The Best Man (25 page)

Would he call her?

Should she fly to San Diego? Was he
already on a plane to Chicago?

What would she do if he rang the
doorbell right now? She swallowed hard. She knew what she’d
do
. She’d
hug him fiercely and drag him upstairs to her bed, if they could make it out of
the entryway.

But she had no clue what to
say
to him.

The following morning, Kitty skipped
breakfast and drove to the track, where Rebecca had agreed to meet her for
coffee. The woman hadn’t hesitated to join her, and Kitty had surprised herself
when she realized how soothing the track had become for her.

She glanced up from her coffee to
see Rebecca staring at her with a twinkle and a twinge of sadness. Kitty no
longer felt particularly soothed.

“So you finally found your man?” Rebecca
traced the rim of the coffee mug. “I’m pleased for you. Why don’t you look more
pleased?”

“I didn’t say Jared was my man,” she
huffed, feeling her cheeks warm.

“You didn’t have to say it in so
many words. It shows. Lawrence will be happy for you, too.”

“I didn’t say I was going to marry
the guy.” Exasperated, Kitty rapped her fingers on the table and gulped her
coffee. She set the cup back down and couldn’t avoid the tremble in her
fingers. “You’ve been married twice.”

“And happily both times, and I still
owe you for introducing me to Lawrence.”

“How did you know?” Kitty hesitated
and inhaled. “How did you know you were making the right decision to marry?”

“Ah. I never thought I’d see the day
that confident Kitty Paige might get cold feet.” Rebecca chuckled. “It’s
perfectly normal. I did with both my husbands.”

“You did?”

“Uh, huh. Marriage is a risky
business.”

“I agree with that.”

Rebecca raised her palm. “Let me finish.
Marrying was a risk. I’ll never deny that. I weighed my feelings and his. I
tried to imagine our lives together.” She cocked her head to the side. “It wasn’t
difficult to imagine my life
without
marrying.”

Kitty winced. “I suppose not.”

“You see,” Rebecca continued, “your
decision has risks both ways. It may be risky leaping into marriage, but not
doing so carries its own risks. Those risks may be more comfortable because you
have a better understanding of what they are. The risk of marrying in that sense
is for the more adventurous among us, I suppose.”

Kitty glared at Rebecca—suddenly she
sounded smug. “And you were willing to risk twice.”

“That’s right. And I don’t regret
either risk. So what’s holding you back? You don’t want to lose some of your freedom?
You prefer living alone, taking a man when you want one? Afraid of the unknown?
Not sure enough about Jared or yourself to take the chance?”

Kitty looked wildly around the small
room. The walls were coming in on her. She shook her head. She didn’t have the
answers to all of those questions—maybe to none of them.

“I’m sorry, Kitty. I didn’t mean to
push you.”

“No,” Kitty stammered, “I asked. I
wanted to hear what you had to say. Don’t apologize.” Kitty reached for the
tab. “But I do have to be going. You’ve given me much to think about.” She
stared at Rebecca through blurry eyes. “Thank you. I have to be alone.”

Her heart still clutched when she
got in her car. Was he worth the risk? She had so much to lose. She started the
engine and revved up the car. But Rebecca was right—if she let Jared walk out
of her life, she had a lot to lose, too. Too much.

How much time would he give her? She
thought of the blue and white garter and wiped tears from her eyes. Damn him
for pushing her so fast. Damn her for being so entrenched.

Kitty dashed to the ringing phone as
soon as she opened the door to her house. She glanced quickly at the caller I.D.
as she reached for the phone. She gulped. He wasn’t going to give her long at
all.

Without further thought she brought
the phone to her ear. “Hello.”

“Hi, Kitty. Good to hear your voice.”

He sounded so reserved, so business-like.
“It’s good to hear yours, too. I don’t know where to begin.”

“I cancelled a trip to Europe.”

“Oh.” She frowned. Wasn’t he going
to let her apologize?

“I’m coming to Chicago instead.”

“Oh.” Why couldn’t she say more than
oh?
She must sound totally stupid.

“I’m coming to get you, Kitty.”

His raspy voice sent a shiver racing
up her spine. “I know.”

“I probably can’t get there until
tomorrow noon. You’ll be at home.”

Was that a question or a command? She
wet her lips. “I’ll be here. I’ll be waiting for you.”

“Good.”

Kitty stared at the phone when she
heard him hang up.

“Oh my God,” she mumbled, flopping
down in a kitchen chair. He was coming to get her. There was no mistake about
what he meant. He was coming to claim her as his wife. And she hadn’t told him
to stay away. She’d told him she’d be waiting for him.

When had she reached her decision? When
she’d gotten up to leave Rebecca at the track café? On the drive back to her
house? When she’d heard Jared’s voice on the phone? When he’d told her he was
coming for her?

It didn’t matter. She stood and
wiped at her eyes. She sighed and then began to laugh. He was coming for her. Her
cowboy was riding in from the west to claim his bride.

She hadn’t told him not to come, but
how could he be so sure? But he’d probably been certain about them much longer
than she had.

Tomorrow noon. Good God. Why hadn’t
she asked more questions, or even said yes, she wanted to marry him? Now she’d
have to wait until tomorrow. How many times would she second guess herself? Too
bad she couldn’t simply sleep till then.

Kitty tried not to look at the clock
on the fireplace mantel. That didn’t seem to make the time go by any faster. She
smoothed out her long plaid skirt. She’d chosen it purposefully, not wanting to
seem overly eager in case she’d misunderstood him—though she didn’t think she
had. The slit halfway up her thigh should prove provocative enough. And the off-the-shoulder
smocked top hardly made her look matronly.

