Stealing the Groom (14 page)

“I can’t. I need to stop at the rescue shelter. There’s a collie puppy I want to pick up for Chad. That’s his gift,” Amelia said.

Ann shot her a look. “Oh, Chad is going to love that.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

Undaunted, Amelia grinned. She knew the puppy was a good idea; she felt it in her heart.

Maybe, just maybe, with a little luck, Chad would love both of them.

…

Though the lunch crowd had long thinned, the diner still had a steady flow of customers.

When Amelia spotted Nick and Eric, she seated them and handed out menus.

Without looking at the menu, Nick said, “I’ll have a glass of iced tea and some time alone with Abby.

Amelia’s hand paused over the order pad. “Pardon?”

Nick flashed a smile. “Tell your sister I said that, but you might want to duck.”

“Okaaay…” Amelia looked at Eric, who looked back at her over the top of his glasses. “And you?”

“Slice of apple pie and coffee.”

Amelia took the menus and skirted the counter to push open the kitchen’s swinging door.

Abby was hard at work at the grill turning over burgers and steaks. Ann, she knew, was in the office crunching numbers even though she hated doing the bookkeeping. Her passion was creating fancy chocolates but instead, she’d taken care of the diner’s books since she’d graduated from college six years ago.

“Abby, Nick says he wants a glass of ice tea and some time alone with you.”

Biting off a curse, Abby smacked the spatula down on top of a burger with such force, dots of grease flew from the meat and spotted the apron she wore. “Not. Happening.”

Amelia’s brows rose. “What’s going on with you two now?”

“Nothing.” Abby scooped up a burger and slid it onto a bun waiting on a plate. She added lettuce and tomato to the side of the bun. “Nothing at all.”

“Abby.” She leaned against the steel table they used for cutting vegetables. “You need to stop stewing about whatever it is.”

Her sister stared off into space for a second, then a dull red crept up her face. “There isn’t anything going on between us. Catch these orders. Can you get Ann out of the back to help?”

“I’m already here, listening in without shame,” Ann said, coming forward to lift an apron off a hook. She tied it around herself and said, “Could you possibly be so grouchy because you
want
there to be something going on with Nick?”

“If we’re going to go there, what about you and Eric?” Abby said in a snappish manner that wasn’t like her.

“Eric?” Ann laughed at the thought. “Eric’s not for me.”

“Why not?” Amelia asked as she moved the lettuce and tomato onto the burgers.

Abby slid warmed potato fries onto the plates by the burgers. “Because he rattles Ann.”

“He does not
rattle
me and I thought we were going to brainstorm about Chad and Amelia, not focus on my life.” Ann picked up a plate with the pie on it and marched out into the diner.

“He rattles her,” Amelia said and they both laughed.

Nudging Amelia, Abby said, “Go get their drinks so you can report back about the rattling.”

“We’re getting to be as bad as Granddaddy.” She picked up the coffee decanter and headed out to the table.

“I wasn’t the one who put my name in for that contest,” Ann said to Eric as she approached.

“What’s going on?” Amelia turned over the white cup and filled it to the brim.

“I’ve brought it up several times but Ann refuses to honor the commitment she made for last year’s ‘win a date with a hero’ contest,” Eric said, pushing his glasses farther up his nose.

“I didn’t put my name in the box! Amelia did as a joke,” Ann said, glaring first at Eric, then at her sister.

“Maybe not, but I donated money for the ticket and I drew your name,” Eric said.

“I’ll pay you back,” Ann said, with a help-me-out look at Amelia.

“I’m not interested in getting paid back. You need to honor the contract.”

“There was no contract,” Ann sputtered.

“An oral agreement is as binding as a written one. With the witnesses who were present at the drawing, I can prove I was one of the winners.” Eric stirred his coffee.

Knowing her sister was on the verge of saying something that would feed the town gossip mill for months, Amelia said, “Excuse us for a moment.”

She took Ann by the elbow and steered her away from Eric.

