The Last Bride (DiCarlo Brides #6)

by Heather Tullis

  “I’m sorry.” Jonquil didn’t know what else to say. She didn’t know Natalie well enough to give much advice. “You can go talk to her later, tomorrow or something. She probably needs a little space before she’ll be able to deal with everything that’s going on.”

  “Yeah.” He didn’t seem very convinced, though. “Give me a minute and then we can go?”

  “Of course.” She released his hand and watched him walk over to the grave, stopping with his back to her. A moment later Cami and Delphi both came over as Jeremy and Vince joined Gage. She heard a light murmur of male voices, the tones that had become so familiar to her drifting over on the wind.

  “The worst is past,” Cami said.

  “That’s what you think,” Delphi said. “Dad probably handled your mom’s stuff when she died, and Alex is handling Dad’s estate—Gage’s going to be stuck figuring out what to do with the house and the furniture and everything. In a place that big, it’s going to be a nightmare.”

  “You know about his plan to put the house up for sale?” Jonquil asked. She shouldn’t be surprised, but she was.

  “Yeah. He mentioned it to the guys. Jeremy said Natalie freaked,” Delphi said.

  “Must have.” Jonquil frowned a little. “I think the only time she even glanced his way was to give us curious, unhappy looks.”

  A man walked across the grass toward Gage and the others. He wore a gray suit and the air caught his dark hair, ruffling it around his angular face. He looked very determined.

  “Who’s that?” Jonquil asked.

  “No idea,” Cami said.

  Delphi shook her head.

  Their men didn’t look up until the newcomer was almost on top of them. Feeling suddenly itchy between her shoulder blades, Jonquil led her sisters to join them just in time to hear Gage say, “I already told you, I’m not interested in selling.”

  The man pressed further. “With everything going on, now would be the perfect time to make a change of plans and do something new.”

  “I have no intention of moving or doing anything differently,” Gage said, his face set. “I’m keeping the ski resort.”

  “I know about the trouble you’ve been experiencing. You’d be better off selling.” The man’s voice was light, but Gage bristled even more anyway.

  “Is that a threat?” Vince asked, moving between the man and Gage.

  “Of course not. But an opportunity like this doesn’t come along every day.”

  “Funny, it seems to keep coming back,” Gage said, his voice flat.

  “You have some nerve coming here today.” Vince’s hand formed a fist at his side.

  Jeremy joined him, his brows forming a deep V. “Have you no decency? Leave him alone.”

  The man looked at the three men, staring him down and nodded. “Have a good day, gentlemen. Ladies.” He tipped his head toward them, his gaze lingering on Jonquil for a moment longer than the others before he walked off.

  “He’s creepy,” Delphi said, watching him go.

  “Yes. And he would be my last choice for who to sell my resort to.” Gage wrapped an arm around Jonquil’s shoulders. “Let’s go. They’re waiting for us to leave so they can close things up.” He tipped his head toward two men who stood under a tree, wearing jeans and T-shirts.

  Jonquil nodded, her throat tightening a little. “You want to go home or somewhere else?”

  “Back to your place?” he asked. “I really don’t want to deal with more well-meaning neighbors right now.”

  “Do you have family to meet with for dinner?” Cami asked.

  Gage shook his head. “Auntie Muriel never eats in public. I’m not sure she actually eats anything, actually. I think she gets her food from the air or something. And Walt’s family already headed back to the airport. They have a long flight.” He shrugged. “I don’t think Natalie has a burning desire to spend the evening with me.”

  “Of course. I’ll put something together for dinner.” Jonquil included the other two couples with her gaze and they nodded. They’d come anyway, and she knew Gage needed the guys.

  They had a late lunch of sandwiches and chips, hung around for a couple of hours then the others returned to work—mostly because Gage insisted. They all had businesses to run. Jonquil wouldn’t be put off, though.

  “Come sit with me?” Gage asked Jonquil as he moved to the sunken living room.

