He was always polite and made a point of introducing her to everyone who stopped to chat, but he didn’t divulge any information about her aside from her name. After the third introduction, Julie realized that he was being deliberately secretive. When he put his hand on her back to nudge her along after a brief exchange of pleasantries with a bubbly blonde he’d introduced as Missy Walsh, the pieces started to come together.
“Why do you want people to think that we’re together?”
“We are together,” he said, deliberately misunderstanding her question.
Her gaze narrowed. “You know what I mean.”
Before he could reply—and undoubtedly deny any complicity—they turned up the next aisle and crossed paths with someone else he knew. It was another woman, this one stunningly beautiful with long dark hair, warm golden eyes and a wide smile.
“Hey, stranger,” she said, and touched her lips to his cheek in a way that confirmed they were anything but strangers. Her gaze shifted to take in Julie and Caden, then moved back to Lukas again. “I heard whispered speculation in aisle four about whether or not it was ‘his baby,’—now I know who they were talking about.”
He just shrugged. “People are always going to find something to talk about.”
The brunette moved to take a closer look at Caden, then shook her head. “No way. He’s much too cute to be your kid.” She offered her hand to Julie. “I’m Kelly Cooper.”
“Jack’s fiancee,” Lukas added, in case she hadn’t made the connection.
“And one of Lukas’s oldest friends,” Kelly told her.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Julie said.
“Who was in aisle four?” Lukas asked.
“Tara Gallagher and Missy Walsh.”
“Is there anything I can bribe you with to go back there and tell them that the baby is mine?”
Kelly shook her head. “It wouldn’t matter. Not to Missy, anyway. I could say that you had a dozen kids by a dozen different mothers, and she would take that as hope she might bear the thirteenth.” Then she turned to Julie. “Missy’s been in love with Lukas since tenth grade, but he never gave her the time of day.”
“Julie isn’t interested in ancient history,” Lukas said.
“It doesn’t sound ancient to me,” she couldn’t resist teasing.
Kelly laughed. “I’ve got a lot more stories I could tell.”
“And we’ve got to get to the produce department,” Lukas said pointedly.
His friend rolled her eyes. “You could at least pretend to be subtle.”
“Why?”
“To make a good impression on your houseguest.”
“I’m trying to make a good impression—which is why I don’t want her hanging around here to talk to you.”
She poked her tongue out at him. Lukas kissed her cheek then started to push the cart away. Since Caden’s carrier was attached to the cart, Julie automatically fell into step beside him. “It was nice meeting you,” she said to Kelly.
“We’ll finish our conversation another time,” the other woman promised.
“I’ll look forward to it.”
After Julie had selected the fruits, vegetables and fresh herbs she wanted, they made their way to the checkout line. She always liked to have a list when she went to the grocery store, but she invariably added to the list as she shopped. She hadn’t realized how much she’d added until Lukas was unloading the cart onto the checkout belt.
She tried to move past him, closer to the register so that she would be in position to pay, but he deliberately blocked her path.
“I want to get this—”
He put a hand over hers as she reached into her purse. “We’ll discuss this later.”
“But—”
He dipped his head closer, his mouth hovering just a few inches above hers. “The gossip from aisle four just moved her cart into line behind us.”
She lifted a brow. “What does that have to do with the price of free range chicken at the Saver Mart?”
“Nothing,” he admitted. “But I wouldn’t mind adding fuel to the speculative fires.”
“You think she’d really believe that we’re together?”
“Why not?”
To an outsider, it probably did look as if they were having an intimate conversation. Their heads were close and their voices pitched low so that only Julie and Lukas could know that they were arguing about who should pay the grocery bill. “Because I drove into town less than a week ago.”
“Eight months after the brief but blistering hot affair we had when I was in Boston for a veterinary rehabilitation symposium.”
His lips brushed the shell of her ear as he spoke, making her blood heat and her heart pound. It was an effort to focus her attention on their conversation, and she had to moisten her lips with the tip of her tongue before she could respond. “Were you really in Boston eight months ago?”
“Actually it was Baltimore,” he admitted. “But Missy never had an aptitude for geography.”
The clerk announced the total of their order and Lukas drew away to pull out his wallet. Julie’s fingers tightened on the handle of the buggy as she exhaled a long, shaky breath.
She wanted to believe the flood of heat that made every inch of her skin itch was nothing more than postpartum hormonal overload, but the more time she spent with Lukas, the more she was beginning to suspect otherwise.
She secured Caden’s car seat into the truck while he loaded the grocery bags.
“I’m writing you a check when we get back to your place,” she said, when he slid behind the wheel.
“We’ll talk about it then,” he said agreeably.
But she wasn’t fooled for a minute. And since she knew he was going to give her grief about paying for a few groceries—even though she would be eating the food—she decided to give him some grief, too.
“I’m a little surprised that you’d be resistant to such an attractive woman.”
