Las Vegas Sidewinders: Karl (Book 3) (17 page)

“Starving!” she
admitted.

“You two should get
going,” Wills said gruffly. “She’ll sleep now and then it’ll be time to take
her home.”

“Maybe we can order
something for dinner and come over tonight?” Karl suggested.

His mother murmured
something unintelligible and they snuck out.

Driving up to his
parents’ house later that night, Karl kept glancing over at Kate. She looked
beautiful in jeans and an off-the-shoulder blouse the showed off her beautiful
neck and just a touch of cleavage. Her hair was down, flowing down her back in
soft waves, making him want to run his hands through it. She’d brought a denim
jacket to wear in the evening, but she didn’t have it on now, and it lay in her
lap. She looked more relaxed than he felt, and he reached over to put his hand
on the back of her neck.

“I was going to do this
tomorrow, while we were out in the city, but I want everyone to know tonight.”
He stopped the car and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small box and
then looked over at her again.

Kate’s eyes rounded in
surprise. “Karl?”

He met her gaze with so
much love in his eyes she nearly melted into the seat. “Baby, I’ve done a lousy
job of showing you how much I love you, but I want to spend the rest of my life
making it up to you if you’ll have me.” He opened the box and held it out.

Kate gazed at the
stunning diamond ring in shock. “Karl, it’s beautiful,” she breathed.

“Will you marry me?”

“Yes.” She blinked and
a tear ran down her cheek. She held out her left hand so he could put the ring
on it. He pulled her to him, kissing her gently so he didn’t smear her lipstick
all over her face.

“I love you with all my
heart,” he said. “I’m so grateful you’re here with me, you can’t imagine! I
have no idea how my brother and sister are going to behave, but we can leave
any time you want. I don’t think Mom will let them do anything, but everything
is different lately. I don’t understand what’s going on; they didn’t used to be
like this.”

“It’s going to be
okay,” she murmured, staring at the beautiful diamond on her finger in awe.

“I know it seems kind
of soon,” he admitted. “But when we were broken up, I realized how much you
mean to me. I knew then that as soon as I fixed things between us I was going
to propose.”

“I’m surprised,” she
admitted. “But I feel it too. Everything is so easy when we’re together.
Except, you know, when Therese is around.”

He smiled faintly. “I
plan to keep her far, far away from us.”

“I love you.” She was
still staring down at the beautiful ring on her finger.

“Do you like it?” he
asked. “Erin helped me pick it out, but if you don’t like it—”

“I love it!” she
gushed, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Now let’s go spend some time with
your mom!”

They got out of the car
and Karl hooked his arm around her neck. “Chances are the word is out I’m in
town, so people may start stopping by.”

“Anyone that might
actually like me or be happy for us?” she asked with a laugh.

“My buddy
Viggo
might be in town. He plays for the SHL but since it’s
summer, he may be around. If he shows up, you’ll like him and he’ll like you,
though he’ll bust my balls for wanting to settle down. He’s a bit of a
man-whore.”

She laughed. “Man-whore
is okay, as long as he’s nice to me!”

Karl opened the door to
the house, calling out, “Hello!”

Anya was in a chair in
the living room and she looked up with pleasure. “Welcome to our home, Kate.”
She stood up, kissing both Karl and Kate. “Your father’s gone to pick up
dinner, so we should eat in just a few minutes. Emilie! Sebastian!”

Kate saw the
resemblance in the brothers immediately. Apparently the boys both favored their
mother, though Sebastian had his father’s smile. He approached them with a
grin.

“You’re back!” He
hugged his brother tightly.

“Just for a few days,”
Karl pulled Kate forward. “Kate, this is my brother, Sebastian. Bas, my
fiancée, Kate.”

“Fiancée?” Sebastian’s
eyes widened. “I had no idea! Congratulations!” He hugged Kate too, appearing
genuinely happy for them.

“Fiancée?!” Anya looked
startled too. “Did that just happen?”

“As a matter of fact it
did. I bought the ring before we left New York because I knew I was going to
propose while we were here.”

“How wonderful! There’s
going to be a wedding!” Anya grinned with pleasure. “And then maybe a grandbaby!”

Kate flinched but
forced herself to smile. She had to admit she liked the idea of having Karl’s
baby too; if she could just get past the part where she had to actually be
pregnant, she might even like being a mom.

A door slammed
somewhere in the house and a moment later a tall blonde came in from the
kitchen. Emilie paused, staring at Karl and Kate hesitantly.

“You’re really back,”
she said, blinking.

“Did you think I lied?”
Anya asked her. “For heaven’s sake, Emilie, behave. Go hug your brother and
meet your future sister-in-law.”

Emilie’s mouth fell
open as she stared from Karl to Kate. “You’re engaged?!”

“Yes.” Karl eyed her
warily, refusing to look away when she gave him a funny look.

“Well,
congratulations.” She said the words but her eyes told another story.

“Time to eat!” Wills
called from the kitchen.

“Let’s just get plates
and eat in the living room,” Anya said, moving in that direction. “That way we
can be casual.”

Karl grasped Kate’s hand,
pulling her along with him. They made plates and soon were sitting in the
living room. Emilie had taken a piece of bread, but not a plate, and she sat on
the floor moodily, her phone in her hand as she texted someone.

“You
gonna
pout all night?” Karl slid onto the ground next to
his sister after a while, speaking to her in Swedish.

“I’m not pouting.” She
gave him a bored look. “I just don’t have anything in common with her.”

“How would you know?
You haven’t said two words to her.”

“You know, you come to
visit once a year and upset everyone’s lives, and then you turn around and go
back to your fancy life in the U.S.! Do you even think about the rest of us?!”

