Marry Me in Amarillo
Autorzy
Celeste Hamilton
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19,2K
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11
Chapter One
What a beautiful bride.
Kathryn Seeger repeated the clichéd phrase to herself as she contemplated the gorgeous young woman standing before the dressing-room mirror. Kathryn, who dressed brides and planned weddings for a living, knew she should be immune to the sentiment of moments like this. But she wasn’t. When she saw a gown this perfect, worn by a woman with love and excitement shining in her face, she was always moved to tears.
“Oh, my,” she murmured as she blinked away the moisture in her eyes. “This dress was made for you.”
Young Ashley Grant turned from the mirror, her pretty features glowing beneath the lace-and-net veil Kathryn had placed on her long, curling blond hair. “It’s the wedding dress I’ve always dreamed of. How did you know?”
Kathryn smiled and gestured for Ashley to follow her. “Come out in the showroom. I want you to see the back of the dress in the big mirror.”
Moments later, Ashley stood on a dais in front of the huge gilt-framed, triple mirror that dominated the front showroom of Blue Heaven Weddings. Here, Ashley could fully appreciate the way the dress fell in pure white swirls of chiffon and lace from the tight, fitted waist. In the bright May sunshine that spilled through the broad windows, tiny beads and sequins shimmered and winked from the embroidered flowers on the skirt, from the snug bodice and the big, flat bow that accented the back just below the waist. Kathryn found long, lace gloves to complement the off-the-shoulder neckline and cap sleeves. Then she handed Ashley one of the silk bouquets the boutique kept on hand and stood back to admire the full impact of the ensemble.
Oohs and aahs came from the shop’s other customers, a mother and daughter being waited on by Kathryn’s associate, Devon Long.
“Your mother will cry when she sees you in this,” Devon told Ashley.
The young bride-to-be smiled, yet Kathryn saw a flicker of sadness move over her features. In the hour and a half since Ashley had arrived at the boutique, Kathryn had learned the young woman’s mother had passed away several years ago; her father wasn’t part of her life, and on her eighteenth birthday, just a few months back, Ashley had received an inheritance from her mother’s estate. The only stipulation attached to the money was that Ashley should use it for something she desired with all her heart.
“And I want a dream wedding,” Ashley had told Kathryn. “Everyone says you do the best weddings in West Texas, so that’s why I’m here.” Flashing the diamond ring given to her by the son of a ranching family Kathryn knew quite well, Ashley looked young and beautiful and full of dreamy plans for cakes and bridesmaid gowns, trousseaus and honeymoons.
Personal experience had tempted Kathryn to advise Ashley to spend her considerable inheritance for rent and school. But it wasn’t Kathryn’s job to douse the fires of romantic enthusiasm with the cold water of reality. So she had shown Ashley photos of cakes, swatches of material, examples of invitations and many styles of gowns. For one so young, Ashley was remarkably mature, decisive and surprisingly frugal. She might be planning the wedding of her dreams for late August, but she wasn’t being extravagant. Except with this dress. And when she had put on this gown, Kathryn had felt that moment of triumph she felt with most of her customers, that sense that she, in some small part, had helped them fulfill their fantasies.
Dream weddings were Kathryn’s specialty.
For everyone but herself.
She shook out a fold in Ashley’s skirt while she shrugged off that last, intrusive thought. She might sell nuptial fantasies to others, but she didn’t buy them herself. She wasn’t about to put herself under the control of matrimony or the power of a man. Not ever again.
The bell on the front door jangled with sudden impatience. A tall, muddy-booted man came across the room with a wide-eyed little boy trailing behind him. The two of them looked as out of place amid the frills and ruffles and ornate Victorian accents of Kathryn’s shop as a couple of steers at a debutante ball. Eyes wide, the mother and daughter customers retreated with Devon to the desk where they had been discussing reception hors d’oeuvres. Kathryn just stared at the males in speechless shock as they strode toward Ashley.
“What in the hell is this?” the man growled, gesturing at the young beauty.
“My wedding dress.” Chin lifted, Ashley gave the skirt an impertinent swish. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
The man’s features hardened. “When are you going to cut out this foolishness?”
Before Ashley could reply, Kathryn gathered her wits about her. “Now, wait a minute, sir. What do you think—”
“This is my brother,” Ashley cut in, her tone cold. “My half brother, Gray. He thinks he rules the world. Especially my world.”
Gray’s eyes thinned to ice blue slits. His gaze still on Ashley, he said to Kathryn, “I don’t want to disrupt your business, miss. But Ashley is wasting your time. She isn’t getting married.”
