“That’s amazing,” Rose said, getting a good look at it herself. She lifted her gaze and smiled. “Do you have more?”
“Sure,” Melinda said, basking in the praise. “My workshop is here in the hotel.”
“Oh boy.” Katie wriggled in excitement. “And I’m guessing family gets a private look at all of the sparklies?”
“Sure,” Melinda told her, laughing. “We can go now if you want.”
“Absolutely,” Rose said and scooped her son out of his father’s arms. “You guys be good. We’re going to spend a lot of money.”
“And my son is going why?” Lucas asked with a laugh.
“Never too early to teach him how to shop!” Rose bent down, kissed Lucas, then waited for Katie and Melinda.
Katie kissed Rafe, and Melinda was just scooting out of the booth when Sean pulled her in for a quick, hard kiss. She felt flustered but pleased that he’d kissed her as easily as his brothers had their own wives as she led the women off to the elevators.
“Okay,” Rafe asked once the women were out of earshot. “What exactly is going on?”
“What do you mean?” Sean picked up his beer and took a sip, stalling.
“Pitiful.” Lucas laughed and took a drink of his beer. “You know exactly what he means. You just don’t want to talk about it.”
“And since you know that, you’ll drop it, right?” Sean slid a glance at him. “Uh, no,” Rafe told him before Lucas could speak up. “You told us you were getting married as part of a land deal. Yet, when we get here, we find you all googly-eyed over your new wife.”
Well, that was unsettling. Sean frowned at him. “So?”
“So,” Lucas said, “it doesn’t exactly look like a business deal to us.”
“That’s what it is,” Sean muttered. All it could be, he told himself. He and Melinda had made a bargain, and he would stick to it. He never went back on his word.
Besides, as he kept reminding himself, he had already tried marriage and it hadn’t exactly been a vacation. The reason this marriage was working was probably because they both knew it was going to end. No pressure. No promises to be kept or vows to take seriously. He nodded to himself and repeated, “It’s strictly business.”
“Yeah,” Lucas said with a snort. “I can see that.”
Sean glared at him. “Nobody asked you for your opinion.”
“Yeah, because that’s how we do things in the King family. We wait to be asked.”
“Pay no attention to him,” Rafe said, staring at Sean. “Just tell me what’s going on. From what I can see, there’s more to this marriage than you said there was.”
Sean blew out a breath. The dining room was large, but quiet. Since they had the place to themselves, there was no reason not to discuss it. But he didn’t like it. For some reason, he felt disloyal to Melinda for talking to his brothers about what was between them. Still, he’d always been able to count on his family. Maybe talking to them would help him straighten things out in his mind.
Because, God knew, a little clarity would come in handy.
“Okay,” he said with a nod, “I admit that things aren’t quite as clear as they should be.”
“You think?” Lucas prompted.
Rafe glared him into silence.
“Fine. I’m not ready to leave her, even though I should be. It doesn’t make any sense to me,” he muttered, peeling the local label off his beer bottle.
“Brother, you’re hooked. Just give in now. Don’t fight it.” Lucas gave him a slap on the shoulder in solidarity.
“No,” Sean argued, looking from one brother to the other. “You don’t get it. I’m not husband material.” He couldn’t believe he was going to do this, Sean thought. But they had to understand. Had to see where he was coming from and why he knew he couldn’t be married. “I’ve tried it before. It didn’t work out.”
“What?” Rafe and Lucas spoke at the same time, exchanged a look of astonishment, then turned back to Sean. Rafe said, “What’re you talking about?”
“I was married once. Never told you guys.”
“Why the hell not?” Lucas demanded.
“Because I felt like a jackass, okay?” Sean snapped. “Why would I tell you two that I let some woman…” He stopped and took a deep breath.
“Well, now you have to tell us,” Rafe said.
So he did, but he kept it short. “Okay. Her name was Tracy. We met in college. Freshman year. Dated awhile then broke up.” Sean paused for a sip of beer and the cold liquid did nothing to ease the dryness in his throat. But he was in this far, he might as well finish it. “Eight months later, she showed up, pregnant. She cried and said how she hadn’t wanted to worry me, but she got scared.”
“Damn it,” Rafe muttered.
“Yeah.” Sean smiled wryly. “No way was I going to be the kind of father our dad was, so I married her.”
“And?” Lucas asked.
Sean shrugged and realized that telling this story wasn’t as terrible as he had imagined. It actually felt good to get it out there. To finally tell his brothers what he’d been hiding for years.
“The baby was a week or two old when Tracy told me he wasn’t mine. Seems Tracy’s first boyfriend had come back to town. He was the father. She left that day, haven’t seen her or the baby since.”
“Well hell.”
Sean gave Lucas a nod of appreciation. “That about sums it up.”
“You should have told us,” Rafe said quietly.
Sean shook his head. “No man wants to look like a fool.”
“You’re only a fool if you didn’t learn something,” Rafe countered.
“That’s the funny part. I thought I had,” Sean acknowledged. “Steer clear of marriage. That was the lesson.”
“No it wasn’t, you idiot,” Lucas snapped.
“Hey.”
“Shut up, Lucas,” Rafe said, never taking his gaze off Sean. “The lesson was to trust yourself. You didn’t want to marry Tracy. Hell, you broke up with her.”
“Well, yeah, but—”
“No buts,” Rafe said with a shake of his head. “The lesson is to trust what you feel, Sean. You felt nothing for Tracy but obligation. If what you’re feeling for Melinda is real, and you leave her anyway because of a stupid deal you made, then you’re a bigger fool than any of us knew.”