She crossed her legs at her ankles
and grinned, looking at her high heel sandals. Jared was a softie when it came
to high heels. She’d learned that about him the very first night they’d met at
Susan’s wedding reception.

She lay back against the couch. So
much had happened since that weekend. Had Jared talked at all to Jackson about her? She’d love to have listened in on
that
conversation.

She started when she heard a car
pull into the driveway. She stood and peeked out the window to see Jared paying
a cab driver. So that answered one question. He didn’t expect to need a rental
car for a quick exit.

She waited for him to ring the
doorbell before opening the door. He strolled into the entryway and set down
his travel bag.

She watched him rake his gaze up and
down her. If he was disappointed she wore a long skirt, he didn’t show it. “Hi,”
she said softly. “Welcome back.” She held out her arms and he took her into
his.

She laced her arms around his neck
and pulled his mouth down to hers. His lips crushed against hers. She had
difficulty breathing, and from the sound of Jared, he wasn’t any more calm than
she was.

She stepped away from him, holding
his hand. “Come on. You must be starved. I’ve made us a light lunch.”

“Starved,” he said, beaming at her. “Starved
for you.”

She shook her head. “Not right away.
Let’s not act like a couple wild animals.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” he
groused, squeezing her fingers but following her lead.

“I’m quite aware of that.”.

When they got to the kitchen, she
directed Jared to a chair, which he took reluctantly. She set about pouring
coffee for both of them and put out a plate of fruits, cheeses, and sliced
sausage.

“Eat,” she ordered, pulling up a
chair for herself.

He nibbled on an orange slice. “I’m
much more interested in hearing what you have to say than eating.”

“We’ll see about that.” She smirked
and curled her fingers around his. “So you came to get me.”

“That’s what I said,” he drawled.

“No lasso, no chains.”

“They’re in my overnight bag.”

“I see.” She leaned back, inhaled
deeply and let it out slowly. “What do you really have in mind, Jared? Hauling
me off to your dungeon? Setting me up as your mistress? Tell me.”

“You know the answer to that. I want
you to be my wife.”

“It’s hard for a girl to know unless
the guy says what he means. So are you proposing to me?”

Amusement flickered across his eyes.
“You know I am, Kitty. I didn’t know you could be so coy.”

“No one has ever proposed to me. I’m
not sure I’d recognize the words.”

“Ah.” He tipped back his head and
chuckled. His smile broadened as he moved off the chair to kneel before her on
one knee. “So, Kitty, will you marry me?”

Kitty was surprised by her own clear
headedness. She smiled at Jared. “You want me to move to your ranch?”

He nodded. “If you would. I’d be
willing to try to live both there and here, if you want.”

“No, that won’t be necessary. I’ve
lived here my whole life and spent most of that time working. California might
be a nice change of pace. And as you made clear, they do sell houses there,
too. I will want my own office at the ranch.”

His smile broadened. “So you’re
saying
yes?”

“Serena and Seth?” She tilted her
head to the side.

Jared frowned and exhaled. “I won’t
give up Serena entirely. I can’t.”

“Good.” Kitty’s heart fluttered. “Then
I get to share Seth from time to time.”

“Serena and Seth are counting on
that. So are you going to say yes, or are you going to make me grow old and
gray kneeling before you? Oh!” he exclaimed. “How could I forget?”

Kitty watched him dig into his
trousers and produce a small box. She could feel her eyes widen. This was no
longer abstract, if it ever had been.

Jared opened the box and plucked out
a sizeable diamond flanked by two smaller diamonds. He took her left hand and,
apparently seeing no resistance in her smile, pushed the ring part way onto her
finger. “So do you have an answer?”

She nodded and drew his other hand
along the slit of her long skirt until she curled his fingers around the blue
and white garter hugging her thigh. Her skirt fell away, revealing what he was
holding onto.

He glanced down and looked back at
her with surprise. “You knew all along,” he challenged.

“Of course I did,” she said softly,
pushing her finger forward until the ring passed over her knuckle. “Yes, I’ll
marry you, and I had hoped we wouldn’t have any problems with our
understandings about living space and Serena and Seth.”

He rose and kissed her soundly.

She curled her hand around his wrist
and stood. “Let me clear the table,” she said.

“But now…”

She shook her head at him as she
wiped the table. She tossed the rag toward the sink. “But now,” she said,
sliding up onto the table, “I’m ready to serve my starving man.”

She hiked her skirt up over her
waist and slid back on the table until her high heels rested on the table top. The
precious look on Jared’s face would’ve assuaged any doubts she might still
harbor about marrying him, but she had none.

He wet his lips and grazed her thigh
with his fingers. “That garter looks terrific on you. It helps set off a bare
pussy extremely well.”

She chuckled. “Maybe we’ll want to
buy me a garter belt and stockings for a wedding present.”

“You can count on that.”

“But this will have to do for now,”
she added, spreading her labia just enough to draw his attention.

He flicked his tongue out at her and
lowered his head.

She moaned when his tongue slid
along her separated folds. “Oh damn,” she squealed. “Maybe we should’ve done
this first.”

Kitty locked her legs around his
back and interlaced her fingers in his hair. “Don’t rush, but I think when you’re
done with lunch, I’ll have a hunger to fill also.”

He rose up to face her. “I was
hoping you might. So I guess you’re not a girl who has to wait until her
wedding night.”

She burst into laughter and pushed his
head back down to her throbbing loins. “Be a good boy. I’ve never spanked a
fiancée, but I’m willing to try.” His lips covered her clit and she lurched
forward.

Keeping his mouth in place, Jared
winked up at her. “And I love a woman who keeps her promises.”