Miss Impractical Pants (39 page)

“Ta. Cheers.” He gave her a crooked smile before channeling his focus toward her hand.

She
slid
her hand off his arm and placed it in her lap. “You’re welcome. I truly believe that.”
             
His phone buzzed against the table with a text message alert. Subconsciously smoothing his sleek black hair across his forehead, Andrew read the message. Katie noticed the dejected turn of his face. Warm eyes freezing over, he threw back what was left of his beer.

“Well, I think that’s enough sharing for one night. Let’s go find some fun.”

He threw some money down on the table,
then
tore out the door with Katie, setting a relentless pace. Testing the limits of her improvised bra by being dragged by the wrist faster than her flip-flops would go was not Katie’s idea of fun.

“Andrew, stop!” she wheezed, trying to dig her heels into the broken stony road. Twinges of pain radiated at the base of Bartholomew’s remains.

He was nearly yanked off his feet by her abrupt halt. “Oh sorry, Duchess…I guess I let my one-track mind run away with me.”

She held her sides, doubled over, gasping for air. He patted her back and slid the thin spaghetti straps of her sundress back onto her shoulders.

“What’s with the sudden urgency?” she demanded once she was able to hold herself upright.

Placing her arm over his, he began to escort her at a leisurely pace. “Just wanted to get my mind off things, I guess.”

“What things?” She prodded him with compassionate eyes.

He shook his head, sighing as if she’d forced the confession out of him. Retrieving his text message, he handed over his phone.

             
A,

I can’t make Lucas listen to reason over the phone. My
flight arrives in Croatia at 11 a.m.—meet
me at the airport.

             
Hugs,

             
O

Katie stared at the note incredulously. “Andrew, why are you here—to spy for Olivia?”

With a toss of his head to clear the hair that had fallen over his eye, he answered shamefacedly, “Sort of.”

Her face contorted as she recalled her initial dislike for him.
Stupid, stupid, Katie!
she
chastised herself.

“I can’t believe I let you charm me into thinking we could actually be friends! You know what, Andrew…Andrew…I don’t even know your last name! Whatever’s going on between you and Lucas and Olivia, leave me out of it!” She stomped off toward the hotel.

“Wait! It’s not like that.” In two strides he caught up to her. “Duchess, listen to me.”

She turned a deaf ear to him.

“Katie, please…” The sorrow in his voice as he spoke her name, for the first time ever, stopped her. “Believe me when I tell you that nothing about being with you tonight was contrived.”

“Why should I?” She kept her head tipped away from him.

“Because,” he said, jamming his fists into his pockets, “I would like to have you for a friend.”

“Why?”

He couldn’t seem to meet her eyes.
“Because I don’t have many—any real friends.”
             

Katie didn’t have an immediate response. She put her hand to her head, feeling Bartholomew. “Damn it, Andrew! I’ve never met anyone who ignites my temper like you do.”

A proud grin stretched across his face.

“I’m not going to lie—it makes me sick that you let her manipulate you into betraying your family. What is up with you two anyway?”

Even before she comprehended Andrew’s tortured expression, her intuition caught up with her.

“Holy crap, Andrew—you’re in love with her!”

Chapter Thirty

“All right, all right, stop bludgeoning me with questions. I’ll explain everything. Just let me get a word in.” Andrew held up his hands.

             
Katie made a dramatic production of zipping her lips and throwing away the key.

“I’ve been crazy about Olivia since before she and Lucas ever met.”

Cutting Katie off before she could interrupt, he added, “Yes, Olivia knows—has known for ages.”

As Katie opened her mouth, he cut her off again. “No, Lucas doesn’t know, and I’d like to keep it that way.” He waited to extract Katie’s promise before going on. “Lucas doesn’t know we’re acquainted beyond his introduction. I didn’t know they were dating until they were already serious. Olivia never mentioned me to him, and by that time she had obviously made her choice. So I figured it was best for everyone that I keep my gob shut.” He pulled a tight smile and flipped his hair with a toss of his head.

“Can I speak now?”

“You may.” He granted her request with a condescending sweep of his hand.

“First of all, I want to apologize—you’re not nearly as big a jackass as I thought. I can totally understand why you’re so…unpleasant. But I have to ask: Why help her?”

“Because I’m a prat,” he joked humorlessly, jamming his fists deeper into his pockets.
“Because I’m still pathetically hopeful.”
A smile overtook him as he nudged her. “But thanks to you, I have reason to be more hopeful than ever. Which reminds me…let’s get on to discussing this crazy love triangle of yours.”

