Katie stayed in the kitchen, where she continued opening bottles of wine for their dinner. The Marcelli kitchen was generally a happy place, but tonight there was a festive air. As if the wine with dinner wasn’t enough, their father had already set several bottles of their best champagne to chill in the small wine refrigerator tucked under the counter by the alcove.
She glanced up and saw her parents surrounding Mia and David as the young couple entered the house. David’s father had yet to make an appearance.
Katie looked at David’s blond hair and pale skin and tried to picture the man. Maybe an older version of his son, she thought. If Mia was worried about him, he was probably shy and quiet. She frowned as she realized she didn’t know what he did for a living. A professor, maybe? She would like that. They could talk about books and-
A man walked into the kitchen and seemed to look straight at her. Instantly her stomach dived for her toes.
She’d read the expression in books and had never believed it, but at that moment all her internal organs zipped down her legs and splatted onto her feet.
She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think, which was probably a good thing. Panic flooded her. While she was willing to accept being punished for lying, she resented the punishment not fitting the crime. This
Zach Stryker, smooth sophisticate, powerful lawyer, and her newest client, stood in the center of the Marcelli kitchen.
Horror joined panic as she remembered all the things she’d told her mother and grandmother about him. She wanted to scream. She wanted to run. She wanted to disappear into a puff of black smoke.
Instead she was forced to just stand there, immobilized by frozen muscles, while Zach raised one eyebrow in obvious surprise.
“Katie?”
Her mother looked at her. “You two know each other?”
Before Katie could come up with some swell lie to cover the other lie she’d already told, Zach spoke.
“My law firm recently hired Katie to plan a big charity party for us.”
Katie braced herself, but it didn’t help. Not when Grandma Tessa scurried close and clutched Zach’s arm. “Ooh, so
Zach’s other eyebrow joined the first. Katie moaned softly as heat raced up her cheeks to her hairline. Oh, God. Now what?
Well, this being her life, it got worse.
Grammy M took Zach’s other arm. “Our Katie says you’re a very special man.”
“I-” She swallowed and tried again. “Not really.”
The corner of Zach’s mouth quirked. “You don’t think I’m special?”
“No. I mean-”
“Katie.” Grammy M’s gaze turned reproachful. “Don’t be insultin’ our guest.”
She wanted to die.
To complete the thrill of the moment, both Grands chose to release Zach and leave her alone with him. She clutched the last bottle of Cabernet to her chest and wondered what would happen if she hit herself in the head with it.
Zach shoved his hands into his slacks pockets. “Small world,” he said easily.
Of course, it was easy for him, she thought bitterly. He’d been invited to a free, live show.
“Just my luck,” she muttered, then sighed. The best course of action was to pretend none of this had actually happened. “So you’re David’s father?”
“Guilty.”
“But you’re so…” She hesitated, not sure how to phrase the obvious.
“I was seventeen when David was born,” he told her, answering her question without her having to ask it.
He leaned toward her. “You told your family you thought I was hot, huh?”
She winced as the heat on her face returned. “Those exact words never crossed my lips.”
“But something close.”
Obviously the man didn’t have an ego problem. Unfortunately she was hardly in a position to put him in his place.
For a second she thought about explaining why she’d said what she had, but he was unlikely to believe her. Women threw themselves at Zach. Why would he think she was any different?
“I’ll recover,” she said, striving for a light, cheerful tone. “Don’t sweat it.”
“Maybe I want to.”
His low words rubbed against her skin like velvet. Man oh man, he might be not her type, but did he know how to use what he had to the greatest advantage.
“We have a working relationship,” she told him. “I intend to respect that.”
“All work and no play…”
“I’ll risk being dull.”
“Want to bet I can change your mind?”
Yes! Her hormones had already taken a vote and offered their opinion. Part of her couldn’t believe he was coming on to her. And while sex without emotional commitment had never tempted her, she was suddenly all aquiver to find out if it had any redeeming qualities at all.
She was saved from answering when her father came up and claimed Zach.
“Let’s leave the cooking to the women,” he said.
Grandpa Lorenzo joined his son, slapped Zach on the back, and led him to the study.
Katie set down the bottle of wine and breathed a sigh of relief. She’d just survived the most humiliating experience of her life and deserved some kind of tasteful award.
Instead, Grammy M winked at her. “David’s father seems very nice. A strong man.”
Grandma Tessa picked up the refrain. “Smart, too. A lawyer. I can see why you liked him.”
Katie wanted to protest that “like” didn’t begin to describe what she felt, but she couldn’t at this late date. Okay-if God was trying to show her why it was stupid to lie, she’d learned her lesson.
Her mother leaned against the opposite side of the island. “Mia says David told her that Zach never remarried after his wife left. Could be he had a broken heart.”
“Time heals,” Grammy M said.
“A man who loved once is more likely to love again,” Grandma Tessa pronounced.
“One marriage leads to another.” Her mother beamed at her.
Katie leaned her elbows on the counter and covered her face with her hands. “Stop, I beg you.”
Grammy M patted her arm. “I’ll sit him across from you at dinner. He’ll spend the entire meal gazing into your pretty eyes, and by dessert he’ll be yours.”
Not knowing if she should laugh or cry, Katie contented herself with a strangled moan. “There are no words to describe my joy,” she whispered.
Her grandmother kissed her cheek. “I know, child.”
3
Katie was about to explain about Brenna taking her husband to the airport when the back door opened and Brenna breezed inside.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said. “Traffic getting out of the city was awful. It’s the whole Friday thing.”
Brenna kissed her two grandmothers and mother, then hugged Katie.
“I saw a Beamer parked outside. Who’s the company?”
Katie laughed as the older women rushed to the window and peered out into the darkness.
