The Rebel and His Bride (14 page)

“Hey, cuz,” Annabelle called out. “You’re fat.”

Danni grinned and gave her swollen stomach a fond pat. “Comes with the territory. Come here, you.” She tugged Annabelle to her for a hug. “With twins, I expect I’ll get a whole lot fatter before I get any thinner.”

“I can’t believe you’re going to have twins.”

“Neither can the doctor,” Danni said dryly. “I wasn’t supposed to be able to get pregnant at all.”

“But miracles happen every day.” Sebastian smiled.

Danni smiled at her husband, a smile so intimate that Annabelle felt as if she were intruding on a private moment. She and Gregory used to smile at each other that way. Dammit! No more, she told herself. No more might-have-beens, no more wondering, remembering, wishing. Only reality. Only the here and now.

Sebastian turned his smile on Annabelle. “How’s it going, Annabelle? It’s good to see you again.

Annabelle eyed his dark-brown curls. “Hi, Sebastian. I see Danni finally talked you into growing your hair a little. Looks good.”

“And it only took five years,” Danni murmured.

Sebastian rolled his eyes at Annabelle. “I got tired of her nagging. So, how are you enjoying your visit?”

Enjoying it? Annabelle thought. She felt as if she’d been on more roller coasters than Disneyland had. “Fine,” she said. “It’s wonderful to spend some time with Gran and to see all the places Danni and I used to play as kids.”

“How’s Virgie holding up with the broken arm?”

“Getting frustrated. She’s not used to depending on anyone else. But she’s okay. I have to ride herd on her, though, to keep her from doing things like washing Marigold with her cast on or making tennis dates with Magda.”

Sebastian grinned. “Sounds like Virgie.” He
turned to his wife. “Danni, sweetheart, I’m going to take the suitcases back to the house and check with Grant to see about business. I’ll come back for you in a little while.”

“I can walk, you know. It’s only a couple of blocks.”

“I’ll drive you home,” Sebastian said with finality.

Danni sighed good-naturedly. “Yes, dear.” When Sebastian opened the front door to leave, Merlin rose and trotted out, waiting for Sebastian to follow.

“Well, I know where his loyalties lie,” Danni murmured. “And I’ll remember those loyalties come suppertime,” she called after the cat, then turned back to Annabelle. “Now tell the truth. How has it gone, really?”

Annabelle slumped down on the edge of the sofa. “It hasn’t been easy. Seeing Gregory, I mean.”

“I figured that. You look like you’ve barely slept at all, except that your clothes look like you slept in them.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve got so many bags beneath my eyes it looks like I’m packed for a trip around the world.”

“Last time we talked, you said you weren’t sure how you felt about Gregory, even after nine years. Do you know any better now?”

“God, no! All I know is that I don’t know any
more than I did before. I think I know less. Things are all screwed up.”

“Things? Or your feelings?”

Annabelle sighed. “Both. My feelings most of all.”

“Why?”

“Darned if I know.”

“It’s because of the way you felt about him before?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know. He’s changed. So have I. But I do see little things that remind me of the way he used to be. It’s like the past and the present are all mixed up together.”

“Are you still in love with him?”

“After nine years? Like I said, he’s not the same anymore. And I’m not either.”

“So maybe you’re in love with who he is now.”

“Heaven forbid! It would never work. Never.”

“You know,” Danni said with a great deal of interest, “you certainly do protest vigorously.”

“Yeah, I do, don’t I? Do I sound convincing?”

“Not really.”

“I didn’t think so,” Annabelle said morosely.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this rattled about anything before.”

Wait around, Annabelle thought. It can only get worse.

Annabelle drove to Bosco’s late that afternoon to get a package of bobby pins so she could put her hair up for the engagement party that night. When she walked back out to her car, she heard footsteps on the gravel behind her and knew it was Gregory. She didn’t know how she knew. The small parking lot held about fifteen cars and was nearly always full, so it could have been anyone in the whole town of White Creek. But it was him.

“Hi, Rev,” she said, without turning around.

She was surprised he let the “Rev” slip by, saying only, “You didn’t lock your car door.”

“Sorry,” she said, waiting for the now familiar wariness to settle over her. It didn’t. She’d been wearing caution like a cloak since coming back to White Creek and she wondered where it had gone. All she knew was that she was ridiculously glad to hear his voice.

