Holly met James’s eyes in the mirror and they both burst out laughing.
Gia merely smiled at them and then took Holly’s hands. “Don’t worry. Everything is going to work out. Justin will not reject you. He understood and even admired your decision to honor your vows. And,” she added firmly when Holly opened her mouth to speak, “And you do not have to trust in yourself with Justin. Trust in the nanos, yes? They will never steer you wrong. If they think you are life mates, then life mates you are, and you will work.”
“Now,” she squeezed Holly’s hand and then turned to smile at James in the rearview mirror. “We will go have dinner to celebrate . . . in Canada.”
“What?” Holly turned on her with surprise.
“Hmmm. I called Aunt Marguerite and she insisted we all come to dinner.”
“In Canada?” Holly asked with disbelief.
“Hmmm. Is only a five hours flight or something like that,” she reassured her. “And there are snacks on the plane.”
“The plane?” Holly echoed.
Gia nodded. “It should be landing when we get to the airport. Lucian Argeneau arranged for it to come get us when I called him earlier.”
Holly’s eyes narrowed. “And why did you call him?”
“Because I want to be happy, but I want you to be happy too,” she said simply.
“And how does flying to Canada for dinner make either of us happy?” she asked warily.
“Well . . . when James and I finally talked about everything, and he decided that he had to talk to you as soon as you got home . . .” She hesitated and then said solemnly, “I cannot celebrate and enjoy having James to life mate if you and Justin are not settled as well, Holly.”
Holly bit her lip and said, “Have you ever heard the expression you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink?”
Gia shook her head slowly. “What does it mean?”
“It means she’s afraid you’ll get her to Canada and bring this Justin guy around, but that doesn’t mean he’ll still be interested,” James said solemnly.
Gia shook her head. “You are his life mate, Holly. You have nothing to fear.”
Holly didn’t say anything, but as Gia patted her hand, she worried that might not be true.
Nineteen
“Do this, Justin. Do that, Justin. We’re shorthanded, Justin. Mortimer needs you, Justin. You have to come back. But where is Justin? Everyone else is out hunting a rogue, but what is Justin doing? He’s delivering pastries to Marguerite’s house for some damned dinner she’s having. Oh yeah, we need you, Justin,” he muttered under his breath as he parked the SUV in Marguerite’s driveway and got out to walk around to the back of the SUV.
He retrieved the covered tray inside, then straightened, pressed the button on his key fob to close the back, and headed for the house. He was still ten feet away when the front door opened and Dante peered out at him. “What took you so long?”
“Really?” Justin asked, one eyebrow rising. “Not, ‘Thank you for taking time out from your important work of hunting rogues to bring us yet more food to swallow in one or two bites, Justin.’ Just, ‘What took you so long?’ ”
Dante shrugged and stepped back for him to enter with the tray. “I don’t eat pastries.”
“Yeah, you do,” Justin said dryly, stepping inside and turning to watch him close the door. “As far as I can tell, you and Tomasso eat everything.”
“Yeah, we do,” Dante admitted with a grin and then waved at the door to the living room.
Shaking his head, Justin turned and strode to the door, but stopped there as he noted all the -people present. It wasn’t a damned dinner—-it was a party of some sort. The whole Argeneau family appeared to be here, as well as every last hunter who was supposed to be out rounding up a supposed nest of rogues Lucian had got word about. Even Mortimer and Sam were here.
“What the—-” he began and then paused as Marguerite suddenly smiled at him. She took her husband Julius’s arm and the two stepped sideways, revealing three -people sitting on the couch.
“Holly,” Justin breathed and dropped the tray he held. Fortunately, Dante was quick and managed to catch it before it hit the floor. Justin hardly noticed though; his attention had shifted to the man beside Holly. James Bosley, her husband, sat between her and Gia on the couch. That was a shock, but when he noted the silver glint in the man’s eyes, he reeled back and whirled away, only to crash into Lucian Argeneau’s steel wall of a chest.
“Where are you going?” Lucian asked mildly. “Aren’t you going to greet your life mate?”
“She’s with her husband,” Justin growled. “Obviously he was a possible life mate to her too. She’s made her decision. I—-why the hell are you shaking your head?”
“Because you’re wrong,” Lucian said. “As usual.”
Justin scowled at him and then hissed. “See the guy with silver--blue eyes there?”