“However you want to deal with it is fine with me.”
“Thanks.” She loved the way he was deferring to her on this, but that kind of sensitivity was part of what made her so sure they were meant for each other. “Oh, and when I come back, I want to hear about that robbery you foiled.”
“I didn’t really—”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” She could tell he was ready to make light of his contribution, but she wouldn’t let him get away with it. “I want to know why you fell out of a moving Jeep. See, I don’t forget these things, much as you try to minimize them.”
“It really wasn’t—”
“Later. And don’t think I’ll forget.” What a hero, she thought as she padded barefoot out to the sitting room and dug around in her purse for her pager. Sure enough, Kim’s number showed up on the display.
Kate glanced at the digital clock on the microwave in the kitchen area. No wonder it was Kim. It was already nine-thirty in the morning, and Kim had said she and Stuart would take an early ferry back from Block Island. They had several details to take care of on this last day before the wedding.
Kate wanted to help with her share of those details. She really did. Getting married was huge in a person’s life, and Kate wanted the wedding to be absolutely perfect. But she hoped that lightning wouldn’t strike her for wishing that she could somehow spend the day getting to know her hero better.
That wouldn’t be possible, especially because Harry needed to get together with Stuart for whatever errands had to be accomplished in that quarter. Tuxes needed to be picked up, for one thing, and then there was Stuart’s dad’s new wife, who was a strict vegetarian. Somebody had to find out if the restaurant they’d chosen for the rehearsal dinner served anything besides seafood.
Kate located her cell phone and dialed Kim’s number, but she had trouble keeping her mind on the subject of the wedding. The endless wedding concerns all seemed so unimportant compared to this amazing connection she and Harry had just made. It was time for her to find a pet name for him, too, because she had so much trouble thinking of him as Harry. He didn’t act anything like a man named Harry would act.
Kim answered right away.
“Hi,” Kate said. “What’s up?” She tried to sound like her old self, but she knew Kim would hear something in her voice unless her sister was too stressed about the wedding to have her sensors working.
“You’re upset with me, aren’t you?” Kim said. “But I swear I didn’t know a thing about it until Stuart and I got back from Block Island.”
Kate was confused. “Uh, what are you talking about?”
“Harry! Here we begged you to pick him up and keep him entertained for us, and God knows how long you waited at the airport, because he put the message on Stuart’s pager, which Stuart left at home because he didn’t want interruptions while we were making our great escape, so—”
“Kim, I didn’t have to wait at the airport. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“So you found out that Harry isn’t flying in until today? How did you do that?”
Kate pinched herself to make sure this wasn’t some crazy prewedding dream. The pinch hurt, so she had to assume she was awake. Maybe her sister had totally lost track of who was doing what. That could happen.
“Kim,” she said patiently. “Harry flew in yesterday. He’s here. I picked him up in Warwick yesterday afternoon.”
“That’s not possible.”
“Okay, sweetie, I know you’re under a strain and you might be a wee bit confused, but just accept the fact that Harry’s in Newport. Stuart’s best man is good to go.” In more ways than one.
“Kate, he can’t be. Harry called Stuart from the plane ten minutes ago. He had trouble rescheduling his flight, but he’s on his way from O’Hare right now. We’re heading out to get him in a few minutes.”
Kate’s stomach began to churn. “Then…then who did I pick up yesterday afternoon?” Surely she hadn’t just spent a wild and crazy night getting jiggy with a complete stranger. “I swear he looked exactly like the picture you gave me! And he knew all about the wedding, and—”
“Omigod, I know who it is!”
“Who?” Kate screeched into the phone as she clutched the towel around her and thought of all the things she’d done with a man she didn’t even know. A man who was even now naked in the whirlpool.
“It’s Harry’s twin brother! Stuart said he might be coming in from L.A.”
Twin brother? L.A.? She’d never been to L.A., and somehow that seemed to make this nightmare even worse. “You never told me Harry had a twin!”
“Sure I did.”