“We need to talk,” he said.

She had to agree. She’d said her piece last night, gotten nine years worth of baggage out of her system. But she hadn’t given him a chance to say very much. She owed it to him to hear him out. “Okay. Here?”

“My house might be better.”

“Shall I meet you there?”

“Can I ride with you?”

“I’m not planning on skipping out on you, Gregory.”

He smiled. “I’ll meet you there.”

When Annabelle pulled up in front of Gregory’s white frame house, he was right behind her. He walked up the sidewalk ahead of her and held the door for her to go inside.

She perched nervously on the edge of the sofa. What had put that serious, almost somber, look on his face? Was he going to tell her that he’d gotten the past out of his system, that he was now ready to move on with his life—without her? “Okay, so let’s talk,” she said.

“I’ll bring you something to drink. Iced tea okay?”

She nodded. “Fine. Unsweetened. Do you have lemon?”

“You didn’t used to take lemon.”

“And I used to take it loaded with sugar. I guess my taste buds have grown up.”
Dammit, let’s get on with this!

“Along with the rest of you,” he murmured, and went into the kitchen.

Annabelle sat on the sofa and stared at the PETA poster directly opposite her.
RESPECT YOUR FELLOW EARTHLINGS
. She’d noticed at Sunday dinners that he ate helpings of everything except the meat. She figured he’d gone vegetarian, though he never said anything and never called attention to it. She had to give him that. He didn’t just pay lip service when he stood up for a cause. He meant it, believed it, practiced what he preached.

“Here.” He handed her a tall glass of tea and sat next to her on the sofa. She hadn’t expected that. She’d figured he’d sit in his recliner. Sipping her tea, she analyzed the frisson of awareness that shivered up her spine. Nope, it still wasn’t wariness. This was more along the lines of pure sensual energy—the female radar in her honing in on his male presence.

She waited for him to say something, but he simply drank his tea, then gazed at the ice cubes in his glass as if they held the answers to the secrets of the universe.

She couldn’t wait any longer. She had to know where things stood between them. “Gregory?”

He sighed heavily. “I’m sorry, Annabelle. I know I keep saying that, but I want to know what I have to do to make you realize that I mean it with all my heart.”

“Sorry?”

“For messing up back in college. For not realizing
that you have to work at having a relationship. For letting you think, for even one second, that you weren’t the most important thing in the world to me. Take your pick.”

Annabelle felt her heartbeat slow at his softly spoken words. For some crazy reason, she was afraid she might cry. She should tell him that it had happened a long time ago and didn’t matter anymore. She should. But she didn’t. Because suddenly it mattered very much to her that he had apologized. What had happened last night had changed everything. Somehow, in airing out all the old hurt, most of it had dissipated, leaving her feeling strangely free.

“I’m sorry, too, Gregory. I wasn’t very good at relationships either and I guess I should have told you I was feeling neglected.”

He stared at his ice cubes awhile longer, then looked at her long enough to say, “It’s been good to get to know you again. You’re an incredible woman.” He went back to watching his ice cubes melt.

“I … well, it’s been good to get to know you again. You’ve become quite a minister.” Now she was the one staring at her ice cubes.

“I’m also a man, Annabelle. A man who wants very much to spend time with you. To work at a relationship with you. Could we try it again? Could we try and see if we can get it right this time?”

She turned to him and saw a look of such longing
on his face, it hurt her. It also scared her. “I—I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything. You don’t have to answer at all. We can just take it a day at a time.”

She looked back down at her hands, which were clutching her glass so tightly, her fingertips were white from the pressure. “A day at a time,” she echoed.

She felt Gregory’s fingertip glide down her cheek to her chin, then lift it so she could meet his gaze. He brushed his lips across hers, a light, sweet, nonthreatening kiss. “One hour at a time, if that’s what you want.” He kissed her again, with exquisite tenderness.

“I, uh, suppose we could do that. An hour at a time,” she hastened to add. “No strings, no promises.”

“No strings, no promises.”
At least no strings tying you to me
, Gregory thought.
I’m already tied to you in the most binding of ways
. He brushed one more kiss across her lips and grinned. “Since we’re going to take it an hour at a time, can I have you for the next hour?”

