“Looking forward to it,” Ethan said wryly.
“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Boone retorted. His gaze narrowed. “Or is it true that you’re bringing Samantha? In that case, I can almost believe you are looking forward to it.”
“I’m picking her up,” Ethan conceded. “Don’t make too much of it, though. In fact, you might want to consider the possibility that we’re simply conspiring to play all sorts of nefarious tricks on the happy couple before your big day. I hear that’s something that the best man and maid of honor are almost duty-bound to do. Try messing with my life, and I can make yours hell.” He beamed at his friend. “I’m just saying.”
Boone laughed. “Message received. I’ll back off. Unfortunately, I can’t speak for my bride-to-be, her grandmother or her sister.”
And that, of course, was where the real danger lay.
* * *
Gabi pinned Samantha with an eager look. “What happened after I left you and Ethan alone last night? Spill. I want details.”
“Not a thing,” Samantha told her discreetly. “And thanks for that, by the way. You embarrassed me.”
“Oh, fiddlesticks!” Gabi replied. “You don’t embarrass that easily. Besides, you need to keep the goal in mind. You want Ethan. We’re all doing our part to see that you get him.”
“How am I supposed to know if I really want him when I spend most of our time together trying to defend my crazy family?”
“If you’re not taking advantage of these little opportunities,” Gabi said, “then you’re not the sister I looked up to for dating inspiration.”
Samantha shook her head. “Here’s the problem with your theory. I was great at dating. I was the queen of dating...in high school, Gabi. Not lately. And dating is not exactly the goal here, is it?”
“And what might the real goal be?” her sister inquired, a twinkle in her eyes. “Sex? A short-term fling? A genuine relationship? Marriage? We’d all be a whole lot more effective if we knew exactly what you’re after.”
“It is not my goal to ensure your effectiveness. I want you to butt out,” Samantha declared, knowing full well it wasn’t going to happen.
In fact, Gabi merely waited her out with the patience of a woman who understood that the tactic of silence always worked. Cora Jane had always been notorious for getting them to reveal their secrets simply by sipping tea and waiting.
“I’ve been down here a week,” Samantha finally retorted with exasperation. “That’s not exactly long enough to formulate a plan for the future with a man I barely know. I do know that an old crush years ago for a man I idolized from afar is not a solid foundation for forever.”
Gabi nodded. “Fair enough. Which way are you leaning, though? You think he’s hot, right?”
“Of course he’s hot,” Samantha said impatiently. “Last time I checked, that wasn’t a good basis for a lasting relationship.”
“But it is a fascinating place to start,” Gabi countered.
“So says the woman who managed to ignore the very steamy Wade for months.”
Gabi frowned at the comparison. “When you all plunked him down in front of me like some decadent dessert, I was already involved, remember?”
“No, you weren’t,” Samantha said. “You were deluding yourself.”
“True, but be that as it may, I thought I was in a committed relationship.”
“And then you knew you weren’t. You still resisted.”
“I was pregnant!”
Samantha shrugged that off, too. “Yeah, well, it didn’t seem to bother Wade. He fell for you, anyway.”
“Why are we getting sidetracked?” Gabi demanded, her frustration plain. “This is about you and Ethan.”
“I thought it was a conversation about sexual attraction versus a meaningful relationship.”
“Same thing,” Gabi insisted. “One can lead to the other. A real relationship has to start somehow. Hopping into bed could definitely kick-start it.”
“Ethan doesn’t just hop into bed,” Samantha said. “I admire that about him.”
“How do you know? Is that what he says or have you actually tried to seduce him?”
“Enough!” Samantha said, unwilling to reveal such intimate details about her relationship with Ethan. “This is ridiculous.”
Gabi’s eyes widened. “You have, haven’t you?” she gloated. “You tried to get him to sleep with you and he wouldn’t.”
“Not discussing this,” Samantha said, grabbing her coffee and heading back upstairs. She’d suddenly remembered the downside of being surrounded by sisters. They could be totally intrusive pests. For once she regretted that baby Daniella wasn’t screaming her head off to distract Gabi from her morning mission.
Instead, Gabi was right on her heels as she climbed the stairs. When Samantha shut her bedroom door in her sister’s face, Gabi merely opened it and followed her inside. Sadly, while the doors might have locks, the keys had vanished long ago. Samantha regretted not having dealt with that on an earlier visit.
“Go away,” she ordered. “I’m about ten seconds from tossing you down the stairs.”
Gabi openly laughed at that. “Not worried. One of these days you’re going to admit you don’t have a clue how to get what you want with Ethan and you’re going to beg Emily and me for tips. Cora Jane, too.”
Right now Samantha was thinking she was more likely to be asking for tips on where she could dump the bodies.
10
The tension in the air in the Boone’s Harbor private dining room that night was so thick it could have been cut with a knife, Ethan decided. Some of that could be attributed to the uncensored barbs being tossed around between Boone’s parents, but Samantha seemed to be at odds with Gabi, and Boone and Emily were outside on the deck, obviously exchanging heated words. He had a terrible feeling he knew the topic under discussion.
“What’s with those two?” Samantha asked, gesturing toward the supposedly happy couple as she joined him.
“A difference
