“Maybe it’s none of your damn business.”
His gaze dropped down and perused her body. “You seemed interested in making it my business.”
That was too much. Dan’s words popped into her head. Shoving her feet into her boots, she gave him a cold look. “I was drunk and pissed off and trying to teach you a lesson.”
“You’re a very good teacher,” he said. “Can I have another class?”
She clomped over to the door without lacing her boots and yanked it open. He was just playing around. Like he’d said, he was cynical and bitter.
She turned to him, calming herself enough to study him with her brain and not her hormones. He was a good-looking guy and she was lonely. It would be a fun week and then it would be over and she’d regret it. “No,” she said. “No, you can’t.”
“Too bad.” He sighed and got to his feet with a loud exhale. “I would have liked to work through the rest of your list.”
She leaned a hip on the doorframe and crossed her arms over her chest, unpleasantly aware her pulse hadn’t yet settled at a normal pace. “Really? You want to buy a house and save up for retirement with me? Be the father of my children?”
“Admit it, Lucy. Your list is bullshit. You’re freaked out about getting older and want to bag a husband before you think it’s too late.”
She couldn’t speak for a moment. “Did you have problems with your last girlfriend? Is that it? Because I think you’re flinging a lot of snap judgments at somebody you just met.”
“Maybe. Or maybe I heard about your setup with Alex. Maybe I read over your little spreadsheet and know more than I want to about what makes you tick.” In two steps he was right next to her. “Maybe I noticed you’re more interested in me than him.”
She lifted her chin. “Not in any way that matters,” she said, and stormed out.
* * *
Miles was late.
He still had no idea what a tree ceremony was, but he’d never intended to blow it off. Since Lucy had left his cabin, however, his mind had been elsewhere. When he finally took a break from his brooding over what had and hadn’t happened, he looked up at the clock and scrambled to find the map and the steep path through the forest before he lost his nerve to see her. Now he was hiking up a trail through clusters of towering trees and inhaling the damp silence. He wished he could absorb the quiet into his body.
He never, ever should have poked around her computer. He’d done worse things, like pulling her into his lap and kissing her, but none of that would have happened if he hadn’t started the flirting in the first place.
He wasn’t going to lie to himself; that’s what he’d been doing. Breaking into her computer and teasing her was flirting. He thought she was cute, he thought Alex was a tool, and he thought her blender-shopping approach to finding a spouse was shallow and annoying and, yes, reminded him of his ex-girlfriend. Maybe he’d wanted to take her down a peg because his pride still stung from Felicia dumping him.
Or maybe he’d taken one look at her flushed pink cheeks and her compact, fierce little body, and he’d wanted a taste.
He picked up a curved stick and swiped at a fern blocking his path. He had to cool it. The last thing he needed was another woman who wanted a husband more than she wanted a man.
The path looked simple and natural, just a smooth ribbon of earth switchbacking up through the trees, but he could see it was carefully maintained by human hands to be free of mud or rocks, fallen trees, poison oak. Every couple of minutes he passed a wooden marker with a hand-carved image of a tree. Just as he was breaking a sweat, he reached the top of a ridge. In the center of a clearing was a massive coastal redwood at least ten feet in diameter. Built right next to it was a timber platform, about twenty feet high, with a zip line extending off into the forest.
A zip line? And the Sterlings? His mood lifting, he approached the tree.
A dozen or so people stood around it in small groups, looking up at the platform where a man and a woman were preparing harnesses. Two snub-nosed electric cars were parked off to the side. The climb was probably too much for the golf carts, and not everyone could hike up mountains.
Or ride on zip lines.
He hoped the ceremony involved Huntley’s parents flying through the air at fifty miles an hour. And that the wedding videographer was around to capture it.
Lucy was there with her friends and a handful of people he didn’t recognize. He told his body to calm down and went over to Huntley. “I can’t believe they haven’t made a run for it.”
Wedged between his parents, Huntley smiled at him, but his eyes looked anxious. “They know I can’t make them,” he whispered. “They didn’t even want to get in the car to ride up here.”