“Swear to God, Kim, you did not tell me! I would have remembered something like that. Good Lord. I can’t believe this.”
Kim started laughing. “I’m sorry, Kate. I can’t believe I didn’t mention it, either, except things have been so frantic, and nobody really thought the guy would show up, so I must have figured it wasn’t important.”
“Maybe not to you, but—” Kate caught herself before she said anything incriminating. She’d probably already way overreacted for someone trying to keep her misdeeds to herself.
“I know. It’s embarrassing, and I am sorry. You must have confused the heck out of him if you kept calling him Harry.”
But she hadn’t, because she hadn’t liked the name. She started to shake.
“So you dropped him at the Townsend House, right?” Kim asked.
“Um, yeah.”
“See, that’s fine. If he got Harry’s room by mistake we can always adjust the situation when we get there. No problem. Don’t worry about it. This’ll make a great story.”
“No, it won’t!” Kate didn’t care if she sounded frantic. She had to stop Kim from spreading the news. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone else about this. Cross your heart and hope to die.”
“Kate?” Kim stopped laughing. “Kate, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong.”
“Yes, it is. I can hear it in your voice. Listen, don’t feel bad about this. It’s not your fault, and I’ll make sure nobody teases you. It’s an innocent mistake.”
No, it’s not. There’s not a single innocent thing about this mistake. “I’d just rather you didn’t make a big deal of it.”
“This isn’t like you. You like a good joke more than anybody I know. What’s the matter, Katy? Is this wedding thing freaking you out?”
“No! I’m fine with the wedding. I love that you’re marrying Stuart.”
“Are you sure? Because I want you to know that we’ll be as close as we ever were. Marriage doesn’t have to come between two sisters, as long as they—”
“Kim, that’s not the problem!” She couldn’t have Kim believing that she had reservations about this wedding that would make her sister so happy. “Trust me, I’m thrilled that you’ve found Stuart.” Her eyes burned. And she thought she’d found her hero, too. “I just didn’t get a good night’s sleep last night.”
“Hmm.” Kim wasn’t buying it. “I think something’s going on. It’s about Hugh, isn’t it? Something’s happened.”
“Hugh?”
At that very moment her hero appeared in the sitting room doorway, a towel draped around his hips.
He gave her a questioning glance. “What?”
Kate stared at him. His name was Hugh. But knowing his name didn’t change the fact that she’d abandoned herself to a man she knew nothing about. Yet one thing hadn’t changed. Unless he’d lied to her, he was a hero who had saved six people in a boating accident.
“Hugh is Harry’s twin,” Kim said. “You must not have talked to him very much or you would have found out he wasn’t Harry. I mean, Harry’s an obstetrician and Hugh’s a stuntman out in Hollywood. That’s why Harry didn’t think Hugh would make it to the wedding, because the filming for his latest movie is way behind schedule.”
“A stuntman,” Kate said tonelessly. Not a hero.
“Uh-huh. That�
�s kind of cool, don’t you think? He’s in a disaster-at-sea movie starring Antonio Banderas. Hugh got the job as his double because he looks so much like him, except for the eyes. For the stunts they don’t photograph him close enough to see the eyes, anyway.”
“Guess not.” Kate gazed at the man who was not Harry and not a hero. He was Hugh, a stuntman from Hollywood. And she had just made a colossal fool of herself.
“Okay, I get what this is about,” Kim said. “You picked up the man you thought was Harry, and it turns out you don’t like him. You guys got into a fight about politics, right? I know how you can get if somebody pushes your buttons.”
Kate had the inappropriate urge to start laughing, but she was afraid once she started, she’d soon progress into hysterics. “No.” She heard her voice quiver. “We didn’t get into a fight.” We might now, but we certainly didn’t before, when I thought he was Harry.
Kim sighed. “Then I don’t know why you’re acting weird. I—oh, can you hold on a minute? Stuart wants to ask me something.”
“Sure.”
Hugh started to walk toward her, his gaze warm. She held up her hand like a traffic cop. He paused and frowned.