Confused, Kathryn glanced at the diamond glittering on Ashley’s left hand.
The younger woman thrust the ring toward her older brother. “I’m marrying Jarrett McMullen on Saturday, August 30. And there’s not one thing you can do to stop me.”
“You’re still just a kid and so’s McMullen.”
“I’m eighteen, and he’s twenty. We’re of legal age to do whatever we want.”
“But neither of you has any business getting married.”
Ashley tossed her head. “Just because you’re content to be alone—”
“Don’t start that damn nonsense again,” her brother interrupted, his voice rising. “This isn’t about me. It’s about you and that irresponsible fool who gave you that ring.”
“Don’t you call Jarrett a fool,” Ashley shouted.
Before Gray could make another heated reply, Kathryn stepped between them. “This isn’t the place to be having this argument.” The bell over the door jangled again, admitting another customer, even as the mother and daughter scampered out. Kathryn glared at Gray and Ashley and lowered her voice. “This is a boutique, not a family counseling center.”
For the first time, Gray’s gaze met hers. The contrast between his smoldering, light blue eyes and deeply tanned face was quite startling. Under his intense regard, Kathryn decided she now knew how bugs must feel when caught in a predator’s web.
“I’m sorry about the scene,” he said, obviously struggling with his anger. “But Ashley isn’t getting married.”
“Yes, I am.”
Noting the looks being sent their way by the new customer, Kathryn again jumped into the fray before the argument could intensify. “Perhaps you two should talk in my office.” She pointed toward a door to the right.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Gray said tightly.
But Ashley was already gathering up silken skirts and swirling toward the office.
Ashley’s brother gave Kathryn another hard look, then said, “Sorry about this,” before striding after her. The door closed behind him with a firm click.
Then the shouting match resumed in earnest.
Kathryn sent Devon to assist the new customer in browsing through mother-of-the-bride dresses, then started for her office to put an end to the muffled but still audible argument. Only a small figure seated in one of the shop’s deeply cushioned blue-and-gold chairs made her pause.
With a world-weary shrug, the little boy who had followed Gray into the boutique looked up at Kathryn. “It’s best to just let ’em fight it out.”
The child, who looked to be seven or eight years old, had Gray’s blue eyes and Ashley’s blond hair. He had a smear of something that looked like chocolate on his cheek and one of the sweetest smiles Kathryn had ever seen.
She couldn’t resist smiling back. “So I should just leave them alone?”
He nodded. “Ashley and Gray are always fighting. They get over it.”
He called the man Gray, not Dad. “Who are you?” she asked, curious since she had assumed the boy was Gray’s son.
“Rick Grant,” the child replied, smiling again. “I’m Ashley’s brother. Gray’s, too. He’s our half brother, but we never used to say that.”
“Why not?” Kathryn asked, curiosity overcoming her normally discreet nature.
Rick shrugged again. “When we moved here last year, and Ashley started being mad at Gray, she started telling everyone he was our half brother and our guard.”
Kathryn frowned. “He’s a guard?”
“He’s in charge of us.”
“Your guardian?” Kathryn suggested.
“Yeah,” Rick said. “Gray has always taken care of us. Only now Ashley wants to marry Jarrett and leave.” The beatific smile momentarily disappeared, leaving Kathryn with the feeling he was none too pleased about his sister’s impending marriage.
The angry voices in the room behind them grew louder. Rick shot an uneasy glance toward the door. Kathryn decided this insanity had continued long enough. Since the new customer had quickly followed the others out the door, Kathryn called Devon over, told her to take Rick out back to the kitchen for a cold drink, then entered the office.
She found Ashley and her brother in a classic face-off. The young woman was yelling while Gray shook his head, pausing only to interject an occasional shouted, “No way, never, not on your life.”
After several polite attempts to be heard, Kathryn finally screamed, “Just shut up!”
Both Gray’s and Ashley’s heads snapped toward her. Kathryn sucked in a deep, calming breath. “You’re going to have to take this discussion somewhere else.”
“I’m sorry,” Ashley muttered, hitching up her skirts and heading for the door. “There’s no discussing this with him anyway.”
A muscle twitched under her brother’s right eye, but he held his tongue. He and Ashley traded one last, baleful glare before she flounced out of the room.
The ensuing silence stretched for several moments before Kathryn nervously cleared her throat. “Mr. Grant…” she began.
“The name’s Nolan. Gray Nolan,” he said, his tone clipped. “Ashley and I had the same mother. Different fathers, different names.”
“Mr. Nolan,” Kathryn started again.
