My Best Friend's Bride (22 page)

“They sure can be,” Hunter agreed. “But, you know, Diane?” he said, thinking of the conversation he’d had with Jill the day she’d first shown him her house. “Sometimes being a little crazy can be a good thing.”

The rest of the afternoon passed pleasantly, but everyone was so eager to speak with international celebrity Jill, Hunter barely spent any time with her. Instead he talked with the guys, commiserating over recent game scores and team trades, while he kept a casual eye on Jill. She really seemed in her element and everyone appeared to love her. Not just because she was a famous personality, but because she was famously entertaining. Yet another side of the multifaceted Jill, Hunter thought to himself.

When there was a pause in the action around her, Jill walked up to Hunter, smiling brightly. “Are you doing all right?”

“I’m having a great time. How about you?”

“Me too. Everyone here is so nice to talk to. It reminds me of being on the road on book tour.”

“I suppose it must get a little lonely for you during the day at home.”

“Fifi and Mimi are loyal,” she stated. “But they don’t offer much in the way of conversation.”

“No, I’m guessing they don’t.”

“There you two are!” Diane shot each a sunny smile. “The rest of us are taking the kids to see the fireworks in the park later on, and we were wondering if you’d like to come along?”

Hunter and Jill exchanged glances. “Oh, that’s so sweet of you,” Jill said.

“But Jill and I have other plans,” Hunter finished for her.

Diane eyed them both and giggled. “Of course you do. What was I thinking?”

Hunter wrapped his arm around Jill’s shoulder. “Perhaps another time?”

“There’s always next year. Today has been so much fun, Max and I have decided to make it an annual event. I hope you know you’ll be regularly included.” She paused a beat to study them, drawing a hand to her chin. “What an absolutely gorgeous couple you make. You two are going to have beautiful kids.”

Jill blinked and Hunter coughed loudly. “Yes, well, on that note. I guess we’d better get home and get to it!”

“Making babies?” Diane asked with a sly tilt to her mouth.

Jill turned fire-engine red. “We’ve…decided to wait a while,” she stammered. “You know, adjust to the marriage first.”

“Excellent idea,” Diane said, smiling broadly. “You two run along now and do all the
adjusting
that
you need to.”

“Ha-ha!” Hunter said, pivoting Jill in the opposite direction. “Thanks so much for having us!” Then he whispered to Jill, “We’d better go make our excuses to Max too, before any more innuendo gets served around here.”

Jill eyed him with amusement. “You’re embarrassed, aren’t you?”

“No, I was thinking of you. Not wanting you to be uncomfortable.”

Jill giggled into her hand. “Diane’s a trip, but very sweet.”

“Yeah, I’d say Max has his hands full with her.”

“But in a good way.”

“Definitely in a good way.”

Four hours later, Jill dragged the last of Hunter’s boxes across the hall and into the master bedroom. “I think that about does it.”

“Thank you for doing this,” Hunter told her sincerely. “It really is a big sacrifice.”

“That’s part of what marriage is about.”

“Real marriages.”

“Of course, and sometimes friendships too.”

“I owe you a double thank-you then, because you also were a very good sport at Max’s today. Everybody loved you.”

“I had fun, Hunter. Really, I did. It was such a nice crowd of people. I especially loved Diane and Max.”

“Yeah, they’re a pair.”

“I’d call them an inspiration.”

Hunter considered this. “You know, I would too.”

“I’m probably going to shower and get ready for bed,” Jill said. She felt hot and sweaty from all the moving they’d done and was exhausted from the activities of the day.

“Okay,” Hunter said, standing in front of the master bedroom doorway. “Then I guess I’ll see you in the morning.” Hunter had the impulse to hug her, but knew that wouldn’t be right. And a kiss was definitely off limits, so instead he held out his hand. “We made a good team today, I thought.”

She grinned as she shook it. “An excellent team, yeah.” Jill looked up into his eyes and time froze. It was like they were in Niagara Falls all over again, together on that boat. Jill quickly released his hand and backed away. “Yes, well. Good night, Hunter! Sleep well!”

But he barely slept a wink. There were fireworks booming outdoors, but the louder noise was the thudding of his heart in his chest when Hunter realized what he really wanted. He didn’t want Jill across the hall in the guestroom. He wanted her right there in his bed with him.
 

Chapter Twenty-Two

Jill sat up under the covers feeling disoriented. At first she thought she was in a hotel, then she remembered she was at home. It was the Fourth of July, wasn’t it? She was groggy with sleep when she realized why she’d awakened. She needed to use the restroom. She stumbled out of bed and reached for the bathroom door, but instead she encountered a closet. Slowly it dawned she was in the guestroom, and that the bathroom was in the hall. That’s right, the hall. She’d just head down there, then come right back to bed.
 

A few hours later, Hunter opened his eyes with a jolt to find a woman’s arm draped across his chest. He stared down the arm to the sleeve of a T-shirt. Then his eyes snagged on the top of her head.
Jill!
Her face was turned to the side, one of her cheeks pressing his pillow. He could feel her light breath against the side of his neck. Hunter lay there paralyzed, unsure of what to do. Then she woke up and started screaming. “Hunter! What are you doing in my bed?”

