The Family Plan

by Gina Wilkins

  As if it had been all he could do not to touch her earlier, he let his hands sweep over her now, touching and caressing every part he could reach. Her own hands were just as hungry, stroking and shaping, tangling with his. They had both dressed in loose, casual clothing for this Saturday afternoon, which made it much easier to shed them.

  “Tell me you locked the front door,” Caitlin murmured, retaining just that modicum of caution as they sank to the thickly carpeted floor.

  He nuzzled her neck. “I locked the front door.”

  “Good. I have a habit of forgetting. Oh, Nathan, that feels so good.”

  “I love you, Caitlin,” he said, holding her hands over her head as he prepared to slide into her.

  “I love you, too,” she whispered, arching to welcome him. “And you can consider that signed, dated and notarized.”

  He chuckled, then crushed her mouth beneath his, joining them with an exultant thrust.

  Nathan couldn’t have said how much time passed before he raised his head from the floor with an effort and glanced around them. He couldn’t help smiling a little at what he saw. Caitlin was sprawled nude beside him, her eyes closed, her arm draped limply over her stomach. Their clothes lay scattered in tangled clumps all around the formerly immaculate office.

  He couldn’t help wondering what Irene would say if she knew what had just happened in the offices she considered her domain. He sincerely hoped she would never find out. Though he had grown to respect the office manager quite a bit during the past weeks, he was still afraid of her.

  “Caitlin?”

  She responded without moving a muscle. “Hmm?”

  “We really should get dressed.”

  “Why?”

  “Because if you lie there like that much longer, we won’t be leaving this office for the next week.”

  The corners of her mouth lifted with a slight smile. “Sounds nice.”

  “You really want Irene to find you like this Monday morning?”

  She groaned and opened her eyes. “You had to bring up Irene’s name now?”

  “Sorry. She sort of comes to mind whenever I’m in the office these days.”

  Smiling, she reached up to trace a fingertip around his mouth. “I’m sure I can change that.”

  “I’m sure you could,” he muttered, catching her hand and pressing a kiss in her palm. “But, I have to go. Mrs. T. and Isabelle will be home soon and they’ll be wondering where I am.”

  She sighed and reluctantly pushed herself upright. “Okay, you made your point. The office isn’t the place for this sort of thing, anyway.”

  He grinned and pulled her toward him for another long, deep kiss. “With you, anywhere is the place for this sort of thing,” he said when he finally released her.

  She cleared her throat, blinked her hazy eyes, then reached for her clothes. “That sort of thinking could get us arrested.”

  “I think we should keep Mrs. T. on. She’s pretty much irreplaceable, I think, don’t you?”

  Caitlin paused in her dressing to look at him in question. “Why shouldn’t we—I mean, why shouldn’t you keep Mrs. T.? She’s, like, the greatest housekeeper in history, isn’t she?”

  He chuckled as he zipped his jeans. “Probably. I just meant that there’s no reason to change her schedule after we get married. You and I are both too busy here to have to worry about housework and cooking and laundry.”

  He pulled his shirt over his head, talking through the folds of fabric. “She and Isabelle seem happy together. I think Mrs. T. would really miss the job if we let her go. So there’s no reason why—”

  As he emerged from the top of his shirt, he realized that Caitlin was standing in the middle of the office, half-dressed and staring at him with her mouth open.

  He lifted an eyebrow. “Was it the M word that made you go comatose on me?”

  She closed her mouth and stepped into her slightly wrinkled slacks. “You did bring it up rather casually.”

  “Oh. Sorry. Too soon?”

  “Maybe. You suppose you could give me a day or two before we start booking honeymoon suites?”

  “Sure, even though I do like the sound of that honeymoon suite thing,” he added meditatively.

  She looked at him repressively. “This is serious, Nathan.”

  “I’m completely serious,” he assured her. “I love you, and I want to marry you. But I understand if you need a little time to think about it, knowing how you are about long-term planning and such.”

  “Well, of course I need to think about it. You’re talking about a decision that affects the rest of our lives. And not just our lives, there’s Isabelle to consider, too.”

  “True. Isabelle and I come as a package. I certainly understand why that would make the answer a bit more difficult for you.”

  “It’s not that I consider Isabelle a problem,” she assured him, endearingly earnest. “You know I’m crazy about her. She’s a very special child.”

  Her description pleased him. “I’ve always thought so.”

  “But she’s still a child, and a very young one at that. She’s going to require a lot more parenting.”

  “And you’re not sure you’re ready for that responsibility.” He nodded. “I went through all this same deliberation before I brought her home with me.”

  “It isn’t that, exactly. It’s just, well, what do I know about raising children? How do I know I would be a good parent?”

  His smile felt crooked when he reached out to smooth her tousled hair. “Again, you aren’t asking yourself any questions I didn’t wrestle with. Come on, Caitlin, you know how little prepared I was to take in a child. But I think I’ve done okay so far.”

