Reclaiming His Bride (DiCarlo Brides book 3) (The DiCarlo Brides) (19 page)

 Blake smiled, touched by her righteous anger. He’d been living as the inferior son his whole life—feeling her support meant more to him than he could say. “My mom is what she is. She isn’t going to change.”

“Not if you don’t stand up for yourself, she’s not. You deserve better than that.” She poked him in the shoulder to emphasize her point. “I noticed you could jump in to defend me easily enough. And what is it with her interfering and thinking she needs to tell me how to have a healthy pregnancy? Does she honestly think I’m not taking care of myself?”

They reached her car and Blake turned her into his arms, pulling her against him. “I love you, Lana. Thank you for coming tonight. You were terrific.”

“Sure, whatev—”

He cut her off with a kiss, pulling her close and keeping it slow and sweet, dragging it out until he knew that their hearts beat in rhythm and she was as sucked into it as he was, her hands grasping his arms to hold him near. He loved that he could still do that to her and wished she would realize that meant what they had was far from over.

When they eventually separated, she tipped her head against his chest. “You’re always taking me by surprise like that.”

He grinned, feeling a little self-satisfied, but tried to keep the smugness from his voice. “It’s the only way to get you to let your guard down.” With great reluctance, he shifted away from her, allowing her space so she could get into her car. “You probably ought to go home and rest. I can see those wrinkles by your eyes that mean you’re getting a headache.”

She looked at him in confusion. “It throws me for a loop when you notice things like that.”

He brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. “I notice everything about you, Lana. You know, if you’d rather not go home yet, you’re welcome to join me at my suite.” Blake knew the answer even before she increased the distance between them. “Just so you know that you’re welcome there anytime.”

“I know.” She didn’t meet his eyes as she pulled the car keys from her pocket. “You have a good night.”

“You too.” He watched her get into the car and start the engine before turning back to the hotel.

It had been a crazy night. His folks were unhappy, Lana was unhappy and Blake wasn’t sure how to deal with his own confusion and mixed up feelings, never mind solve everyone else’s.

He put it all aside for now. The word was out and he didn’t have to hide things anymore regarding his relationship with Lana. Now to find ways under her guard. She wasn’t ready to let him in, but he wasn’t going to give up yet.

“We’ve come to kidnap you.”

Lana looked up from her computer and saw Rosemary, Sage and Cami lined up across the front of her desk. “Where are you taking me?” She addressed this question to Cami, since she was the one who had made the announcement.

“Home. For a thorough debriefing. And food, because of course Jonquil insists on it,” Rosemary answered.

“And you hate food in every variety?” Lana lifted a brow at Rosemary, who despite how she went on about cooking right and using the best ingredients, was skinny as a cover model and watched everything she ate.

“Well, you know. I guess I can get into a real meal now and then.” Her eyes twinkled and she pushed the long fall of blond hair back behind her shoulder.

Lana steepled her hands together in front of her mouth. “So why the kidnapping, to my own house?”

“First because you work too hard,” Sage said.

“Second, because you don’t eat enough for a pregnant woman,” Rosemary put in.

“Third, and most importantly, because I get the feeling that you left a fair amount out when we talked about your history with Blake the other day.” Cami put her hands on her hips and gave her younger sister a no-nonsense stare.

“Joel gave a very different angle to things, so there must be more you didn’t tell, because he tends to be on a woman’s side if the guy’s cheating,” Sage added. “Admittedly, I’ve not been as insightful as usual when it comes to reading people, but whatever the cause, he’s definitely upset about what happened.”

When Lana didn’t move, Cami came around the desk, clicked the quick keys to save what Lana was working on, and shut down the computer while Sage held out her coat. “We won’t take no for an answer,” Sage said.

“Fine. If you’re going to kidnap me, I think I need a reflexology treatment.” Lana stood and let herself be bullied into her coat.

“I think that’s a great idea.” Sage nudged her toward the door.

“Goodnight, honey. Have fun,” Blake called from his office as they walked out. The girls hadn’t been exactly quiet about their plans for Lana, but someone must have filled him in because they hadn’t been that loud.

Lana considered giving him the finger, just out of spite, but held herself back. She decided to let him enjoy himself a little. He’d been through the wringer with his family.

“Right back at you, babe.” She twisted the last word so it wasn’t entirely complimentary.

It only took a little while for them to arrive at home and settle in the living room. Sage brought up her foot bath for a pre-treatment soak and Jonquil made everyone fill their plates with Mexican food from a nearby restaurant before they were allowed to begin the interrogation.

Delphi ran in as they were filling their plates. “I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get away. Why do I feel married to my job even worse than back home?”

“Because you’re a control freak who won’t let anyone else help you?” Rosemary said.

“Pot, kettle,” Jonquil said, which made Delphi smirk and Rosemary scowl.

Unfortunately, Lana was only a third of the way through her dinner when the interrogation began.

“The rest of us intend to keep all of our secrets to ourselves,” Delphi started when every eye seemed to be on Lana. “But we’re demanding that you spill yours.” Her dead-pan expression hid her amusement, except where it showed in her eyes.

Lana laughed. “Well, as long as you’re being honest.”

“We’re all about honesty. So, tell us how you and Blake got together,” Rosemary asked.

Cami didn’t agree about the starting point. “That doesn’t matter; just tell us what happened to split you up.”

“No way, if we’re going to hear the dirty cheater Blake side of things, we’re going to hear why she thought he was a catch in the first place. And if there’s any chance he didn’t cheat on you, I’m still leaning toward major catch. Your husband is a hottie.” Rosemary put a chip—baked not fried—loaded with salsa into her mouth, then looked around at the glares she received from the others. “Hey, I left the caveat about him being a cheater. Cheating is entirely not hot. No matter how much else the guy has going on.” She glanced at the picture of their father sitting on the mantle along with the rest of their family pictures and frowned.

