Platinum Grooms: Pregnant at the Wedding

“Do you like steak, lobster or pheasant?”

“I like most everything if it isn’t too spicy,” she replied.

“Including tall, black-haired businessmen?”

“You have to flirt, don’t you?”

“With you, absolutely. All right, I’ll take you to one of my favorite spots,” he said, smiling at her. He ran his finger along her cheek. “I really missed you,” he said in a thick voice that affected her as much as his light touches.

“I find that hard to believe,” she replied dryly, glad he couldn’t detect her racing heartbeat at that moment.

“I’ll admit that I haven’t been sitting home staring at the wall,” he said, giving her another disarming smile, “because I didn’t know whether I’d ever see you again or not.”

“Actually, Saturday was a surprise.”

“I hope one you liked. I’m working on changing your standoffish attitude.”

She couldn’t keep from smiling at him.

While they talked, he drove swiftly through the traffic. At the restaurant’s canopy-covered entrance, a uniformed valet came to hold open her door.

The dining area opened onto a large deck built over a pond covered with blooming water lilies. Strings of colored lanterns hung above the tables, and bright yellow and red bougainvillea spilled from hanging pots.

They were led to a linen-covered table overlooking the pond. Seated facing Ryan, Ashley knew she would remember this place and evening forever. Their waiter handed her a thick black menu, then gave Ryan a wine list and made suggestions.

“If you like lobster, it’s very good here. The steaks are excellent, too,” Ryan said, offering her the wine list.

Smiling, she shook her head. “I’ll just have a glass of ice water.”

Ryan ordered white wine for himself, and when they were alone, he reached across the table to take her hand. His grip was strong and his fingers warm. The slight contact was disturbing and heightened her longing.

“There has to be a reason you don’t want to see me again. And there has to be more to it than you just lost your head that weekend. I thought we were having a grand time.”

“Ryan, try to understand. That weekend was so contrary to my nature.”

“That’s fine, but now we know each other. If you want to back off and take things slowly, we can. If we just met and I asked you out, would you go?”

“Yes, I probably would, but this is different. We have a history, and you want what we had that weekend, while I don’t.”

“I just said we can take renewing our relationship slowly,” he said, holding her hand and rubbing her knuckles lightly with his thumb.

“Ryan!”

A woman’s voice cut across their conversation and Ryan released Ashley’s hand as he stood. “Hi, Kayla,” he said. “Ashley, this is Kayla Landon. Kayla, meet Ashley Smith.”

Ashley smiled at a statuesque redhead who should have been able to make Ryan forget all about seeing anyone else. She was dressed in a figure-hugging black dress that had spaghetti straps and ended well above her knees. Ashley recognized the woman as the one who had been talking to Ryan at his condo that Sunday morning.

“How do you do,” Ashley said, and received a frosty look and a nod before Kayla turned to Ryan.

“You’ll get my message when you get to your condo,” she told him. “I hope to see you Saturday night at my party. The last one was such fun,” she purred, placing her hand on his arm.

“I’ll give you a call, Kayla,” he said casually.

“Make it tomorrow.” She brushed his cheek with a kiss, turning to walk away without saying anything to Ashley.

“Now, where were we?” Ryan asked, sitting and facing Ashley.

“She’s the woman who was in your condo that Sunday I was there.”

“Ah,” he said, studying her. “That’s why you disappeared without a word.”

“Not altogether. It just reminded me of the differences between us,” she said. “You and I reside in separate worlds. You have your wealth and ritzy lifestyle. I grew up on a farm and have worked in the city less than a year. I practically have hay in my hair.”

He smiled and reached over to twirl a long blond strand around his thumb. “I’ll comb my fingers through your hair later and see if I can find any hay,” he said in his rich, magnetic voice.

She drew a deep breath. “You’re making this a trying problem.”

“I’m not the one being difficult. To me, the situation is simplicity itself. Man wants to go out with woman. Man and woman have fabulous time together. What’s troublesome about that?”

“You go too fast,” she replied. “I regret that weekend, but I can’t take it back and undo it.”

“All right, we’ll go slow. The weekend never happened. We just met at the wedding last Saturday, I want to see you and you’re here to eat dinner with me. This is good. Simple.” He reached across the table again and laced his fingers with hers. “And in the interest of having a great evening, let’s put this discussion on hold until later.”

“That is just your way of ending the argument,” she said and received another disarming smile.

“And as far as being from different worlds, do you know where and how I grew up?”

“No, we never got around to talking much that weekend we were together,” she said, and he smiled.

“You brought up the weekend. I didn’t,” he pointed out. “My dad did whatever he could find to do—dishwasher, served food in cafeterias, ditchdigger. My mom cleaned houses. We had almost nothing. I’d wager that, growing up, you had a more comfortable life than I did.”

“I wasn’t aware of your history. I knew you were self-made, because that’s in news stories, but not much else. Except the beautiful, sophisticated women you see.”

He gave a dismissive wave of his hand. “That’s tabloids looking for something sensational. My history is simple. My mom died too young. Dad’s still living, and my brothers and I take care of him. He’s worked hard all his life and he doesn’t need to now. I’m the oldest. I helped my two brothers get started, and they’re doing well. Brett is a commercial pilot and Cal, my youngest brother, is an accountant who works for me. I started earning money mowing lawns when I was eleven years old.”

Ashley nodded, realizing their worlds were not as far apart as she had thought. Yet she had a difficult time imagining him living in poverty. “So how did you make this miraculous climb to millionaire status?” she asked.

“Long story. Some luck, hard work and help from friends. Nick Colton and Jake Thorne were buds, and both came from simple beginnings, as I did. We made a pact in college to reach millionaire status and to help each other get there.”

“Wow! That’s impressive,” she said. “All of you succeeded.”

“Yeah, Nick most of all. They’re great friends to have. We all played football in high school and college, and worked for a landscape outfit during summers. We started doing that after our sophomore year in high school. We were all tall. I played pro ball for two years and invested every dime with Jake, who was a whiz in finance from the start. Then I quit football to build hotels.”

“No wonder the three of you are such close friends.”

“I couldn’t have made it without both of them.” Ryan paused when their waiter returned with tossed salads on crystal plates and a loaf of golden bread. “How often do you go home to the farm?” he asked, when the waiter departed.

“Since moving here, I’ve been busy with weddings on weekends, so it’s really been difficult to get there. I’ve gone home for holidays, and I went in February for a weekend because my assistant handled the weddings.”