  “You’ve done a great job so far,” she assured him. “It’s just—”

  “Overwhelming,” he supplied when she hesitated. “And damned scary.”

  “Well, yes.”

  “I know.” He touched her cheek. “Quite a deal I’m offering here, hmm? A chance to take on a ready-made family with a guy who barely has a clue what he’s doing as a parent. You’ve got this great opportunity in L.A., and while I would never try to get in your way there, I can’t promise family obligations wouldn’t sometimes crop up. I can certainly understand why you’d need time to decide if you want to make those sacrifices.”

  “Sacrifices?” She turned to face him fully then, her eyes warm as she gazed up at him. “Nathan, you have given me so much I’ll never be able to repay you. You made me a partner straight out of law school! It would take me seven or eight years, at the least, to even be considered for a partnership in most firms. You’ve encouraged me in everything I’ve ever taken on, no matter how challenging, and you’ve trusted me to make decisions that have a significant effect on the firm you started with your own hard work. And now you’ve even offered to walk away from everything you have here to move all the way across the country to help me pursue a job I don’t even know if I’d have a chance of getting.”

  She rested a hand on his arm. “You’ve offered me so much. I just need a little time to digest everything.”

  He leaned over to kiss her gently. “It isn’t easy having all your lifelong plans turned upside down, is it?”

  “It’s just a matter of reevaluating,” she said with a faint smile.

  “Take all the time you need.”

  He only prayed that she would give him the answer he so desperately wanted to hear.

  It was an odd experience, sitting at Lenore McCloud’s dining room table for Thanksgiving dinner, surrounded by Nathan’s unconventional family. Caitlin watched them all surreptitiously as she ate, trying to get to know these people who would be so much a part of the rest of her life, even though she still hadn’t given Nathan an answer to his marriage proposal. Nor had he pressed her for one, though she knew he was growing impatient.

  The meal could have been awkward with so many complicated emotions seething just beneath the surface. But Nathan and Isabelle kept the conversation moving, gamely assiste
d by Lenore, who asked questions and implicitly demanded answers from all her offspring. She had pretty much ordered Gideon and Deborah to attend and to be on their best behavior, and it said something about her influence over them that they were both there.

  Caitlin supposed they were even making an effort to be gracious, though Gideon’s conversation consisted primarily of monosyllables and Deborah’s smiles were so obviously strained. They were both polite toward Caitlin and had followed their mother’s lead in accepting Isabelle at the table, though Gideon had little to say to the child and Deborah spoke rather awkwardly to the little girl.

  Glancing from Isabelle to Lenore to Gideon to Deborah and, finally, to Nathan, Caitlin contemplated the complex dynamics of blood ties. Because, regardless of their flaws and their problems, these disparate individuals were a family and that meant something important to each of them.

  She had discovered that it meant something important to her, too.

  She was still looking at Nathan when he glanced away from Isabelle to smile warmly at her. He looked content, she thought. This was where he was happiest—surrounded by the people he loved. And she felt an answering contentment flood through her own veins.

  Leaning closer to him, she murmured for his ears only. “The answer is yes.”

  Seemingly attuned to her thoughts, he didn’t have to ask the question. His expression changed rapidly from surprise to delight. Taking no heed of their surroundings or their audience, he leaned over to kiss her.

  “Nate? Why are you kissing Miss Caitlin at the table?”

  He laughed against Caitlin’s lips, then straightened to look into her eyes. “We’re going to have to find another name for Isabelle to call you from now on,” he murmured. “I really doubt that you want to answer to ‘Miss Caitlin’ for the rest of your life.”

  The rest of her life. Oddly enough, the phrase didn’t frighten her in the least.

  “Nathan?” Lenore had been watching the byplay with an intensely curious expression. “Are you and Caitlin—”

  “Engaged?” He flashed an exultant grin at his mother and siblings. “As a matter of fact, we are.”

  Lenore blinked. “When did this happen?”

  He and Caitlin shared a quick, smiling glance. “Quite recently, actually,” he replied, making Caitlin laugh.

  During the discussion that followed the announcement, Caitlin sensed mixed reactions to the news from the various members of Nathan’s family, though Lenore seemed pleased. Caitlin didn’t let any hesitation from Gideon or Deborah bother her; the happiness in Nathan’s eyes more than made up for the doubts of his siblings.

  She had followed her father’s advice, after all, she thought. She had a thriving career and the love of a very special man—and she wasn’t letting either of them slip away from her.

  She had no doubt that her parents would both be thrilled. After all, this was exactly what they had always planned for the daughter they had both loved so deeply. She would forever be grateful to them for teaching her how to recognize a tremendous opportunity when it came her way.

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-3687-5

  THE FAMILY PLAN

  Copyright © 2003 by Gina Wilkins

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 300 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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