The Good Daughter (22 page)

Two months later

C
HLOE AWOKE
into the purple-gray shadows that presaged dawn, blinking at the ceiling of the room where she’d concocted girlhood dreams.

And smiled. Her wedding day. One hand rose past the covers to rest where butterflies danced.

“Sweet dreams, Doc?” The mattress sank beneath his weight.

She jolted. “What are you doing here? Don’t you know it’s bad luck?”

Vince lobbed that hellion’s grin at her, dimple winking. “Superstitious? Tut-tut.” He clucked his tongue. “A Ph.D. and still slave to an old wives’ tale.”

“Vince, I just don’t want to risk—”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t go getting careful on me now. You put your career—hell, put your
life
on the line for me, but some superstition has you running scared?” He shook his head, that blue gaze sparking. “It’s about a hundred hours until I get you alone—and naked. I had to see you again.” His smile flashed, and she was toast.

“I’ve had some second thoughts about waiting,” she said, watching his reaction.

His eyes widened, then blazed. He swooped down to capture her mouth—

And instead leaped to his feet, shaking his head. “Stop that.” He started pacing. “Sweet mercy…the longest two months of my life, and you’re tempting me to blow it in the homestretch.”

She laughed and sat up, shaking her hair. “I have bed head, no makeup and I need to brush my teeth—how can you be tempted?”

Vince stopped and stared at her. “You’re serious.”

What she saw in his face rejuvenated her jitters. She nodded.

He scrubbed one hand down his face. “I’ve gotta get out of here,” he muttered. “You’re killing me.”

“How did you get inside, anyway?”

“Bathroom window.”

She goggled. “You climbed to the second floor and made it in that tiny bathroom window?”

“I told you I was desperate.” His expression was thoroughly unrepentant.

“And if my father had caught you?”

Vince shrugged. “Linc said he’d take care of him.”

“Linc? He knows you’re here?”

“He was up with Amelia, saw me out the window.” He chuckled. “Gave me a thumbs-up.”

Chloe burst into helpless laughter. “Will you ever stop surprising me?”

With shocking swiftness, he scooped her off the bed and covered her mouth with his. After a long and
thoroughly carnal kiss, he pressed her face into his shoulder and exhaled loudly. “I sure hope not.”

Then, just as quickly, he placed her back on the bed and pulled the bedspread over her, trapping her arms beneath it. “Now, stop working your wiles on me, Dr. Vixen. Don’t you know it’s bad luck to see the bride the day of the wedding?”

He grinned, claimed one more scorching kiss and strode to the door.

“Wait,” she managed to say, still trying to recover. “The window?”

He lifted one shoulder. “I’ll take my chances.”

“Vince—”

He turned. “Changed your mind yet about marrying me?” In his eyes she saw the real reason he’d risked coming here.

She put all her love in her smile. “Not a chance, Detective. You’re stuck with me.”

His eyes flared hot as molten steel. “Not stuck,” he said. “Luckier than I’ll ever deserve.” He faced the door again.

“Vince—”

“Yeah?”

“You’re not the only one who’s lucky, you know.”

She saw his shoulders settle. Hand gripping the knob, he looked back at her. “Fair warning—the next time I get you in my arms, Doc, no one’s making it out alive.”

She blew him a kiss, absurdly happy. “I’m counting on it.”

Vince groaned and banged his head on the door, then swung it open. “Mr. St. Claire,” he shouted. “You’d
better come quick—there’s a man in your daughter’s room.”

Chloe was still laughing long after he vanished.

T
OO MANY HOURS LATER
, Chloe stood before the cheval mirror as her mother adjusted her veil one last time. “You make a beautiful bride, darling.” Dolores St. Claire’s eyes filled. “Oh, dear—”

“Here you go—” As always, Ivy was prepared for anything, handing over a tissue and patting Dolores’s shoulder. “Our girl is gorgeous, isn’t she? She’s going to knock ’em dead descending that incredible staircase in this gown.”

Chloe shot Ivy a grateful glance. Ivy had wanted to give her the wedding in Palo Verde, but she’d been sympathetic to Chloe’s desire to heal the breach over her parents’ disclosure. Chloe had sought compromise by having not the huge society wedding her mother had always planned but a more intimate one here in the house where she’d grown up.

Someone knocked on the door just as a pale Caroline slipped in from the bathroom. Chloe frowned in concern.

“Mrs. St. Claire?” Diego. “It’s time for me to escort you.”

“Come in, Diego,” Chloe said.

He closed the door behind him, breathtaking in a tux. His gaze went immediately to Caroline. Crossing the room in long strides, he clasped her waist, murmuring in her ear. Caroline blushed.

“Oh, my word,” Ivy gasped. “She’s pregnant.” To Caroline, she said, “How long have you known?”

Caroline looked up, shaking her head. “Do you believe it? Diego realized before I did.”

His smile could have lit up the world. “Did the tea help?”

She nodded and leaned against him. “Bless Mama Lalita and her herbs,” she said, fondly remembering Diego’s grandmother.

“Are you sure you shouldn’t be lying down?” Chloe asked.

“Don’t encourage him,” Caroline said. “You’d think all the rules were suspended because it’s his baby, as if he hadn’t cared for dozens of mothers who worked until the last minute before he delivered their children.”

Color washed across Diego’s cheeks, but he remained unrepentant. “The rules
are
suspended for you,
querida.
”

A decidedly inelegant snort issued from Caroline. “Go take Mrs. St. Claire downstairs.” Then she said softly, “I’m fine, I swear it.”

