Ready for Romance

  A few moments later came the sound of the sailboat’s small outboard motor. The boat dipped slightly as Evan moved ahead and raised the sails. When the motor stopped, she knew they were a safe distance from the marina.

  She finished her tasks and, bringing a couple of cans of cold soda with her, climbed up from the galley. It wasn’t until she looked away from the helm that she realized someone else had joined them.

  Damian.

  She cast an accusatory look in Evan’s direction, but it was nothing compared to the look Damian sent his way.

  “I didn’t know Evan had invited you,” she said.

  “I didn’t know he’d invited you,” Damian returned, his voice cut by the wind. The boat tilted to one side and sliced through the water.

  “Evan?” Jessica glared at the man she’d once considered a friend.

  Evan was grinning broadly, clearly pleased with his own cleverness. “Didn’t I mention Damian would be coming along?” he asked innocently.

  “No,” she answered, handing each brother a can of soda and retreating to the galley. Evan was pretending the situation was the result of miscommunication, but she knew he’d purposely set it up.

  Damian followed her below a few minutes later. She was sitting at the booth, her back against the side of the boat and her legs stretched out on the upholstered seat. Her arms were crossed over her chest as she tried to take in what was happening.

  Damian didn’t look any happier with this turn of events than she did. Walking over to the refrigerator, he replaced the can of soda she’d given him as though that had been his sole purpose in coming below.

  “I think you should know I didn’t arrange this meeting, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  Jessica had nothing to say. She wasn’t angry with Damian; he’d been just as manipulated as she had. She didn’t know what game Evan was playing, but she wanted no part of it.

  “I imagine having me around ruins your day with my brother,” Damian said in what sounded strangely like an apology. He investigated the cupboards as if searching for something to eat. He brought out a bag of potato chips. “Have you found another job yet?”

  “Not yet, but I’ve been called in for a second interview.” She doubted this was news to Damian. From what she’d gathered at the new firm, he’d made her sound like God’s gift to the legal profession, which was going to be one hell of a reputation to maintain.

  “Do you mind if I ask you something?” she said.

  “Of course not.” He slipped into the narrow booth across from her.

  “If you thought so highly of me, why’d you accept my resignation?” Not an entirely fair question, she realized, since she’d been the one to quit.

  “Did you want me to ask you to stay?”

  She smiled and shrugged. “I guess in a way I did, although it’s difficult to admit that now.”

  “Why did you decide to quit?” He opened the bag of potato chips and offered it to her. Jessica took a handful of chips and dumped them on the tabletop, grateful for something to occupy her hands.

  “Why did I decide to quit?” she said, repeating his question thoughtfully. He wasn’t going to like her answer. “Mainly because of what happened at that dinner party.”

  Damian’s dark eyes glittered with indignation. “Then it did have something to do with the attention Evan paid Nadine.”

  “No,” she flared back. “I quit because of the pressure I felt from both sets of parents. They practically had me and Evan engaged.”

  “You could do far worse than marrying my brother.”

  “How can you even suggest such a thing?” she demanded, her voice quavering. She’d never marry a man she didn’t love. “What’s the matter with you, Damian?”

  “With me?”

  “Did you or did you not hear me in the kitchen of your parents’ home less than three weeks ago?”

  He frowned. “Yes.” The word was clipped and angry.

  “Then how can you ask me something so stupid?”

  Damian’s eyes were furious. He wasn’t the kind of man to take kindly to insults.

  Jessica grabbed a potato chip and shoved it into her mouth. Crunching down on something crisp and salty seemed to help vent her frustration.

  “But Evan—”

  “If you so much as suggest that Evan’s in love with me,” she interrupted, “I swear I won’t be responsible for what I say or do next.”

  Damian looked taken aback by her angry retort. He closed his mouth and frowned heavily. Reaching for the potato chips, he munched on two or three, and for a moment this was the only sound in the galley.