But he stalked past her before she could say anything more. Kathryn frowned, thinking him as rude and disagreeable as any man she had ever met. She was beginning to sympathize with Ashley’s plight. Squaring her jaw, Kathryn hurried out of the office. She didn’t expect Gray Nolan to be standing just outside the door, else she wouldn’t have plowed into his back.
He wheeled around, broad hands stretching out to steady her as she swayed from the impact of their collision.
“Excuse me,” she mumbled, hurriedly stepping out of his warm grasp.
His clear blue eyes blazed down at her. “There isn’t going to be a wedding.”
Kathryn pulled back. “Mr. Nolan, I don’t see—”
“No wedding,” he repeated, his voice deep and authoritative. “Are you the owner here?”
“Well, yes, but—”
“I’m ordering you not to help her plan this nonsense.”
“Ordering me?” Pain lanced Kathryn’s temples. Until now she had been merely aggravated. There had been family squabbles in this boutique before. When dealing with highly emotional brides, grooms and their families, a person learned to take the occasional blowup in stride. But this man got under Kathryn’s skin, as did most autocratic, overbearing men.
Gray Nolan’s face was a determined mask. “She’s not marrying that McMullen boy.”
“That boy comes from one of Amarillo’s finest families. They’re good friends of mine.”
“Fine or not, he’s too young to be marrying her, and she’s too young to be marrying anyone.”
In all honesty, Kathryn agreed. But she just planned the weddings, she didn’t encourage or discourage them. “I don’t provide prenuptial counseling, Mr. Nolan.”
“Oh, I know that.” Reaching one long arm around her, he pulled a lacy parasol out of an antique umbrella stand. “All you do is sell silly little bits of nonsense like this that young girls like Ashley think marriage is about. They don’t see that once you get past the lace and the silk and the candlelight, there’s a lot more to it.”
“You’re right.” Kathryn rescued the fragile parasol from him, and resisted the urge to hit him over the head with it. “There’s a lot more to it. But that’s something I think you and Ashley should take up at home.”
“Just so we understand each other,” the big, angry man said. “You won’t encourage her.”
“Encourage her?” Kathryn repeated, the ache in her temples slowly becoming a roar. “Mr. Nolan, I never met Ashley before today.”
“But you know McMullen’s family.”
“Yes, but even though I knew Jarrett McMullen was seeing someone pretty steadily, I never knew who it was until today. I didn’t tell him to send his fiancée over here. Ashley came to me. And I can assure you that she needed no encouragement about wedding plans. She walked in that door knowing exactly what she wanted in a wedding. She’s a very determined and self-assured young woman.”
“Couldn’t you see that she’s too young to be engaged?”
“She’s eighteen.”
“She’s a baby.”
“And the more you say that, the more determined she’s going to be to prove you wrong.”
Gray Nolan did a double take. “What did you say?”
Kathryn hadn’t intended to start giving advice. But in the face of this man’s blind arrogance, she couldn’t resist. “Ashley is not a baby. Not by a long shot. But if that’s how you continue to treat her, she’s going to do everything she can to thwart your efforts to keep her penned in.”
Settling his hands on his denim-clad hips, Nolan growled, “She is not penned in.”
“That’s apparently how she feels,” Kathryn snapped. “And if you don’t stop charging around, barking orders, she’s going to disappear from your life. If not by marrying Jarrett McMullen, then some other way.”
Before the man could formulate another hateful reply, Kathryn spied Devon and Rick coming from the rear of the store, both of them holding soft-drink cans. The little boy started toward Gray, waving the can dangerously near several racks of delicate silk gowns.
With a grace that belied his size, Gray met the boy midstore and took the can before a spill could occur. “Whoa, there, partner,” he said, his tone remarkably free of the acid he had used when speaking to Kathryn. “Be careful.”
“But Gray, they’ve got a cake back there this high.” Eyes wide, Rick held a hand well above his head to illustrate. “Are Ashley and Jarrett going to have one like that?”
“I doubt it,” his brother replied, looking grim once more. Hand on the boy’s shoulder, Gray turned him toward Devon. “Now let’s thank the nice ladies for the drink and go. I need to get to the office.”
“But where’s Ashley?”
With a patience that surprised Kathryn, Gray said, “Just say thank-you, Rick. Ashley’ll be home later.”
Rick said his thanks, and as quickly as they had appeared, the males were gone, leaving two sets of muddy footprints on the light blue carpeting.
“Oh, my,” Devon murmured in the sudden, sharp silence that followed. “My, my, my.”
