“I know you remember,” Kelly said softly. “And I don’t want to hurt you. It’s just…I don’t want to see you get all torn up again.”
“Kelly…”
“Keira, why don’t you come to London? Right now. Well, okay, when the storm stops. Hop on a plane and come see me. It’ll give you some distance. Some time to think. And you’ve been promising for a year you’d come anyway.”
“I can’t,” Keira said, leaning her forehead against the window, allowing the icy cold to sweep through her. “I can’t just pack up and go. You know that.”
“I know that the town would be just fine without you for a month. Or two.”
Chuckling in spite of the heaviness in her heart, Keira said, “Two months? Oh, I’m sure Tony would love to have your big sister around for that long. Great idea, Kel.”
“Omigod!”
“What?” Keira’s heart jolted. “What is it?”
“Tony. I can’t believe I forgot.”
“Is he okay?” Keira asked, though she couldn’t imagine that her little sister would have had time to lecture her about her love life if her own man were in danger.
“Oh, he’s way better than okay,” Kelly said, then without even taking a breath, continued in a rush. “Remember I told you he was taking me to Paris for the weekend?”
“Yes.”
“Well, we stayed a little longer than we planned, or I would have called you sooner and then, when I did try to call, the lines were down, so just keep in mind that I did try to get hold of you and—”
“Will you just say it?” Keira demanded.
“He asked me to marry him,” Kelly said, with a sigh that told Keira her little sister was no doubt staring at her engagement ring and getting all misty-eyed.
“He did?”
“Yes. I’m engaged.”
“That’s—” Keira didn’t know what to say, so she said nothing at all. Her heart took a small ping of something she really didn’t want to call envy, but there didn’t seem to be any other name for it. Oh, God, Kelly was getting married. She was living in Europe and marrying a man who was crazy about her.
And Keira was standing still.
Not that she didn’t like her life—she did.
But…she’d had so many plans once upon a time and none of them had come true. And now, despite being happy for her little sister, there was a small, whimpering voice in the back of her mind, wishing that things were different for her, too.
“I have the most beautiful ring you’ve ever seen, it’s so amazing. We’re getting married this summer. At his parents’ estate in Sussex. Oh, Keira, it’s going to be so gorgeous. So perfect. And Tony’s so great. I really love him so much and everything is so wonderful.”
No one but Kelly could cram that many so’s into a single paragraph. Her palpable excitement hummed through the phone like a live electrical wire.
“That’s great, honey,” Keira said and she really meant it. She was glad for Kelly. Glad she’d found someone to love and to love her back. Glad that she was building a life she was happy with.
Really.
“So will you come?”
“To the wedding?” Keira asked, dumbfounded. “Of course I’ll come to the wedding! I’m completely expecting to be in the wedding.”
“You’re my maid of honor, Keira,” Kelly said, clearly exasperated now. “But I’m not talking about you coming to the wedding. I want you to come see me now. Please, Keira. Come and see me. Get away for a while.”
“This is about Nathan, isn’t it?” Keira whispered, not wanting him to overhear her.
“Well, yeah,” Kelly said. “I don’t want you getting attached to somebody like him. I know you, Keira. And I’m afraid you’re gonna set yourself up for another fall.”
“Hey. Who’s the big sister here? You or me?”
“What? Because I’m younger I can’t be right?”
Keira glanced over her shoulder again to make sure Nathan was still in the great room where she’d left him, then she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and said, “Even if you’re right, Kel, getting away wouldn’t change anything.”
“Oh, God,” Kelly said with a sigh. “It really is too late, isn’t it? I can hear it in your voice. You already love him.”
Did she? Instantly, images of Nathan flashed through her mind. The day they met, that night at the town party, dancing with him under the stars, the panicked look in his eyes everytime someone in town tried to thank him for his donation.
Memories raced through her mind now, one after another, almost too fast to separate one from the other. She remembered his rarely seen smile and the stunned look on his features whenever she made him think beyond what he’d always done. The gleam in his eyes as his body moved within hers. The stillness of the coming storm as they took their walk around the lake.
Making love in front of the fire, shouting at him as he stood on the snow-covered deck, furious with her for locking him out. His carrying her up the stairs and catching her whenever she stumbled because she wasn’t paying attention.
He was arrogant and abrasive and annoying.
And God help her, she was crazy about him.
Leaning her head against the icy glass again, she whispered, “Oh, Kelly. You’re right. I am in love with him.”
Ten
“N o way this is happening,” Keira whispered frantically. “I’ve known him only a couple of weeks.”
“Uh-huh,” Kelly muttered. “And just what is the time frame for falling in love? A month? Six?”
“This can’t be happening.” Keira thunked her head against the windowpane and welcomed the hard jolt. What an idiot she was. She’d been so busy spending time with Nathan so he wouldn’t split, she hadn’t noticed that she was falling in love with the man.
“Run,” Kelly said. “Run fast, run far.”
“I can’t,” Keira snapped. “Snowed in. Remember? Besides, it’s too late for that.”
Kelly sighed. “I know. What’re you gonna do?”
“Well, I’m not telling him, that’s for damn sure,” she said. She might be an idiot, but she knew enough to know Nathan wouldn’t want to hear her declaration of love any more than Max had.
No, thank you. She wasn’t going to set herself up for another kick in the teeth. She’d made the mistake of falling in love with the wrong man. Again. But that didn’t mean she had to let anyone else know.