  “You know my problem, don’t you?” she said.

  “You mean you only have one?” Damian asked with honey-coated sarcasm.

  Jessica ignored the comment. “It’s that I assumed a man who had passed the bar and was one of the most brilliant minds in corporate law in Boston today, would—”

  “How’s everything going down there?” Evan called down. “Are you two talking yet?”

  Jessica looked up to find that the younger Dryden brother had opened the door to the galley and was sitting almost directly above them, his arm on the helm, steering the sailboat. The wind ruffled his hair and flattened his windbreaker to his chest.

  “We’re trading insults!” Damian called back.

  “That’s a good place to start.” Evan sounded disgustingly cheerful. “There’s something you should know,” he added. “I don’t have any intention of turning this boat around until you two have reached an agreement.”

  “About what?” Jessica demanded.

  “We’ll get to that in a moment. Now, Damian, admit you’re in love with Jessica and be done with it. Quit playing these ridiculous games.”

  “Damian in love with me?” she repeated incredulously. “Not a chance.”

  “So that’s the way it’s going to be,” Evan called down. “Not to worry, I packed enough food to last us a good three or four days.”

  “Don’t be absurd.” Damian was beginning to sound impatient.

  “Listen up, big brother,” Evan shouted. “You didn’t think I saw you the day you kissed Jessica in Mom’s kitchen, but I did. You’re crazy about her. What I can’t figure out is why you insist on hiding it.”

  “You were the one dating her.”

  “So?”

  “I don’t get involved with women you’re dating.”

  “There’s always an exception to the rule. Jessica’s a free woman. If you’re in love with her, like I suspect, then why didn’t you say something?”

  Damian’s mouth thinned. “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Try me,” Evan insisted.

  “Listen, you two,” Jessica said, interrupting the exchange. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather you didn’t discuss me like I wasn’t here.”

  Both men ignored her.

  “Jessica’s been crazy about you since she was a kid,” Damian declared.

  “So?” Evan returned. “She grew up and fell in love with you. A woman can change her mind if she wants. They’ve been known to do that.”

  “But you love her!” Damian insisted impatiently.

  “You’re right—like a sister. She’d make a terrific sister-in-law. We get along great.”

  Damian’s eyes, which were now fixed on Jessica, grew dark and intense. “Were you about to tell me you love me?” he asked her in a husky murmur.

  “Yes, you imbecile! What do I have to do—hit you over the head?”

  “I don’t mean to be offering you advice, big brother,” Evan shouted down, “but this might be a good time to kiss her.”

  “I appreciate the help, little brother, but I can take it from here,” Damian hollered back and slipped out of the booth. He shut the galley door and bolted it, then turned to Jessica.

  He was grinning, she noticed, as if he’d just found out he was holding the winning ticket in the state lottery. “You must have thought I was a stubborn fool,” he said, grasping her ankles and
tugging her across the length of the upholstered bench. Then he gripped her around the waist and brought her upright and into his arms.

  “Do you love me, Damian?” she asked.

  “Heart and soul,” he admitted as his hands framed her face.

  “You might have said something sooner, you know,” she murmured, thinking there’d been ample opportunity.

  “I didn’t dare. I assumed Evan loved you and needed you, but I was wrong, Jessica, very wrong. In the past few weeks I’ve discovered how very much I loved and needed you myself.” He stroked her hair as though he couldn’t believe even now that she was with him.

  His mouth found hers. She wrapped her arms around him and leaned her weight into his. Damian kissed her again and again, until she was breathless with wonder. Until she marveled at how she’d managed to survive this long outside of his arms.

  “I can’t believe I’m holding you like this,” he whispered between kisses. He couldn’t seem to get enough of her, which was fine with Jessica, because she couldn’t get enough of him, either.

  “You’re a fool, Damian Dryden.”

  “I know, but not any longer. I thought I was doing the noble thing by stepping aside for Evan. I was furious with him after the dinner party, but even more furious with myself.”

