of her plans for the renovations but insisted Grandma MacDermont would have wanted the house filled with children rather than guests.
From the facts, she had no reason to be miserable, but her emotions didn’t respond to logic. Each day, she hoped her heart would begin to mend and ease the hurt, but so far, no luck.
“Mr. and Mrs. Schneider, welcome to The Scot’s Mansion.” She worked up a smile for her newest guests, a couple in their sixties.
“Call us Margaret and Ralph, please,” the woman said.
Even the man’s innocuous name reminded her of Caleb and the stepfather he’d despised. “I’m Olivia. I have scones and tea in the sitting room whenever you’re settled and would like to check them out.”
“Scones?” Ralph asked.
“Yes.” She steeled herself for another guest to scorn her baking.
“Ralph’s mother was from Scotland,” Margaret said. “He’s spent years trying to duplicate her recipes.”
She relaxed into her innkeeper role. Life went on, familiar and with normal patches, despite a broken heart. “I use my grandmother’s recipe. As you probably guessed from the name of the inn, she was Scottish, as well.”
“Your place is so charming. I’m glad Ethan recommended it to us.”
“Ethan?” How many more coincidences could she shrug off?
“My son. He stayed here a couple of weeks ago and spoke highly of the food and accommodations.”
“Your son?” Her throat constricted. “Caleb would be your son, as well.”
“Yes.” She managed to look proud as well as sad. “He stayed here too, I gather.”
“Yes.” Olivia blinked and took a deep breath. “My sister is away on business, but she’s planning to return tomorrow. She’ll be ecstatic to meet her future in-laws.”
Margaret grasped her arm. “Ethan’s going to marry her? Oh, I’m so glad. He hadn’t told me yet, but I knew she was perfect for him. He’s head-over-heels for her.”
Her stomach twisted. “No, no, Mrs. Schneider. You misunderstood.” She should have kept her mouth shut. Talking about the engagement didn’t help her get over it.
The woman looked crestfallen. “But you said—”
“Caleb asked Penelope to marry him. Excuse me, I need to make sure your room has enough towels.” She ran down the hall before her tears fell.
* * * *
“Penelope, I was so hoping we’d meet in person.”
Closing the front door with her foot, Penelope set her duffle bag on the floor and shook the outstretched hand of a petite, chubby woman. A pile of yarn lay on the chair by the window. “Have we met?”
“Not in person. We spoke over the phone. I’m Margaret Schneider, Ethan’s mom. Did you jump him?”
A nervous laugh sputtered from her mouth before she clamped her lips closed. “No.”
“Why not? Don’t you care about him?”
“Well, yes, of course I do. But—” Drat, where was Olivia to help her out of this situation? “Ethan and I are going into business together. I have no intention of jeopardizing our success by jumping him.”
“No, of course not.” The woman nodded. “Do you love him?”
“Mrs. Schneider, you’ve made a mistake.” Someone should have warned her about this meeting. Caleb should have let his mother know he was engaged. Well, she hadn’t quite gotten around to telling her parents yet, but she would have let them know before Caleb ran into them. Probably. “I’m engaged to Caleb, not Ethan.”
“Caleb?” Margaret reached for Penelope’s left hand. “No ring.”
“We haven’t had time to pick one out yet. We’ve both been busy with our careers.” The day after the proposal, Ethan had sent her onto The Brighid Show in Caleb’s time slot with a plug for Penelope’s Pleasures. Caleb had yet to find another “appropriate” venue to announce their engagement.
Margaret continued to hold her hand. The beautiful red manicure from the party had chipped, and her cuticles were once again dry and cracked. “Do you love him?”
“Who?” She stalled, hoping Olivia would rescue her with impeccable timing and diplomacy.
“My son, of course.”
What mother wanted to hear her son was engaged to a woman who didn’t love him? “Yes. I love your son.”
Her gaze narrowed. “Which one?”
“Ethan.” The name spilled out. She pulled her hand free and covered her mouth as she turned away. She’d meant to lie and say “Caleb.” Instead, she’d revealed the truth to herself.
When he grew tired of playing with her, she would lose everything. Financially and in regard to her career, she’d be no worse off than before she met him. Even socially, no one would notice a change. But deep inside her heart where she’d never been touched,
she would be crushed.
“You’re in love with my son, Ethan,” Margaret repeated. “But you’re marrying my son, Caleb.”
Burning with shame and misery, she nodded. “You must hate me.” She hated herself.
Margaret draped her arm around her shoulders. “How could I hate you when my boys think you’re so wonderful they both picked you?”
The woman’s patient understanding rather than fury somehow made the situation worse. As soon as Penelope escaped to the basement, she’d lock herself in and never come out.
“I married men I didn’t love while I was in love with someone else,” Margaret said. “It didn’t last. I had a hard enough time creating a lasting relationship with the man I did love. We tied the knot three times before it stayed tied. If you go into marriage loving someone else, you’re dooming the relationship for both of you, not to mention missing out on what you could have had with the person you do love.”
“Ethan’s not interested in me that way.”
“Did he tell you that? I’d ask him pointblank about his interest before I threw it away.”
* * * *
Caleb preferred enduring late night talk jokes about his theories to returning to The Scot’s Mansion. But Penelope needed to talk and insisted it happen in “her world.” He’d prove his friendship by dropping everything to fly out and lend his support.
However, if Olivia saw him or found out he’d been in the area, he’d hurt her again. To minimize the chance, he’d made reservations at a chain motel in the next town. After leaving Liam at Maude’s house, he entered The Scot’s Mansion.
Penelope had told him to come straight to the basement. With a little savvy and a lot of luck, he’d come and go without a heartrending confrontation.
As he tiptoed through the foyer, Olivia’s laughter from the kitchen swept through him, stabbing his chest. She said she loved him. He thought she’d still be wallowing in misery. Yet she laughed.
But he, who did not love, had been swallowed up by an agonizing emptiness and couldn’t remember the last time he’d even chuckled. Quite possibly, not since he’d exchanged snowballs with Olivia and Austin on the sled hill.
