92 Pacific Boulevard (Cedar Cove #9)

“Okay.” Lori slid a bit closer and placed her hand on his arm.

Linc enjoyed having her touch him even in the most casual way. When she’d asked if he loved her, before the wedding, he’d been as honest as he knew how to be in his response. Now he asked himself if the tenderness he felt, this joyful expectation, could be love. He hoped so. He wanted to love Lori. He was excited about having children with her. She’d be a good mother and he intended to be a good father.

The courthouse wasn’t far from his sister’s duplex. When he parked there, he saw Mack working outside, pruning some forsythia bushes. Mack was the kind of guy who always found something to do. If he wasn’t painting or doing repairs, he was puttering in his garage or gardening.

Mack and Linc had talked the previous week regarding Mack’s relationship with Mary Jo. Linc felt his sister had made a smart choice when she agreed to marry him. He’d come to like Mack and believed the other man would not only look after Noelle, he’d do what he could to keep David Rhodes from using his daughter to manipulate Ben.

Mack met him as Linc opened the passenger door and helped Lori out. His soon-to-be brother-in-law sent him a questioning glance.

“Mack McAfee, this is my wife, Lori.”

Mack’s mouth fell open. “Your wife?”

Lori moved closer to Linc’s side.

“When did this happen?”

“About ten minutes ago.”

“Does Mary Jo know about this?”

“Not yet. We stopped by to tell her.”

Mack stared at them both.

The door to Mary Jo’s half of the duplex opened and when she saw Linc in his suit—with Lori beside him—she frowned. She looked at Mack for an explanation.

“Your brother’s got news,” Mack said, standing back, his fingers in the pockets of his jeans.

Mary Jo returned her attention to Linc, who placed his arm around his wife. “Mary Jo,” he said formally, “I’d like you to meet your new sister-in-law, Lori Bellamy.”

“Lori Wyse,” she corrected.

Mary Jo’s mouth sagged open, much the way Mack’s had. “You’re married? The two of you?”

Linc grinned sheepishly and nodded.

“You didn’t say a word about this to me!”

“To anyone.” Linc wanted her to understand that she hadn’t been excluded. “The boys don’t know yet.”

Shaking her head, Mary Jo turned to face Lori. “You really married my brother?”

Lori nodded. “I love him.”

“You do?” Linc echoed. When Lori had asked him if he loved her, it’d never occurred to him that she might be that sure about her own feelings, especially this soon.

“She must love you,” Mary Jo said. “Well, come on in. Your name is Lori?”

“Yes.” Lori broke away from his side and followed Mary Jo into the house.

Linc remained outside with Mack. He inclined his head toward the door. “Mary Jo’s not upset, is she?”

Mack lifted his hand in a gesture that suggested Linc’s guess was as good as his. “I’d say we’re both more surprised than anything. You could’ve said something, you know.”

“I could have,” Linc agreed, “but I didn’t.”

Mack laughed. “If you’d been willing to wait, we might have had a double wedding.”

“We didn’t want to wait.” Linc kicked at the grass with the tip of his shoe, then figured he might as well disclose the other changes he planned to make. “I’m moving to Cedar Cove.”

Mack’s nod didn’t reveal anything one way or the other.

“Lori,” he suddenly said. “Lori Bellamy. She’s the ex-fiancée of that guy who used to work for Allen Harris—”

“Yes,” Linc interrupted sharply. “But that’s in the past.”

Mark nodded again. “What are your plans now?”

“I’ll be moving in with Lori right away and making the commute to Seattle until Mel and Ned feel okay about running things on their own.” Privately, Linc had set a time limit of two months.

“What then?”

“I’m starting an offshoot of the business here.”

“What about Lori?”

“She’ll continue working until she gets pregnant.” Linc intended to do his part to make sure that happened as quickly as possible. “After the baby’s born, she wants to stay home.”

“Mary Jo wants to keep her job,” Mack said.

That didn’t surprise Linc. He just hoped Mack understood what he was letting himself in for when he married her. He’d never known a woman more obstinate than his little sister.

The two men went into the house and Lori smiled at Linc. “I invited Mary Jo and Mack to join us for our wedding dinner.”

Linc forced a smile in response. “What about the baby?”

“My mother would welcome the opportunity to babysit Noelle,” Mack said.

“Do you want me to phone her?” Mary Jo asked.

“Sure, go ahead.”

Not five minutes later, the whole dinner party was arranged. Reservations were made at a place called D.D.’s on the Cove, after which they all drove over to the McAfees’ house to drop off Noelle. At Mack’s suggestion, Linc and Lori waited in the truck; then they headed to the restaurant for their six-thirty reservation.

