Katy was intrigued. “You really don’t know how to cook, do you?”
“I don’t know any Gilchrists who can cook. At least not the kind of cooking you mean. But I sure as hell made an effort. And I want some credit for it.”
“You did a wonderful job, Luke.”
“Don’t pat me on the head. Just tell me whether or not you’re going to marry me so we can get on to the soufflé.”
“Okay. I’ll marry you.”
Luke looked stunned. “You mean it?”
“Yes. But I would like to point out for the record that you have no right to accuse the Gilchrist chefs of being temperamental. You’re worse than any of them.”
“Say it again.”
“I’ll marry you.”
The frustration and uncertainty vanished from Luke’s eyes in an instant. “My God, I don’t believe it. I’m going to give Benedict Dalton a raise.”
He surged out of his chair, reached down, and pulled Katy to her feet. He swung her around in a triumphant circle and carried her over to the couch.
Katy was torn between laughter and desire as he put her down on the cushions. Luke sprawled on top of her, green fire blazing in his eyes.
“You won’t be sorry, Katy.” Luke framed her face between his palms. “I swear it. I know you think we don’t have anything in common, and I know you think Gilchrists are severely dysfunctional, but we can make our marriage work.”
Katy smiled. She was aware of a deep sense of happiness welling up inside her. “I never said Gilchrists were severely dysfunctional.”
“Good. Because we do have a few strong points, you know.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. Her smile curved into a teasing grin. “Such as?”
“We’re faithful, for one thing.”
Katy stopped laughing at him. She searched his eyes for a moment. “You’ve got a point. You Gilchrists are as intense and passionate about your marriages as you are about everything else.”
“Damn right. My mother and father were committed to each other until the day they died. I never once cheated on Ariel. And look at Maureen and Hayden. They’re still together, too. The only divorce in the crowd has been Eden’s, and I think it’s safe to say there were a few extenuating circumstances.”
“And your grandmother never remarried.”
Luke’s mouth twisted. “Justine was married to Gilchrist, Inc. And she’s definitely been faithful to the company.”
“She had another passion, too,” Katy said slowly. “She told me this afternoon that she secretly loved my grandfather.”
Luke frowned. “She said that?”
“Yes.”
“If she had a secret passion for Quinnell, he definitely came in number two on her list. But it would explain a few things.”
“Such as her desire to see your father marry my mother?”
Luke nodded. His gaze turned reflective for a few seconds, as if he were analyzing something or putting the pieces of a puzzle together in his mind. Then he smiled his slow, beguiling smile. “Katy, I don’t want to talk about the past tonight.”
“What do you want to talk about?”
“The future.” He bent his head and kissed her throat. “I’ve spent the last three years living in no-man’s-land. The worst of it was that I didn’t even feel any desire to escape. And then you landed on my doorstep and started lecturing me about my responsibilities. You forced me out into the future again.”
Katy giggled softly. “You were extremely annoyed, and I thought your dog was going to eat me alive.”
Luke’s eyes gleamed. “You’re confused, Katy. I’m the one who’s going to eat you alive.” His hand moved down over her thigh, and his leg slid between her knees.
“Speaking of eating...” Katy murmured.
“Umm?” Luke was nibbling on her earlobe now.
“Did you leave something in the oven?”
Luke’s head came up with a jerk. Something akin to panic flashed in his eyes. “Holy shit. The soufflé.”
Katy collapsed in laughter as Luke leapt to his feet and raced into the kitchen. Zeke bounded after him, carrying his dish on the off chance that some other culinary disaster might end up in it.
Katy got up, still laughing, and straightened her clothes. Then she went into the kitchen. Luke, hands sheathed in plump black hot pads, was cautiously lifting the soufflé out of the oven.
“Don’t even breathe,” he whispered as he set it on top of the stove.
“Too late,” Katy said. “It’s already collapsing. Look, there it goes.”
Luke gazed in outraged frustration as the golden dome of the soufflé began to sink. “Dalton swore that if I followed directions it wouldn’t collapse. Look at that sucker. It’s going to turn into a pancake.”
“The good thing about soufflés, Luke, is that they taste, the same whether or not they collapse.”
“Bullshit. That does it. I’m going to fire Dalton first thing in the morning.”
“You are not going to fire poor Benedict Dalton, so stop making threats and serve your dessert course.” Katy smiled. “And, while you’re at it, you can tell me you love me.”
Luke jerked his attention away from the collapsed soufflé long enough to meet her gaze. “I’ve really made a hash of this, haven’t I? I love you, Katy.”
“Good. I love you, too. Let’s eat.”
A long while later Luke felt Katy stir languidly beside him. They were lying in front of the fire, curled up on a quilt. Zeke had retired with dignity and his bowl to the kitchen, bored with human sexual conduct.
Katy’s dress, bra, and pantyhose were hanging haphazardly over the back of a chair. All she had on was the black cotton shirt Luke had been wearing earlier. Luke thought she looked incredibly sexy in it.
