Must-Have Husband (Summer Grooms Series) (10 page)

Mac understood he faced an uphill battle in convincing her
family that man could still be him. Particularly after he broke the news about
the dress. Shoot, they might aim to behead him just as surely as he’d whacked
that hapless mannequin. Mac buttoned up his shirt, hoping for a peaceful
outcome, at least one that didn’t involve a lot of weeping and wailing. While
Mac didn’t take himself for much of a chicken, if they beat him hard enough, he
might yelp.

Connie rapped lightly on his door and called from outside. “See
you downstairs at breakfast!”

Mac swallowed hard, thinking that even if it was scrambled
eggs, he was going to have trouble choking it down past the lies and deception
welling inside him. How he wished it were Sunday and he was on his way out of
here! Mac laid his hand on the doorknob, then pulled himself up short. Once he was
out of here, there’d be no more Connie. Since she was part of this whole sham,
once their deal was done, she’d be gone from his life too. But he was okay with
that, wasn’t he? He barely knew the girl, after all, and she scarcely knew him.
She was about to learn a lot more about him very quickly, though. Like what an
enormous klutz he was, Mac thought with a gulp.

Mac took his seat at the elegant breakfast table beside
Connie. She couldn’t help but think he looked extra handsome this morning, all
freshened up from his shower. Connie was a bit embarrassed by the display she’d
made last night but had plans to discuss it with Mac later. Upon reflection,
she’d seen he hadn’t meant to be hurtful in suggesting she’d someday wear the
wedding dress. He was just stating this as a matter of course, in keeping with
the family tradition. Given her age of thirty-two, it wasn’t like eventually
finding a husband was totally out of the question. Just because she’d let the
first three grooms get away, that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be others in the
offing. She’d made herself feel better in convincing herself of that. That
extra helping of Rocky Road had just left her feeling bloated. She was still
suffering from a food hangover this morning.

Wendell Senior wheeled into the room, and good-mornings were
said all around.

“I want to thank you all for a wonderful party last night,”
Grandpa Oliver said, as their food was served. “It was quite”
—h
e shot Mac a glance and Mac’s
neck reddened
—
“memorable,
to say the least.”

“We all had a great time,” Elizabeth said pleasantly.

Wendell Junior smiled at Mac. “We’d like to thank our new
guest for joining us, especially.”

“Thank you all for including me.”

“Well, go on,” Elizabeth urged from the head of the table, “You
two don’t be shy. You can hold hands.”

Connie felt her face on fire. “Oh no, Mother, we don’t
believe in—”

“PDA,” Mac filled in.

“What’s that?” Grandpa Wendell wondered.

“Public displays of affection,” Ollie explained.

“Oh gosh, Connie,” Linda taunted, taking Beau’s hand and squeezing
it in hers. “For heaven’s sake, we do it all the time. Nobody cares,” she said
with a shrug.

All eyes turned to Connie and Mac as Connie nervously pursed
her lips and waited.

“Uh, yeah,” Mac said, laying his hand on top of hers on the
table before patting it lightly.

“Not like that!” Elizabeth said with a jovial laugh. “For
goodness sakes, one would think you’ve never held hands before.” Elizabeth
sprang from her chair and came around to where Mac and Connie sat. “There,” she
said, forcing their hands together. “Isn’t that better?”

Mac gave her a tight grin. “Much.”

Between the coffee and the flapjacks and the soft-boiled
eggs that were being passed around, there wasn’t much time for Mac to work in
true confessions. He noticed Connie wasn’t very hungry this morning, sticking
to black coffee and a dry piece of toast. He worried she was still upset with
him over his foot-in-mouth comment about her wearing that wedding dress, and
hoped to clear the air about his intentions. He couldn’t really do that before
a full crowd of onlookers, though. And they were watching closely, especially
Connie’s mom, he thought, taking Connie’s hand in his once again as Elizabeth
shared a pleased smile.

“So after breakfast, I was thinking you might take Mac on a
tour of the vineyard,” Elizabeth said.

Linda heaped extra flapjacks on her plate. “That’s a great
idea, Mom.”

