MELISSA OPENED HER EYES, conscious of a feeling of well-being. Today, she knew exactly where she was. Already the warmth of Seth’s naked body wrapped around hers was familiar.
With a pang of regret, she decided they’d have to wait until they were married to spend any more nights together. Today was the last day they could simply devote to each other for a while.
Married. A wedding. In her mind she’d skipped over that part and simply pictured her life going on pretty much as always, only without the money worries, and with Seth in her bed every night when she went to sleep. And every morning when she woke up. She sighed. She’d have to get that lock on the bedroom door fixed. And turn the guest room into a bedroom for the twins. She’d get them to help her decorate. That would be fun.
“Penny for them,” Seth mumbled in her ear, his voice sleep-groggy.
“I was wondering how quickly we could get married.”
“I thought you liked being a mistress.” He nibbled her ear lobe. “You’re certainly good at it.”
He traced a finger lazily round one nipple and her body started turning to liquid, just like that. She felt him hardening behind her and wiggled her hips against him. “I do like it, but I won’t get any more practice until we’re married.”
The nibble turned into a bite that made her cry out and the hand on her breast went rigid. “What?” he demanded in a tone so peevish she smiled into the pillow.
Shifting so she could see his outraged face, she said, “How do you suggest we conduct an affair with four kids?”
“We’re engaged. I—but—they’ll know we’re getting married.”
“I can’t do it, Seth.”
He flopped onto his back with a grunt, crossed his arms under his head and stared moodily at the ceiling. “Tell you what,” he said at last. “I’ll meet you at city hall tomorrow at lunch. No, wait a second, I’ve got a meeting at one. Tuesday, then. We’ll get married Tuesday.”
“What about the kids?”
“They’ll be at school.”
“No. I mean, they’ll want to be there. I want them there.”
“Well. We could go after school, get married, and take them out for pizza afterward.”
She chuckled helplessly. “That is, without a doubt, the most pathetic idea I’ve ever heard.”
“Who cares about the marriage part? I want to get to the wedding night.”
“I care. The kids’ll care. This is forever, Seth. I want it to feel like forever.”
He groaned again, sending her a pleading look. “This isn’t working up to one of those magazine-type weddings with three hundred guests, is it?”
“Oh. No. I had that kind of wedding once. I don’t want it again.” She hesitated a moment. “What kind of wedding did you have? The first time?”
“Same. Crowds of relatives I didn’t know from Adam. Speeches. Bridesmaids. God knows, I love you, Melissa, but I’m begging you. Don’t put me through that again.”
She laughed.
“There were plastic bells on every table. Swear to God. Plastic bells.”
“Paper roses. My mother sat at home night after night and made one hundred and seventy-five paper roses.” She sighed. “No. I don’t want to go through that again, either. But I wouldn’t want to hurt people’s feelings. Janice would want to come. So would my neighbor, Pam.” Her heart sank. “And my Dad.”
“My parents will fly in from Florida.”
“It’s already getting complicated.”
“I’ve got a great idea. Let’s take the kids away somewhere—Hawaii maybe—and get married. They can be part of it, and we don’t have to invite anybody else to the wedding. Then, when we get back, sometime we’ll have a party to celebrate.”
“Can we really go to Hawaii? I’ve always wanted to.”
“Nothing easier. I’ll call my travel agent tomorrow. Let’s say, two weeks from now?”
This was feeling so much like a fairy tale it was scary. But it was good scary. She could picture them, the six of them, posed against a tropical sunset like a postcard.
“I love this idea. We’d be legally married, so that would take care of the sleeping arrangements, and then we could have a garden party to celebrate when we got home. It’s perfect, don’t you think? Gardens are my thing.” She glanced at him from under her lashes. “I might even get some business out of it from all your stuffy friends.”
“How do you know my friends are stuffy? You’ve never met any of them.”
“That’s right. I haven’t.” They’d probably all known Claire, though. They’d compare her, of course, to her predecessor. How would she stack up?
“You’ll meet them soon enough.”
“What have you told people about me?” she asked, feeling deliciously girlish.
“I haven’t told them anything.”
“Oh.” It was crazy to feel disappointed. She hadn’t told anyone about Seth, either. Well, apart from Pam. And she and Pam had discussed it endlessly. Sure, she had her business and kids and the usual things, but falling in love with a new man was the most significant and exciting part of her life at the moment. He was definitely top of mind.
Oh, well, she reminded herself. Men are different. They don’t love to communicate the way women do.
“Two weeks to wait,” he complained. Before she knew what was happening, he’d flipped her on her back and rolled his full length on top of her, a very wicked expression in his eyes. “Better get our fill in now.”
Then he kissed her, and she thought what a long time fourteen days was. And then she couldn’t think at all.
“HAWAII!” the three older kids all screamed at once. Little Alice’s voice echoed right behind them, “Hawaii!” Then she whispered to Jessie, “What’s Hawaii?”
The kids had seemed pretty enthusiastic that their parents were getting married. But their reaction to the trip to Hawaii almost had the San Andreas fault quivering in response.
“Shh.” He glanced out the living room window. “You’ll have the neighbors calling 9-1-1.”
“Dad, can we get bikinis? Ple-ea-ease?”
