"Want to bet?" Her mother sighed again. Worry darkened her eyes. "Please? I'll beg. Do you want that? I'm desperate. I want you to have a good time." She paused. "Well, as good a time as you can have at this. And I don't want you to worry about what everyone else might be thinking. It's four days. You'll barely have to see each other."
It was four days trapped in a hotel with her family at the top of a mountain. Where was she supposed to go to avoid them--and Howie?
"He's doing some big project at work," her mother added. "I'm sure he'll be busy most of the time."
Katie hesitated, not just because she adored her mother but also because the questions from family about why she wasn't married had begun to border on brutal. There she was--the older sister--still not married, no prospect of a boyfriend. Courtney could barely go fifteen minutes without falling in love.
"Fine," Katie conceded at last. "Just for the wedding, though. Nothing more. Ever."
Her mother beamed. "Wonderful. I'll let him know. This is going to be wonderful. You'll see."
Wonderful? Katie could think of a lot of words but that wasn't one of them. She was already knee-deep in regrets. Four days with Howie? Fourteen years ago, they'd barely lasted an hour in each other's presence.
The only bright spot in the whole thing was that back then he'd disliked her as much as she'd disliked him. Maybe he would do a better job at telling his mother no and then none of this would be an issue.
"Mother, I won't," Howard Jackson Kent said firmly.
"I see."
Two simple words. They didn't matter in and of themselves, it was the tone that was going to come back and bite him in the ass. He could already feel the teeth.
"We'll ignore the fact that Janis McCormick is my best friend," his mother said, staring at him from across his desk.
They were in his office, his mother having dropped by unexpectedly between his meetings. There was only one way she would have known he was free, which meant later he would be having a little chat with his personal assistant.
"We'll ignore the fact that Janis has asked for my help."
If only that were true, he thought, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his temple.
"You could do it for Katie," his mother said. "She's such a nice girl."
Never words to make a single man's heart beat faster, he thought grimly. "Katie and I don't get along."
Granted, it had been a lot of years ago, but he remembered that summer afternoon clearly. His mother had insisted he come along with her while Tina met with her best friend. He'd agreed and had regretted the decision the second Katie had looked at him, then sighed with obvious disappointment.
Katie had been opinionated, only interested in sports and obviously contemptuous of him. Sure, he'd been a nerd and awkward and he'd never communicated well with others. But she'd been difficult and unfriendly. She'd also threatened to beat him up. At the time, she probably could have.
"Things could be different now," his mother said. "She's lovely."
"Uh-huh."
His mother straightened in her chair. Tina Kent was small, but he knew better than to judge her by her size.
"Do you remember ten years ago when I had breast cancer?" she asked.
He held in a groan and nodded. Not this, he thought. Anything but this.
"You were in college. I didn't want you to know how bad it was because I wanted you to focus on getting your masters."
It was in that program he'd developed the software that had launched his company and turned him into a multimillionaire in three short years.
"Mom--" he began.
She held up a hand. "When you came home, you were worried. I promised you I would get better." She paused expectantly.
"I said I would do anything if you would," he said dutifully.
"I kept my promise. Now it's time for you to keep yours. You're going to be Katie's date for the wedding. You'll spend four days at the resort in Fool's Gold, and you'll do everything you can to make Katie feel like a princess."
Dammit all to hell. Why couldn't he be like some of his friends and never talk to his parents? Why did he and his mother have to get along? Except for this obsession with Katie McCormick, his mom was a great woman to have around. They'd always been able to talk and he respected her opinion. But right now he would give anything for a brief but meaningful estrangement.
"Mom," he began, then shook his head. It was four days. Surely he could survive that. "Fine. You win."
She smiled broadly. "Good. Janis was there for me every day when I was sick. I'm so happy to finally be able to repay her, at least a little."
"You're selling out your only son. What will the neighbors think?"
"That it's about time you found yourself a woman."
Two