A Winter Wedding

He shot her a glance but said nothing, just got dressed.

“Okay, fine,” she said. “Maybe I should make things easier on both of us. Would you like me to move to the farmhouse today?”

Without bothering to put on the shirt in his hand, he swung around to face her. “No, I wouldn’t. After what someone did to my plant, I don’t want you by yourself anywhere. Do you understand?”

“Meaning you think Noelle might try to hurt me...”

“Meaning you don’t go anywhere without me until we figure out what’s going on.”

“Kyle!” someone called—a female voice Lourdes didn’t recognize.

“Who’s that?” she asked.

He yanked on his shirt and checked his watch. “It’s Eve. I get together with my friends every Friday morning at the coffee shop. I’m guessing that when I didn’t show up today, they decided to come here. Brandon and Olivia must’ve told them about the fire.”

Someone banged on the door. “Hello? Open up! Baxter’s in town, man!” This was a male voice...

“Coming!” Kyle yelled as he buttoned his jeans.

Lourdes drew the blankets even higher. “Have you mentioned a Baxter to me?”

“I doubt it. He’s one of my best friends, but he’s been living in San Francisco.” His voice softened slightly as he paused at the door. “You don’t have to come out if you don’t want to,” he said, then stalked down the hall.

A moment later, the noise of quite a few people filling the house rose to Lourdes’s ears. Jeez, how many friends did Kyle have?

She told herself she’d stay out of sight, as he’d suggested. She wasn’t that pleased with him this morning, no matter what excuse he had to be out of sorts. What he was feeling for her couldn’t be any more complicated than what she was feeling for him. But she heard several people ask about her. Then a baby cried and she could tell it was a very new baby.

Callie had obviously come with her infant son...

Scooting down in the bed, Lourdes pulled the covers over her head to block out the sound. She didn’t want to think about babies. Chances were, her life wouldn’t include them. Especially now. There were too many things she had to put right in her career. But when four or five people lamented that they wouldn’t get to meet her, she felt selfish and guilty for avoiding them.

Planning to slip into the bathroom to clean up before presenting herself, she got out of bed and put on the jeans and sweater she’d been wearing when she went to the fire last night. But her makeup and hair products weren’t in the master suite, and there was a man coming down the hallway, probably on his way to the bathroom, who saw her the instant she emerged from Kyle’s room.

He grinned. “You must be Lourdes.”

*

Kyle was surprised when Lourdes appeared. He hadn’t expected her to brave the crowd, especially since she hadn’t had a chance to shower or change. He could tell she was more than a little self-conscious and could understand why, seeing that she’d just come from his bed. Not only was her hair tangled, she was wearing the same clothes she’d had on last night. And when Brandon nudged him, Kyle knew his brother had noticed.

“It’s getting serious between you two, huh?” Brandon whispered.

Kyle didn’t have a chance to respond. She’d walked out with Noah, who said, “Look who I found.”

“Lourdes!” Eve exclaimed. “You really are in town. I was beginning to wonder if Kyle was having delusions of grandeur.”

She chuckled at Eve’s joke. “I’m sorry I haven’t been friendlier. I’ve been...busy. But if you’ll just give me a minute to wash my face and brush my teeth, I’ll be right out.”

When she ducked into the bathroom, all of his friends turned to gape at him. “Wow, this is for real, dude!” Riley murmured. “You’re with Lourdes Bennett.”

“That was Lourdes Bennett?” Baxter said. “The Lourdes Bennett?”

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