Linc would’ve preferred dinner with just Lori. However, he’d acceded to her wishes. Mack ordered champagne, which went straight to Linc’s head. Come to think of it, he hadn’t eaten since early that morning. When the food arrived, he was the first to finish his meal.

The others didn’t seem to be in any hurry. He yawned several times as a broad hint that they should wind things up, but no one noticed his impatience. When they were finally ready to go, Lori announced, “I need you to drive me back to Mary Jo’s place.”

Linc sat with his key in the ignition and turned to look at her. “You do?” He couldn’t hide his disappointment. “Why?” He wondered if Lori was making excuses to delay their wedding night.

“She has something for me,” Lori explained, gently patting his knee. “It won’t take long, I promise.”

Reluctantly he followed Mack and his sister back to the McAfees’ house to get Noelle, which meant another ten-minute delay.

“What’s this thing my sister has for you?” Linc demanded as they waited in the car. “Can’t you get it some other time?”

Lori gave an exaggerated sigh. “Are you sure you want to know?”

“Yes,” he insisted.

“Okay…It’s a special nightgown for our wedding night. It’s from France and it’s black silk. I…should’ve planned for this—only, well, I didn’t and now I’m sorry.”

“And where exactly did my sister get this?” Frankly Linc didn’t like the idea of Mary Jo passing off some secondhand nightgown to Lori.

“She said a friend gave it to her when it seemed she was going to marry Noelle’s father.”

“Oh.”

“You don’t mind, do you?”

He couldn’t very well broadcast his intention of removing this fancy French nightgown ten seconds after she put it on, so he answered with a halfhearted shrug. “I don’t mind if it’s important to you.”

“Everything about tonight is important to me.”

“Me, too,” Linc admitted.

After Noelle had been loaded into Mack’s car, Linc drove to the duplex on Evergreen Place. Lori hopped out of the truck, ran inside with Mary Jo and was back in less than five minutes.

By the time she returned she was grinning from ear to ear.

“What’s so funny?”

“Your sister. I like her. We’re going to be good friends.”

Wonderful, just wonderful. “You got that nightgown?”

“Got it.” She balanced the box on her lap. “Mary Jo wanted me to tell you it’s her wedding gift to you and me.”

“Great.”

Following Lori’s instructions, he drove to her apartment building and parked in the lot. He came around to help her out, then reached into the back for his suitcase. They walked toward the building arm in arm.

He’d never been to her apartment so he hadn’t realized how delicate and feminine it was, although he probably should’ve expected it. There were floral prints on the walls and the white sofa was decorated with a variety of pink pillows in varying sizes and fabrics. The kitchen was one that would make Martha Stewart proud. That was fine by Linc. He was thoroughly tired of his brothers’ cooking, not to mention his own.

“Should I put this in the bedroom?” he asked, grabbing his suitcase. The idea was to steer Lori in that direction as quickly as possible.

“Sure.”

Linc was in and out of the room in two seconds flat. “The bed’s got a canopy!”

“Yes, I know.”

As far as he was concerned, this should’ve been revealed long before their wedding night. “I can’t sleep under a canopy.” Call him silly or macho or anything you wanted; it was something he just couldn’t tolerate.

Lori said nothing. After a moment she gestured helplessly. “I only have the one bedroom.”

“Okay, fine, we’ll sleep on the sofa tonight.”

She studied him as if he’d lost his mind. Maybe he had. One thing was certain: he wasn’t sleeping in pink sheets with a froufrou canopy over his head. It would make him feel like…like he’d charged into the private domain of some princess.

Without commenting Lori disappeared inside the bedroom and quietly closed the door. Linc didn’t follow. Sitting down on the sofa, he picked up a magazine and started to flip through the pages.

He didn’t notice how many minutes passed before she came back, and when she did, the issue of Home and Garden slipped from his fingers and fell to the carpet.

Lori posed in the bedroom doorway, wearing a little piece of black silk. A little piece of nothing. Something seemed to be stuck in his throat as he tried not to stare. It didn’t work. He couldn’t look anywhere but at her.

“My sofa doesn’t turn into a bed, Linc,” she told him. “If we sleep there, we’ll both be uncomfortable.”

Sofa? What sofa?

“I’ll make sure the canopy comes down in the morning, okay?”

He nodded several times and still had trouble swallowing.

Lori held out her hand and Linc stood and walked toward her. She smiled up at him, her eyes filled with love.

Bending down, he slid his arms around her and half lifted her from the floor before lowering his mouth to hers. She threw her arms around his neck and returned his kiss with a soft, welcoming moan.

Oh, yes, it was a good thing they were married.

Then he picked her up in his arms and carried her over the threshold of her bedroom, old-fashioned to the last.

Thirty

The phone woke Christie out of a deep sleep. Only after several rings did she realize the irritating sound wasn’t part of some dream. Blindly, she fumbled for the receiver.