And perversely he couldn’t help thinking that if Katie loved him, if she had ever loved him, she would have told him to take a flying leap when he’d suggested this marriage of convenience. She would have held out for the declaration of love and commitment she deserved.
No, the truth of it was that all she wanted from him was a way to save her boarding house and support this surrogate family of hers.
He had thought sex would make him part of Katie’s life, part of her family. Instead, it had left him feeling lonelier than ever.
He wondered what would happen when the boarding house’s bottom line was in the black and the custody suit was over. Would Katie stick with him or leave? He was more certain than ever that he knew the answer. She would go.
In those gray minutes of first light, he reached a decision. He had gotten them into this mess by thinking only of his own short-term need for a wife and a mother for his son. He would get them out again by focusing on what he really needed, Katie’s love.
It shouldn’t take more than what? A little ingenuity? He was acclaimed for that. A little determination? The word mule-headed had been applied to him more than once. And a lifetime of knowing Katie? There was no one on earth who knew her better.
To accomplish a miracle, though, he needed time. More time than the wheels of justice he’d oiled would give him. With that in mind, he called his attorney, oblivious to the fact that he might be waking Andrew Lawton from a sound sleep. But Andrew had disrupted his share of Luke’s nights when he’d been going through his own very messy divorce.
“When are we due to go to court for the custody ruling?” Luke asked without even a “good morning” for the man he’d first met within weeks after he’d arrived in Atlanta. They’d been friends ever since, as well as business associates.
“Luke, what the devil...” Andrew muttered, sounding both sleepy and disgruntled.
Luke repeated his question.
“It’s on the judge’s calendar for the end of the month. It could be anytime that last week in June,” Andrew told him, sounding considerably more alert once he grasped that this wasn’t just idle curiosity on Luke’s part. “Tommy’s lawyer has been pressing to have it moved up, though. He agrees with us that for Robby’s sake this needs to be concluded as quickly as possible.”
It was exactly as Luke had feared. His time with Katie was running out. “Delay it,” Luke said.
There was a lengthy silence before Andrew responded. “I thought you wanted to get it over with,” he said, sounding confused. “We’re prepared. The reports are into the court. Why wait for—?”
Luke cut in. “I want you to drag this out as long as possible.”
“Luke, you’re not making any sense,” Andrew protested. “Just last week...”
“I don’t give a damn what I said last week.”
“Okay, what’s going on?” Andrew asked quietly. “You and Katie aren’t having problems, are you? Do you need time to work them out? If that’s the case, the longer we delay, the more likely Tommy will find out about the problem and use it against you.”
Luke sighed. “There is no problem, at least not one that I can’t solve, if you’ll just buy me some time. Please, Andrew, do what you can. Take a vacation. Tell them you’ve got a case in Tasmania or something. Just get the case delayed.”
“I’ll do what I can,” Andrew agreed finally. “If you need to talk, buddy, let me know.”
“I don’t need to talk,” Luke said curtly and hung up. He turned to find Katie staring at him in open-mouthed astonishment.
“I think you do,” she said quietly, her gaze cutting straight through him.
“Do what?”
“Need to talk.” She poured herself a cup of coffee, seated herself very precisely across from him at the kitchen table and regarded him expectantly. “You can start anytime now. Why would you ask your lawyer to delay the custody case?”
Luke looked everywhere but at his wife. “I just told Andrew that I want to be sure we’re fully prepared. This is too important to make mistakes.”
“Does Andrew think everything’s ready? Is he in the habit of making mistakes?”
“Andrew doesn’t know everything, and everyone makes mistakes.”
“What is it that your attorney doesn’t know?”
The direct question stymied him. He didn’t want to admit that he was buying time for the two of them, that he wanted to solidify what they had begun the night before—a real marriage. And there was also the possibility that Katie had been right about Tommy. Perhaps with just a little more time he and his brother could mend fences and Tommy would drop the suit. Time seemed the answer to everything.
“I just think it’s for the best,” he said finally.
Katie regarded him incredulously. “For whom? What about Robby? Don’t you think he’s beginning to suspect that something serious is going on? He can’t help but feel the tension every time Tommy calls here. Sooner or later he’s going to start asking why he hasn’t met his uncle. And how much longer do you think you can keep Tommy from barging in and telling him the truth? If you’re going to drag this out intentionally, then you’d better sit down with your son and tell him exactly what’s happening, before he hears it from your brother.”
“Katie...”
Before he could get out another word, she’d grabbed her cup of coffee and headed out the back door, letting it slam behind her. Luke stared after her.
“Well, that certainly went well,” he muttered to himself. At this