Sweet as Honey (The Seven Sisters) - By Caitlyn Robertson Page 0,38

why I don’t want to get involved, you know? She deserves a man who can give her a hundred percent of everything—attention, love, passion… And I don’t have that anymore. If we dated, she’d only be getting half a man. They buried part of me with your mother, Honey, and it wouldn’t be fair to Aroha to pretend otherwise.” He stopped talking and took a mouthful of his wine, ostensibly, Dex thought, to cover his emotion.

Honey’s arm tightened around him. He pressed a kiss on her hair. Cam and Marama had been married for thirty years. From what Honey had told him, they had met young and theirs had been a fiery but wholly committed relationship, with no talk of either of them ever being interested in anyone else. After being with someone that long, of course it would feel strange being suddenly alone. No wonder Cam couldn’t bear the thought of dating again.

Dex’s lips lingered on Honey’s hair as he inhaled the coconut scent she used. Would the two of them still be together in thirty years’ time? Married, making love, arguing and making love again, happy and content with half a dozen kids and a dozen grandkids?

He’d risked that golden future for one brief, forbidden kiss, and it sickened him. How could he have done that? How would he have felt if he’d have walked in tonight and Honey had been standing there, phone in hand, staring at him with hurt and betrayal and—God forbid—hatred on her face?

He closed his eyes momentarily to shut out the image. When he opened them, Cam was watching him. The older man didn’t smile, his handsome face serious and his eyes dark in the fading light. Dex wondered how much Honey had told her father about his past. Cam had never discussed it with him, until today. Even when he’d gone in to ask for her hand in marriage, Cam hadn’t given him a lecture about his behaviour or even a talk about how he had to treat Honey well or else.

All he had done was look Dex in the eye and say to him, “Do you love her?”

Dex had replied, with all sincerity, “More than anything, sir,” and at that Cam had nodded and they’d shaken hands to seal the deal. But did Cam now feel as if he’d gone too far for Dex? Panic enveloped him and he blinked, unable to tear his gaze away from Cam’s steady stare.

And then Cam smiled. “Don’t look so scared, Dex. I know the wedding’s only three days away, but if you carry on like this, you’ll pass out on the day.”

Honey looked up at him, and the concern that had flickered in her eyes when he’d first turned up reappeared in her green gaze.

“I’m okay,” he said. “Nervous that it’s still so far away. That I might lose her in the meantime.” That, at least, was the truth.

Cam raised an eyebrow. “That won’t end on Saturday, son. A wedding ain’t superglue. Only love and treating each other well is what’ll keep you together.”

“Says the man who once smashed half a dozen of my mother’s favourite cat ornaments in a fit of pique,” Honey said.

Cam had the grace to look embarrassed. “She broke my guitar.”

“What are you, twelve?”

“You’ll understand when you get there,” Cam said wryly. He pushed himself to his feet. “I’m going to watch a movie in the bedroom. Have a nice evening you two.”

“Night, Dad.” They watched him go, looking at each other and laughing as he disappeared, mumbling under his breath.

“Do you think we’ll still be together in thirty years?” Honey asked, snuggling up to Dex.

A wedding ain’t superglue. The words rang in Dex’s head, but he pushed them away, lifted her chin and kissed her. “Forever and ever, amen,” he murmured, meaning it, hoping beyond hope that it was true.

Chapter Sixteen

Honey had to drag herself out of bed on Thursday morning. The thought of the coming day at court hung over her like a raincloud, making her grumpy as she helped prepare breakfast. By the time everyone was seated around the table, she’d snapped at every one of her sisters and soured the atmosphere as sure as squeezing lemon into milk.

“Honey,” her father said firmly as he took his seat at the head of the table, “for God’s sake, take your bad mood elsewhere if you can’t control yourself.”

Tears pricked her eyes—he so rarely snapped that she knew she must have deserved it. She covered her emotion by giving