Kathryn was familiar with Devon’s look and tone. She always looked and sounded this way when she met a man she thought Kathryn should be interested in.
“Get real,” Kathryn grated. “The man’s a jerk.”
Devon was busy peering through the glass door. “A jerk with a fine-looking butt.”
“Devon!” Kathryn shot a glance toward the dressing rooms. “His sister is still back there.”
“Surely she’s used to women ogling her brother. He’s gorgeous.”
“I didn’t notice.”
Wheeling from the door, Devon stared at Kathryn. “Didn’t notice those blue eyes? That dark hair? Those big, strong shoulders?”
Kathryn had noticed all of that and more, but she wouldn’t admit it to Devon. “All I noticed was his insufferable cockiness.”
“You could tame that out of him.”
“Men like that don’t tame,” Kathryn said. “I know. I tried it once.”
Devon shrugged that off without comment. “He can’t be all bad. Did you see how sweet he was to Rick?”
Kathryn turned and headed back to the dressing rooms where Ashley probably needed a hand with the dress. She knew better than to discuss men with Devon. The woman had appointed herself an expert on the subject of whom Kathryn should or shouldn’t date.
But Devon wasn’t to be deterred. “Rick’s a real cutie, too. They could be a great little package deal for some eager woman.”
“There may be some eager woman waiting at home,” Kathryn muttered before ducking through the curtained archway that led to the dressing rooms.
Devon’s lilting “I didn’t see a ring” filtered through the curtains.
Kathryn put the annoying Gray Nolan out of her head and concentrated on his half sister instead. Ashley was still wearing her dream dress, though she was propped on a stool in front of the mirror, the skirt pooled around her like so much frothy whipped cream. Unlike the tears Kathryn had expected, the young woman’s unusual tawny eyes were filled with determination. Ashley was petite and delicately pretty, but for the first time, Kathryn saw the resemblance between her and Gray.
“I heard what he said to you about not doing the wedding,” Ashley told her. “I’m sorry I made so much trouble for you.”
“You didn’t,” Kathryn soothed.
“I guess you’d like to tell me to take my business elsewhere.”
That was exactly what Kathryn wanted. But how could she say that to this anxious young woman? Ashley was engaged to Jarrett McMullen, whose older sister, Paige, had been Kathryn’s best friend in college. The McMullens had been of invaluable help when Kathryn moved from Fort Worth to Amarillo and set up her wedding boutique, and their support had continued through the years. If Jarrett was getting married, Kathryn was the only logical choice to coordinate his wedding. She owed that much to his family, and especially to Paige McMullen, who was now living in California. Kathryn wouldn’t back off unless Paige or Jarrett’s father asked her to.
“Don’t worry,” Kathryn told Ashley. “I’m sure everything will work out for the best.”
“Oh, I’m sure things will work out. Because Jarrett and I are getting married, no matter what Gray says or does. And I’m going to wear this dress.” Ashley stood, preening in front of the mirror once more. “I’m just afraid of how much trouble Gray’s going to cause along the way.”
Kathryn was secretly afraid of the same thing, but she didn’t know what she could do to change matters. Gray Nolan was just as stubborn and determined as his sister. The less Kathryn saw of him, the happier she would be. Although in some perverse way, it might be enjoyable to watch him suffer.
“You’ve got to talk to him some more,” Ashley said, interrupting her thoughts.
Kathryn shook her head. “No, Ashley. That’s not part of the services I provide.”
“Please.” Ashley turned and grasped Kathryn’s hands. “Please, Miss Seeger. Me and Jarrett really need your help with Gray. He could ruin this for us if you don’t. I wouldn’t ask if I had anyone else who could talk to him. But we only moved here last year. Gray has some friends back in Oklahoma, but there’s not much they can do, I’m afraid. And we don’t have any family that we’re close to who could talk to him about this. I really need some help.”
Even as she protested again, Kathryn could feel herself beginning to waver. It was the same slipping sensation she felt each time one of her brides asked for the impossible.
As Devon often said, Kathryn was a pushover when it came to helping dream weddings come true. She had remade gowns on the nights before weddings, procured doves to release during ceremonies, rented airplanes to paint messages in the sky and once hired an Elvis impersonator to entertain at a reception.
Elvis was easy.
Getting Gray Nolan to approve of this wedding was one miracle Kathryn wasn’t sure she could accomplish.
“I’m a jerk.”
Late that afternoon, Gray gave voice to his thoughts as he guided his Jeep out of the parking lot of his veterinary office.
On the seat beside him, Rick said, “How come?”
Gray, who hadn’t intended to speak aloud, grunted in reply.