“B-bikinis?” He glanced to Melissa for inspiration. “Aren’t you a little young?”
“Everybody wears them, Dad.” And then, obviously following the line of his own gaze, his oldest turned to Melissa. “Right, Melissa?”
She shot him a questioning glance, but he shrugged. Bikinis. What did he know? He knew one thing, it was going to be a hell of a lot better having Melissa around to help with the girls.
She answered their question with a question of her own. “You girls know about sunscreen?”
An eager “Uh-huh” duet was the reply.
“If you promise to wear sunscreen every second we’re in Hawaii, I’ll talk to your father about the bathing suits.”
They’d obviously already figured him for a total pushover. He could tell the way they were hugging Melissa and thanking her, then trying to decide whether they should buy the bathing suits before they went or get them in Hawaii. Damn it. He was their father. He felt a need to assert himself. “Not those things with shoe laces down the backside,” he commanded.
“Wha-at?”
“Do you mean thongs?” Melissa asked, a dimple teasing her cheek.
Four identical eyes rolled heavenward. “Oh, Dad.”
Matthew, who’d been practicing surfing on the couch cushions, crouched and leaped into the air, riding an imaginary wave. It dumped him soundly on the ground, where he rolled and bounced up again. “When do we go?”
“In two weeks.”
“Woo-hoo. Wait’ll I tell Ryan Doran. He thinks he’s so cool cause he went to Disneyland for Christmas. I’m going to Hawaii, and getting a new dad.”
Something funny squeezed in Seth’s chest. It was pretty obvious he placed a distant second to two weeks in Hawaii, but Matthew seemed totally willing to accept him as a surrogate father. He and Melissa hadn’t got as far as figuring what the kids would think about them becoming a blended family. He’d mentally budgeted a few thousand for counseling fees, and here everybody seemed delighted.
Everybody, that is, except Laura, who’d suddenly gone pale.
“Two weeks?” she asked in a hollow voice. “Will we be in Hawaii on the nineteenth?”
“The nineteenth?” He glanced at Melissa but she looked as puzzled as he felt. “No. We leave on the twenty-first. Why?”
“The Bravo Boys,” Jessie said. “Their concert is on the nineteenth.”
He felt his jaw clench. “And on the nineteenth you’ll be sitting here at home. Because there’s no way on earth I would let you two go to a rock concert.”
Jessie opened her mouth and Seth gritted his teeth even harder, but he was saved by Laura, who took one look at his face and dragged her sister out of the room. He heard them whispering and muttering all the way up the stairs.
“What?” He challenged Melissa, who was grinning helplessly.
“I was wondering if we could postpone the wedding a little. Say, until they’ve finished being teenagers.”
“At least with two of them, and two of us, the odds are a little more favorable.” He flopped down on his favorite chair, and wondered fleetingly whether Melissa would make him move it when she brought her own stuff over. He had to admit that what she hadn’t sold was in a lot better shape than his own stuff.
He surveyed the living room, noting the dingy, finger-marked paint and how shabby the furniture was. Mostly because he let the kids pretty much have free run of the house when they were home. He couldn’t ask Melissa to move in with the place looking like this. They could have a decorator come in and put a new touch on the place. She’d like that.
He watched her bend over and replace the couch cushions Matthew had upended before roaring off somewhere with Alice in tow. He opened his mouth to tell her not to bother, then closed it again and decided to enjoy the view. If it weren’t for four very good reasons all over his house, he’d be sneaking up behind his new fiancée right now and messing up those sofa cushions again.
“I want you,” he said low in his throat.
Her hands, busy smoothing the cushions into precise geometrical lines, stilled. He saw the diamond wink on her finger, heard her sharp intake of breath. Then she turned to face him, and he knew without words that she wanted him, too.
He stood and in two strides had her in his arms.
“We can’t,” she murmured into his ear.
“Lunch tomorrow. Can you get a babysitter for Alice?”
She sent him a teasing smile. “You have a meeting tomorrow, remember?”
Puzzlement turned to self-conscious laughter as he recalled his crazy idea to get married on their lunch hour. “Right. I remember.”
“But Alice and her little friend have play school on Tuesday, if you could take an early lunch.”
“I’m hungry now. Okay. Tuesday, then. I’ll run home for a nooner.”
She chuckled, a deep sexy sound that made him kiss the side of her neck and try to get a hand up her shirt.
A slap took care of the hand. “Are you going to make a habit of nooners when we’re married?”
“Damn right. Morning, noon and night. You and I have a lot of celibate years to make up for.”
“Mmm.” She didn’t seem to dislike the idea, so he tried sneaking his hand back up her shirt and got another whack for his trouble.
Regretfully, he gave up and pulled away. “Tuesday.”
She smiled, her face slightly flushed. “Tuesday.”
“Oh, well. If we can’t have sex, let’s eat. I’ll order some pizzas for dinner and we can celebrate with the kids.”
“Well, all right. But we’ll have to leave early. I want to bathe Matthew and Alice tonight.”
“You’re such a good mother.”
She pinkened with pleasure at the compliment. “I’ll try to be a good mother to Jessie and Laura, as well.”
“Don’t worry. We’re going to make this thing work.”
He couldn’t help wondering who he was reassuring.