He turned the key in the ignition. “Who?”
“Missy Walsh.”
He pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road. “You don’t know anything about the situation.”
“I know that you’re apparently afraid of a five-foot-tall curvy blonde in pink spandex.”
“With good reason,” he told her. “She adopted a kitten last year just so that she could make regular appointments to come into my clinic.”
“You don’t think it’s possible that she just wanted a pet?”
“Within six months, she gave it away because she was allergic. Then she tried a dog—same problem.”
“Maybe she’s just a lonely woman who wants some company,” she suggested.
“I told her to try a goldfish.”
“And?”
“She brought the bowl in when the fish went belly up.”
Julie couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re kidding?”
“I wish I was.”
“Okay, that is a little strange,” she admitted.
“The biggest problem is that she’s really sweet,” Lukas admitted. “She just tries too hard. She actually dated one of my friends for a while, and he really liked her at first. He said she was fun and interesting to talk to. But the more time they spent together, the more she assimilated his ideas and opinions. She liked everything he liked, wanted to do whatever he wanted to do, agreed with everything he said.”
“I would think that’s the kind of woman every man would love.”
“Maybe for five minutes,” he acknowledged. “After that, it would get pretty boring.”
“So you’ve never gone out with her?”
“No. And I’ve never given her the slightest bit of encouragement. But that hasn’t stopped Missy.” He shook his head, obviously frustrated by the situation. “She came into the clinic a couple of weeks ago—coincidentally only a few days after Jack and Kelly got engaged—to ask my opinion about geckos.”
“With one brother recently married and the other engaged, it’s understand
able that she might think you’re ready for a committed relationship,” Julie pointed out to him. And then she couldn’t resist asking, “So why are you still single?”
“Never met the right woman, I guess.”
“Really? That’s your answer?”
“Or maybe I’m just not the marrying kind.”
“That sounds like the response of a man who’s been burned by love.”
“It’s the truth.”
“How old are you?”
“Thirty-four.”
She shifted in her seat so that she could see him more clearly. “Are you honestly telling me that you’ve never known a woman who made you think in terms of forever?”
“Not really.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, I did propose to someone once,” he confided. “But she turned me down.”
Which confirmed her “burned by love” theory but still didn’t quite add up. “And that was it? One heartbreak and you gave up?”
“I wouldn’t even call it a heartbreak,” he admitted, turning into his driveway. “In retrospect, I’m not even sure I was in love with her, but I could imagine sharing my life with her.”
“Now that’s the foundation of a really romantic proposal.”
Her dry tone made him smile. “My proposal was motivated by more practical considerations.”
“And you wonder why she turned you down?”
He just shrugged.
“So if you weren’t wildly in love, why did you want to marry her?”
“Because she was pregnant.”
Her jaw dropped. “You have a child?”
“No,” he said quickly. “It wasn’t my baby.”
“Oh.” She thought about that for a minute. “Have you always had a hero complex—a desire to save the damsel in distress?”
He scowled. “I don’t have a hero complex. She was a friend, and the baby’s father was out of the picture, and I knew she was terrified by the thought of going through pregnancy and childbirth on her own.
“And,” he confessed with a small smile, “for the few minutes that she took to consider my offer, I was absolutely terrified that she would say yes.”
“I can understand why she would have been tempted,” Julie admitted.
“Because I’m so tempting?” he teased.
“Because having a baby without a father is a scary prospect—even when it’s the right thing to do.”
“Right for whom?”
She didn’t say anything, was afraid that she’d already said too much.
“Who were you thinking about when you decided to have your baby on your own?” he pressed. “Yourself or Caden?”
“Both of us.”
Then she unbuckled her belt and reached for the door handle, a clear signal that the conversation was over.
Chapter Nine
Kelly tried not to worry. She knew that Lukas was a grown man, capable of making his own decisions and accepting the consequences of those decisions. But he was also her best friend and, as such, she was entitled to pry—just a little.
And wasn’t it a lucky coincidence that she had an appointment to take Puss and Boots—the pair of kittens her daughter had insisted on adopting from Lukas a few weeks earlier—to the clinic for their sixteen-week immunizations the following Tuesday morning?
The vet gave them a quick once over, nodded approvingly. “They’re doing well. Thriving.”
“Does that mean they’re getting fat?” she asked. “Because every time I turn around, Ava’s giving them treats.”
“They’re not getting fat. But as long as they’re eating the right amount of food, treats should be reserved for special occasions.”
“Tell your niece that.”
“I will,” he promised.
“She won’t listen,” Kelly warned. “I told her that they had to have their own bed—which they do. And they still sleep with her.”
“So long as she has no allergies and they aren’t interfering with her sleep, it shouldn’t be a concern. In fact, for these two—because they were orphaned at such a young age—that close physical contact could be one of the reasons that they’re thriving. Love is as necessary as food, water and shelter to living creatures.”