But as usual, his eight-year-old brother didn’t let him off so easily. “Are you talking about fighting with Ashley?”
“Yeah.” Sighing, Gray edged into a stream of evening traffic and looked over at Rick. “I shouldn’t have gone barging into that store and made such a ruckus.”
Rick considered that for a few solemn minutes, then agreed, “Probably not.”
“Your sister’s going to be hot about it.”
“Maybe we better take home a pizza for dinner. It’s her night to cook, I think.”
Grinning, Gray ruffled the boy’s hair. Rick was always up for pizza. “Good idea.”
But as Gray headed toward their favorite pizza parlor, he thought it was going to take a whole lot more than pepperoni with extra cheese to make up with his sister.
He never should have stopped at that boutique this afternoon. Earlier, he had been called to Rick’s school for a conference with a counselor, then had to take the boy along on an emergency call at a ranch west of town. Gray had been muddy, tired and on emotional overload from Rick’s troubles at school and his worry over Ashley’s engagement. When he had seen his sister’s Honda Civic parked at the renovated house where the boutique was located, he had seen red. All of a sudden, the wedding he had been denying would happen had become a terrifyingly real possibility. He had reacted without thinking, wheeling in there, tearing inside with mud all over his boots, reading Ashley the riot act, then carrying on with the owner like a no-class bum. Though he was sure Ashley might disagree, such obnoxious behavior wasn’t his usual mode of operation.
What had happened to him and Ashley?
Gray had asked himself that question ever since leaving the boutique. As he did paperwork and returned the phone calls that were a routine part of most late afternoons at his large-animal veterinary practice, he had continued to puzzle over his disintegrating relationship with his sister. He was still worrying now, as he picked up the pizza and he and Rick drove through the gathering May twilight toward the little spread north of town where they lived.
The West Texas sky was beautiful, gilded orange, red and purple by the setting sun. But as Gray had expected, the house was dark; Ashley wasn’t home. What a change from just a year ago. In Oklahoma, where they had lived before, Ashley or Rick always came charging to the door when he got home, eager to tell him about their days or to hear about his. Now Ashley barely spoke to him unless it was to tell him some new, irritating detail about this ridiculous wedding. More often than not, she wasn’t even home.
Maybe if they had stayed in Oklahoma instead of moving, she would be planning for college instead of marriage. Gray had uprooted her whole life by moving them to Amarillo last summer, just before her senior year in high school. Instead of graduating with friends she had known since kindergarten, in three weeks she would receive her diploma with virtual strangers. But the move wasn’t really the problem. Ashley had made friends. She was too pleasant and bright for anything otherwise. And she hadn’t really seemed too upset about the move at first. With the maturity she used to possess, she had told Gray the chance for him to buy an existing veterinary practice sounded like a great opportunity, and she had felt the change would do Rick good. The youngest member of their family had suffered the most after their mother died. He had some emotional problems and struggled in school. Gray and Ashley had always been united in their protectiveness toward Rick.
Soon after they moved, however, Ashley began resenting most of the suggestions Gray made about everything—from her friends to her schoolwork to the way she dressed. He had never thought of himself as critical, but she acted as if he was an ogre. And after meeting Jarrett McMullen during Christmas break, she had stopped talking to Gray about anything more important than dinner.
Jarrett McMullen. The scourge of Gray’s life.
Scowling at the very thought of the tall, handsome young man who had taken over Ashley’s life, Gray shepherded Rick into the house and supervised the reheating and serving of the pizza. If only Jarrett McMullen hadn’t taken to coming home from Texas Tech in nearby Lubbock every weekend this winter. If only Gray had seen the danger in allowing Ashley to go with some girlfriends to visit the campus. Foolishly, Gray had believed she and her friends were checking out the school. He had been pleased, as it was a good school and not too far from home. Gray had even welcomed the idea that Jarrett was there to look after the girls on their visits. He had actually liked Jarrett. He had never suspected just how serious Jarrett and Ashley were becoming.
Two weeks ago, on a Sunday night, Jarrett had arrived at the house with Ashley. Very earnestly, the young man had asked Gray for her hand in marriage. But needing or wanting his permission was a joke, since Gray’s refusal had been met with a “Well, that’s too bad, because we’re getting married anyway,” from Ashley, who had waved that damned ring in his face.
Jarrett had been asked to leave and not come back. Gray had threatened to confiscate Ashley’s car keys and lock her in her room. Their home had become an armed camp.
With the tension in this family, Gray mused, it was no wonder Rick was having a more difficult time than usual in controlling his temper and concentrating on his school work. No wonder Gray’s fuse was so short that he had barked at that very attractive and very nice lady at the wedding boutique.