“I never said there was a love triangle,” Katie defended flippantly.

An approaching silhouette of a man and a pixie rescued her from having to dish on the subject.

“Oh, hello dears, there you are,” Lottie trilled as soon as she was within earshot. “Feeling any better Katie, love? Are you a promised woman?”

Katie opened her mouth to reply to the first the question,
then
snapped it shut upon hearing the second.

“Darling,” Charles lightly reprimanded his wife. “We were supposed to keep that confidential.”

“Oh pshaw,” Lottie dismissed. “I’m sure Katie didn’t expect to keep it from the family.” Applying a thin layer of guilt, she added, “And now that it’s out—not that she asked for my two bits, though I’m sure she was meaning to—if the thought of a life with this bloke makes her feel out of sorts, then I don’t know what there is to consider.”

“Lottie, this is none of our business,” Charles reproved.

“Of course it is.” She took a step toward Katie and wobbled slightly. Andrew reached out and steadied her by the arm. “Thank you, you are a dear.” She stretched up and clumsily patted the middle of his face. “As I was saying, it
is
our business because Katie is our family now.” She tilted her head toward Katie and shone her big calf eyes up at her. “She’s trying to make a big decision, and while she’s faffing about trying to make it, we have two boys here who seem to fancy her company plenty enough.”

Andrew
chuckled
a “you have no idea” sort of laugh, and Katie threw him a menacing glare.

“Isn’t that right, pet?” Lottie patted his face again.

“Course it is, love,” Andrew humored.

“All right, that’s enough of that.” Charles stepped in. “Lottie dear, I’m taking you back to the room.”

She clung to Andrew’s arm like a disobedient child. Katie choked on her laugh, inciting a glare from the intoxicated woman.

“It’s all right,” Andrew grinned to Charles. “We’re on our way back ourselves. I’ll take her.”

“You’ll have to excuse my wife; she’s had a little too much wine,” Charles beseeched Katie as they fell into step a few feet behind Andrew and Lottie.

Letting her giggles escape, Katie said, “There’s nothing to excuse. I adore her.”

“I do, too!” he laughed, teeming with pride. “She’s a silly, daft woman—but God, how I love her!”

Stung by his sentiment, Katie wondered:
Could I ever feel that kind of passion for Jared?
“Have you…always felt that way?”

“From the very first moment I met her.” His eyes shone from the sincerity of his emotions.

Katie felt him reading into the apprehension behind her empty smile. As if he’d ascertained a vital piece of information, he gave a low, indiscernible drawl that caused her to study him with curiosity.

“Let’s have a seat.” He escorted her to the crumbling steps of an archaic cathedral they were passing. “In the absence of your own father, may I offer you some advice?”

She nodded, desperate to hear some paternal wisdom.

“As you know, I’ve already been informed about the decision you have before you.” His voice was sensitive, but firm. “If I interpret what I know about the situation correctly, I would say you’re trying to convince yourself to love someone who’s not fit for you.”

She was a little dumbfounded by his extensive knowledge of her private life. “How do you know if someone is fit for you?”

“You just know. Everything about you is drawn to that person. When you’ve met the right person, your entire soul will take flight because you know life couldn’t possibly get any better and you never dreamed you could be so happy. Then, you’ll be surprised to find that every stage thereafter brings you even more
happiness,
and you thank God every single day you held out for the right one.”

Prompted by his poetic declaration, one fat tear fell from the corner of her eye and trickled slowly down her cheek.

“Do you feel like that about your man?”

Unable to deny him the truth, she shook her head.

“I thought not.” He wrapped an arm around her side in a fatherly embrace, and she burrowed obligingly into him. “Don’t let your head talk you into something your heart doesn’t feel.”

***

Katie’s heart thrummed like a hummingbird on crack upon seeing Lucas. He was combing his hand agitatedly through his hair as he paced in front of the hotel doors. Charles greeted his son with a nod.

“I’ll leave you here then,” Charles said, kissing Katie lightly on the cheek.

She captured him in an appreciative hug. “Thanks for the talk.”

Squeezing her hand, he showed her from whom Lucas had inherited his dazzling smile. “It was my pleasure. I enjoyed having a daughter, if only for a few minutes.”
             

Lucas came to her as soon as his father had disappeared. “Where have you been? I’ve been searching all over for you.”

“I’ve been hanging out with Andrew.” She stared at his Adam’s apple, unable to force her eyes to his. “Have you been shopping?” she asked, noticing his khaki capri pants and dusky-hued
button-up, one sleeve rolled up his forearm, the other dangling open at his wrist.