“Would you grab the caviar out of the fridge?” Jane asked as she came up behind Kate. “There’s a dish with crushed ice in it over there.” She pointed with her elbow because her hands were full with a pot of something else. “The caviar sits on top of the ice. Is this the cheese fondue?”
“I don’t know—” Kate said, but Jane wasn’t talking to her, she was addressing one of the sous-chefs.
“It needs to go in the fondue pot over there. The stand is on the buffet table. Don’t forget to light the Sterno. We don’t want the cheese to cool and set.”
The sous-chef took the pot from Jane and whisked it away.
“I love it when you’re bossy,” Liam said, pulling Jane into his arms and kissing her soundly in the midst of the kitchen chaos.
That. That right there was what she wanted, Kate thought wistfully. That passion. That fire. She wanted what Jane and Liam had. She wanted what Gigi and Charles had. She wanted what Elle had with Daniel and her mother seemed to have with her mystery admirer.
There wasn’t a thing in the world wrong with Aidan. He would make someone a fabulous husband.
Just not for her.
Well, not for very much longer.
Chapter Four
“Aidan, it is so nice of you to help us tonight,” Zelda said as he watched Kate disappear into the kitchen. Kate’s mother was taking a stack of cocktail napkins out of the packaging.
“Of course,” Aidan said. “I’m glad I could be a part of it. I’m always happy to help you all with anything you need.”
“Anything?” Zelda’s eyes flashed, and he had a feeling he had taken her bait and was about to be reeled in.
“Within reason,” he qualified, with a smile.
“How about some professional advice about the inn?” she asked.
“What can I do for you?” he asked. Because, of course, he would do anything he could to help Kate’s mother.
“Elle’s art classes and tours are bringing in revenue and business is booming at the tearoom. I think we are finally in a good place to start planning the spa.”
Daniel was the general contractor on the remodel of the Forsyth Galloway Inn. Aidan had served as the architect, drawing up plans for the first two of the three additions Zelda and Gigi had wanted: a classroom area for lectures, also serving as an open art studio, and the tearoom.
It sounded like they were ready to get started on the third phase—a spa, which would be built in the inn’s backyard on a piece of ground that they currently used as a garden plot.
“What does Kate think about moving forward with the plan?” Aidan asked.
Zelda frowned and crossed her arms. “You know the world doesn’t revolve around my Kathryn. Even if she would like to believe it does.”
He smiled, but he wasn’t about to touch that comment with a ten-foot pole. Everyone knew Kate was opinionated and stubborn. She knew what she wanted, and she wasn’t easily swayed.
Kate’s strong sense of self was one of the many things Aidan found so utterly attractive about her. Her physical beauty was obvious: her long, curly copper-colored hair, her flawless ivory skin. Her heart-shaped face and those stunning sea green eyes. And those lips. Oh, those lips.
She could move mountains and break hearts with those eyes and that mouth. He should know. One moment she would be looking at him adoringly and the next minute her words would be cutting him to the core.
“Are you saying you want to get the ball rolling and start designing the spa?” he asked.
Zelda nodded.
“Does that mean you want to meet with or without Kate? Will she be involved in these plans?”
Zelda pursed her lips together for a moment. She looked as if she was weighing her words.
“Aidan, I believe Kate wants this more than she realizes,” she finally said.
Aidan shrugged. “Kate knows her own mind. She’s not going to be swayed or talked into doing something she doesn’t want to do. We both know that.”
Zelda shrugged, like she wasn’t convinced. Her phone buzzed with an incoming text and she set down the stack of cocktail napkins she had been fanning and checked her messages, smiling as she dashed off a quick return text before she answered Aidan.
“Kate is a complicated woman, Aidan. That girl of mine is so headstrong, sometimes she’s her own worst enemy.” Zelda shook her head. “I love all my girls equally, but she’s the one I worry about the most. I know she’s perfectly capable and smart as she can be, and she thinks she doesn’t need anyone, but I feel that she’s too darn independent for her own good. She pushes people away.”
Hear, hear, to that.
“And that’s why she’s her own worst enemy,” Zelda continued. “Elle is my intuitive, empathetic child. Jane is the strongest of the three girls—she’s one hundred percent no-nonsense. Then there’s Kate. A lot of people think she’s the strong one because she puts up such a front, but they don’t know her the way I do. Kate likes to believe she’s an island. It is all because of her daddy. Has she told you about Fred and what his antics did to her?”
Zelda’s eyes darkened, and she gave her head another quick shake and held up her hands before Aidan could answer.
“Oh, would you listen to me being inappropriate? This is not the place or the time to dredge up bad memories of good ol’ Fred. He’s done enough damage to this family. I am not going to allow thoughts of him to cast a shadow over what should otherwise be a wonderful evening. But, Aidan, hon, I do want to thank you. Thank you for loving my girl. Thank you for loving her quirks and looking past her...her difficulties and seeing the best in her.”
Zelda’s words made Aidan ache inside. He was trying with all his might to love Kate, but there was only so much one person could do—he could
