Reclaiming His Bride (DiCarlo Brides book 3) (The DiCarlo Brides) (12 page)

“How are you today?” the young man asked when they reached the counter.

“We’re well.” Blake turned to Lana. “Strawberry cheesecake swirl for you?”

A little bounce of surprise hit her and she paused a moment before nodding. He’d remembered.

He turned back to the cashier and ordered the swirl for her and German chocolate for himself. “You can snatch a taste or three if you’d like,” he offered after paying for the desserts.

Lana watched the cashier pull out two cups and fill them with the yogurt. “I may just take you up on that.” She accepted the cup and spoon and they found a seat on a nearby bench.

The mall teemed with people streaming past, their arms full of packages and checking lists, talking on cell phones, or calling across the thoroughfare to one another. “Where else do you need to stop?” he asked when they were settled.

Lana shook her head, not sure what to do. “It’s hard to buy for the other sisters. We don’t know each other that well, and I’m still trying to get a handle on everyone.”

He nodded. “I know, and the family has grown awfully fast in the past year, hasn’t it?”

“And keeps growing. Cami’s wedding is only a few weeks off, Sage is married, and do I buy something for Harrison? He’s sort of family, but not really. Kind of that in-between space.” He was the half-brother of her half-sister—not a relation, but still something. Trying to figure out how to balance the family and business relationships was harder for her, since she was everyone’s boss—everyone but Blake, anyway.

“I was thinking Joel and Sage could use a fire extinguisher,” Blake said, straight faced.

She elbowed him. “That’s just plain mean.” And a little behind the times since Joel’s house burned down in October.

“Joel will laugh.”

She let a few seconds pass. “So would Sage, actually. She’s amazingly calm about everything that happened. Sometimes I wonder if she’s just hiding things.” The night Joel’s house was set on fire would have sent Lana to a therapist for sure.

“Of course she is. Anyone who doesn’t wake up screaming from nightmares after what she’s been through isn’t normal. And you remember all of the panic attacks she used to have. I bet they aren’t really gone.” He scooped up some of his yogurt and offered it to her. “She’ll be fine though, because she has Joel. They’re good together.”

Lana accepted the bite of his treat and nearly moaned in delight as the chocolate and coconut flowed over her tongue. “That is amazing.”

“Isn’t it?” He offered her another taste, waiting until she lifted her gaze to his before sliding it into her mouth. “They aren’t the only ones who are good together.”

Lana felt the kick of electricity all the way to her toes when their eyes met and she savored the chocolaty goodness. “Our time
together
was never the problem.”

He let a moment of taut silence pass. When he spoke, his voice was lower than usual. “Trust is the problem. And that’s not something I can fix on my own. You have to take the leap and believe that I’ll catch you. Or at least take a tentative first step and let me show you I’ll be there for you.”

Tension stretched between them as she considered his words. “I don’t think I can do that yet.”

He swallowed hard and nodded, then turned back to his yogurt. After a long moment passed, he changed the subject. “So I was thinking something with bling for my mom—she always appreciates jewelry. And of course, jewelry is reasonably safe for your sisters as well—maybe not so much with Sage, but the others will be happy enough with something shiny. You want to hit the jewelers next?”

“Yeah, that would be good.” Lana told herself she was putting it behind her. She would be his friend, even if she didn’t trust him enough for more.

After they’d burned up their credit cards, grabbed a quick lunch, and half-filled the back of the SUV, Blake lured Lana into a baby store. “Just to look,” he promised when she protested that it was too soon to buy a crib. Or two since he insisted he would have one at his place, one way or another.

They wandered up and down the aisle looking at tiny outfits and bottles, sippy cups, diapers and changing tables, cribs and bath tubs, car seats and bouncy chairs and a thousand other little things neither of them had ever considered before. They were halfway around the room before she realized they were holding hands and talking as if there had never been any tension between them.