“Even you?” she asked.
He glanced up at her, his brows raised. “Where did that come from?”
“It’s a simple question,” she told him. “I can’t help but admire the life you’ve built for yourself. You have a successful veterinarian practice, a fabulous house—but no one to go home to at the end of the day.”
“I have Einstein and Daphne,” he reminded her.
“And now you have Julie and Caden.”
“They’re not mine.”
“But you want them to be,” she guessed.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about you playing house with a beautiful woman and her brand-new baby.”
“I’m not playing house.”
“And I’m concerned about you falling for her,” Kelly admitted. “For both of them.”
“I’m not falling for her,” he said.
She didn’t believe that claim for a second. “I don’t want you to get hurt, Lukas.”
“Don’t you have more important things to worry about—like your wedding?” he said pointedly.
She shook her head. “Ava’s taken care of every single detail—I don’t have to do anything but show up.”
“You’re letting your twelve-year-old daughter plan your wedding?”
“She’s almost thirteen,” Kelly reminded him. “And she had very strong opinions about what she wanted. Since Jacks and I really just want to make it legal, we decided to put Ava in charge of the details.”
“And is everything on schedule?”
“Almost everything.” She let out a long sigh. “I still don’t have a dress.”
“You know that Jack will be happy to marry you if you show up at the church in old jeans and a T-shirt.”
“Yeah,” she said, and smiled because she did know it was true.
The smile slipped as her stomach pitched. She sucked in a lungful of air, trying to fight against the unexpected wave of nausea. Not now. Please not now. Unfortunately, her body refused to listen to the mental pleas, and she bolted out of the exam room and to the washroom.
After she’d expelled the meager contents of her stomach—and heaved a few more times just to make sure there was nothing left inside—she flushed the toilet. Her hands were shaking as she dampened some paper towels and wiped her face. When she was reasonably certain that her legs would support her, she returned to the exam room, where Lukas was waiting with the kittens.
He handed her a bottle of water. “Morning sickness?”
“I don’t know.” She lowered herself onto the stool beside the exam table and unscrewed the cap from the bottle. “It might just be a touch of a stomach bug that’s going around. Ava was home from school two days last week.”
“Do you have any other flulike symptoms? Fever? Chills?”
“No,” she admitted. “Just the nausea.”
“Then I’d guess pregnant over flu.”
Kelly lifted the bottle to her lips, took a long swallow of water. “Jacks and I both wanted to have another baby, and Ava has been asking for a brother or a sister almost since she could talk. But a baby in the abstract is a lot different than a flesh-and-blood child.”
“You’re scared,” he realized.
“I’m almost thirty-four years old,” she said. “The last time I had a baby I was twenty-one—too young and stupid to know that I should have been terrified.”
“You’re not alone this time,” he reminded her.
“I know. I mean—assuming that there is a ‘this time.’” She sighed. “He said that this is what he wanted—but what if it isn’t? I know Jackson still thinks about everything he missed out on when Ava was a baby, and I understand that. But I don’t know that he’s truly ready for the reality of a baby.�
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“Is any parent ever truly ready?”
“Good point,” she admitted. “Okay, on the way home I’ll stop at the pharmacy and pick up a pregnancy test.”
Lukas settled the kittens back in their carrier. “And you’ll let me know?”
“If there’s anything to know,” she told him. “You’ll be the first—after Jackson this time.”
He grinned. “I can live with that.”
* * *
While Kelly was at Lukas’s clinic, Julie was at Jackson’s law office.
After an extended delay waiting for parts that had be ordered from an out-of-town supplier, Bruce had finished the repairs to her vehicle and delivered it to Lukas’s driveway the previous afternoon. She’d been waiting to get her car back so she could continue her journey to Springfield, but with her parents out of the country, she wasn’t really anxious to go home. Because going home meant facing Elliott, and she wasn’t ready to do that just yet.
So when Lukas had assured her that she was welcome to stay as long as she wanted, she found herself accepting his offer “for just a few more days.” But she was grateful that having her car back afforded her the freedom to come and go as she pleased, because she was finally able to reschedule her appointment to see the lawyer.
She hadn’t told Lukas about the appointment, although she couldn’t have said why any more than she could have said why she felt as if she was going behind Lukas’s back to meet with his brother. After all, Jackson Garrett was the reason she’d come to Pinehurst in the first place. It was just an odd twist of fate that his brother was the reason she’d stayed.
She was summoned into the office at precisely 11:15 a.m., and when she walked through the door, Jackson rose from the chair behind his desk.
“I’ve been trying to figure out why your name sounds familiar,” he admitted, offering his hand. “But I don’t think we’ve ever met.”
“We haven’t,” she admitted. “I was looking for a family law attorney in the area and my brother, Dan, recommended you. He said you went to law school together.”
“Dan Marlowe,” he said, and smiled. “It is a small world, isn’t it?”
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