Once they were inside the safety of the kitchen, Ann yanked the apron off and shoved it on the hook. “Can you believe the nerve of that man? He’s like an annoying Clark Kent. He even has the same glasses.”

“Don’t forget Clark Kent was Superman,” Amelia pointed out.

“Ha. Ha. So not funny,” Ann said and grabbed a soda from the refrigerator. Taking a glass from the stack by the counter, she added ice and poured the soda over it. “Eric breathing down my neck is your fault, Amelia.”

“Eric is attractive,” Abby said with a thoughtful expression.

Ann shook her head. “I am
not
interested.”

The bell sounded on the front door of the diner as a shift of workers from the factory on the edge of town came in.

The sisters worked to handle the sudden influx of customers and when the diner was finally empty save a few stragglers, Amelia slid off her apron and threw it in the laundry bin. “I think it’s safe for us to turn it over to the evening shift. I’m going to go deliver Chad’s surprise to his office.”

…

Exactly what was he supposed to do with a puppy? Chad gazed at the tiny brown-and-white collie now sleeping peacefully on the sofa in his office.

When he’d left the conference room after a meeting with his software designers, his secretary had been waiting for him with the dog in a basket. Her normally well-kept bun was hanging loosely around her face and her eyes were narrowed into unwelcoming slits.

He’d told her flatly there was a no-pet policy at the office. The older woman had stiffened and informed him in an icy tone that the dog was not hers, but had been dropped off by
his
wife.

Then she’d thrust the dog at him and marched off, muttering how she’d worked for the Walkers for years and deserved a raise if her job stretched to include puppy-sitting.

So Chad had taken the dog into his office and opened the accompanying note.

You need more fun, spontaneity, and love in your life. This is a beginning.

Amelia.

He should have known that meant the dog would be trouble. Since he’d taken the animal into his office, the puppy had disrupted his late-afternoon schedule, and chewed his shoes, the side of the wall, and the leg of the expensive sofa before piddling on the rug.

Finally, in desperation, Chad had left the office with the puppy in tow to find a pet store, where he’d purchased enough toys to keep the pup busy for a month.

He’d covered the floor with guaranteed no-leak puppy paper and arranged the toys in a neat pile by the sofa.

In less than five minutes, the puppy had abandoned the toys to play with the hem of Chad’s Armani slacks.

He felt the frayed end. His schedule was now running behind, his clothes looked ragged, and he had puppy slobber on his starched shirt.

The phone rang and Chad lunged for it, wondering why his secretary hadn’t answered and praying the hyperactive pup would sleep through the ringing.

“Chad, why are you whispering?” his grandfather’s voice boomed.

“I’m trying to keep the puppy asleep.”

“You bought a puppy?” Henry asked, sounding confused.

“Amelia,” Chad said as if that explained it.

“She’s quite a young lady. I’ve always loved that girl and I think you made the right choice by marrying her.”

“I didn’t have a choice, not if I wanted to save the company.”

“I see,” his grandfather said with an odd note in his voice.

“Everything okay?”

“Er…fine. It’s not important.”

“Okay,” Chad said absently, his apprehension rising when the puppy stirred. Knocking a pen from his desk, Chad bent to retrieve it and when he sat back up, the sofa was empty. “Grandfather, I’ve got to go.” He hung up. As soon as he captured that destructive ball of fur, he was going to find Amelia.

He had to make her understand that while he appreciated the thought, he didn’t have plans in his life for a puppy. He hadn’t had a plan for marrying Amelia and look at the havoc already caused by that.

He was no longer sure of himself, he was unable to concentrate on work, and he kept having wild urges that didn’t belong between him and Amelia.

Physical urges, but worse, emotional ones.

In order to save himself, he had to let both Amelia and the puppy go as soon as he could.

Chapter Thirteen

Later that evening as she helped prepare the dinner with Abby, Amelia slipped an apron on over the blue jeans and pullover shirt she’d changed into. She’d worn this apron, the one decorated with cute little cupcakes, as a little girl when she’d helped her grandmother make chocolate chip cookies.