  “Why?”

  “For being unable to resist holding you.” His grip around her tightened. She felt the even rise and fall of his chest and nestled closer.

  “You let me walk out of your life,” she said, remembering the pain of leaving the law firm.

  “I let you walk out of my office,” he said, pressing his jaw against her hair, “but not out of my life. Never that. I was waiting, rather impatiently, to see what developed between you and my brother.”

  A loud knock from above finally separated them. Continuing to hold her, Damian raised one arm to unhook the latch and raise the door. “Yes?” he asked impatiently.

  “Can I turn this boat around yet?”

  “Not yet!” Jessica shouted.

  “Give us a few more minutes,” Damian added.

  Evan chuckled. “Just promise me one thing,” he insisted. “No, make that two.”

  “All right,” Damian said, apparently in a generous mood.

  “First, I insist on being best man at the wedding.”

  “Wedding,” Jessica repeated slowly.

  Damian nodded insistently. “The sooner the better. I’ve been waiting for you far too long already.”

  “Am I going to be best man or not?” Evan demanded.

  “There’s no one else I’d even consider, little brother.”

  “And second,” Evan said with a hearty sigh, “I want to be there when you tell Mom and Dad Jessica’s marrying you, instead of me.”

  Ten

  “I’d feel better if you kissed me first,” Jessica murmured, looking up at Damian. They’d called the Drydens from the marina and asked Lois to invite the Kellermans over, as well.

  “If you don’t kiss her, I will,” Evan teased, eyeing his older sibling.

  “Not this time, little brother.” Damian wrapped his arm around Jessica’s shoulders and gently kissed her. It would have been easy to continue had they been elsewhere. Being held and kissed by Damian was the closest Jessica had ever come to paradise, and it was difficult to break away from the tender shelter of his arms.

  “I don’t know why I’m so nervous,” Jessica said as they headed, hand in hand, toward the parking lot.

  “I do.” Of late, Evan seemed to be the one with all the answers. “Both sets of parents think you’re marrying me.” He laughed cheerfully. Clearly he was looking forward to this meeting.

  Evan had been the one who insisted they talk to all four parents immediately. Damian and Jessica had agreed, but now Jessica wished she’d suggested they return to her apartment first. She needed to change clothes. Her hair was wind-tossed, and her face was red from the sun and wind.

  But Damian seemed eager for this meeting, as if he, too, wanted the matter cleared with both sets of parents. He raised Jessica’s hand to his mouth and brushed his lips over her knuckles.

  “Don’t look so worried. Mom and Dad are going to be ecstatic.”

  She wasn’t concerned about his parents’ reaction, or hers for that matter. Neither set would object to her marrying Damian. They’d be thrilled. It was just that the idea of Damian’s loving her was still so new she was afraid it wasn’t real.

  Jessica rode with Damian, and Evan followed in his car. They got separated on the freeway, and when they pulled into the long winding drive that led to Whispering Willows, Jessica noticed Evan’s car was already parked out front.

  “The speed demon,” Damian commented with a chuckle. He parked behind his brother, turned off the ignition and reached for Jessica, kissing her soundly. “Are you ready to walk into the dragons’ den?”

  She smiled and nodded, thinking she’d follow Damian anywhere.

  He helped her out of the car, tucking her hand in the bend in his arm, and they walked together into the family home. The elder Drydens and Kellermans stared back at them with a look of anxious interest.

  “Hello, everyone,” Damian said, leading Jessica to a chair in the massive living room. He seated her and then stood directly behind her, his hands resting on her shoulders. She raised her fingers and placed them over his.

  “I imagine you’re wondering why we asked you here,” Jessica said to her parents. Her mother sat studying Jessica as if trying to figure out what was wrong with this picture.

  “Hold on!” Evan shouted from the kitchen. “Don’t say another word until I get there.”