Fawn stood awkwardly off to the side, clearly excluded, while Huntley’s parents gave Miles the once-over of people who’d known him when he was very young and still couldn’t believe how much he’d grown. It always made him feel like a Saint Bernard.
The elder Huntley strode over and held out his hand. “Still slumming it at that nonprofit, Miles?” He squeezed hard and gave him a serious look. “What kind of security do you have in a place like that? Oakland, isn’t it?”
“Nice to see you again, Huntley the Second,” Miles said with a half smile. “And the clubhouse is in Berkeley.” The “Second” nickname had started when Miles was eleven and he hadn’t been allowed to call him anything else since. The younger Huntley said it probably made him feel like a regular dad—the kind who coached soccer teams, not the kind who owned one.
Miles nodded at Huntley’s mother. She had never wanted to be regular. “Mrs. Sterling.”
“I think you’re old enough to call me Rosalind, Miles.” She took his hand and leaned in for an air kiss. Softly, audible only to him, she said, “Save him, will you?”
Miles smiled noncommittally and broke away to stand with Fawn. She was clearly eager to win over Huntley’s parents, with clothes off the set of a L.L. Bean catalog shoot and a big smile in spite of the obvious hostility aimed her way.
“So, who gets to go first?” he asked her. “Strapping people to wires and pushing them off a cliff had to be Huntley’s idea.”
“Actually, it was mine,” Fawn said. “The wedding coordinator here at the spa made it sound unforgettable.”
“I imagine it will be,” Rosalind said.
Miles glanced at Huntley to see if he would jump in to stand up for Fawn, but he had a hand on the platform for the zip line, tapping it as though checking its stability.
The dork. Miles was tempted to grab his ankles and shake him upside down again. Even if the best man wasn’t thrilled about the bride, the groom had to be.
Miles gave Fawn a smile. “It looks really fun,” he said. “What do we have to do before we ride? The note said ‘ceremony.’”
Huntley’s father snorted. “Whatever it is, I hope they get on with it. They should have warned us about the athletic features of the event.” He scowled at the guides and their harnesses. “Not to mention the cold.”
He and Rosalind were wearing summer-weight shirts and slacks, no jackets, leather shoes. The fog had never burned off and a wind was picking up.
“We were waiting for Miles,” Fawn said. “I’m sure they’ll start in a second.”
The elder Huntley squeezed his shoulder. “So we can blame you, Miles. I hope you don’t teach those children of yours it’s all right to be late. Hardly the message they need to make a place for themselves in the world.”
“They’re better than I am with the clock, I admit,” Miles said.
The elder Huntley patted him on the back. “All that basketball, eh? But you didn’t answer my question about security. What kind of staff do you have?”
“The clubhouse isn’t in a dangerous neighborhood, just industrial. Lots of biotech companies, factories, warehouses, that sort of thing.”
“The kind of kids you’re trying to help bring problems with them, don’t tell me they don’t. What’s your age lim
it? Thirteen? Twelve?”
Miles gave him a steady look. “They’re welcome to come as long as they want. I pay the older ones to run the summer camps. I’ve got a girl right now who comes in every Thursday afternoon to help with grant proposals. She’s going to Cal in the fall.”
“A girl, one with that kind of ambition, sure. But aren’t you dealing mostly with delinquent males?”
Miles saw Huntley close his eyes and could almost hear him praying. But Miles was used to the insults and the snap dismissals. “No,” he said calmly. “They’re just kids who need a place to go after school. All walks of life.”
“You telling me the professors and doctors pay to send their children to your inner-city gym?”
Miles managed a smile. “Some of them.”
Rosalind made an impatient noise and took her husband’s arm. “It really is freezing up here. Fawn, could you please go and see what’s holding them up? Any longer and I’ll have to request a ride back to the lodge.”
Fawn hesitated, but when Huntley said nothing, she blasted them all with her stunning smile and strode away toward a group of people on the other side of the clearing.