She smiled back. “I have to get ready for the engagement party.”

“Shall I pick you up?”

“I’ve already made arrangements to ride with Danni and Sebastian. I suppose I could call them—no, I’ll just meet you there.”

“Fine. But tell them you have another ride
home.” He tilted his head to one side, his gaze holding hers.

“I … Okay.”

Gregory escorted her to her car, opened the door for her, then bent to kiss her again. He shut her car door, then tapped on her car window and pointed at the lock.

He grinned as she stuck out her tongue, even as she locked her car door and drove off.

Gregory smiled and chatted, saying all the right things, but his attention was focused on the door. Annabelle, with Danni and Sebastian, would be there any minute. It would be nice to see Danni and Sebastian—he and Sebastian had become good friends in the five years since Sebastian had moved to White Creek. But it wasn’t Danni and Sebastian who had his heart pounding when they walked in the door. It was Annabelle.

She was dressed in a turquoise halter-top sundress that made the creamy skin of her arms and shoulders glow in contrast. Her hair was pinned on top of her head, but dozens, even hundreds, of curly tendrils escaped to caress her forehead and the nape of her neck. She flashed a shy but sweet smile in his direction before being swallowed up by a swarm of women.

“No strings, no promises,” he said under his breath, then repeated it for good measure. Easier said than done, he realized, when what he really
wanted to do was take her home and promise to make love to her all night, then keep that promise.

“So how’s it goin’, Greg?”

Gregory turned to see Sebastian had joined him. “Welcome back, Sebastian. How was Disneyland?”

“I went nuts trying to keep Danni off most of the rides, but it’s always nice getting away with her. So what’s been going on around here the past couple of weeks?”

Gregory caught him up on the news of the town, though his gaze seldom left Annabelle as she laughed and talked with Magda’s daughters. Sebastian went into more detail about his vacation, and Gregory listened with half an ear while watching Bosco Wilson’s older son, Jimmy, who was visiting from Maryland, put the moves on Annabelle.

Gregory’s hands tightened into fists and didn’t relax until she laughingly rebuffed Jimmy, leaving him to wander off to try his wiles on Caterina. Only then did he turn his attention back to Sebastian’s conversation.

“…  and we left the purple-haired quadruplets in the care of their nanny so we could be here tonight.”

“What?”

“I thought that might get your attention. It took longer than I expected, though. I think Annabelle can breathe, even if you don’t watch her every breath.”

“Sorry, I—”

“I’ve been there, ol’ friend. A word to the wise. Don’t fight it.”

“I’m not.
She
is.”

Sebastian grimaced in sympathy. “Sorry, I can’t help you there. With Danni and me, it was mostly me who was stubborn and hardheaded. Why don’t you go over and say hello? It’s not like you’re hearing a whole lot of what I’m saying.”

Gregory thought for all of a tenth of a second before heading in Annabelle’s direction. Oh God, he thought, the White Shoulders was back in full force. He noticed her scent as he came up behind her. “You smell good,” he murmured in her ear. “And you look even better.”

She turned and smiled at him. “You don’t look so bad yourself, Rev.”

Gregory stayed by her side for most of the party. It rapidly became obvious to everyone there that he considered her his territory. Jimmy, shot down by Caterina, came back around and was subjected to positively threatening looks.

“Jeez, I thought you’re supposed to be a preacher,” Jimmy grumbled.

“I am a preacher,” Gregory said. He smiled pleasantly and spoke softly so Annabelle wouldn’t hear. “I am also a man with a jealous streak and a short fuse. Annabelle is mine. Enjoy the party.”

“What was that all about?” Annabelle asked, when she’d finished her conversation with Lily Jones.

“Nothing important,” Gregory assured her.
“Just a male thing.” He ran a possessive gaze over her hair, wondering how many pins he’d have to remove to tumble the soft curls down around her shoulders—those temptingly bare shoulders.

If he pressed kisses on her back starting with her left shoulder blade, he wondered how many kisses it would take to get to her right shoulder blade. And if he kissed those perfectly lipsticked lips, how many kisses would it take before he’d kissed all the lipstick off, before he went completely over the edge? Not many, he suspected. He wanted to find out.