His Sister's Wedding

by Carol Rose

  Luke Morgan set off all her bells. He was undeniably sexy and disturbing, but he kept his emotions under tighter guard than the gold in Fort Knox. There were men who just didn't know how to be sensitive. Then there were men like Luke. Everything about him proclaimed his refusal to be vulnerable to anyone.

  Maybe being rejected by his first love had scarred him for life. Lillie didn't know. She could only wish he didn't have such a sparkle in his eye, a glint of humor that tugged at her.

  When her flight was called, Lillie leaped up, eager to get away from her own thoughts. The short flight went smoothly and before she knew it, the wheels were touching down in Miami.

  She caught a cab and directed the driver to Scott's duplex. Luke hadn't said if he was planning on confronting the couple together or not. Lillie could only hope she got there before he caused too much damage.

  Silently, Lillie urged the cab driver to hurry. Breathing a sigh of relief when he pulled up in front of the duplex, she thrust some bills at him and jumped out.

  Scott had been fortunate enough to lease half of a duplex that sat across the street from the campus. Having been here many times, Lillie didn't spare the place a second glance.

  But as she turned away from the cab, she caught sight of Luke striding toward her across the campus lawn. He looked like a man driven to the last edges of his patience. Now she knew what it meant for someone to have an expression like a thundercloud.

  "What are you doing here?" he snapped.

  As greetings went, it lacked something. "I followed you," Lillie admitted. "But why are you just getting here? Have you seen Melanie already?"

  "I went to her dorm," he said, his eyes like ice. "Her roommate says she's moved out. She suggested I look for her here."

  "Oh." Lillie couldn't help sliding a glance toward Scott's door. This wasn't good.

  Luke took her arm and turned her toward the duplex. "Why don't we see if your brother knows anything about this?"

  Swallowing hard, Lillie managed to say, "Okay."

  He knocked on the door, a sharp rap expressive of the anger on his face. When there was no answer, Luke banged on the door again.

  This time they heard rustling inside, the thump of a footstep, a clatter as if someone had bumped into the furniture and a softly fluent swearing as a very disheveled Scott finally opened the door.

  He stood there staring at them in shock, his chest bare, his jeans unsnapped.

  Foreboding clutched in Lillie's middle. Scott looked like he'd just crawled out of....

  "Lillie. Luke," he stammered. "What a surprise. What are you guys doing here?"

  "Can we come in?" Lillie asked, averting her eyes from the small love bite on her brother's shoulder.

  "Sure, sure." He stepped back, his gaze bouncing from Luke's glacial face to hers.

  "Where is Melanie?" Luke demanded before Scott had even closed the door.

  "Uhhh.... Well, this is Wednesday, right?" he floundered. "She's got a chemistry lab--"

  "Don't lie, Scott." Melanie stepped into the room, clutching a man's robe around herself. Scott's robe. Lillie remembered giving it to him two Christmases ago.

  The look on Luke's face was almost too much to watch. "Why you--" He grabbed for Scott.

  "Wait!" Lillie threw herself between the two men, planting her hand on Luke's chest to keep him back.

  "He's old enough to get married, but he needs his big sister to protect him?" Luke jeered, shoving Lillie aside.

  "Luke, stop!" Melanie shrieked, pulling him back.

  "What the hell are you doing?" Luke furiously demanded of his sister. "You're here with him doing God-knows-what when you should be in class?"

  "We were making love," Melanie said defiantly. "That's what people in love do."

  "Melanie," Lillie protested, trying to keep the angry girl from throwing fuel on the fire.

  "Have you lost your mind?" her brother asked. "Are you giving everything up for this punk?"

  "He's not a punk," Melanie said, her voice as heated as Luke's. "And I'm not missing my lab. It's been rescheduled."

  Lillie stood watching the two siblings, relieved that Luke seemed to have abandoned his attempt to kill Scott. So far, Melanie seemed to be holding her own. Lillie understood the depth of their commitment to each other, but she had to admit, finding her brother and Melanie this way was disconcerting.