Recalling the boutique owner’s trim figure, flashing green eyes and raven hair required no effort whatsoever on his part. Nor was it difficult to remember her assertion that his continuing to fight this marriage would only force Ashley further away from him.
Damn it, maybe she was right.
When Gray had gone over to discuss this problem with Jarrett’s father, Rex McMullen had advised him not to panic, either. This was May. The wedding was planned for late August. Rex thought a lot could happen between now and then. Rex was giving Jarrett no encouragement about the wedding, nor was he jumping up and down and screaming in protest. Gray wished he could be so certain the kids would see the foolishness of their plans to marry so young.
Frustrated and weary, Gray pushed a half-eaten slice of pizza away from him.
“Aren’t you hungry?” Rick asked, having devoured three wedges already.
“Guess not.” Restlessly, Gray got up to peer out one of the corner windows that bracketed the kitchen table. He hoped to see Ashley’s car turn into the driveway. The family cat, a gray-and-white tabby named Bettina, rubbed against his leg and meowed. Twin beagles. Tiddly and Winks, gave halfhearted barks from their usual positions on either side of Rick’s chair. “These animals need to be fed,” Gray advised his young brother. “Just like the pony in the barn.”
Rick, who had started on his fourth piece of pizza, mumbled, “In a minute.”
The counselor had reminded Gray today that Rick needed consistency and discipline. “Feeding them is your responsibility.”
Rick finished his meal and with obvious reluctance led the dogs and cat to their dishes in the utility room. Gray cleared the table, reflecting as he did every night that he had to get on with remodeling the ranch house’s outdated kitchen. The rest of the house had been spruced up with paint and some plumbing and tile work in the bathrooms before he bought it. This room, as Ashley was so quick to point out every day, was dismal.
Lights from an automobile played across the corner windows just as Gray opened the dishwasher and began to load the dishes that were piled in the sink from last night and this morning. He made sure the car was Ashley’s before returning to his task. A car door slammed, followed a few moments later by the door leading from the back porch to the utility room.
Gray heard Ashley greet Rick with a lilting, “Hey, there. Short-stuff, how was school?” He listened as the boy answered, then brother and sister talked for a few minutes before Rick took the dogs and went to finish his chores in the barn. Gray was aware without looking up when Ashley walked into the kitchen and crossed silently to the refrigerator.
Not stopping what he was doing, Gray kept his tone even. “There’s pizza if you want it.”
“No, thank you.” The girl’s voice was as cold as the air blowing out of the freezer compartment.
“So you’ve already eaten?”
“I’m not hungry.”
“You need to eat.”
At that comment, Ashley slammed the freezer door with such force the magnets holding notes and pictures on the front fell to the floor with a clatter.
Now Gray looked at her, his eyes narrowing.
Ashley looked mad enough to spit fire, as their mother used to say. “Will you just get off my back?” she demanded as she gathered up the fallen items and slapped them back on the refrigerator.
A thousand angry words sprang to Gray’s tongue. But he held them back. Ashley stalked away, heading for the doorway that led to the hall. She stopped only when Gray managed a quiet “Ashe, I’m sorry about today.” She didn’t turn around, so Gray added, “I’m genuinely sorry I embarrassed you at that shop.”
After a few wavering moments, Ashley faced him. Her pretty, even features were pale, her chin set at a stubborn angle.
“You look just like Mom when you’re really mad,” Gray said, trying to smile. “You’ve looked a lot like her lately.”
Her posture relaxing as if she were suddenly weary, Ashley pushed a hand through her heavy blond hair and leaned one shoulder against the arched doorway. “Lately I’ve had a hard time remembering how she looked.”
Gray swallowed, surprised by the sudden burst of grief he felt. “That’s not surprising. You were just eleven when she died. You were a little girl.”
“But I’m not a little girl now.”
Turning away, Gray nodded. “I know that, Ashe. You haven’t really been a kid since Mom left me to look after you and Rick. I’ve had to depend on you a lot, and you’ve never let me down.”
“Then why are you treating me like a baby?”
Again impulsive words threatened to spill out, but Gray bit them back. “Let’s not fight, okay? Let’s talk.” Calmly, he put some pizza on a plate and placed it in the microwave to warm.
He heard Ashley expel a deep breath. “Okay, Gray. I’ll be happy to talk, if you’ll listen.”
When the timer buzzed, he took the pizza from the oven, placed it on the table in front of her and took a seat. “Please sit down and talk to me.”