  Jonquil put the leftover sandwich ingredients and dirty plates on the counter and joined him, snuggling in with him on the sofa. “So, what’s next?”

  His answer was to kiss her, his lips warm against hers, drawing her in with languid movement and deep, drugging kisses. She told herself to end it before it went too far, then let herself be rolled under the current of electricity his touch always caused. In a bit, she told herself as his chin rubbed against her jaw, so she felt the light prickle of the day’s beard growth. She burrowed her fingers into his thick hair.

  “Is Angela at work for the day?” he murmured in her ear.

  “Shouldn’t be. But…” Her brain short-circuited when his mouth reached that spot on her neck.

  Her cell phone started to ring.

  “Ignore it,” he suggested, running his lips down the side of her neck.

  She shivered a little in appreciation. “That’s the ring tone for work. There must be a problem or they wouldn’t bother me today.” She enjoyed his attention for another two seconds before pulling away and reaching blindly for the phone she had set on the side table earlier. “Hello?”

  Tara jumped right in. “Mrs. MacMillan is here to check on the flowers that arrived this morning. She insists they’re the wrong color and wants to talk to you immediately. I tried to tell her you were off today but she wouldn’t listen.”

  Jonquil sighed and leaned her forehead against Gage’s shoulder. “All right. I’m on my way. Give me a minute as I’m at home right now.” This was one of the few moments in which she hated her job.

  “Don’t tell me, you have a flower emergency?” Gage asked when she hung up.

  “Is there any other kind?”

  “I’ve never had a flower emergency before, so I’d have to say yes.” He was still leaning over her, his broad chest and shoulders radiating heat.

  She kissed him one more time, making herself keep it brief, afraid she’d get sucked in again. While she would enjoy that now, it would be a big, big problem when both Delphi and Lana jumped on her for not taking care of her client. “You can stay here if you like,” she said, “or I can meet up with you after I handle things at the floral center.”

  He didn’t speak as he pulled away, allowing her to sit fully upright again. “I’ll go into the office for a while. Or do some mountain biking for a couple of hours.”

  “You’re sure?” She threaded their fingers together.

  “Yeah. I don’t want to be home right now.” He stood and helped her up. “You’ll probably want to change. And comb your hair.” He grinned a little at this and she wondered what their activities had done to her curls.

  “I’ll call when I finish up.”

  He grabbed one more quick kiss before leaving. Jonquil went down to her room, feeling guilty about him having to be alone and wondering how long she could play with fire before she would get burned.

  Gage had been restless for days and found every excuse he could find to stay away from his desk. Three days after the funeral, the excuse was the need to review the course he would set for the mountain bike festival that was coming up after the Fourth of July. He hadn’t been on it since Natalie’s kidnapping and he needed to go over it again to make sure a recent windstorm hadn’t made it impassible.

  He changed into the spare set of clothes he kept in his trunk and pulled a rental mountain bike from storage. He threw supplies in his backpack and set out in the open air where he could focus on what was around him and let everything else melt away—for a while at least.

  Birds warbled, a squirrel chirped and the wind filled the branches of the aspens arou
nd him. He soaked it in, enjoying the heat of the sun on his back in the cool air. There were still a few patches of snow in shady areas, but most of the ground was dry, making the trails excellent for biking. He stopped at each checkpoint along the way, verifying that there would be a safe spot to pull over for anyone who needed water or first aid.

  When he reached the top a couple of hours later, he was reassured that there were no downed trees or other issues that would cause problems. He made a few notes on the clipboard he’d brought with him, ate a granola bar, and drank some water before turning around and heading down the slope to the lodge again.

  His mom had never understood why he loved this and his father had been disappointed that Gage spent so much time recreating instead of sitting in an office working on architectural plans, but Gage needed it. He couldn’t imagine surviving in the life his parents had envisioned for him. He spent too much time at his desk as it was.

  He didn’t change out of his biking clothes when he reached his office, heading straight for the computer to send out emails while his mind was clear.