Back then, the apron had wrapped around her twice and almost dragged the floor, but she’d still worn it proudly, wanting only to be in the kitchen to watch her grandmother create her weekly batch of goodies.

“I miss her,” Abby said quietly.

Tearing off the outer seal, she uncapped a bottle of barbecue sauce and passed it over to Abby, who poured it over the steaks. “Me, too.”

The doorbell rang and Amelia answered it to find Chad holding tightly to a jeweled bright-pink leash. “The only leash left strong enough to contain this disaster,” he said when he caught Amelia looking at it.

“You liked my gift?” Amelia grinned.

“You know I don’t have the time for a puppy.”

“Everyone has time for a pet, Chad.”

“A pet is a hamster or a fish.”

“Don’t tell me you can resist this puppy’s sweet face,” she said, taking the leash and leaning down to scratch under the collie’s chin.

He pushed the door closed. “You know I love dogs and I like pets as well as the next person.”

“Good. Does this mean you’ve named him?”

“Not yet. I can’t keep him.”

She stood and he saw the amusement in her eyes when she saw the chewed spot on his tie.

He worked his fingers on the knot and removed the tie, crumpling it into a ball in his hand. The tie was as ruined as the hem of his pants.

“He’s not in the plan, right?” she said.

“Exactly.”

“Well, as long as I’m around, we’re keeping him.”

“Ame…”

She leaned up and pressed a quick kiss against his lips.

“Well, if you put it like that…”

Amelia laughed. “Don’t even think of fighting me on this one, Chad Walker. If I can be a fake wife for you, you can be a puppy owner for me.”

He quirked his brow, but she could see the humor shining in his eyes. “Well, if I’m a puppy owner, let me start by saying we should take our little darling here outside to relieve himself. Unless you prefer to clean piddle out of your rugs.”

“See!” She nudged him in the arm as she walked outside with him. “You sound like a dad already.”

The puppy sniffed the flowers, darting away startled when an insect flitted out at him. He backed up and barked, and Chad and Amelia laughed.

They continued down the sidewalk in the quiet neighborhood and at the end of the street, Amelia said, “I’ve been thinking about our lives before I rescued you.”

“Before you caused chaos,” Chad corrected.

Amelia stopped under the warm glow of an old-fashioned streetlight. “I think you and I should forget about our friendship.”

Chad’s face darkened. “What are you saying?” He reached to take the leash when the puppy wouldn’t stop winding it around Amelia’s ankles. He gently nudged the puppy’s hindquarters. “Sit.”

The puppy sat for all of one second, tongue lolling out, eyes gleaming with mischief, before he bounded up and nipped at the hem of Chad’s pants, backing away growling with the material clenched in his teeth.

Watching the little dog play with Chad’s once-impeccable clothes warmed her heart. He would be such a great father, if he’d open his heart to the possibility.

But tonight, she’d settle for him to be a great husband. In
every
way.

“I think there could be more between us and that it could be good,” Amelia said, bending to pluck the material from the puppy’s mouth. She scooped the squirming fur ball into her arms. He wiggled against her and licked the side of her face.

“We’re an
us
already. We’re best friends, and that’s an
us
.”

Typical Chad reaction.

If that’s really what he thought she meant, he was in for a big shock.

Amelia pursed her lips and leaned over to set the puppy down and straightened, a challenge clear in her eyes. “I thought I should give you fair warning that I plan to seduce my husband.”

“What?”

“Starting right now. I dare you to kiss me like you mean it, Chad Walker.”

“Ame, don’t do this.”

She brushed her fingers lightly across his lips. “I know that you want me.”

With a groan that sounded like half agony, half anger, Chad tangled his hands in her hair and kissed her hungrily. She felt his hands move from her hair, to her back, and then up again as his tongue danced against hers.

Without warning, he lifted his head, his eyes taking in the flush on her cheeks, the invitation in her eyes.

She could see his inner war playing across his features.

Dammit, Chad. Just give in. Stop overthinking it.

He rested his head against her forehead. The cool evening breeze blew over them but Amelia knew it would take a raging blizzard to cool her down. Any couple who kissed like that couldn’t pretend that they were only friends. “We owe it to ourselves to take a chance and see what develops. Don’t you think so?” she said.

