Page 26 of Scottish Seducer
Caroline’s nose wrinkled.
Good. Whatever she learned was to be reported to Logan. I wasn’t daft.
Caroline asked, “Not American?”
Stephanie replied quickly, “I am American, but forthright isn’t in my nature. That’s more my sister Indigo.”
Caroline asked, “Your sister?”
Stephanie lifted her chin and said, “Yes. My sister. She’s married to Jacob Donovan. Ridley, another sister, is married to Carter Rockson. Olivia, another sister, is married to Johnny Dawes of the California Dawes. And my last sister, Georgiana, married a baseball player.”
The litany of her family relations had already made Stephanie acceptable to my brother on paper the night I called, but I cared more about Stephanie from the mail room with dreams of Bath more than faceless people I hardly ever saw.
Caroline nodded like she approved now. “Those contacts might be useful for Logan, but I’m surprised to hear that Charlie has started caring about his clan again.”
I met Stephanie’s gaze and said, “I’m taking Stephanie to the Highland Games.”
So we’d both learn a bit about each other’s life.
Caroline stood and brushed my shoulder. “I’m quite impressed. I’ll leave you two alone.”
Neither of us said a word until I was sure Caroline was gone. As the waiter brought the bill, Stephanie asked, “So how come your brother and Caroline aren’t…”
I handed my credit card to the waiter and said, “I think even Logan understands that if you marry the wrong girl, life becomes either unbearably dull or unbearably difficult. And while Logan’s not a dreamer, he’s not that much of a fool.”
Her mouth flattened like I’d just given her bad news. “That’s unkind.”
I cocked my head.
She shrugged and said, “I can’t help it if I believe there’s only one love for each of us.”
The notion was strange, but for some reason, my heart shifted in my chest. “Now, that’s old-fashioned.”
The waiter brought the receipt and we stood to leave. She curled her hand in mine as she said, “True, but the trick is really that none of us know for sure who’s that one right person, and we can make horrible mistakes if we’re not careful.”
I held the door open for her, saying, “Now you sound a bit like my father.”
I could feel myself stiffen like she’d offended me, but I wasn’t ready to let her go, either.
She patted my arm and asked, “Your father?”
“Yes.” I squeezed her hand and said, “My parents tolerated each other and took their duties seriously. But parenting was always drudgery for them, with sprinkles of long lectures.” I let out a huff, like that sentence took energy, and said, “Enough about me. What aboutyourfather?”
She looked at the street ahead of us and not at me as she said, “He was over the moon for my mother. I think when they died so close together, I stopped believing love was ever going to be in the stars for me. No guy ever measured up, and I preferred the men in books to the ones I met.”
I cupped her face and stopped our forward momentum. “Even Richard?”
She glanced up at me, and this time no one would interrupt, even though people were filing past like shadows on their way to lunch. “No, not even him. But he did let me live in my dream world until he was finished with me.”
I kissed her cheek and said to the only woman in vibrant color. “Well, here’s to new beginnings. How about tomorrow you and I head to Bath so you can tell me how Stourhead Gardens was described in the books that’s different from what I’ll see?”
She curled her arms around my neck. “Sounds delightful.”
I leaned closer. “Stop sounding so bloody English.”
She laughed. “Okay. Then how about ‘fuck yeah, let’s do it’ instead?”
“There, that’s more what I expect from you,” I said quickly. I claimed her lips with my own.
She was sweet and just having her around made my already full life better. I didn’t want to let her go. Ever. She was almost perfect and made me feel like I was part of her world, even though we both knew that was impossible.