“Fine. I’ll start at the beginning.” Lana wiggled her toes in the hot foot-soaking solution and settled back against the sofa, trying to decide where to start and what to say. She was still twisted up inside when it came to Blake. “We met over two years ago and I remember thinking that whoa, the guy was
gorgeous
. He had that sweet Southern drawl going on and opened doors and gave me the look that said he appreciated the way I looked too. He was still working in the resort in Atlanta, then, so it didn’t go any further.”

“When did he move to Chicago?” Jonquil looked up from where she was painting her toenails with hot-pink polish.

“Early November last year,” Lana said. “He took over some of Dad’s duties, though I didn’t realize at the time that was because Dad was sick. Blake was already moving into position to open this hotel and become regional manager, but I don’t think even he knew it.” She dragged her chip through a pile of salsa on her plate, remembering when they met again with him as her boss.

“We hit it off right away. He had me join him for dinner to discuss the hotel, and we talked for hours. He walked me to my car and I wanted him to kiss me—so much—even though he was technically my boss, but he didn’t. Then the next day we had lunch, and in the evening he invited me to a movie, and of course we ate first.” She smiled fondly at the memory. “And then we grabbed some gelato afterward and talked for hours about, oh, everything. Music, movies, politics, theater. He mentioned he had tickets to a musical the next night and we went together.” She ate the chip to give herself a moment to push back the pain she’d felt when she lost him. Their time together had been almost perfect for as long as it lasted.

“You spent every waking hour together that you weren’t at work, in other words,” Cami said.

“And quite a few non-waking ones by the end of the second week,” Lana admitted, though she’d never let her relationship with men get physical that quickly before. But by that time they’d been out together more than most of her relationships had lasted.

“Whoa, you don’t seem like the type to jump into anything,” Delphi said.

“We could hardly stand to be out of each other’s company,” Lana admitted. “Going home without him was pointless; as soon as I got home I’d think of something else I wanted to say, a joke I’d heard that I wanted to share with him, so I’d call him up. And we would talk for hours more some nights. It was unreal. I’ve never felt like that with anyone, ever. He charmed me in every possible way.”

“Wasn’t he traveling for work?” Cami asked. “I remember him being gone a lot.”

“A little, not much right then,” Lana clarified. “It was mostly day trips to Boston or New York to the other hotels, and lots of teleconferences
.” It wasn’t until after we split that he traveled a lot.

“And then how did you end up in Vegas?” Delphi asked. Of them all, she seemed the most fascinated by the story.

“It was a business trip. You know the convention there in November.” Lana looked at the other women and realized several were shaking their heads. “Right. You’re all so awesome at your jobs I forget that you weren’t actually working in the hotel business before you came here. Anyway, big convention. We had a little too much wine at dinner.” She paused to consider whether that was really true, but didn’t recall more than a glass of wine or two over their long meal. “Maybe. Or maybe that’s just the excuse I’ve used for why I agreed when we passed a little white chapel and he mentioned that we could be married that night if we wanted.”

“That’s romantic,” Rosemary drawled, though her eye roll made it clear that it was the least romantic thing she’d ever heard.

“Despite how it sounds, it was.” Lana said, remembering the feelings that had vibrated through her when they pulled to the curb. “Blake gave me this piercing look and said that going home to sleep alone without me, even once in a while was torture, that he’d never felt like this for anyone else. He said he wanted to be with me all the time and didn’t think that would ever change.”

She shook her head. “I’m not doing it justice. It was sweet and romantic and he swept me off my feet. So I said yes, and he had the taxi turn around and go back. We rented clothes from the chapel and he bought a cheap band for the ceremony and when he kissed me at the altar... ”

Tears rose to her eyes as she thought of how happy she had been in that moment. How much she had loved him and wanted to be with him, and how she still felt that way. There was nothing she wanted more than to curl up in his arms every night. And that was so many kinds of wrong when she didn’t trust him, that she couldn’t even count them.

“It was like nothing else mattered.” Delphi had taken on a distant look, as if she were imagining, or maybe remembering the feeling. “Not what others would say, not how hard it would be or what you might have to juggle or give up to be together. He was everything.” She pressed her lips together and looked at her plate.

“Yeah. That’s it exactly.” And so intuitive that Lana knew Delphi must have some major secrets. But tonight wasn’t the time to ferret them out.

“So, how did you find out he was cheating on you?” Cami asked. “And why didn’t you tell anyone you were married? Seriously, did you think we would disapprove? Okay, maybe of excluding us all by doing it in Vegas, and we might have been a little shocked that you hadn’t dated very long, and wondered what you were thinking, but I liked Blake, and obviously, so did Dad.”

“You don’t understand.” Lana said as Sage pulled one of her feet out of the soaker and wiped it down. “It wasn’t so much that we thought you would frown on our relationship. I knew you would be happy for me—once you got over your shock—but it was hot and exciting and a little forbidden, hiding what we’d done. I knew there would be repercussions because he was kind of my boss, and I was his boss’s daughter, which made it really twisted and crazy. There would be media and attention and we’d have to go to Atlanta to tell his parents and I wanted a little more time when it was just to two of us enjoying being
us
.

“So we put it off and planned a family dinner the following week to get everyone together to make the announcement. His parents were coming to town anyway, so it was easy to set it up.” Her gut wrenched as she thought about what came next. She had gone from the best time of her life to the worst in a matter of minutes.

“And then?” Jonquil asked when Lana didn’t say anything else for a long moment.