A Groom Worth Waiting For

Not exactly the resounding endorsement she’d hoped for. ‘Are you all right with that?’

Flynn flashed a smile at her. ‘Thea, you’re a very beautiful woman and I’m proud that you’re going to be my wife. Of course I’m okay with that.’

‘You weren’t sounding particularly enthusiastic.’

‘I am. Really.’ He pulled her close again and kissed the top of her head. ‘Who knows? Maybe we’ll even grow to love each other as more than friends.’

‘Perhaps we will,’ Thea said. After all, how could she tell her husband-to-be that the last thing she wanted was for either of them to fall in love with each other. Sex, marriage, kids—that was fine. But not love.

Hadn’t it been proved, too many times already, that her love wasn’t worth enough?

* * *

The corridors of the villa were quieter now. Zeke presumed that everyone was lingering over after-dinner drinks in the front parlour or had gone to bed. Either way, he didn’t particularly want to join in.

Instead, he made his way to the terrace doors. A little fresh air, a gulp of freedom away from the oppression of family expectation, might do him some good.

Except the terrace was already occupied.

He stood in the doorway for a long moment, watching the couple on the swing. Whatever he’d seen and thought earlier, here—now—they looked like a real couple. Flynn’s arm wrapped around Thea’s slender shoulders...the kiss he pressed against her head. She had her legs tucked up under her, the way she’d always sat as a teenager, back when they’d spent parties like this hiding out together. The memories were strong: Thea skipping out on her hostessing duties, sipping stolen champagne and talking about the world, confiding in him, telling him her hopes, plans, dreams.

It hurt more than he liked, seeing her share a moment like that with someone else. And for that someone else to be his brother...that burned.

It shouldn’t, Zeke knew. He’d moved past the pain of her rejection years ago, and it wasn’t as if he hadn’t found plenty of solace in other arms. She’d made her choice eight years ago and he’d lived by it. He hadn’t called, hadn’t visited. Hadn’t given her a chance to change her mind, because he didn’t want her to.

She’d chosen their families and he’d chosen himself. Different sides. Love had flared into anger, rejection, even hate. But even hate faded over the years, didn’t it? He didn’t hate her now. He didn’t know what he felt. Not love, for certain. Maybe...regret? A faint, lingering thought that things might have been different.

But they weren’t, and Zeke wasn’t one for living in the past. Especially not now, when he’d finally made the last cut between himself and his father. He’d turned down the one thing he’d have given anything for as a boy—his father’s acceptance and approval. He knew now how little that was worth. He was free, at last.

Except for that small thin thread that kept him tied to the woman on the swing before him. And by the end of the week even that would be gone, when she’d tied herself to another.

His new life would start the moment he left this place. And suddenly he wanted to savour the last few moments of the old one.

Zeke stepped out onto the terrace, a small smile on his lips as his brother looked up and spotted him.

‘Zeke,’ Flynn said, eyes wary, and Thea’s head jerked up from his shoulder.

‘I wondered where you two had got to,’ Zeke lied. He hadn’t given it a moment’s thought, because he hadn’t imagined they could be like this. Together. ‘Dinner over, then?’

Thea nodded, sitting up and shifting closer to Flynn to make room for Zeke to sit beside them. ‘How did things go? With your father?’

‘Pretty much as expected.’ Zeke eyed the small space on the swing, then perched on the edge of the low table in front of them instead.

‘Which was...?’ Flynn sounded a little impatient. ‘I don’t even know what he wanted to talk to you about. Business, I assume?’

‘You didn’t tell him?’ Zeke asked Thea, eyebrow raised.

‘We were talking about more important things,’ Thea said, which made Flynn smile softly and kiss her hair again.

Zeke’s jaw tightened at the sight. He suspected he didn’t want to know what those ‘more important things’ were. ‘Your father wanted to try and buy my business,’ he told Flynn.

‘He’s your father too,’ Flynn pointed out.

Zeke laughed. ‘Possibly not, after tonight.’

‘You told him no, then?’ Thea guessed. ‘Why? To spite him? You’ve already admitted you want to sell.’

‘He wanted me to come and work for Morrison-Ashton.’

‘And that would be the worst thing ever, of course.’ Sarcasm dripped from her voice. ‘Are you really still so angry with him?’

Tilting his head back, Zeke stared up through the slats of the terrace roof at the stars twinkling through. ‘No,’ he answered honestly. ‘This isn’t... It’s not like it was any more, Thea. I’m not trying to spite him, or hurt him, or pay him back for anything. I just want to move on. Sever all ties and start a whole new life. Maybe a new company, a new field. A new me.’

‘So we won’t be seeing you again after the wedding, then?’ Flynn said, and Zeke realised he’d almost forgotten his brother was even there for a moment. He’d spoken to Thea the same way he’d always talked to Thea—with far more honesty than he’d give anyone else. A bad habit to fall back into.

‘Maybe you two would be worth a visit,’ he said, forcing a smile. ‘After all, I’ll need to come and be favourite Uncle Zeke to your kids, right?’

At his words Flynn’s expression softened, and he gave his fiancée a meaningful look. Thea, for her part, glanced down at her hands, but Zeke thought he saw a matching shy smile on her face.

Realisation slammed into him, hitting him hard in the chest until he almost gasped for breath. That was what they’d been talking about—their ‘more important things’. Children. He’d been so sure that this marriage was a sham, that there was nothing between them. But he hadn’t imagined kids. Even when he’d made the comment he’d expected an evasion, a convenient practised answer. Another sign that this wasn’t real.

Not this. Not the image in his head of Thea’s belly swollen with his brother’s child. Not the thought of how much better parents Flynn and Thea would be than his own father. Of a little girl with Thea’s dark hair curling around a perfect face.

‘Well, you know you’ll always be welcome in our home,’ Flynn said.

The words were too formal for brothers, too distant for anything he’d ever shared with Thea. And Zeke knew without a doubt that he’d never, ever be taking them up on the offer. Maybe he didn’t love Thea any more, but that tightly stitched line of regret inside him still pulled when she tugged on the thread between them.

He couldn’t give Thea what she wanted—never had been able to. She’d made that very clear. And in two days she’d be married, that thread would be cut, and he’d never see her again.

‘I should get to bed,’ Thea said, unfolding her legs from under her. ‘Another long day tomorrow.’

Flynn smiled up at her as she stood. ‘I’ll see you in the morning?’

Thea nodded, then with a quick glance at Zeke bent and kissed Flynn on the lips. It looked soft, but sure, and Zeke got the message—loud and clear, thanks. She’d made her choice—again—and she was sticking with it.

Fine. It was her choice to make, after all. But Zeke knew that the scar of regret would never leave him if he wasn’t sure she was happy with the choice she was making. If he wanted the freedom of that cut thread, he had to be able to leave her behind entirely. He had to be sure she knew what she was doing.

Zeke got to his feet. ‘I’ll walk you to your room.’

CHAPTER FOUR (#ulink_bba07967-b2a7-59e7-8385-35165c1bf758)

THIS WAS EXACTLY what she didn’t want. Which, in fairness, was probably why Zeke was doing it.

It had been too strange, sitting there with the two brothers, talking about her future as if Zeke might be part of it—in a role she’d simply never expected him to take. Hard enough to transition from fiancée to wife to mother with Flynn, without adding in her ex as her brother-in-law. It had all been so much easier when she’d imagined he was out of her life for good. That she’d never have to see him again. She’d got over the hurt of that loss years before.