“It is indeed,” Connie’s dad agreed.

“Yes. Why don’t you show him around a bit,” Wendell Senior
added. “Let him get the lay of the land.”

Connie turned her eyes on his, and Mac was once more caught
up in their magic. “Mac? Would you like to?”

This seemed like a good plan. There were lots of things they
had to discuss, and having a bit of privacy for a change would prove helpful. “That
sounds great.”

Connie led Mac through the rows of vines, explaining the
different varieties. It was a pleasant day with a light breeze blowing over the
hills and strumming its way through the grapes climbing the supports all around
them.

“You know a lot about this business,” Mac told her. “Ever
consider going into it yourself?”

Connie laughed lightly. “About as far into it I go is
opening a bottle of wine. Seriously? It’s interesting to me, but it’s not the
way I want to spend my life.”

“How do you want to spend your life?”

She looked over the landscape, growing serious a moment,
then met his gaze. It occurred to Mac again that her eyes were the color of the
sky as it opened up in summertime splendor above them, speckled by just a few
billowy clouds. “Like I said in the car, I’m still figuring that out.”

“But you enjoy working at the kids’ museum?”

“Oh yeah, I love it. It’s just not… I don’t know. I’m
looking for something more. Something I can feel a passion for. Do you know
what I’m saying?”

He looked deep in her eyes, and his heart skipped a beat. “I
think I do.”

“Like maybe the way you feel about your store.”

“It’s not just a store to me,” he told her.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s more like…”
Hmm.
How can I explain this?
“More like I get to help folks develop excitement
about connecting with the great outdoors. So much of people’s lives are spent inside.
Inside of buildings, inside of cars or subways, just traveling from place to
place, within very tight spaces. A lot of constraints, you know?”

“I know all about constraints, believe me.”

“Then maybe you’ll understand how liberating it can be for
someone to escape all that and get back to basics. Climb a mountain, hike a
trail… Paddle a canoe down a quiet stream.”

“I’ve never thought about it like that.”

“Sometimes it’s good to get away from it all, just to hear
yourself think.”

“What if I don’t like what I have to say when I hear myself
think?”

“Well, you’re in trouble, then,” Mac said with a laugh.

She studied him a moment, the sunlight glinting in her hair.
“The truth is, I didn’t feel calm at all out in nature. I was terrified.”

“That’s because you didn’t know what you were doing. Or,
maybe…” He lowered his voice and leaned toward her. “You just needed the right
guide.”

“Oh yeah?” she asked, looking up.

“Yeah.” He was near enough to kiss her again, and, man, didn’t
he long to, but they had things to clear up first. “Connie,” he told her
sincerely, “I’m really sorry I hurt your feelings last night. About the dress.
I really didn’t mean to.”

“I know you didn’t.” She hung her head with a blush. “I was
being oversensitive.”

“It’s a very tough position your family’s put you in.”

She raised her head, meeting his eyes. “It wasn’t really
them. I caused the problem myself.”

“I don’t see how.”

Her lips trembled as she appeared to weigh how much she
should tell him. “By making myself believe I loved someone when I didn’t.”

“Your last fiancé?”

“All of them,” she answered quietly.

“Then why? Why did you say yes when they asked you?”

She searched his eyes a lingering moment. “Because maybe I
thought I’d never find someone to feel that way about.” And when Mac looked in
her eyes, he could see it was true. Connie Oliver was someone who hadn’t
believed in love. At least not for herself. And what a shame that was too, when
she was so warm and wonderful and felt just like heaven to hold.

“What do you think now?”

She caught her breath as he moved closer. “I’m not sure.”

“Let me try to convince you,” he said, his mouth hovering
over hers.

“Are we still just pretending?”

His voice grew husky as he took her in his arms. “I hope not.”

Mac brought his mouth to hers, and Connie feared she’d died
and gone to heaven. His beard was soft and silky against her chin, his
moustache lightly tickling her lips as he kissed her sweetly at first, and then
with a deeper passion. She’d never felt so swept away by a man, and she longed
to stay in this moment forever. While kissing him on the dance floor had been
grand, it had nothing on now—with just the two of them embracing in the
great outdoors. Connie’s pulse beat faster as she realized she was starting to
hear herself think. And when her heart talked, her head had to listen. This was
no longer make-believe for her. She was falling for Mac.