Sliding her hands into the back pockets of her baggy, faded jeans, Ashley moved to the center of the room. “I love Jarrett. I want to marry him. That’s really all there is to say, just as I’ve told you a million times.”
“But why right now?”
“Why not?” she shot back. “Why should we wait?”
“Because he’s the first boy you’ve been serious about, the first boy…” Words failed Gray. He cleared his throat, then made himself look at her and ask the question he dreaded. “He is the first, isn’t he?”
“The first boy I ever loved? Yes.”
Gray looked at her, eyebrow cocked, hoping she would discern his true meaning. He just couldn’t say, the first boy you’ve slept with. It wasn’t that he and his sister had never had the birds-and-bees talks. But those had been general discussions, and this was very specific.
Comprehension dawned in Ashley’s face. And she laughed. A trilling, high-spirited laugh that had been too long absent from this household. The full-throttle laugh turned to chuckles as she slid into the seat opposite Gray’s and began toying with the pizza.
Gray’s face grew warm. “What’s so funny? It’s a perfectly natural question for the person who has raised you to ask.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“I’m not just prying, Ashe. I’m worried about your getting in over your head emotionally.”
She looked highly amused and altogether too comfortable discussing the subject at hand. “If I’d wanted to dive in, there have been other boys who were willing.” She laughed again, then quieted when he didn’t respond. “Gosh, Gray, if you must know, I haven’t even taken the plunge with Jarrett.”
He was torn between relief and surprise. “So you haven’t…and he hasn’t…”
“We haven’t slept together,” Ashley said, putting him out of his misery.
Gray sat still for a moment, carefully weighing the wisdom of his next words. He finally looked his sister straight in the eye. “Maybe you should.”
She blinked. “Huh?”
“Maybe you and Jarrett should take the plunge.”
She sat back in her chair, gaping at him. “What are you saying?”
“Just that you may be confusing lust with love.”
Eyes narrowing, she considered that for a moment. “So, in a world that preaches abstinence, you, my brother, my guardian, are advising sex.”
Gray closed his eyes, considering his advice again. Then he nodded.
“You’re certifiable,” Ashley announced, jerking up and away from the table.
“Wait a minute. You asked me to talk to you, and that’s what I’m doing. I certainly wouldn’t give you this kind of advice lightly.”
“But you’re nuts. You think the only reason I want to marry Jarrett is to sleep with him. Just how stupid and shallow do you think I am?”
“Not stupid or shallow at all. Just awfully young and inexperienced.”
“I’m so tired of hearing that,” Ashley said through clenched teeth. “You’re probably plenty experienced, but that doesn’t mean you have the slightest concept of the reasons why two people might want to be married.”
“We’re not discussing me.”
“Maybe we should. Because you seem to think every marriage has to turn out like Mom’s did.”
Gray sighed, not wanting to rehash their sad but true family history.
But Ashley was warming to her subject. “I guess I can see why you might feel pretty pessimistic about marriage, considering how your dad and Mom divorced when you were a baby and she was just nineteen. And then she married and divorced mine and Rick’s dad, who stayed until most of Grandfather’s money was gone, then left before Rick was even born.”
The tremor in Ashley’s voice got to Gray. “Stop it. There’s no need to go over this.”
“But there is,” she protested, the sadness in her tone replaced by determination. “You think I’m making the same mistake our parents did. Well, I’m not. I love Jarrett, and he loves me. If anything, Mom’s mistakes have made me see exactly what I’m getting into.”
Gray didn’t want to fall into cliches, but he couldn’t resist. “If you love each other so much, can’t you wait?”
Ashley groaned and rolled her eyes. “God, can’t you do any better than that?”
“I happen to think there’s nothing wrong in waiting. In a couple of years, when you and Jarrett have finished school, if you feel the same way, I’ll welcome him into the family.”
Ashley wasn’t buying that. “What you really need to do, Gray, is get a life of your own and let me have mine.”
The lid he had slammed down earlier on his anger threatened to blow off. “I have a life.”
“Then how come you haven’t had a date since we moved?”
“I’ve been busy. There’s the business. And you kids.”
Now Ashley’s laughter lacked mirth. “Don’t use us as an excuse. That’s what you did with Gina.”
Mention of the woman he had been engaged to marry several years before cut the last tie Gray held on his temper. “We’re not talking about Gina, either.”
“Well, I want to talk about her,” Ashley returned. “Ever since she left, you’ve been like this bitter old man. More like forty than thirty-one.”
“Just because I won’t give this crazy wedding my blessing, you say I’m bitter.”