  "I've been to your dorm," Luke said, the emotion on his face more than anger. Lillie thought she saw contempt there and beneath it, disappointment. "Are you living with him now?"

  "I love Scott," Melanie declared. "We're going to be married. There's no point in living apart."

  "Dammit, Mel. You're too young. You don't really know this kid. Don't throw yourself away for an infatuation." There was no missing the plea in Luke's voice.

  Melanie paused for a moment, the defiance in her eyes giving way to entreaty. "I love him, Luke. I'm not going to change my mind. I know how you feel about all this, but I have to do what's right for me."

  His gaze locked on her face, Luke stood in the tiny living room as if absorbing a body blow.

  "Please don't keep fighting me on this." Tears thickened Melanie's voice. "Help Lillie with the wedding. You don't have to like it right now. Just do it for me."

  "You won't even think about reconsidering?" Luke shot back in a low tone.

  "No," she said, her face both determined and anxious.

  "Okay," Luke said slowly, his voice grim. "On one condition. You move back to the dorm for now. You're not married yet."

  Melanie glanced at Scott, who nodded briefly.

  "All right," she agreed. "I guess we can stand it for four months."

  "Good," her brother said, "I'll help you pack."

  * * *

  The cab ride back to the airport was thick with silence. Lillie didn't try to comfort Luke, knowing how bitter was his disappointment and how much he blamed her for not putting pressure on Scott. Truthfully, the kids had handled themselves pretty well without her help.

  Lillie followed Luke onto the plane and took her seat next to him, unable to keep herself from thinking about how he'd talked to his sister. Those moments in Scott's living room had revealed one thing. Luke wasn't out to stop this wedding just because he wanted to control Melanie. He genuinely cared for her and sincerely thought that her marrying Scott would hurt her.

  Darn it, Lillie found herself feeling sympathy for him, despite his arrogant assumption that he knew what was better for everyone else. She could imagine how hard it would be to watch Scott do something that seemed self-destructive.

  Shifting in her seat, Lillie resisted this new insight into the man next to her. Not being able to paint him as macho and over-controlling shifted her assessment of Luke. Maybe he was capable of more tenderness than she'd thought.

  Unfortunately, it was clear he hated that vulnerability.

  Lillie settled herself for a long silent flight home.

  * * *

  "So we want the scarlet and cream ribbons," Lillie made a note on her pad, "with the sea shells and red roses." She smiled at the young woman who sat across the wicker table with her mother. "Good. Anything else you can think of?"

  A knock thundered at the door of the screen porch. Lillie glanced up, her gaze snared by the sight of Luke's outline, framed in the doorway.

  She crossed to the doorway, frowning at him as she opened the screen door. "I wasn't expecting you this morning."

  It had been several days since their flight home and it disturbed her that she'd spent so much time thinking about him.

  "I can wait if you're busy," he responded equitably, picking up Tiger and seating himself in the cat's favorite wicker chair.

  Holding the surprised feline on his lap, he seemed as out of place in the chintz-ruffled room now as he had the first time he'd found her here. His undeniable masculinity was even more evident against the feminine back-drop.

  Lillie looked at him, as disconcerted by his obvious lack of discomfort as she was by the
fact that he'd just shown up on her doorstep again.

  It disturbed her that she needed a warning to prepare herself to deal with Luke Morgan. Why was she always so aware of him?

  "We'll be going now." Mrs. Graham's voice was more fluttery than usual as she gathered up her things, casting surreptitious glances in Luke's direction.

  "Are you sure that's everything? I don't want you to be rushed." And Lillie wasn't sure she wanted to be left with the sexy man sitting so comfortably in her wicker chair. Had he come to terms with his defeat?

  At the woman's nod, Lillie added, "Call me if you have any more ideas."

  She escorted them to the door, deliberately averting her eyes from where Luke waited. The door shut behind Mrs. Graham and her daughter, leaving Luke and Lillie alone.

  "Well," Lillie said, "what can I do for you?" Her voice trailed off as her gaze locked with his. Wrong question.

  She tried again. "What do you need?"

  Luke stood up, grinning as he joined her by the door. "What I need is you," he left a significant pause, "to accompany me to look at the place for Mel's wedding."

