Peg didn’t seem totally placated by that, but she nodded. “See that you do,” she said forcefully. “Or I swear, Luke Cassidy, I will see that you regret the day you ever hurt my girl a second time.”
Luke had no idea how to respond to that, but it didn’t matter because Katie opened the back door just then. Spotting them in the shade, she crossed the yard.
Looking from one to the other of them, she asked worriedly, “Is everything okay out here?”
Peg managed an astonishing transformation. She bestowed one of her warmest, sunniest smiles on her niece. “Everything is wonderful. Luke and I were just catching up a bit,” she said, standing up and slipping her arm through Katie’s. “Let’s go back inside where it’s cooler. It wouldn’t do to have the bride looking all wilted when she’s about to take off on her honeymoon.”
Katie didn’t seem reassured by Peg’s cheerful demeanor. If anything, she looked even more concerned. Her gaze shot to Luke. He managed a smile every bit as broad and every bit as phony as Peg’s.
“Let’s cut the cake, darlin’,” he said, looping his arm around her waist. “I doubt this day will get into the record books until somebody’s snapped a picture of you shoving a slice into my mouth.”
“Or into your face,” Katie corrected thoughtfully. She gave him a dangerous look. “I do hope you’ve got some fancy hankies in that designer suit of yours.”
Luke figured a faceful of cake would be a small price to pay for everything he’d ever done to Katie. Once she heard all of the reasons behind his decision to marry her, she was much more likely to come after him with a shotgun. As he recalled with some dismay, she was a damned good shot.
CHAPTER FOUR
The honeymoon promised to be a disaster. Katie saw the direction it was heading the minute Luke announced that they were going to Atlanta.
“Atlanta?” she’d repeated incredulously as they drove away from her aunt’s house, tin cans clanging along behind the car. No wonder he’d been so blasted secretive about his plans. He had probably guessed exactly what sort of message he would be sending and how it would be received.
It made no difference to her that she’d been the first one to declare her bed off-limits. Until the moment he’d made his announcement, Katie realized she had been holding on to a false hope. She’d dreamed that once they were alone in some romantic setting for a few days the sparks that had once flown between them might be rekindled. She’d hoped the ensuing flames would send this coldly calculated marriage-of-convenience plan up in flames.
It hadn’t been entirely wishful thinking on her part. Luke had made arrangements for Robby to stay with Aunt Peg, after all. She had taken that as a good sign. He could very well have insisted they bring his son along. Since this was hardly a traditional marriage, there didn’t seem much reason to expect a traditional honeymoon, so why not include his son? And yet, he hadn’t, which she had interpreted to mean something. Obviously, it did not.
Now Katie was forced to concede that even with Robby out of the picture, Luke had taken her at her stand-offish word. He apparently wasn’t any more inclined than she had claimed to be to stir up any of those old sparks. He was taking her on what sounded to all intents and purposes like the perfect destination for a business trip. Worse, they were heading to the exact same city where he’d been living with his wife. In fact, for all she knew, they might be staying in the same house. The honeymoon wasn’t exactly turning out to be the stuff of which dreams were made.
After a quick, disappointed scowl in Luke’s direction, she fell silent. Apparently he got her message just as clearly as she’d received his. A dull red flush stole up his neck. He regarded her guiltily.
“Katie?” When she remained silent, he said, “This trip is just for show, right? We both understood that or at least, I thought we did. I figured I might as well take care of some loose ends, so I won’t have to do it later.”
“How efficient.”
Despite her sarcasm, he smiled. “It won’t be all business, I promise.”
“Don’t worry about me,” she retorted, promptly making plans of her own to demonstrate how little it all mattered to her. “I have some friends in Atlanta I haven’t seen in ages. I’m sure we can spend the next few days shopping and catching up.”
His gaze narrowed suspiciously. “You hate shopping.”
Katie shrugged, determined not to let him see how furious and hurt she was. “Maybe I’ll like it better once I get the hang of it. Cee-Cee and Pris are grand masters. We’re going to be here what? Three full days? Four? I figure we should be able to hit at least a mall a day.”
“Cee-Cee and Pris? They sound like an act from some strip joint.”
Despite her sour mood, Katie laughed at his assessment. “I’ll have you know those names are short for Celeste Margaret Louise Pennington of the Birmingham Penningtons and Priscilla Elizabeth Warrenton of the Virginia Warrentons. Where they come from, they can call themselves anything they like and people will still be respectful, especially with all those gold credit cards in their purses.”
“How on earth do you know old Cee-Cee and Pris?”
“They stayed at the boarding house summer before last and again last July. I think they were slumming it at first, but by the end of the first day, they fit right in. Cee-Cee has quite a knack in the kitchen. We ate Cordon Bleu-qualified meals for the entire week she was there both times. Mr. O’Reilly was taking notes like crazy. Mrs. Jeffers kept moaning about all the cholesterol, but she
