Nathan's Child - By Anne McAllister Page 0,61

him. He’d have a right to ask them to if he and Carin were married. And even if she said no, if they were married he would always have the right to come back.

So he didn’t get love in the bargain. At least he got the chance to earn it.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s do it.”

They did it.

Early the next morning Nathan canceled their flight home. “Got other plans,” he told Rhys who was fixing toast fingers for Stephen. “We’ll go tomorrow. Today we’re getting married.”

Rhys’s jaw dropped. The knife clattered to the floor.

Nathan glared. “Don’t act surprised. It’s what everybody wanted.”

“Well, yeah,” Rhys said, then added carefully, “As long as it’s what you want.”

“It’s what I want. Can Dominic pull some strings? Get us a license and a J.P.?”

“He did it for himself,” Rhys said. “I don’t see why he wouldn’t do it for you.” He paused. “Does Carin know about this?”

“Of course she knows. It was her damned idea!”

Rhys raised a brow. “And is she as happy about it as you are?”

“I don’t think so, no,” Nathan said honestly. He punched in Dominic’s phone number. “Hey,” he said when his brother answered. “Is this Weddings by Wolfe? Want to be my best man?”

Dominic, thank God, was enthusiastic. He didn’t ask annoying questions like Rhys did. He said, “I’ll take care of everything and call you back.”

He called back in less than an hour with everything arranged. “Everything but a dress,” he said. “Sierra said she and Mariah can help Carin with that.” He rattled off an address downtown. “Be there by three-thirty.” He paused. “Is Carin cool with this?”

“Why does everybody think I’m forcing her to marry me?”

“Just wondered. Anyway, speaking from experience,” Dominic said dryly, “I’m sure if she doesn’t want to, she just won’t show up.”

Lacey was thrilled when Carin told her the news. She gasped, grinned, then whooped and yelled and threw her arms around her mother.

“I knew it! I knew you still loved each other! Oh, this is perfect! Wait’ll I tell Tansy and Pansy. Wait’ll I tell Lorenzo.” She jumped out of bed and began dancing around the room.

Carin took comfort in the fact that Lacey was delighted, because for her part, she was scared to death about what she’d done.

She’d caved in.

She’d rationalized it to Nathan—she’d babbled on about wanting Lacey to have a solid connection to her uncles and grandfather, about Lacey herself wanting to be part of a family. She’d brought up Nathan’s career and what he owed to it.

All very true.

But she never said the truest thing of all—that she was marrying Nathan because she loved him, because she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. And she simply couldn’t fight it any longer. She could deny him the words because she didn’t want to be pathetic, because she didn’t want him feeling sorry for her.

But she couldn’t deny it in her heart.

She had sworn she wouldn’t marry unless her love was reciprocated. But that was selfish—and it was asking for the impossible. You couldn’t make a person love you.

She wished Nathan loved her, but right now she would take what she could get. She was too weak to fight any longer.

It was the right thing to do for Lacey. It was the right thing to do for Nathan.

And if she knew the pain of loving without being loved—well, it couldn’t be helped. At least she would have him in her life.

Maybe, given time…

But she wouldn’t let herself go there.

First she would marry him. Then she would hope he would fall in love with her.

“You’re married?” Fiona was astonished to hear the news.

“You got hitched?” Hugh didn’t sound quite so surprised.

“’Bout time, that’s what I say.” Estelle put her hands on her hips and gave them a satisfied smile. “Didn’t I tell you they were right for each other?” she asked her husband, Maurice.

Maurice bobbed his head. “You surely did.”

“Well, if you’re all done passing judgment,” Nathan said, “maybe you could give me a hand putting the luggage in the Jeep. Carin and Lacey brought back presents for everyone on the island.”

It was a calculated request, meant to make clear—in case Carin or Hugh or anyone else had other ideas—that Carin and Lacey were coming home with him. He shouldn’t have had to worry.

But though she had smiled at the wedding and though she had let him hold her hand during the reception and put his arm around her when they left Rhys and Mariah’s a day