  "You want to do wedding stuff?" she asked cautiously.

  "No, I am not resigned to this thing," he answered the question she didn't ask. "But I figure a lot of things can happen before the actual ceremony. I might as well go along with this part since it's so important to Mel."

  "So you're going to help me plan a wedding that you hope will never come off," Lillie concluded dryly.

  "Yes," he said without hesitation. "Do you have some time to go look at this place now?"

  "Where is it?" she asked suspiciously.

  Luke shook his head. "You have to see it. Come with me," he invited.

  There was something in his eyes that she didn't trust, an almost excited gleam. She couldn't imagine what might have put that look there.

  Five minutes later, they sped along the highway heading out of Kissimmee, cloudy skies stretched overhead. The moody high clouds seemed to echo Lillie's sense of foreboding. She'd hoped that Luke would withdraw his opposition to the marriage, but she hadn't really expected to have to plan the wedding with him. This couldn't be good.

  Sitting next to him in his cargo van seemed more intimate than being squashed together in airline seats with a crowd of other travelers acting as chaperons. Lillie crossed her legs nervously and struggled to make conversation.

  "Melanie tells me you're hoping to expand your landscape business."

  He glanced her way. "Yes, I'm after a big corporate account. If I get it, I'll double my work crews. We'd be doing their new stores as well as ground maintenance on the existing ones. It's a big contract."

  "That would be quite a boost to your business."

  "Yeah," Luke's voice took on a determined note, "all I have to do is convince the vice president in charge to give me an appointment. They're used to dealing with bigger outfits and I'm having to push hard just to get my foot in the door."

  "That shouldn't be too difficult for you," she murmured.

  Luke grinned, not denying her observation.

  She peered out the window at the increasingly rural countryside that looked green and fertile in the muted light. "Where are you taking me?"

  "Where do you want to go?" he said, glancing at her, his tone meaningful as his smile turned molten.

  Lillie swallowed hard, the air in the van suddenly sizzling. "Let's just focus on our goal," she suggested, her voice less firm than she intended.

  He smiled, not making any comment as he turned on to a gravel road.

  "I don't know of any chapel out this far," she said, her foreboding increasing by leaps as they bounded over the rough road, the tree tops seeming to merge with the dark sky.

  "I know you don't," Luke replied, smugly. "This is a place you wouldn't have found in a million years."

  The road wound through a mixture of forest and meadow before coming to a low wooden bridge. Luke drove over it and stopped the van in a clearing in front of a tiny, quaint Victorian cottage.

  A mixture of stone and gingerbread trim, the cottage sat solidly in the clearing like a place out of a fairy tale. It even had that deserted, faintly desolate air of a place once loved and now abandoned.

  Around the house, gardens rioted. Roses and rhododendrons grew wild. Spanish moss and trumpet vines hung in tangled swags of green from several huge, ancient trees. Through a gap in the greenery, Lillie thought she saw the sluggish expanse of a river.

  The whole place whispered of romance and mystery.

  Luke came around to open the van door for her, taking her hand in his to ease her step down. The gentlemanly gesture startled Lillie, but she said nothing, assailed by a strange sense of affinity between them and disturbed by how comfortably her hand fit in his.

  The air around them was heavy and humid, adding to the sense of being surrounded by the damp woods. The gray sky seemed to hang over them like the lid of a box.

  "I'm not dressed for this," Lillie mentioned as they walked across the over-grown lawn, not expecting him to pay any attention to her protest.

  Luke's glance lingered on her silky polyester skirt and blouse. "You look terrific. Come on."

  "Sure," she retorted under her breath, trying to dispel the illusion of intimacy. "Someday I'd like to see men forced to tramp over wild country wearing pantyhose and high heels."

  Ignoring her, Luke looked around, a deeply satisfied expression on his face. "The guy I used to work for owns this place. Mac got me started in landscaping. Taught me everything I know. He created these gardens himself, but he had to retire a few years back and things have really gotten out of hand."

  A few years back? This garden looked like it had been deserted fifty years ago, almost as far gone as the roses that grew up around Sleeping Beauty's mythical castle.