  Of course there was another message from James Scott with a slight increase in the offer on the resort.

  Gage didn’t bother responding to the email, deleting it instead. The man never gave up. It was after five—and Sandy was already gone for the day.

  “What’s this I hear about you talking to a Realtor?” Natalie asked as she stormed into the office while he was responding to a client’s email.

  Gage looked up and leaned back in his chair. This definitely took precedence. “I haven’t signed anything, we just talked.”

  “Without consulting me?” Natalie came around the desk to tower over him. “You should have asked me first.”

  He wasn’t going to bring up the fact that he was in charge of the estate, not her and didn’t technically need her permission to do anything. That would just escalate the fun. “I didn’t contact him, he contacted me. I invited him to talk. I wanted information about the market, timing and whatever else we need to consider.”

  “You didn’t tell me yourself, though. I had to hear about it from Fran.” She put her hands on her hips.

  “Funny, I seem to remember you ignoring my last couple of calls.” Gage kept his voice lazy, casual, though he was angry and even a little hurt that she was blaming him for gathering information.

  “You didn’t say why you called.”

  “I asked you to call back. That should be enough.”

  She whirled around and walked to the window, staring out at the grassy slopes beneath them. “I’m sorry,” she said after a long moment. “This has been a rough time for me.”

  “I know it has. I’m not likely to forget.” Irritation edged his voice but he fought to remain in control.

  She turned back to him. “I know. I get so wrapped up in what happened to me that I don’t always think of what you were going through here, worrying about me and about Mom. I’m sure it wasn’t easy.” She returned to the desk, taking one of the seats across from him, much calmer now. “I just feel out of the loop, and things have changed so much. Life feels out of control.”

  “I know it does. And I know you want to stay where you are, to have something stay the same while you deal with what happened, but we can’t stand still. Decisions have to be made and gathering information is part of that process.”

  There was a long moment of silence before she perked up, smiling at him. “I have the perfect solution.”

  Gage’s brows lifted. “Really? What’s that?”

  She clasped her hands together. “Eric said he saw you speaking to that investor, the one who wanted to buy the ski resort. You should sell to him, then we can refinance the house and keep it instead of having to sell. Wouldn’t that be better?”

  Gage scowled. “Better for me to sell my business so you won’t have to be inconvenienced? No. I’m not selling.”

  Her brow furrowed. “But you have a freaking architectural degree. I mean, why would you put up with this place with the problems and long hours when you could work at home and make better money?”

  Says the woman who’s never held a job. But Gage kept the thought to himself. “Because I love what I’m doing. I’m not selling, Natalie. Give it up.”

  “All right, all right. I just don’t understand you sometimes.” She leaned back in the chair looking like a spoiled child until her expression perked again. “I have a backup plan.”

  Gage had the feeling he wasn’t going to like this “solution” any better than he had the previous ones. “We sell the house and you buy a place of your own?”

  She sent him an exasperated look. “No. You seem cozy with that DiCarlo woman. If you married her, you would have the money to pay off the mortgage. She gets her inheritance at the end of the summer, doesn’t she? She’ll be loaded and the problem will be solved. She won’t even miss the piddling mortgage payoff.”

  It was far from piddling, even if it would barely dent Jonquil’s inheritance. Gage wondered how much research Natalie had done to have learned about when Jonquil would get paid. “Ummhmm. You want me to marry so you won’t have to be inconvenienced? I see. Because my happiness isn’t important.”

  She scowled like she thought he was being difficult on purpose. “You like her. Don’t tell me you don’t—I’ve seen you together. What’s the problem?”

  Gage logged off his computer, grabbed his things and headed for the office door. He was not going to get trapped there, arguing with his sister. “Forget it. I’m not marrying Jonquil.”

  “First you won’t find the money to protect me, then when I’m abducted, you complain about having to borrow the money to get me back. Now you’re being completely pig-headed about the house. You refuse to find a way to let us keep it.”