“Pretty girl, Huntley, but not very bright, is she?” Rosalind said, watching her walk away. “When the looks go—and they will, even with all the help your money can buy—what will be left to hold you to her?”
Huntley laughed nervously and put an arm around her. “My mother the romantic.”
“I’m serious. Even with a prenup, marriage is nothing to joke about.”
“Even with a prenup.” Huntley winked at Miles, pretending his mother was just being her usual comic self. “I better go see what’s holding us up.” He scurried away.
“That boy needs to grow some balls,” the elder Huntley said.
“I’ll go see if I can help him with that.” Miles strode after his friend and caught his arm just as he was about to climb up the ladder to the platform. As though he could just fly away, leaving Fawn behind to talk to the staffer with the walkie-talkie. “Don’t you dare.”
“The sooner we get this moving, the better,” Huntley said.
“The sooner you stand up to them, the better.”
Huntley choked out a laugh and ran his hand through his pale hair. “Really? And then spend the rest of the week trapped at the resort with them? No, thank you.”
“You owe it to Fawn.”
“I owe it to her not to cause a scene with my parents over her in public,” Huntley said. “My parents have been brilliant about maintaining the family’s privacy. Even when my sister started her gay rights campaign, she always kept it classy, never let on Mom and Dad were privately giving her shit. I’m not going to be the first Sterling to screw that up.”
“You want to keep it classy?” Miles gripped his shoulders and swiveled away from the platform. “Go stand next to the girl you’re going to marry. Show everyone whose side you’re on. Which, in case you’ve forgotten, is hers.”
“What’s your problem? I thought you didn’t even believe in marriage anymore.”
“Not bad ones.” Miles gave him a shove and turned his attention to the one person standing near the tree he couldn’t ignore any longer.
* * *
Lucy watched Miles talk to the Sterlings on the other side of the platform. They looked happier to see him than they had anyone else.
“Kind of standoffish, aren’t they?” Geri, Fawn’s mother, asked her.
After a brief introduction, the Sterlings had moved away to the other side of the tree. No friendly chitchat between the parents of the bride and groom. Not even a smile.
Geri lowered her voice and gestured down at the waterproof jacket and hiking boots she wore. “Were we supposed to dress up? I thought this was just some fun nature thing.”
Lucy gave her a squeeze. She’d spent a lot of afternoons in Geri’s kitchen, eating normal foods her eccentric, academic father never learned how to cook—things like chicken with bones, fresh vegetables, anything more complicated than toast. “You look fine. They’re just from the East Coast. Probably thought all of California was hot. And I think the zip line was a surprise to everybody but Fawn and Huntley.”
Fawn’s father, Larry, was remarried, and stood with his wife Val a few feet away talking to Betty and Krista. They were all dressed in warm clothes—fleece, jeans, hiking sneakers. Lucy waved but stayed with Geri.
“You’d think all that money could pay for better manners,” Geri said, still watching the Sterlings.
“Their way of showing they’re not thrilled about the marriage, I suppose.”
“I meant Richie Rich,” Geri said through her teeth.
“Don’t you like Huntley?”
“Look at him over there. He’s not even looking at her. Like he’s ashamed of her.”
Lucy had been too distracted by the large man in the navy sweatshirt next to Huntley. Miles seemed to be arguing with him about something.
Geri sighed. “Ignore me. It all just happened so fast. I’m just surprised they didn’t elope. Sudden weddings between strangers should happen on the cheap in Reno. You know how much this week must be costing them? I had breakfast in that restaurant—did you know every stupid thing in there is white? And afterward I’m sitting there waiting for the check and then finally learn, oh no, it’s all paid for!”
Lucy nodded. Forced herself to turn so Miles was out of her line of vision. “Ate there last night.”
“I wish they’d told me. I felt like an idiot. Tried to pay for my free oatmeal with a debit card.” She squeezed Lucy’s arm and whispered in her ear, “I should have gotten the crab omelet with champagne!”
“Tomorrow. I’ll eat it with you.”