  Lillie fought the fairy tale analogy her mind had conjured up. Luke was no Prince Charming even if he did have the power to make her think of long, warm kisses.

  "It's great, isn't it?" He stood surveying the enchanted clearing.

  "For what?" She dreaded the answer to that question, but it had to be asked.

  "For Mel's wedding." He swung around to look at her with an impatient frown.

  "Here?"

  "Yes, here. Right out here in the garden."

  Dumbfounded, Lillie looked around at the deserted, weathered house and the tangled, overgrown, weedy garden, dull in the overcast light.

  "Yep. This place will do." Satisfaction laced his voice.

  He actually seemed excited. Lillie almost hated to burst his bubble, but reality forced her to overcome her scruples in this area. "You've got to be kidding."

  "What's the matter?" Luke demanded. "Don't you like it?"

  Lillie's gaze wandered over the misty garden with its pockets of flowers and the weathered stone house situated in the middle like an unpolished jewel in a green setting. It was a lovely place. A place to get lost in, a hideaway for lovers, a treasure-laden jungle for children.

  But not a place for a wedding. It would be insanity. Almost as insane as her sudden desire to agree with his plan, just because he had taken this step to be involved in the wedding.

  Could it be that Luke had latent romantic tendencies? Down-deep did he have the capacity to lose himself in love?

  "I think the place is great," Lillie responded, pushing back a wayward wisp of hair along with the thoughts of Luke as a tender lover. "But we're talking about an event for a hundred people. What about parking, dressing rooms for the wedding party? A kitchen for the caterers?" She shook her head. "It just wouldn't work."

  "Yes, it will," Luke insisted. "The house is in better shape than it looks. There's a field beyond that hedge that we can have mowed for parking. Think about it, Lillie. It'll be nice." He reached out, catching her arm gently to turn her around.

  Lillie felt the jolt all the way through her body. His hand felt both strong and warm against her bare hand. "Yeah, and we'll have cars sunk in up to their hubcaps," she mutter
ed, trying to ignore the sensations his touch evoked as she followed him through a hedge in the garden.

  "You're just upset because it's not one of your usual wedding chapels," he challenged as he came to a stop on a wide vista that sloped down to the river.

  "That's not true," she denied, shoving back another strand of hair from her face. "Just look at this place!" Lillie picked up a tendril of climbing rose that snared her skirt. "It's great for a scene out of that children’s book, The Secret Garden, but not very workable for six bridesmaids in heels and organdy."

  Luke looked at the offending rose bush sprawling over the ground in a haze of green. "Don't worry. Landscape is my business. I'll have this place in tiptop shape by December, just in case this cursed wedding takes place."

  "Are you sure you're not trying to sabotage the wedding by picking this place?" The question tumbled out of her.

  He shot her an exasperated look. "I do have some feelings for my sister. If I get really desperate, I'll just kidnap her."

  "That's comforting." Lillie scanned the garden. "Where, exactly, would you seat a hundred people? Have you ever tried to seat people in rental chairs on a soggy riverside? They'll be sinking in during the ceremony. By the time the couple says, 'I do', the guests will look like they're sitting cross-legged on bleacher seats."

  "You're exaggerating." He cracked a smile at the image, but seemed to dismiss the reality of it. "I'll take care of the grounds and I have the place picked out for the ceremony."

  "Melanie has no idea the monster she's created," Lillie moaned as he led her toward the river, its surface a dark green.

  Two giant willow trees towered fifteen feet from the river bank, their limbs draping gracefully to create a natural canopy that shifted and moved with the rising wind.

  "Right here." Luke pointed to a spot between the trees, framed against the backdrop of stone steps that descended to the flowing waterway.

  "Has anyone mentioned how stubborn you are?" Lillie asked, pulling a heel out of the mushy grass. She was beginning to feel worn down by his determined view, and insidiously enchanted by her surroundings. The place even smelled wonderful, a mixture of flowers and cloud-laden air.

  "Yes." He strode up the gentle slope away from the trees. "Now over here, we'll seat the audience--"