Before he left, Diego held her close, and Caroline softened against him. He kissed her, then turned, offering his arm to Chloe’s mother. “Chloe is very beautiful, but the mother of the bride may outshine the star of the show.”

“Speaking of stars, is Zane really downstairs, attending
my
wedding?” Chloe asked.

“Do you mean my bratty little brother?” Diego asked. “Of course. You’re family.”

Chloe grinned. “From an only child with no extended family, all of a sudden I have relatives galore.”

Her mother’s eyes met hers, an apology in them. “Oh, darling—”

“It’s okay, Mother.” She clasped her mother’s free hand. “We’re all together now, and that’s what matters.”

Her mother squeezed her hand and left with Diego.

As soon as the door closed, Ivy squealed and rushed Caroline. “Oh, honey, I’m so happy for you. A baby cousin for Amelia—” She clapped her hands. “We’re going to throw a celebration in Palo Verde. We have our sister back and now a new Malone baby is on the way. I can’t wait to see Aunt Prudie’s face—oh, Caroline, it’s all coming back together, isn’t it? After so many years—” She wiped at her eyes.

Caroline met Chloe’s gaze, and they shared a moment of understanding. Neither would ever be as free with her emotions as Ivy, but each of them had come to count on having Ivy’s unfettered love in her life.

Caroline’s own eyes turned suspiciously bright. “It is wonderful. I’m grateful that this child will be surrounded by such love.” With that, Caroline pulled both her sisters into a rare hug.

After a few moments, Ivy sniffed. “We’re going to crush Chloe’s beautiful gown.”

“It’s only a dress,” Chloe said. Then, to lighten the mood, she continued, “Vince says it’s a shame to go to so much trouble for a gown he can’t wait to tear off anyway.”

Caroline laughed and Ivy fanned her cheeks. “I still
can’t believe you’re making him wait until after the wedding. That’s an awful lot of man out there, straining at the bit.” She grinned. “I thought I’d die laughing when he woke your father up this morning after climbing the roof. That’s a desperate man, honey.”

Chloe couldn’t help blushing. “I’m feeling a little desperate myself.” Memories of their one night together had cost Chloe countless hours of sleep. In the first days after the shooting, Vince’s wounds had kept him weak enough to stem his hunger, but soon he’d stalked her every move like a caged panther, those electric-blue eyes crackling with the desire to know again the wholeness they’d found together. A quick, simple wedding had been essential to them both. “It seemed right when we agreed to it, but—”

“
¡Qué padre!
is the phrase a friend of mine used for Diego,” Caroline said, laughing. “What a man!”

“Oh, yes,” Chloe sighed.

The three of them burst into giggles that would have fit the girls they’d had so little time to be together.

A knock sounded on the door. “Chloe?” John St. Claire’s voice. “Are you ready, sweetheart?”

“I am, Daddy,” she responded. “Come on in.”

“I’d better go find the flower girl,” Ivy said, clasping Chloe in a brief but heartfelt hug.

“Last I knew, she was practicing walking between Linc and Mr. St. Claire, chattering away,” Caroline said. “Linc acts as though he understands every word.” Surprising Chloe with a quick kiss to her cheek, she paused. “We’ll see you downstairs. I love you, little sister.”

They both left, and Chloe took her father’s arm. He
was noticeably weaker, but he stood ramrod straight. “How are you?”

“As fine as a father can be when some other man is stealing his princess.” Then he smiled. “I’m holding my own. And now that we’ve found a donor, I’ll be better soon.”

“I’ll be back from the honeymoon in time, and if you need me—”

He patted the hand she’d placed on his arm. “You don’t think about any of that today.” His gaze turned solemn. “He’s a good man, Chloe. I’m sorry I didn’t see it soon enough.”

She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek, then gently wiped away the lipstick. “No more regrets, Daddy. This is a new beginning for all of us.”

“You know that I love you?”

“I do.”

“Then let’s make your grand entrance and put that poor man out of his misery.”

With that, they descended the staircase. Chloe saw arrayed before her the varied members of her new clan: tiny Great-Aunt Prudie, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief from her beau, Carl; Diego’s mother, sister, grandmother and whole family of big, handsome men—including one superstar who winked at her.

Caroline had reached the front of the massive parlor before Ivy made it down the white carpet, slowed by holding Amelia’s hand. The toddler took each rose petal and first brought it near her mouth, then glanced up at her mother with a mischievous grin. When a smiling Ivy shook her head gently, Amelia dropped the crumpled
petal and grabbed a new one, looking hopeful, as if this time Ivy would change her mind.

Quiet chuckles sounded as Linc watched his wife and daughter from where he and an amused Diego ranged as groomsmen, with Mike Flynn as best man. On the other side, Wanda stood beside Caroline, starstruck gaze locked on Zane.

At last she saw Vince, straight and tall and gorgeous. His eyes tender and hot. Most important…not haunted.

That devil’s grin flared, the one dimple winking welcome, his expression promising so much that she shivered.

He would never be safe, probably not often easy. He would keep her off balance every day of their lives.

Chloe smiled back, no longer the woman of careful, measured steps. Vince had lured her to dance on the cliff’s edge and somehow she’d found the courage to take a terrifying leap.

Learning, as familiar ground vanished, that she could soar.

And that the welcoming arms of love would be waiting.