“What’s to think
about?” he asked, frowning. “I paid for Sebastian to go to university in London,
and would have paid for you if you’d wanted to go to school instead of taking
off your clothes for horny photographers all over Europe! I’ve offered to bring
you over to visit any time you like, but all you do is complain about
everything. Except the money I send you at Christmas and your birthday—you
don’t seem to mind that.”

She made a face. “I
don’t need your money—I make my own.”

“Good to know.” He got
up in defeat and moved back to Kate’s side. She glanced at him questioningly
but he just shrugged.

“So, have you thought
about when you’re getting married?” Anya asked.

“Not really. We just
got engaged today. But I’m sure Karl will want to do it here, so that you can
all be there.”

“What about your
family?”

“My mother is planning
my sister’s wedding right now, so hopefully she won’t have much say in mine if
it’s going to be here in Sweden.”

Karl glanced at her in
surprise. “You really want to do it here?”

“As long as we work
around Erin’s due date so she can be my matron of honor, I don’t care where we
do it.” She rested her hand on his thigh.

“That’s a nice ring,”
Emilie spoke up at last. “How many carats is it?”

“Oh, um, I don’t know.”
Kate shrugged. “I didn’t think to ask. It’s so pretty it doesn’t even matter.”

Emilie rolled her eyes.
“What kind of woman isn’t curious about the details of the ring she’s going to
wear the rest of her life?”

“A woman who grew up
with a big fat trust fund and doesn’t really care how many carats it is as long
as the man who gave it to her loves her.” Kate looked down at her, one eyebrow
arched questioningly. Though Kate despised the country club socialites she’d
grown up with, she knew how to act like one when the situation called for it.

“You have a trust
fund?” Emilie made quotation marks with her fingers, smirking. “Really? And how
much is in it?”

“Emilie!” Anya looked
shocked.

“I have no idea,” Kate
laughed it off. “Last year’s statement from my accountant had at least seven
zeroes—I don’t even pay attention. I have a very successful business so I only
dip into that account when I want to make investments.”

Karl almost said
something, but changed his mind, deciding to let Kate fend for herself right
now; Emilie was going to find Kate was not someone she could easily embarrass.
Though Karl didn’t think of Kate as overweight, he knew that people like his
sister probably always would, and that often translated to the misconception
that they were stupid too. It irked him, but he wasn’t going to let Emilie
spoil Kate’s visit to Sweden.

“You make investments?”
Emilie was still looking dubious.

“She has her own money,
Em
,” Karl said after a moment. “So don’t worry—I’ll
still be able to afford nice presents for you.”

She glared at him.
“It’s not fair! You never do anything I want you to do!”

“What?” He looked at
her in disbelief. “What have you asked me to do that I haven’t done?”

“You wouldn’t finance
that photo shoot in Bali last year!”

He shook his head.
“Since when does a photographer ask the models to invest money in a photo shoot?
That’s ridiculous! He was either trying to embezzle you or just needed to be
able to afford a way to get a bunch of hot women half-naked for him.”

“That’s not true!” she
hissed, standing up. “We were dating—I wanted to help him!”

“Then why didn’t you
ask me to loan your boyfriend money?” he asked quietly. “I might have done it
simply because you’re my sister. I’m guessing that relationship didn’t work out
once you didn’t come up with the money?”

She glared at him. “You
are so damn full of yourself! You play in the NHL so you act like you’re better
than the rest of us!”

“Well, technically I’m
better at hockey than more than 99% of everyone in the world,” he said
matter-of-factly. “But I’m not sure what that has to do with you.”

“Emilie, what on earth
is the matter with you?” Anya finally spoke up.

“Geez, sis, have a
drink or something,” Sebastian muttered.

“It’s not fair!”

“What’s not fair?” Karl
was tired of Emilie’s mood swings and her behaving like a brat.

“Do you know what it’s like
being the sister of an NHL player?!” she demanded. “Everyone expects me to be
able to get them things; they assume I’m rich because you are and—”

“First of all, I’m not
really rich,” he scowled at her. “I was only making about $650,000 the last few
years, which isn’t that much considering I put a lot of it into savings, paid
for Sebastian’s university, updated the house for Mom and Dad, bought both of
you
cars and still had to actually have a place to live and
stuff.”

“You got a huge
contract with the Sidewinders!” Emilie yelled. “Millions of dollars!”

“I got a $2.8 million
deal for
two years
,” he said quietly. “So that’s a little more than a
million a year,
before taxes
, plus what I put away for the day that I
can’t play anymore. I also have a car and other living expenses. I’m sorry if
you believe a portion of my money should automatically come to you, but I also
have spent thousands of dollars for Mom to have better care after her surgery
than she would have had otherwise. So pardon me for spending my money as I see
fit, and not on a spoiled 24-year-old who isn’t even loyal to her older
brother!”

Emilie gaped at him.
“Loyal?! I was trying to make things better for you—you and Therese were the
perfect couple and—”

“Therese and I broke up
years ago because we were
not
the perfect couple. She’s arrogant and
self-absorbed, interested in material things and the notoriety that would come
with being an NHL player’s wife. I have no idea why you think we would make a
good couple, but that’s never going to happen, even if Kate and I broke up
today. Therese isn’t even on the
short list
of women I would date.”

Kate nudged him.
“There’s a short list of women you want to date?” She bit her lip to keep from
laughing when he turned to stare at her.

He snickered when he realized
she was joking. “It’s a
very
short list—basically Angelina Jolie and
you.”

“God, I’m trying to
have a serious conversation with you and you’re too busy with your little—”

“Watch your mouth!”
Karl cut her off abruptly. “Yes, I’m kind of busy with my new fiancée because
the conversation I’m having with
you
is utterly ridiculous. I’m sorry
you don’t think I’m generous enough for you, but didn’t you just tell me you
make your own money?”