“I’m back,” Kim said. “And I have a favor to ask. You can turn me down if you want.”
“What?”
“Well, after we pick up Harry at the airport, Stuart needs to take him straight to the tux shop and get that taken care of. And there are some other little details those two have to work out, so it’ll be a while before they arrive in Newport. Close to the time of the rehearsal, actually.”
“And?”
“And Hugh will be hanging around with nothing to do. He doesn’t know anybody, and because he made the effort to fly all the way here, Stuart doesn’t want him to feel unwelcome.”
A snort of laughter escaped from Kate. She couldn’t help it. If Hugh felt unwelcome it wasn’t her fault. She’d so welcomed him.
“Kate? What’s going on, girl?”
“I choked on some coffee.”
“Because you were drinking it too fast, I’ll bet. Anyway, Stuart was wondering if you’d be willing to entertain Hugh for the rest of the day, but if you guys really didn’t hit it off, feel free to say no.”
Kate couldn’t believe it. This fiasco kept getting worse and worse. “Don’t you need me to help you? There were about half-a-dozen things that we—”
“Mom was driving me crazy because she needed something to do, so I assigned most of those jobs to her. What she doesn’t get accomplished, Stuart’s mom is going to handle.”
“Are you sure that’s going to work? I mean, you know how Mom can get.”
“I can handle her. Maureen wants to do something, too, and Stuart’s sisters. The point is, there are a ton of people around to run errands, Kate, but I wouldn’t feel right asking any of them to keep Hugh company for the day. Now that you’ve met him, you seem like the logical one, and it would really put Stuart’s mind at ease. But if you don’t want to, I’ll under—”
“I’ll take care of it.” As her panic receded, she was able to realize that the longer she kept Hugh away from the other wedding guests, the less time there would be for people to find out what had gone on between them. If she drove back to Providence today and left him here, no telling what sort of compromising conversation he’d get himself into.
Fortunately she didn’t have to go back to her place. Her maid of honor dress was already hanging in one of the Townsend House storeroom closets, along with the bridesmaids’ dresses and Kim’s vintage gown. She had a suitcase full of casual clothes in the closet. She was free to stay in Newport, spend the day with Hugh, and rehearse treating him like a stranger. Which he was.
And she had done all sorts of unthinkable things with this stranger. She had to swear him to secrecy, and if they spent the day together, they could make sure they both had the same story.
“Thanks, Kate,” Kim said. “You’re the best. Sorry about the mix-up.”
“These things happen.” But Kate had never, ever had anything happen even remotely like this. “See you this afternoon for the rehearsal.”
“Right. Um, Kate?”
“What?”
“We won’t be able to start the rehearsal till you get there, so—”
“I won’t be late.” And she wouldn’t be, either, because too many people would be inconvenienced. At the moment she sort of wanted to inconvenience Kim, who had neglected to tell her something that had turned out to be extremely crucial. But she wouldn’t hold up the entire wedding rehearsal to get revenge.
“Thanks,” Kim said.
“You’re welcome.”
“See, you’re still ticked. I should’ve remembered to mention Hugh. I just didn’t think it would be—”
“It’s okay.” Kate wanted to lay the blame on her sister, but she knew that wasn’t fair. Kim couldn’t have known how the mix-up would turn out. “Really, it’s fine.”
“I hope so.”
“It is. Now go pick up Harry.” Kate said goodbye and disconnected the phone.
“Who was that?” the stranger named Hugh asked.
“My sister.” She looked at him and tried to work up some righteous indignation against him, but none of this was his fault, either. He’d never lied to her. She’d made assumptions and based a whole fiction on those wrong assumptions.
Worse than that, he didn’t know that she’d acted on erroneous information. He must think she was quite a swinging chick, offering massages and condoms right off the bat. She had no idea what to say to him. She’d never been more thoroughly embarrassed in her life.