Chapter Eight

The rest of the group lingered over coffee, discussing Mac’s
pros and cons. “Well, at least he seems to care for her,” Elizabeth said. “Even
if he’s not touchy-feely
.
”

“I would say their kiss last night proved that different,”
Beau piped in.

Wendell Senior harrumphed. “That was quite a display. Down
to his tartan-plaid boxers.”

“At least they looked clean,” Linda added before Beau
elbowed her.

He leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Keep your eyes on
your own man.”

“Trust me, I do,” she said with a wink.

Ollie blew an exasperated breath. “Look, guys, I already
told you. He was borrowing my suit. So it ran a bit tight.”

“Why are you so interested in defending him?” Wendell asked.

“I just want you to give the guy a fair shake that’s all.
Connie was so upset she—”

All eyes turned to him. “Connie was upset?” they asked
collectively.

“Well, yeah. I mean, no. Listen, the point is, she was just
having second thoughts for a moment. But she got over it.” Then he added under
his breath, “And she’d probably kill me if she knew I told you.”

“But why would she have second thoughts?” his dad asked. “I
thought Mac was her
chosen.
”

“He is,” Ollie answered. “But still… You can’t blame Connie
for getting cold feet, after all those other times.”

“Those times the other guys left her, you mean,” Wendell
added astutely.

“Exactly.”

“None of us wants
that
to happen again,” Wendell Junior said flatly.

Elizabeth dabbed her mouth with her napkin. “No. We don’t.”

“No, indeed,” Beau echoed. He turned toward Linda, whose
eyes were as big as saucers. “You’re being awfully quiet.”

“I want the same thing that all of you want,” she answered
with a squeak. “For Connie to be happy.”

As the breakfast dishes were cleared, they all decided they
should go take a peek at the wedding dress. Nobody there besides Elizabeth had
seen it, and Wendell couldn’t wait to get a look at his late wife’s gown, which
brought back so many happy memories. He motioned his nurses along, who steered
him into the elevator. “I’ll meet the rest of you upstairs,” he told the
others, disappearing behind metal doors.

Mac held Connie’s hand as they walked toward the main house.
After an incredibly sexy kissing session in the vineyard, she’d taken him
through the production part of the operation, showing him everything from the
large oak casks to the automated wine bottler. It must have been something
growing up around a thriving business like this one. It occurred to Mac for the
first time that, in her own way, Connie had developed just as much appreciation
for the land as he had. She just wasn’t as comfortable staying out in the open
after dark, when there wasn’t a celebratory awning strung with festive lights
hanging overhead.

During the tour, they’d talked easily, joking with each
other like old friends. Not wanting to break the spell between them, he’d put
off telling her as long as he could. Now that the moment of truth was near, Mac
had to face his fears.

“Connie,” he said, stopping her when they stepped onto the
back patio. “There’s something I need to tell you about the dress.”

“Grandma Oliver’s wedding dress?” she asked, her eyes
questioning. “What about it?”

Mac hated himself for having to say it, mostly because he
worried she’d despise him afterward, when everything had been going so well. “I
had a little…accident.”

Connie halted in her tracks, her face registering horror. “Okay,”
she said, catching her breath. “First define
little…
then define
accident.
”

Elizabeth pressed open the door to the gold room, then yelled
in shock, “The dress! It’s ruined!”

Ollie’s mouth dropped open. “She’s been decapitated.”

Wendell wheeled into the room with a furor. “Who on earth
could have done this?”

“Squawk!” Gilbert said. “Holy crap! I killed her! Killed
her! Killed her! Squawk!”

Linda cupped her hand to her mouth. “He didn’t.”

Beau rolled his eyes toward his wife. “Who didn’t?”

“Well, hey there, buddy!” Gilbert replied. “Squawk!”

Elizabeth shut her eyes and counted to ten. “I think I’m
getting a migraine.”

“This was Mac’s doing?” Junior asked in disbelief.