“I want to, but I shouldn’t.”

“You should,” she answered, leaning up to press her lips against his in a soft, quick kiss.

“No. You’ll end up hating me.”

“I couldn’t hate you any more than you could hate me.”

“I could never hate you and I’ll admit that I want nothing more in this world than to make love to you.”

“So why don’t you?”

“Give me a one hundred percent guarantee that if we fall in love it’ll last, that we won’t end up broken, living apart from each other, regretting everything we shared.”

“There are no guarantees.”

He shrugged. “I rest my case.”

The puppy barked at a passing car and wound the leash around Chad’s legs.

“Come on.” Chad untangled the puppy. “Let’s get this guy back. I’m sure the dinner’s probably ready by now.”

The puppy surged forward.

Amelia giggled at the dog’s antics. “I think I have a name for the puppy. Trouble.”

Chad pulled the puppy away from chewing on the neighbor’s flowers. “Well chosen.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll grow to love him and then you won’t be able to live without him.”

She silently prayed the same would go for her.

…

The next day, Chad arrived at the estate in the early afternoon to take Amelia to the lake. He’d spent the night sleeping on the sofa in his office, knowing that if he went home, he was going to make Amelia his in ways that friends didn’t do. He didn’t have the strength to withstand the force of the attraction he felt for her, so he’d chosen to avoid her.

Exhaling, he closed the front door behind him and called her name.

Henry walked into the foyer. “Got a few minutes?”

“Not really. I’m taking Amelia to the lake.”

“All right. We can talk later.”

Amelia entered the room. “The puppy’s asleep so he shouldn’t bother anything.”

“Don’t believe that,” Chad warned his grandfather. He took the picnic basket from Amelia, escorted her out to the car, and stowed it in the trunk. “You look beautiful,” he said as he slid into the driver’s seat.

She patted the sides of her shorts. “In a pair of denim shorts and a T-shirt?”

“You make anything you wear look good.” He got in and waited until she got in beside him. His fingers clenched the wheel. “About last night…”

“I already know. You were at work. Busy avoiding your wife.”

“More like avoiding myself.” He punched the steering wheel and leaned over, giving her a fast, rough kiss. “We need to talk.”

“Very cloak-and-dagger.”

He turned the car around in the driveway and drove out through the gates. “I don’t want to spend every damn night at the office. I want to be home with my best friend who also happens to be my wife.”

“I think she’d like that.”

He glanced at her soft smile.
So the hell would he.

The car dipped as Chad took the dirt road leading up to the lake. The area was deserted but by the evening, it would be crowded with cars full of teenagers looking to make out.

He pulled into the shade offered by an overhanging tree and shut off the engine. There was so much he’d planned to say. So much he wanted to say, but he couldn’t. “What did you pack to eat?”

“Sex, sports, and gravy.”

He laughed and opened the door to get the basket. “I remember coming up to this lake the night before graduation. Aaron Glenn dared me to go skinny-dipping and then stole my clothes and took off. I had to walk home naked, trying to hide from passing cars. I got leaves in places that still make me shudder.”

“You did kiss his girlfriend.”

“She said she wasn’t seeing anyone. I was innocent.” He shook his head at the memories.

They walked to an area near the boat dock and Chad spread out the blanket.

Amelia stretched out and put her hands behind her head. “For a view like this, a girl could be tempted to stay in town.”

He stilled. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. What about the need this girl has to run?”

“She’ll probably always be a free spirit, but she’s been thinking that being in one place as long as it’s with the right person isn’t such a bad thing.”

“And do I know this girl?”

“Like she’s your other half.”

Amelia rolled onto her side. He leaned forward and kissed her. “I think she’ll like staying.” Stretching out beside her, he took her hand and placed it on his chest.

“Are you planning on going back to the office later?”

He shifted so he could see her face. “I’d like to spend the evening with you.”

“You think your other half will mind?”

Chad grinned. “I’m looking at her.”