Reclaiming His Bride (DiCarlo Brides book 3) (The DiCarlo Brides) (11 page)

“You’re welcome. We’ll have to do it again sometime.” He opened the glass doors and smiled at Gina as he prepared to return to work.

Though his stomach did flips in protest, Blake sauntered into Lana’s office Friday morning. When he saw Lana and Cami raise their blue eyes in his direction, he wondered if this was a mistake. Cami didn’t know about the baby or the marriage, so he couldn’t mention buying baby stuff, but hopefully Lana wouldn’t be too abrupt to him with her sister there, either. Since their walk the other day, she’d grown cool again and was occasionally snappish with him when she felt ill. Right now her face was paler than usual, which meant she probably wasn’t feeling well.

“Yes?” Lana’s voice was crisp.

“I have some Christmas shopping I need to do tomorrow. I wondered if you’d accompany me. I’m sure there are stops you’d like to make. You always need new clothes and things.” The fact that she’d need maternity wear soon was implied.

Her lips thinned. “I’ll make the trip another time. We shouldn’t both be away.”

“What do you mean?” Cami asked. “I’m the on-call person this weekend. I think I can handle anything that comes up. Don’t you trust me here alone?” She put her hands on her hips, guilting her younger sister.

Blake wanted to kiss her… no, he decided after a moment, he still wanted to kiss Lana, but he would definitely owe Cami one if her argument convinced Lana to go with him. “Of course
I
trust you.” He shifted his gaze back to Lana. “Don’t
you
trust her?”

Lana’s brow twitched slightly, acknowledging his maneuver. “Of course I trust you here alone,” she told Cami. “You’re more than capable of dealing with anything that happens. I don’t think Blake should be subjected to hours of shopping with me, though, do you?”

Cami’s lips curved and she studied him for a moment. “I think he invited you, and I’m pretty sure he’s never seemed adverse to spending time with you in the past.” She tipped her head to the side and studied him. “Nope, he doesn’t look like he thinks it’ll be a terrible chore.”

“I’ve always enjoyed shopping, contrary to the stereotype for guys. I don’t even mind waiting while she picks out a few new outfits. And whatever else she might buy for herself.” He said it to Cami, but his gaze shifted back to Lana and stayed there while he spoke.

“Yeah.” Cami cleared her throat, probably to hide a laugh if the smile was any indication. “You should go. Get away from here for the day. You work too hard, Lana. And Nordstroms has some awesome new boots.” She gathered her things and left the room.

Lana pointed to the office door, which Blake shut. He leaned back against it while she crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down. “I’m not spending our... tomorrow with you.” Her voice was tight and she bit her lip. She’d been about to acknowledge that it would be their anniversary.

He wasn’t going to let her wiggle out of spending the day with him, though, not if wheedling could do the trick. “You need to buy baby equipment, maternity clothes and Christmas gifts for all of your sisters.” He held up a finger when she started to protest. “Don’t tell me you’ve taken care of it, because I know better. You’re a total slacker when it comes to gift buying.” He kept his voice low and soothing.

She huffed a little and crossed her hands over her chest. “That doesn’t mean I have to do any of those things with you. And we haven’t told anyone about the baby yet. I’m not buying equipment before we do. That’s totally the wrong way for everyone to find out.” She rubbed her hand over her face. “I guess Cami’s room will be free then, so I can set up a nursery. It’s next to mine and Sage’s is too far away for a nursery.”

“Or you can use the extra room in my suite. It would be perfect for a nursery.” Hammering on that point would only make her more determined to run away, so Blake shifted the conversation back to the next day. He pushed away from the door and approached the desk. “You won’t back out on going with me, will you? You don’t want Cami to think you don’t trust her and can’t leave town for fear she’ll need you to get her out of a problem, do you?”

“She didn’t really think that. She was just trying to get me to go with you. For some reason she seems to like you.” Lana shifted in her chair.

He came around to her side of the desk and sat on the corner of it, nudging into her personal space. “Time was you used to like me okay too. Come on, Lana, just let me feel like I’m part of this baby’s life. I want to be there looking at bibs and swings and car seats with you. If you’re determined to go through with this divorce, I’ll need a set of baby equipment at my place too.”

Her brows lifted this time and her tone was cool and confident. “You aren’t going to have the baby around that much.”

“Joint custody does tend to give me time with our son or daughter.”

“Infants need to be with their mom.” Her brows dipped together in front.

Blake tried to act casual, even as he threw out the next line, “I’d be happy to have you come with her, if you’d like.”

Lana’s lips thinned. “You can’t actually expect to have joint custody. You’re a working man; you’d never have time for her. And you travel a lot.”

“I’m sure we can work something out. Your dad managed to work things out to spend time with his daughters, and I won’t have to spread myself across five homes. I can manage, even if I want to spend way more of my life with this one than he could with any of you.”

She pushed away from the desk. Away from him. “Blake, be serious.”

He snagged her hand as she started to stand. Had he pushed too hard? “Please, just spend the day with me tomorrow. We’ll eat somewhere nice, finish off our shopping lists—or start yours in any case. You can pick up some maternity clothes and we can argue over the merits of one car seat or cradle over the next. I think once you get a few of the shopping items off of your list, you’ll feel a lot better about what still lays ahead.”