Luke was wearing nothing at all. He savored the feel of Katy’s leg sliding alongside his own. She was so soft, he thought. Sweet and gentle and soft. And she loved him. She was going to marry him.
He could hardly believe his luck.
He dared not believe his luck.
With an instinct that had been born in him three years ago when he stood staring at the smoking remains of a downed jet, he started looking for the dark side of his good fortune.
Katy yawned. “I suppose I should think about getting back to my own cottage. Matt will be home soon.”
Luke glanced at his black steel watch. “You’ve got another hour or so. Katy, I want us to be married as soon as possible.”
She turned in his arms. Her hair, backlit by the fire, glowed like the sun. “Oh, no, you don’t. This is going to be my one and only wedding, and I’m going to do it up right.”
“I don’t care how you do it up so long as you do it up fast.” He tangled his fingers in her fiery hair. “I mean it, Katy. I want to know you’re mine as soon as possible.”
She propped herself up on one elbow and looked down at him. The black shirt fell open, revealing the curve of one milk-white breast. Luke could just barely see the outline of her pink nipple.
“What’s wrong, Luke?”
“Nothing.” He reached inside the shirt and found the tantalizing nipple. It grew firm instantly at his touch. “I just don’t want to wait any longer than absolutely necessary.”
“I was thinking sometime in the fall, after Matt goes off to college,” she said slowly.
“I was thinking sometime next week.”
She tilted her head. “Luke, are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“I can’t possibly be ready that soon. There are so many things that have to be taken care of.”
“Such as?”
“Where we’ll live, for one thing. There isn’t room for you to move in with Matt and me.”
“Yes, there is. Matt has his room. We’ll use yours. After he leaves we’ll find a pla
ce of our own. I don’t intend to live next door to Justine for the rest of my life.”
She absorbed that. “Well, I suppose that might work. All the same, I feel strange rushing into marriage like this. I’m sure there are all sorts of other things that have to be considered.”
“Name one.”
“Pesto Presto,” she said.
Luke caught her face urgently between his hands. “Marriage won’t stop you from opening Pesto Presto.”
“I know. It’s just that there are so many things I have to do to get it up and running.”
“You can do them after we’re married, can’t you?” Luke asked tightly.
Katy smiled. “Yes, I suppose I can.” She kissed him lightly.
Luke relaxed. Once he had her securely bound to him Pesto Presto would no longer seem like a rival. “Trust me.” He eased her down onto her back. “I’ll handle everything.”
She smiled tremulously, her eyes glowing with love and laughter. “You’re sure?”
“I’m sure. Just leave everything to me.”
He moved his leg over hers, pinning her gently on the quilt. Then he bent his head to taste her again. He remembered how it had been that first night he had brought her back here after the dinner at Justine’s.
He had blamed his sense of urgency on the fact that it had been a long time since he had held a woman in his arms. But he had known then, just as he knew now, that the need he felt to make himself a part of Katy went beyond the desire for sex.
He had once been convinced that Ariel was his natural mate. Perhaps she had been, in the sense that she had been the closest thing to a female version of himself he had ever encountered.
But Luke realized tonight that what he had found in Katy was something infinitely more precious. She was not a reflection of him, but his natural opposite. Day to his night, sunlight to his shadow, equal and opposite. Both necessary to form a complete whole.
That was how she made him feel, Luke thought. Complete and whole. With Katy he felt he could be more than just himself.
He reached down and found her softness. “You’re getting wet already,” he whispered against her breast. He moved his fingers on her, and she arched herself against his hand.
“Luke, I can’t believe what you do to me. I feel so free when you hold me.”
“You’re the one who’s unbelievable.” He moved down her body until he was lying between her thighs. The exotic fragrance of her stirred all his senses. When he cupped her buttocks in his hands and tasted the essence of her, Katy cried out softly. Her fingers clenched in his hair.
Luke was hard with his own need. More than hard. His muscles were knotted and bunched with the effort it was taking to control himself. But he could not resist the temptation to watch Katy climax from this intimate vantage point. He bent her knees and pushed her thighs more widely apart. Deliberately he slid his thumbs into her, opening her gently.
Katy sucked in her breath. “Luke.”
An electrical charge went through Luke. His name was a siren’s call on her lips. He was her captive, and he did not care if she knew it. After all, she belonged to him just as surely as he belonged to her.
He kissed the swollen nubbin of female flesh nestled in the red curls. He rasped it lightly with his tongue until Katy was breathless and clinging to him. Her responsiveness made him feel both deeply awed and at the same time gloriously proud.
He would cherish her always, Luke promised himself. He would do his best to keep her safe. She was giving herself to him, and he would treasure the gift.
She was, after all, giving him a future.
When his hands were slick with her and she was clutching at him as if she would never let go, he opened her a little wider with his thumbs. Her tight passage contracted, and her wetness glistened on his fingers.
“Oh, God, Luke. Luke.”
He stretched her gently again, felt her tighten convulsively around his fingers. She twisted and cried out. And then she was shivering with her release.