7
HUGH UNDERSTOOD THAT something dramatic had changed in his relationship with Kate, and it had to do with the news she’d received from her sister. “Is the wedding still on?” he asked, thinking that if Kim and Stuart had broken up at the last minute that would throw anybody into a funk.
“It’s still on.” Holding her towel securely around her with one hand, she tucked her phone into her purse with the other. Then she turned back to him, the strangest expression on her face. “No problems with the wedding, at least.”
“What do you mean, at least?” He felt like a biology specimen under a microscope. “What’s wrong? I can tell that something’s totally whacked about this operation.”
She continued to look shell-shocked. “Listen, um, Hugh, we need to talk, but I’d feel a whole lot better about doing that if we both had our clothes on.”
Uh-oh. The party was over, but damned if he knew why. He also wondered why she’d said his name like that, as if she had a hard time getting it out. Now that he thought about it, she hadn’t said his name all that much. Make that never, except just now, on the phone.
“So I’m getting dressed,” she said.
“I don’t understand. What did Kim have to say that would completely change your attitude toward me?”
“It’s…it’s complicated.” She held the towel protectively around her, as if she didn’t want to show him an inch more of her body than was absolutely necessary.
This from a woman who had stripped for him without hesitation, who’d invited him into her bathtub and had allowed him to do all sorts of delicious things with her naked, wet body. The more he thought about that, the hotter he became. Yet she seemed to have lost all desire for him.
“Okay.” He couldn’t fight what he didn’t understand, and apparently once they were dressed, he’d get his explanation. “I take it you want to dress somewhere private?”
“If you don’t mind. I’d like to have the bathroom.”
He wanted to say, You mean the same bathroom where you so recently came unglued? But he didn’t think she’d react well to that, so he decided to play along for now. “All right.” He glanced at the tiny kitchen adjacent to the sitting room. “How about if I make us some coffee?”
She nodded. “Good idea. But putting on your clothes is more important than coffee.”
“Oh, I promise to do that, too. I wouldn’
t want to offend your sensibilities.” Yes, he sounded a little sarcastic, but he thought he was allowed. He’d been jerked right out of paradise and he had no idea what he’d done to deserve it.
“Thanks.” With one last glance at him, she picked up her oversize purse and walked quickly out of the room. He heard the closet doors open, and he figured she was getting out her suitcase. Then the double bathroom doors closed with a soft click.
He might be mistaken, but he could swear there was another click, as if she’d locked the doors, too. Son of a bitch. Shaking his head, he went into the tiny kitchen area and started filling the coffee carafe with water. How could she have gone from complete trust to wary suspicion in the space of only a few minutes?
Too bad he didn’t know the players better. Maybe Kim hadn’t been a part of Harry and Stuart’s plan to set him up with Kate. He thought about that as he poured the water into the coffeemaker and dropped the packet of premeasured grounds in the basket. Maybe Kim disapproved of her sister hanging out with a love ’em and leave ’em guy like him, and she’d convinced Kate to cut and run.
But he still couldn’t believe that Harry and Stuart would have sent Kate to the airport without warning her that he was something of a playboy. Stuart, especially, wouldn’t be taking that kind of chance with his bride’s twin sister.
Nothing made sense. With a sigh he walked into the bedroom. “I’m getting dressed in here,” he called out. “Better wait for the all clear before you open the door or you’re liable to catch me without any pants on.” How stupid. Thirty minutes ago they’d been giving each other an incredible orgasm, and now she was acting like a damned virgin.
He hoped she didn’t have some sort of mental problem. He’d hate to think she was cursed with some sort of multiple personality thing, but it was always possible. Yet he couldn’t imagine anyone sending her to the airport to pick him up if they thought she might go schitzy on him. And Stuart and Kim had definitely sent her to the airport. He distinctly remembered her saying they had.
While pulling on his jeans, he noticed the condom box sitting on the bedside table next to where she’d slept. She’d bought those things, damn it! He might have a reputation for being a little wild with the ladies, but he wasn’t the one who’d come into this setup armed with condoms.
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