His Destiny Bride. Christyne Butler
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to the door. He reached behind him and twisted the knob. “I don’t want you to think—I’m not—I just wasn’t expecting it to be you.”
Katie turned away, biting hard at her bottom lip. She remained silent for so long he wondered if he should just get out of here.
Then she raised her head, and tossed those beautiful red curls back over one bare shoulder. “That’s okay. I wasn’t expecting it to be you, either.”
A shot of rum didn’t go with today’s festivities. Nolan didn’t care. He needed something stronger than punch or champagne mimosas.
The Murphy family log home was teeming on this chilly yet sunny November afternoon with what he guessed was most of the female population of Destiny. Katie included.
His vantage point at the bar on the far side of the large living room allowed him to keep an eye on her while watching the time-honored rituals associated with a new baby on the way. Or two babies, as was the case today.
The dual baby shower for Fay and Laurie, his sisters-in-law, was in full swing despite the half foot of fresh snow outside. Katie had stepped in to help complete plans for the event after his mother fell on a patch of ice last week and broke her arm. But Katie would’ve been here anyway.
She was friends with Fay and Laurie. Friends with everyone in his family.
Friends with him.
At least they had been.
But since they’d accidentally slept together two weeks ago, she rarely looked at him.
Hell, she hardly spoke to him unless it was work related. Even then, she used the fewest number of syllables possible.
Something he wasn’t used to, because Katie talked. A lot.
She liked to repeat herself, rearranging her words while saying the same thing, all to get her point across. Usually because it took him and his brothers a few pseudosmacks to the back of the head to acknowledge she was right.
So her silence, especially today when she hadn’t yet uttered a sound in his direction, bugged the crap out of him. He debated if he should corner her.
Demand to know how long she planned to treat him like a polite stranger.
It seemed like a good idea.
Then again, his last good idea was to spend the night with a bewitching creature who turned out to be—
“A beer. My kingdom for a beer.” Adam’s words cut into Nolan’s thoughts as he joined him, setting a glass of punch on the bar’s smooth surface. “Ah, I see the captain is enjoying a bit of the Captain.” He grinned. “You going to do that straight or add some soda for taste?”
Nolan stashed the booze away and grabbed a can of diet yuck and a cold beer for his brother from the minifridge below the counter. “Add some soda. And stop calling me the captain.”
“Hey, you pulled off that pirate guise better than Johnny what’s-his-name. After seeing the pictures, you got to expect the nickname’s going to stick for a while.”
Yeah, it would. His brothers would make sure of it.
“So, you never did share any details of the bash at the Blue Creek. How was it?”
Nolan added enough soda to his glass to be respectable. “I told you. I told everyone. It was—”
“Fine. So, I heard,” Adam cut him off. He leaned in close, dropping his voice. “Who’d you hook up with that night?”
He took a quick swallow, keeping his poker face—thankfully he was the king among his brothers at cards—firmly in place. “What makes you think I did?”
“You didn’t?”
“Did I say that?”
“You haven’t said anything...yet.”
Setting his glass back on the bar top, Nolan returned Adam’s stare.
There was less than two years’ difference between them, but the man took his role as the eldest brother seriously. Always the protector, ready to knock heads together or defend any of the family if needed.
He’d also been away for most of his adult life, serving in the military.
Now retired, Adam had planned to center his life on his ranch, which butted up against the family’s land, until he found out Fay had become pregnant with his child after a one-night stand. He had rejoined the family business, and after a bumpy start, he and Fay were happily married with a son, A.J., not quite a year old, and another baby on the way.
“Well?” Adam offered a raised eyebrow.
Nolan thought about the agreement he and Katie had made that morning, but that was before she refused to look him in the eye. To talk to him. Before they started skidding around each other like a pair of new foals sharing the same barn stall.
Maybe he could get a little brotherly advice and still keep their secret.
“Yeah,” he admitted, still not sure he should be doing this. “I met someone.”
Adam nodded. “I figured as much.”
“How’s that?”
“Fay sent me on a late-night run for mint ice cream and corn chips.” He held up a hand. “Don’t ask. I spotted your truck in the Blue Creek parking lot.”
“So?”
“So, four in the morning and yours was one of only a half dozen vehicles still there. You’re not dumb enough to bring a date back to your place. Not with your kids around. You end up at hers?”
Nolan nodded, remembering how Katie explained the room at the boardinghouse. Had she dragged him back to her apartment, he would’ve figured out fast who Harley Quinn was.
Would that have stopped him from being with her?
Her bright yellow floral-print dress caught his eye from across the room. Katie walked among the guests, chatting while balancing a tray of goodies, pretty as a sunny spring day. Her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail that bounced when she moved, and matching yellow heels made her legs look fabulous.
Yeah, she loved her high heels.
He once asked her not long after she started working for them how she managed to keep her balance in those things. She’d said she took a special class in college. Squeezed it between Global Business Ethics and Corporate Law for Entrepreneurs her senior year.
He’d felt like a louse, but she’d laughed and waved off his apology.
She’d then proceeded to point out a missed loophole in one of their biggest contracts, saving them a sizable amount of cash.
“Hello?” Adam rapped a knuckle on the wood counter. “Earth to Nolan.”
“Yeah, I’m here.” He watched her offer the tray to a group of ladies. The move allowed that waterfall of red hair to slide over her shoulder. Just as it had that night. After the wig came off.
Only he hadn’t known the color of his companion’s hair then.
“And yeah, we ended up at her...place.”
“You going to see her again?”
“See who?” Bryant joined them. “Don’t tell me Nolan’s got himself a new girl.”
Nolan groaned. “Tell me why my dating life is so interesting to you guys?”
“Hey, you’re the only one left,” Bryant said. “Who knows when Ric will get home again and Liam and Dev are happily solvent on the other side of the ocean.”
“Stop talking like a finance guy.” Adam took a sip of his beer.
“I