  “Son?” Walter Dryden gave Damian a puzzled look. “What’s the meaning of this?”

  “Okay, now,” Evan instructed breathlessly, carrying in a silver tray with seven crystal flutes and two bottles of champagne.

  “I’ve asked you to be here, Mr. and Mrs. Kellerman,” Damian began formally, “to request the honor of marrying your daughter.”

  Hamilton Kellerman’s face wrinkled with confusion as he turned to his wife. “You told me she was marrying Evan.”

  “She’s—I mean, we hoped—” Joyce stammered.

  “I’m in love with Damian,” Jessica broke in.

  Her father scratched his head. “That’s not the way I remember it. You were crazy over Evan for years. Last I heard, you were making a damned nuisance of yourself.”

  “Daddy, that was years ago.”

  “She’s crazy about me now,” Damian interjected, lightly squeezing her shoulders. “And I feel the same way about her.”

  “Oh, Damian.” Lois Dryden covered her mouth with her fingers. “We’re delighted. Just delighted. Joyce, think of it, we’ll be sharing grandchildren, after all.”

  The two women were hugging each other and dancing around in circles as Evan passed out champagne glasses to the silent confused fathers.

  “You know what this is all about, Walter?”

  “Can’t say that I do, Ham.”

  “You object?”

  “Hell, no. I haven’t seen that much life in Lois in fifteen years. What about you? Would you rather Jessica married someone else?”

  “Heavens, no.” Hamilton shook his head as if he didn’t know what to think. “The wife’s been talking about a union between our two families all summer, only she thought it would be between Jessica and Evan. The way I figure it, a union is a union, and the two of them certainly look to be in love.”

  “Yes, they undoubtedly have the look,” Walter said, smiling at them.

  The sound of an exploding cork echoed about the room as Evan uncorked a bottle of champagne. “I’d like to propose a toast,” he said, walking from person to person filling the flutes. “To Jessica and Damian,” he said, setting the bottle aside and holding up his glass. “May their lives always be filled with happy surprises, and may their love endure for all time.”

  “Evan, how sweet,” Lois said, dabbing the corner of her eye.

  “For all
time,” Joyce agreed.

  Everyone raised their glasses, then took a sip of champagne.

  “Now, let’s talk about the wedding,” Lois said, prepared then and there to square away the details. She sat on the sofa next to her husband.

  “It’ll have to be after the November election,” Joyce commented thoughtfully.

  “We need to make it through the September primary first,” Lois said. “I can’t see delaying the wedding when we don’t know for certain Walter will be in contention for the Senate.”

  “Nonsense. Of course he’ll be on the ballot.”

  “Does any of this matter to you?” Damian asked Jessica, leaning so that his lips were close to her ear. A warm tingling sensation raced down her arms.

  She smiled softly and shook her head. Nothing mattered except Damian and his love. “I’d marry you tomorrow if we could arrange it.”

  Damian drew in a deep breath. “Don’t tempt me, sweetheart.”

  “Or in six months, if that’s necessary. I’ve waited for you all my life, Damian. A few more weeks isn’t going to matter.”

  Their mothers would have it all arranged within the hour, Jessica guessed. Their fathers were talking, too, working out schedules and other necessary details. The two families had been friends through all the seasons of their lives. The same way their own love—hers and Damian’s—would last, weathering all the ups and downs the years would bring.

  Jessica felt as though she’d come to the end of a long journey. She was home now, secure in Damian’s love.

  Epilogue

  As Evan Dryden set aside the brief he was preparing and pinched the bridge of his nose, there was a knock on his door. Glad of the interruption, he called, “Come in.”

  His brother entered. The changes in Damian in the months since he’d married Jessica were many. Evan remembered a time when practicing law ruled Damian’s life. He worked after hours and weekends, rarely taking time away. But now his brother looked younger, happier and so damn much in love Evan couldn’t help a twinge of jealousy.