  Gage gestured for Natalie to precede him from his office. When she had gone through the door, he locked it behind him. “You’re right. I refuse to find a way to keep the house. I don’t want to be responsible for the upkeep on the monstrosity. The property taxes and insurance alone are more than the mortgage on my place. You’d be surprised at how much of your income would be sucked up by all of those minor issues like electricity and natural gas. And then there’s the yard maintenance and housekeeper to pay. You can’t afford it, Natalie, and I can’t subsidize your lifestyle.”

  “But all of our memories are there,” Natalie said, sniffing a little. “We were raised there; Daddy and Mom were alive there. It’s all we have left.”

  Gage didn’t speak for a moment, but stopped at the top of the sweeping staircase that went down to the kitchen area, which was silent now. “I know you don’t want to let go of the things the house represents to you, but it’s just a house, Natalie. A building. You can pick whatever furnishings you want to keep, choose from the dishes and linens—you get first pick. But keeping it is not an option.”

  She looked down, her face covered in grief. “But selling it is so final.” Her voice was low and small, as if she was afraid to say the words.

  Why did she always manage to make him feel like a jerk? “I know. I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do.”

  “And you wouldn’t if you could.”

  “No, I wouldn’t. You’ll see when you find a new place, something that suits you, that you can put your own stamp on. You’ll see that it’s okay, better in the long run.”

  “I don’t know if I can believe that.”

  “You don’t have to yet.” He pulled her into a hug, holding her while she cried softly.

  “I miss Mom,” Natalie said. “I can’t believe she’s gone.”

  “I know. It’s hard.”

  “I wish everything would go back to how it was before all of this started.”

  Gage wished it too, but there was nothing he could do about that, so he just held her instead. “I’ll talk to a Realtor tomorrow, have him do a walk-through—just for information. We’ll need to find out what it’s really worth and discuss options. We don’t have to list the house immediately, but I
’d like to make sure everything is in order so we know where we stand.”

  Natalie’s bottom lip trembled a little, but she nodded. “Just don’t list it or do anything about it until I have a chance to talk to him too. Okay? I need a little more time to think about it first. To come to terms.”

  He wondered if it was a mistake, knowing Natalie would drag her feet, but he nodded. “I’ll give you a chance to speak with him before I sign anything.”

  Gage had walked Natalie back to her car and spent a long while consoling her before he decided to go home. He reached his house and frowned when Jonquil’s car wasn’t parked out front. He’d gotten used to coming home to find her there, food bubbling or sizzling on the stove. Now the house that had always seemed welcoming and comforting seemed quiet and empty. Which it was: too quiet.

  He went upstairs to shower and clean up from his bike trek that day and to shake off the twisted emotions Natalie had left behind, but it wasn’t as easy as he had hoped.

  Gage moved into the kitchen and stared at the shiny counter tops around him. The place sparkled. He opened the fridge and found several perfectly packaged servings of leftovers from the past few dinners she’d done at his place. One of them had a note. He picked it up and smiled as he read it. I figured even your limited cooking skills are capable of heating this up. One minute at 70 percent power should do it. Try not to starve.

  He put it back in the fridge and picked up his phone instead. “Are you still at work?” he asked when she greeted him.

  “Yes. I’m hoping to finish up here in about twenty minutes.”

  “If I order takeout, can you pick it up on your way here? I’ll pay over the phone.” The food in the fridge was okay, but this would give him an excuse to have her come by, brighten his home, make-out with him on the couch.

  “Yeah, that would be fine. Where do you want me to stop?”

  “How does Chinese sound? From The Wok?”

  “Great. Orange chicken for me.”

  “Great. I’ll see you soon.” They said goodbye and he hit speed dial for the restaurant.

  It wasn’t until after he hung up that he realized he’d just assumed she would be coming over. She’d hinted at it earlier, but they hadn’t talked about it. When had she become such an important part of his life that he couldn’t imagine being without her—even for a day?