“I love this.” Lana fingered some footed pajamas with ultra-soft fabric and a puppy face embroidered on the front.

“Then we should get it.” He picked it up, along with a layette she had been drooling over and a teeny-tiny cap for a newborn.

“But it’s so far away still, I mean, it’s not like we have to start now.” Buying things for the baby meant there was a chance someone else would learn the truth, and she wasn’t ready to spread the word yet.

“But there’s no reason we can’t start now, either, is there? We’ll have plenty of shopping to do later, and these are little. It’s not making an announcement like buying a crib might do—though I think I might ask them to hold that one with the animals painted on the sides.” Blake took her elbow and moved her to the front of the store. “You’re what, about three months along? You’re past the likeliest chances of miscarriage, so there’s no reason not to plan for the baby now. Speaking of which,” he said as he continued on past her objections, “when is your doctor’s visit? I’d like to go with you, if you don’t mind too much. Especially when you have a sonogram done.”

Lana nearly stumbled over her own feet when she heard that. She hadn’t even thought about inviting him to the doctor’s office. He wanted to be there? “Um, I. huh.”

He grinned. “You can look it up and tell me later. Just think about it.” They reached a store employee and he had them follow to make note of the items they wanted to put on hold for the week. “I’ll pay now and return to pick them up on Friday.”

Lana felt her stomach drop and she stared at him. “Friday! That’s too soon.” She grabbed onto his arm for support.

“Honey,” Blake turned and put his free hand on her cheek. “My parents are coming to town right after Thanksgiving, and I’m telling them. The time for secrets has passed. Whether or not you tell your family is your choice, but I suggest you do it, because my mother isn’t likely to keep quiet about it.”

Lana felt a little lightheaded. Maybe because she had started hyperventilating.

“Whoa.” He took her elbow and leaned her back against the check-out counter. “Slow down there, you’re going to make yourself sick. You know we have to tell people.”

“Now?” Somehow she’d been thinking if they waited long enough she would get used to the idea, but she was not ready.

“You’d rather wait until Christmas and have them angry that we kept it quiet so long? Hasn’t it been long enough?”

The warmth of his hand on her cheek infused her with a little calm. She sucked in a long, deep breath and saw the dark spots in front of her eyes fade away. “I just... Cami’s going to be livid. When she found out Joel tried to get Sage to make a run for Vegas, she was pretty vocal about it.”

He didn’t speak at all for a moment, though the look on his face seemed uncertain. “Let’s finish here and I’ll take you somewhere to eat. It’s been too long since lunch.”

Lana considered pushing the point with him, but didn’t know what to say, or what she expected him to say. Instead she nodded and let him finish what he was doing.

In twenty minutes they were seated in a darling little restaurant with low lights, plenty of space and privacy between tables, and flute music filling the air. “How did you find this place?” Lana asked.

He smiled. “I talked to one of our concierges. She used to work at the Four Seasons, so I figured she’d know a spot like this.”

“Tell her kudos from me.” Lana played with her goblet until Blake slid his fingers over hers, claiming them again.

“I’ll do that. I figured after the hustle and bustle, a nice, quiet place to relax would probably be welcome.” He fiddled with his knife on the tabletop.

“Definitely. I might just melt into the seat from exhaustion.” She’d felt the pull of tiredness for a couple of hours, but had kept pushing on to get through more of the shopping, even when he’d offered to take a break. She was nearly done purchasing for everyone, though, so she felt entitled to relax for a while. The rest would have to be done online or at the boutiques in Juniper Ridge.

“I’m sorry. You could have told me.” His fingers brushed over hers, a soft caress that sent shivers up her spine. “I should have paid closer attention to you.”

“I thought you were watching me pretty close,” she said with a smile. His eyes had hardly left her for most of the day. Oddly, that hadn’t bothered her like she expected. “But I would have said to stop for a break if I really needed one.”

“You work too hard. I love that you’re so determined, but you need to take care of yourself.”

