Wishing and Hoping. SUSAN MEIER
in something so complex hadn’t left Drew time to think about his ex-wife or his ex-partner. Ben had kept his promise and helped Drew every step along the way, and Drew had repaid him by getting his only daughter pregnant.
If he could take one thing back in his life, it would be making love to Tia that night in May. But since he couldn’t, he would at least do the right thing.
He shoved open his truck door and joined Tia on the front porch. Apparently over her anger with him, or maybe because she knew they needed to present a unified front to her parents, she quietly said, “Ready?”
Without hesitation or thought, he took her hand and caught her gaze. Bad move. The combination of those pretty blue eyes and the smoothness of her skin shot arousal through him. But Tia didn’t seem to have the same problem. She didn’t gasp or shiver. Her eyes didn’t darken with desire or even simple awareness. Instead, her expression grew puzzled.
Thanks. That was great for the ego.
He sighed and raised their joined hands. “If we’re going to get away with this lie, there are a couple of things we’ll have to do.”
He tried to ignore the electricity sizzling between their clasped hands, but he couldn’t. Though it had been more than a month since they’d been together, the heat they had generated that night was alive and well and giving him the kinds of thoughts that could get a man arrested in some states, reminding him of something he’d forgotten to even consider. How the hell did he expect to be married to this woman without sleeping with her?
Through sheer force of will. Tia was the only daughter of his mentor, which meant Drew had only one real concern. Making sure he didn’t push Ben Capriotti over the edge of his stress limit. To do that Drew only had to pretend to like Tia. He did not actually have to like her. When it came to common sense and sheer force of will, Drew knew he was the best. There would be no problem with his self-control.
“Holding hands is the easiest way to immediately clue them in that we’re more than friends.”
When Tia’s tongue came out to moisten her lips and she gazed into his eyes for a few seconds too long, Drew almost groaned. Not because the sexy gesture reminded him of just how difficult ignoring her was going to be, but because the lip-moistening demonstrated that she wasn’t nearly as unaffected as he had thought.
Well, whatever. He hadn’t met a woman he couldn’t cause to dislike him. Even Tia had kicked him out of her house the night they’d made love. In a few weeks he could have her absolutely hating him. And he would. Right after they convinced her parents they were crazy in love and getting married.
“Don’t take anything I say in here personally,” he said, then turned and opened the front door, leading her into her parents’ house.
When they entered the foyer, Tia called, “Mom? Dad?”
“In the den, honey,” her mother answered. “Come on back.”
“Okay,” Tia said casually, but Drew’s stomach plummeted. He considered giving himself a minute to calm down, but knew things weren’t going to get any better with the passage of time, so they might as well get this over with.
“Let’s go.”
With a slight tug on Tia’s hand, he led her into her father’s den. Her parents were seated together on the old tan leather sofa, reviewing the records for the farm.
As they entered the den, her mother glanced up. Drew knew Tia had gotten her size and shape from her mother, an average-height brunette with pretty green eyes. But her dark brown hair and blue eyes came from her dad.
“Drew?” Elizabeth Capriotti’s gaze skittered over to Tia, then unerringly honed in on their joined hands. “Tia?”
“Hi, Mom,” Tia said, then—probably because she was as nervous as he was—she unexpectedly blurted, “Drew and I are getting married.”
Her dad put down the computer printout he was holding. Looking totally baffled, he rose. “What did you say?”
“We’re getting married,” Drew said, squeezing Tia’s hand and hoping she got the message to let him handle this. “Tia wasn’t supposed to just drop that bomb on you like that.”
Her dad took two steps toward them. “How exactly would you suggest my daughter…my only daughter…my baby daughter…tell me that she’s about to marry a man who is ten…no, twelve…years older than she is?”
“I know this looks bad,” Tia began, but Drew lightly squeezed her hand again, reminding her to let him be the one to speak. Their whole purpose in getting married was to downplay the problem, and Drew was an expert at that.
“Ben, the news Tia and I have gets worse before it gets better. Since she started the ball rolling by blurting out that we’re getting married, I’m going to put all our cards on the table and tell you she’s pregnant.”
Tia’s dad gasped, stumbled then clutched his chest. Tia cried, “Dad!” snatched her hand back from Drew and rushed to her father.
“Ben!” Elizabeth shouted, jumping from her seat and running to the big mahogany desk to grab her husband’s pills.
But Ben waved Tia away as he turned to call his wife back. “Don’t, Elizabeth. I’m fine. But you two really are getting married,” he said, turning back to Drew and Tia. “And this pregnancy stays a secret until after the election. I’m contending with enough right now without adding the gossip of your shenanigans to the mix. Understood?”
Drew said, “Understood,” as Tia simultaneously said, “I understand.”
Ben shook his head. “No, you don’t understand, Tia. You live in Pittsburgh. You haven’t been reading the paper, seeing how Mark Fegan’s keeping conversation focused on my damn heart condition so Auggie Malloy doesn’t have to deal with real issues—” He waved his hand. “Hell. Forget it. The campaign’s my problem. I’ll handle it.” He pointed a stern finger at Tia and Drew. “But you two get married, and I mean right now.”
With that he returned to the sofa, sat and began going through the bills on the coffee table, dismissing Tia and Drew. Elizabeth hurriedly motioned for Tia and Drew to follow her out of the room.
As she closed the den door she said, “We didn’t even know you were dating.”
“We didn’t date long,” Drew said, silently congratulating himself for his cleverness. He hadn’t lied, but he also hadn’t admitted that they’d had a one-night stand.
“And we are happy,” Tia said.
Knowing that wasn’t at all true, Drew could only guess Tia had said that because it was the one thing her mother wouldn’t argue about. Elizabeth might be upset about her daughter marrying someone older, but she wouldn’t argue with her little girl’s happiness. He gave Tia points for recognizing that and decided that maybe, between the two of them, this wouldn’t be too godawful difficult to pull off, after all.
“Do you think Daddy’s okay?” Tia asked softly.
Elizabeth nodded. “He’s fine. Parents deal with unexpected babies and weddings every day of the week.” She blew her breath out on a long sigh. “It’s the election that’s making him nuts.”
“We’re sorry that this comes at such a bad time,” Tia said.
“When do you plan to get married?”
Drew said, “I thought we’d just get a license and go see a judge…”
Elizabeth’s eyes rounded with sorrow. “No wedding?”
“Sorry, Elizabeth,” Drew said, “but we’re a little pressed for time. As Ben said, we won’t announce that Tia’s pregnant for a few months, but the quicker we get married, the better.”
“I could put something together in two weeks,” Elizabeth insisted. “That would be the first of July. You could get married in