Luke watched the passion in her face as long as he could, and then, unable to hold back any longer, he moved up the length of her body. He drove himself deep inside her pulsating warmth, drowning in her sweet fire until he was lost.
Until he was free.
Until he had found the other half of himself.
Luke waited until he had walked Katy home before he asked the question that hovered like a shadow in his mind. He took her in his arms on the front steps and studied her face in the porch light. She looked up at him, her eyes filled with sensual contentment. He wished he could take her back to his bed.
“Katy, you’ve spent the past few years looking out for Gilchrists.”
“I’ve spent the past few years working for Justine,” she corrected with a smile.
“It’s been a lot more than a job, and you know it. There’s something I’ve got to know.” Luke took a firm grip on his courage. “You’re not marrying me because you feel sorry for me or anything like that, are you?”
Her laughter was soft and sweet, and it touched his soul. “Good grief, no. I don’t know where you got the idea that I’m some sort of guardian angel, but I can assure you I would never marry anyone just to keep my halo and wings.”
He rested his forehead against hers. “I love you, you know.”
“I know. And I love you,” she whispered. “Even though you are difficult, temperamental, and stubborn.”
He smiled. “You love me even though I’m all those things?”
“Uh-huh. You see, I knew almost from the beginning that you were educable.”
The sound of a car coming down the road put an end to any thoughts Luke might have had about seducing Katy again. Zeke wagged his tail, recognizing the familiar vehicle. Car lights flashed as Matt turned into the drive and parked in front of the cottage. A few seconds later the car door opened and closed.
Matt, dressed in jeans and a denim jacket, ambled toward the porch. “Hey, what are you two doing out here?” His eyes went from his sister’s flushed face to Luke’s steady gaze as he bent down to pat Zeke.
“I’ve just asked your sister to marry me,” Luke said quietly. He realized he was suddenly coiled and ready for battle. Matt had been so certain Katy would turn him down. Luke was not sure how the boy would react when he found out she had accepted.
“Yeah? Well, great. That’s great.” Matt looked at Katy. “So what did you say?”
Katy smiled serenely. “I said yes.”
Matt stared at her, obviously surprised. “You did?”
“Yes.”
“But Katy, he’s a Gilchrist,” Matt said softly, his gaze flicking uneasily to Luke.
“Yes, I know. But he can cook.”
Matt stared. Then he grinned. And then he was laughing. Katy joined him. She laughed so hard she had to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand.
Luke watched them both, aware that he was starting to grin, too. And suddenly he was laughing with them. The night was filled with the sound of their laughter. The world and his future seemed very bright and fresh and untarnished.
He had seized the happiness Katy was offering, Luke thought. He would never let go.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Justine was waiting for Katy at the edge of the pool. Katy finished her lap and looked up, startled to see her standing there. Justine stood gazing down with bleak resignation in her green eyes.
“He is going to have his final vengeance after all,” Justine said. Her voice rang with the hollow gloom of the prediction. “I know he is. He’s just like his father. He will finish destroying my company, and then he’ll leave you at the altar the same way his father left your mother.”
“I don’t think so, Justine.”
Justine looked down at her. “Poor child. You have your grandfather’s unrealistic approach to life. So optimistic. So naive.”
“I’m not a child,” Katy said gently.
“I tried to save you,” Justine whispered. “God knows I tried. It’s fate. You are doomed to be the instrument of my final humiliation. I only wish you didn’t have to suffer along with me.”
“You aren’t going to be humiliated at the church, Justine.”
Justine paid no attention. “I suppose I have no right to chastise you for your naiveté. Lord knows I was filled with foolish hope myself when you finally persuaded Luke to take over the company. I, too, had my silly dreams.”
“Your dreams weren’t silly,” Katy said. “Have some faith in them.”
“I wish I could,” Justine said, “but I dare not. I fear that Luke is only using you to punish me.”
Katy hid a smile. “We won’t really know for certain until we see if he shows up for the wedding, will we?”
“You think my fears are amusing now. But wait and see how you feel when you find yourself abandoned at the altar. I was there when it happened to your mother. I saw the grief and the shame in her eyes. I shall never forget it. Nor shall I ever forget the look on your grandfather’s face when he turned to me that day.
Katy was horrified to see the tears start down Justine’s cheeks. She hauled herself out of the pool and grabbed her robe. She quickly wrapped it around herself and then hugged Justine, offering what comfort she could.
It was difficult to console a Gilchrist bent on embracing the depths of melodrama, Katy reflected ruefully. But she did her best. After all, while Gilchrist emotions sometimes seemed overstated, there was no denying they were genuine. It was one of the reasons Katy had always found herself able to be sympathetic to the members of the coven.
“Calm yourself, Justine. It all happened a long time ago.”
“I betrayed your grandfather that day,” Justine said brokenly. “Not once, but twice. Not only was the wedding called off, but I was forced to call off the merger. In the end I gave him nothing. After all he had done for me I gave him nothing. And I loved him. How could I have betrayed him?”