“Since I’m pregnant,” she finished the thought.

His fingers tightened on hers. “No, because you refuse to admit you have limits, so you keep working even when you should take a break. Which has always been the case, but is even more relevant now. I love you and don’t want to see you sick because you don’t know when to stop.” His gaze was direct.

Did he love her, really love her? Lana’s father had said that he loved her mother, but he stepped out on her all the time. Was that love? Did Blake understand what that meant to her? That she couldn’t live the way her parents had? “I don’t know how to respond when you say things like that to me.”

“Because you don’t think you work too hard, or because you can’t believe I love you?”

She stared at their joined hands again. He’d been wearing his wedding ring when he picked her up, a reminder of what today signified. “Dad told me he loved my mom.”

“That’s not love. Not the kind of love we have, anyway,” Blake dismissed. “I’ve been thinking about that for months now, wondering how he could ever cheat on a woman like your mother and still claim he loved her. She was like a candle, burning so bright and warm that she drew others to her.”

Tears rose to Lana’s eyes. His description was perfect. “I didn’t know you’d met.”

“A few times, when I was first working at the New York resort. I was head of guest services then, and she was the sweetest person I’d ever met; charming, beautiful and welcoming to everyone.” He grinned at Lana. “At least I thought she was the most charming woman alive, until I met you.”

Lana pulled her hand away from his and wiped at the tears streaking her face. She wasn’t going to respond to his comment about herself. He understood how to use charm a little too well for her comfort sometimes. “I just don’t understand him. How could he? Why would he do that? How could she live with him if she knew? And how could she not know, or at least suspect, when it went on for so many years? Decades.” She met his eyes. “I could never live like that, Blake. I like my sisters fine, but I can’t help but remember that they exist because my dad...” She looked away, trying to hold back tears again. Stupid hormones.

Blake rose and came around to her side of the small, round table. He crouched beside her. “I would never do that, baby. You’re too important to me. Please, you just have to give me a chance.”

When she didn’t respond, not sure she trusted herself at that moment, he reached out and brushed the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. She gave a half-laugh. “Hormones. Rumor has it that you’re in for worse than you’ve seen today.”

“No problem.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead, then pulled away, sitting in his chair again. “That kiss didn’t make me a liar, did it? Was it okay?” he teased.

“I don’t know. It was pushing the rules for the day,” she joked back, glad he was lightening the serious conversation. His action had been just what she needed.

“If I say five Hail Mary’s can I be forgiven?”

“You’re not Catholic,” she reminded him, fighting to keep a smile at bay.

“Hmm, right. I wonder if it still works.”

She laughed, unable to help herself. “Nope, and since I’m the one you need forgiveness from, we’ll have to find a more appropriate penance.”

Blake tapped his oh-so-kissable lips for a moment, then smiled. “How about if I carry all of the bags in from the car?”

“Sounds fair to me. It’ll take you a lot of trips.” For a moment her eyes slid back to where his fingertip touched his lips. Feeling her throat tighten a little and her mouth go dry, she pulled her gaze away.

Their entrees arrived and he changed the subject. “So, what are we going to do about our ghost?”

She grimaced. “I don’t know. Joel is going to add a few extra cameras that no one else knows about that aren’t part of the main system and can’t be hacked with the others, but we still have to catch this person in action. I don’t understand why someone would want to cause all of this trouble. What do they expect to gain?”

“I could understand the whole ghost business back when George was trying to buy the land, and maybe even in the early stages of building. Stalling the process could affect other smaller hotels that aren’t quite as full now that we’re open. Or maybe someone else had plans for the ground, but it’s too late for that now.” Blake took a drink of his soda.

“So what’s the payoff? Personal satisfaction?” Lana felt tiredness pulling on her muscles, turning them to mush. She was definitely going to sleep on the drive back up the mountain. “I think figuring out what someone has to gain will be the key to tracking them down.
If
we could find that out.” Unfortunately, they were both stumped.