“No, I say that because you’re so narrow in your views, so set in your ways. The real reason you don’t want me to get married is because once I’m out of this house you won’t be able to control me.”
Her statement hit dangerously close to the accusation the boutique owner had made about his “penning” Ashley in. He didn’t want to believe that was true. “I don’t want to control you. Hell, if you want to leave and go anywhere you want to college, you have my blessing. I’d rather you do anything other than jump into a young, foolish marriage.”
“So you’re saying I could handle going thousands of miles away to live on my own, but I’m not mature enough to marry Jarrett and live an hour and half away in Lubbock?”
“You’re comparing apples and oranges, Ashe.”
“And you’re not giving me any credit. Other people say I’m more mature than people twice my age.”
“Who says that?”
“Miss Seeger…Kathryn.”
“Who?”
“The lady at the shop whose head you tried to take off this afternoon.”
“She thinks you’re mature?”
“Before you came roaring in, she was telling me what good taste I have, how I seem to know what I want, how decisive I am compared to some of the people she works with on weddings. More mature and more decisive than lots of people years older than me,” she said.
Gray snorted in disgust. “She was just trying to sell you that dress.”
Indignant, Ashley drew herself up to her full five-feet-four inches of height. “Kathryn is not like that. Jarrett’s whole family thinks she’s wonderful, and I like her, too. She wouldn’t have said I was mature for my age if she didn’t mean it.”
Gray still had his doubts about Kathryn Seeger’s motives in complimenting his sister. But Ashley sure seemed to like her.
“If you want to know the truth,” Ashley continued, “I think Kathryn is one of the nicest people I’ve met since we’ve moved here. She and I hit it off just like that.” She snapped her fingers to illustrate. “And she’s known Jarrett’s family so long that if she had any doubts about our getting married, I think she would have said so.”
What Kathryn Seeger would or wouldn’t do was something Gray didn’t know. What he did see, however, was that the boutique owner had made a strong impression on Ashley in a short amount of time. And that was what he needed. Someone his hardheaded younger sister would listen to. For it was clearer than ever that she wasn’t prepared to listen to him.
Maybe he needed to get this Kathryn Seeger, this paragon of virtue whom the beloved Jarrett admired so much, on his side.
“What are you thinking?”
Gray shook himself out of his reverie.
Hands on her hips, Ashley was staring at him with suspicion. “You’ve got a funny look on your face.”
He half smiled, plans for soliciting Miss Seeger’s help spinning through his head.
Ashley studied him, clearly perplexed. “I don’t like that smile. You’re easier to deal with when you’re yelling at me.”
Gray got up. “You sure are hard to please. Does Jarrett know that about you?”
“What are you up to?” Ashley asked again as he started to head outside and check on what was keeping Rick at the barn.
Gray’s reply was noncommittal, but he paused at the door and looked back at his sister. “Just one thing, Ashe. About the ‘taking the plunge’ advice I gave you…”
“Yeah?”
“Forget it, okay? I was desperate. But you’ve done right by waiting this long. You keep things just the way they are.”
She rolled her eyes and made a low sound of disgust.
Gray went outside, hoping she would do as he advised. As he crossed the yard to the barn, he decided he would get rolling on his plan with Kathryn Seeger tomorrow afternoon. He would pay the lovely lady a visit, apologize profusely for his behavior and then beg her to help him. Once upon a time, he’d been told he wasn’t without charm. If he remembered how to use that charm, he might be able to convince the boutique owner, the really pretty boutique owner, that this wedding was a bad idea and it was her duty to bow out of the plans.
Gray frowned, realizing this was the third or fourth time since leaving the boutique that he had thought about Kathryn Seeger in terms of her attractiveness. Her appeal didn’t matter. All that mattered to him right now was putting an end to Ashley’s wedding.
As he headed for the boutique late the next afternoon, he kept telling himself that stopping this wedding was all he cared about.
Then he walked inside.
The little bell tinkled over the door.
The feminine laces and satins of the shop closed around him.
A light, yet spicy perfume washed through the air.
And on the raised platform where Ashley had been standing the day before, Kathryn Seeger turned to face him.
She was wearing a simple, sleeveless dress, as black as her hair, so body-hugging that not one curve of her tall, slender frame was left to his imagination.
Not that his imagination clicked off. Instead, his mind kicked into hyperdrive, and left him wondering just how she might look without the dress, with her long strand of pearls resting between her full breasts.
The projected image had a hardening effect on the most masculine region of his body. Then his mouth went dry. His neck began to perspire.
God, Ashley was right.
He really needed to get a life.