Her perfume, always light and soft, flowed between them, making his nose twitch and his mouth itch to kiss her.

“You’ll try to kiss me, and I... ” She put her free hand on his chest, as if to keep him back, but then her fingers conformed to his muscles, almost a caress.

“Okay, how about if I promise not to kiss you in Denver.” He brushed his thumb across the back of her hand. “That means you can’t kiss me there, either.”

Her lips quirked. “That’s a pretty big demand.”

“Fine, then,” He conceded. “You can kiss me if you want to.” He did his best to appear put upon. “I won’t instigate anything beyond handholding on our trip though. Scouts honor.” He gave her his most charming smile, wanting so much for her to join him.

She hesitated for a long moment. “Okay. I’ll be ready to go at eight.”

Triumph zoomed into him, but he managed to keep his smile casual—he hoped. He rubbed her knuckles once more, then let her hand drop. “I’ll be on time.” He stood and strolled back to the office door. He’d have to play it cool, but he was going to spend the entire day with her, and with any luck, he could use the opportunity to remind her that they had so much more than chemistry together.

He couldn’t think of a better way to spend the anniversary of their marriage than reminding her of why she had fallen for him to begin with.

Lana was sure she was making a huge mistake. How could she have agreed to spend the day with Blake—today of all days? She should know better than to let herself be talked into spending any time with him. And yet a strange anticipation pulsed through her at the thought of having the whole day together without her sisters listening in. Maybe she could understand what happened and put the pain behind them. They baby would tie them together for the rest of their lives, after all. Being able to get along as friends would be better for their child.

She decided to hold onto this ridiculous hope as she slid into her coat and grabbed her purse. If nothing else, he was right that she would need new clothes soon. She wasn’t showing yet, but the waistline on her skirts was getting snug. In a few weeks she wouldn’t fit in her current wardrobe anymore.

That didn’t mean she was going into full-out maternity mode any sooner than absolutely necessary, but being prepared was good. Right?

Joel’s Range Rover pulled into the driveway and she watched Blake get out and come up the walk. He always moved with such grace and assurance. It amazed her how he managed to look entirely unruffled by anything—no matter how major—except in his eyes. She’d seen his nervousness in the way they crinkled at the corner and the slight clenching of his jaw. She doubted he was even aware that he did it, but she noticed every detail. It was part of why she’d finally agreed to go with him. If he had really been as confident as he pretended, she would have run the other way.

Lana pulled open the door just before he stepped close enough to knock. “Right on time, as usual.”

“You look great,” he said after flicking his gaze over her. “As usual.”

She allowed herself to smile. “I’m ready to go.”

“Have fun,” Cami called to them from the base of the inside staircase, a note of innuendo in her voice.

“Right.” Lana didn’t even look back at her older sister, who was obviously trying to get the two of them together.

Blake helped Lana into the vehicle and circled to his own side.

“Why are we taking Joel’s car?” she asked.

“Mine’s not big enough, not if we’re doing serious Christmas shopping. And if we decide to pick up a few things for the baby today, we’ll need the extra cargo space.”

“Where are you going to store baby stuff for the next six months?” she asked.

“The spare room in my suite.” His fingers gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. “It’s not being used, so housekeeping doesn’t go in often. I told them to clean it today, so it’ll be a while before they go back to vacuum again. By then we’ll have told everyone important about the baby.”

And about us.
Lana set her hand on her stomach and tried to settle the butterflies. She’d been nervous when they first discussed announcing their marriage the previous November, but to do it now after so much time had passed was much worse. The issue was compounded by the fact that Cami had made her feelings on the subject of Vegas elopements clear when Sage said Joel wanted to run off after they were engaged.

Blake changed the conversation to his visit to the Chicago symphony when he’d been at the corporate offices the previous week. Lana settled back in her seat and talked about Chicago and the places they each liked best—avoiding discussion of the places they visited together.

The drive down the mountain to Denver went by in a flash as they settled into an easy discussion and headed for the mall.

Blake held doors for her, offered her first choice for stores, and waited patiently while she tried on half a dozen pair of boots before settling on a pair of slip-on boots with a buckle across the ankle, and a thigh-high pair that were practically designed for Juniper Ridge’s heavy snows.

“Nice.” Blake said when she showed them off. “Will you still be able to wear those when your center of gravity shifts?”

She was impressed that he thought about it, but she simply didn’t know. “They’re short heels and I guess if I have to set them aside in a few months, it’ll be okay. They’ll still fit next year.” She remembered the book she’d been reading on pregnancy and realized maybe her feet would grow and they
wouldn’t
fit.
Oh well, then I’ll just have to buy more!

They spent some time looking at new office attire for her that she would still be able to wear in a couple of months, and she picked out a few things for her sisters.

They were already well-laden with packages when they entered the inside hallway to the mall. Or rather, Blake was well-laden. Though he’d only bought himself a new scarf, he was carrying most of the packages. “I’m really glad I brought you to be my pack animal,” Lana teased.

“I live to serve.” His eyes zeroed in on a frozen yogurt place. “You up for a snack? I know what hard work shopping can be.”

“And baby needs feeding,” she agreed. They walked over and studied the offerings for a moment while the people ahead of them ordered.