They laughed together. “How are you, Lucy? Fawn told me you broke up with Dan. It was so many years. Is it bad to say I’m relieved?”
“I don’t know. Is it bad for me to be relieved?”
“Thatagirl.” Geri squeezed her again. “I always thought you were settling. I know how badly you want a family, but take it from me, some men just aren’t worth it.” She glanced at her ex.
“But without him,” Lucy said softly, “you wouldn’t have Fawn.”
Geri sighed. “True enough. And look at her, so lovely. Never ceases to amaze me that gorgeous creature came out of my body.”
Lucy smiled at the old joke but then noticed the hostility in Huntley’s mother’s face. “Don’t worry. If Huntley doesn’t stick up for her I’ll key his private jet.”
Geri’s face twisted with worry. “She even signed the prenup. I told her, whatever you do, just make sure he loves you. And don’t sign anything!”
Suddenly Miles was there at her side. “They’re going to start in a minute. A staffer stopped me to apologize for the delay.”
Pretending her heart wasn’t pounding, Lucy stepped away from Miles and introduced him to Geri. Geri admired him with her sharp brown eyes and gave Lucy a raised eyebrow before drifting away with her ex-husband and his wife. They got along pretty well as long as nobody was drinking.
Miles and Lucy stood there awkwardly, saying nothing, watching Huntley and Fawn doing the same thing a dozen yards away. Lucy knew her cheeks were hot and was grateful for the chill in the wind.
She felt his gaze on her but pretended she didn’t notice. “I should have warned Fawn. About Huntley’s parents.”
“She knew.”
Lucy sighed. “Yeah, I guess she did.”
Another silence. “It’s not going to be a very fun week if you won’t even look at me.” He lowered his voice. “And you know you want to.”
Chapter 10
SHE TURNED HER BODY TOWARD him and glanced up at his face, noticing with alarm how the overcast sky matched the gray of his eyes. She dropped her attention to the zipper pull on his sweatshirt halfway down his chest.
“Chicken,” he said softly.
“I am not going to talk to you anymore.” She took a step back.
He put a hand on her arm and her body respon
ded with a rush of blood to the spot where he touched her, an acceleration of her breathing, a tingly feeling down her spine. “Party’s starting,” he said, gesturing past her.
Grateful for the distraction, she turned to watch a woman in white, arms upraised, jog to the base of the platform. “Greetings, fellow human beings of Earth. I am Celeste. Before we climb up the platform, we’re going to link hands in a Welcoming Circle around Bahbbe—the tree—and let the life force that is so powerful here rise up through the roots, down from the canopy, sharing with us a Life Blessing for the future.”
Lucy’s snort came out before she could stop herself. She covered her mouth and coughed.
“And then we’re going to go for the ride of our lives!” Celeste whooped and pounded her fist in the air.
“It’s almost worth being here just to watch Rosalind Sterling’s face,” Miles said in her ear while they watched Celeste greet them. “She looks like she’s chewing something nasty.”
Fighting the impulse to cover her neck where he’d breathed on it, Lucy stepped away. “I’ll link hands, but no way am I getting up there.”
“It is pretty high.” Miles looked up. “Are you afraid of heights?”
Her stomach lurched. “That would be silly.”
“Not it’s not. It’s pretty common—”
“I’m not afraid. I just… don’t like to be strapped in like that.” Hurling through the air. A hundred feet above the ground.
He leaned down, touched her shoulder, dropped his voice. “No harnesses on your list? How about straps?”
“There’s still time to beat you up.”
He grinned.
Celeste herded everyone toward the tree, smiling and addressing each one of them by their first name: Fawn and Huntley, their parents, Lucy and Miles, Krista and Betty, then stopping and gasping in alarm. “Where is Alex?”
Lucy frowned and looked around.
Miles grinned. “You didn’t notice he wasn’t here, did you?”
She ignored him. But she hadn’t. “I don’t see Huntley’s sister either.”
“Is she your backup if this arranged marriage with Alex doesn’t work out?”
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