He stared at her in a panic. “I was actually about to ask you!”

“Me?” Jill appeared to gather her wits, then she cupped her hand to her mouth with obvious embarrassment. “Oh my gosh, Hunter!” She sat up and clutched the comforter to her chest. “I must have walked in here last night by mistake. I got up to…”

Hunter pressed his lips together to repress a smile, but he wound up chuckling anyway.

“What’s so funny?”

“You are,
darling
,” Hunter said, emphasizing the endearment. “And all this time I thought you didn’t care.”

Jill lifted a pillow to swat him, but he held it back. “Play nice, now. I’m not the one who started this.”

Jill’s cheeks flamed. What in the world was happening here? And how on earth had she wound up in bed with Hunter? It wasn’t like she wanted to subconsciously, was it? Jill was always preaching to others about their subconscious desires. Their inner yearnings for closeness. “It was an accident, and you know it. I must have come back through the wrong door after I went to use the restroom. Why, in heaven’s name, didn’t you lock yours?”

“I never lock my door,” Hunter told her. “It’s not like I’m living with anyone dangerous.” He playfully raised his brow. “Am I?”

Jill snatched the pillow out of his hands and bopped him on the head. “Hey!”

In one deft move, he’d yanked the pillow from her grasp and maneuvered on top of her. Jill could feel the beating of his heart against her chest. She stopped breathing for a moment, caught up in Hunter’s eyes. Dark brown eyes that seemed to be looking right through her, and way down into her soul. He lowered his face to hers and spoke in a husky murmur. “You never know who could prove the dangerous one in this relationship if you’re not careful.”

Jill pulse pounded harder. His mouth was just inches away and she found herself desperate for his kiss. His sexy, marvelous kiss, like the one that had poured all over her at Niagara Falls. “I won’t kiss you if you don’t want me to,” he said.

Jill’s head was spinning and her breath felt ragged. But she couldn’t give in, she just couldn’t. That would risk ruining everything. “Then don’t,” she managed to say.

Hunter released her and pulled away. He sat up on the edge of the bed, his back to her. “Then let’s get up and do something.”

“What?” she asked weakly, the room still spinning around her.

He stepped into the khaki shorts that were on the floor and as he did Jill caught a glimpse of his boxers, which were covered with kiwi fruit. He spoke, still facing the window. “I said, if we’re not going to stay in bed all day, then we should go out and do something.”

Jill clutched the pillow to her chest and asked primly, “What did you have in mind?”

After they’d each had coffee, Hunter took off on an errand. Without telling Jill where he was going, he’d recommended she wear something comfortable.

She didn’t feel much like arguing since she’d already lost the battle over taking the day off. Jill had tried to say she needed to stay home and work on her new outline. Morgan was expecting to review it when she returned on Monday from New York. Hunter had countered that if Max could instruct him to take some time off, then he as Jill’s faux husband at least had the right to suggest she spend one day with him without working. It was a holiday weekend after all.

Jill slipped into her sundress, studying her reflection in the mirror, and what she saw there gave her pause. It was hard to believe she was the same woman she’d been a few weeks ago. Then she’d been competent, confident…someone with her eye on the ball, a person who was used to setting and obtaining goals. Now she looked surprisingly like—Jill’s heart beat faster as heat rose in her cheeks—a woman in love. No, this couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t the way things were supposed to go at all. Every time she’d fallen for a man before, things had ended in disaster. In retrospect she understood she’d played a role in that by constantly questioning her partners.
 

With Hunter, things were different. She didn’t have to question his commitment, because it was written down on paper. Jill didn’t need to ask about his goals, because he’d told her precisely what those were. He wanted to land a good account and become promoted to partner within his company. By all appearances, Hunter was solidly on his way. He had no reason to like her personally. Theirs was a business deal and its terms were clearly delineated. There were only two explanations for why he’d looked at her the way he had when his body had been pressed to hers on that bed. One, he was the animal she’d always imagined him to be and he was merely after a roll in the hay. Or two, he was falling for her.
 

Jill sank onto the bed as the realization hit her. Hunter was not only falling for her, she was falling for him as well. What else could explain the way her pulse had picked up these past few evenings when she’d heard his SUV pulling into the drive, or the way she’d looked forward to making his coffee in the morning? This wasn’t about hormones or lust, or the surface type of attraction she’d doubted her previous boyfriends over. This was something deeper. And how inconvenient was that! Jill couldn’t let herself fall for the man she had married. She didn’t know the first thing about running a real relationship herself. She understood them much better in the abstract. The clinical training she’d had made her analytical, and she’d typically been able to analyze everything away, including her boyfriends. Everything but her feelings for Hunter.

Jill leapt to her feet when she heard his vehicle returning. He was back and apparently prepared to take her on an adventure, and Jill had resigned herself to going along. It was only for today; she’d get back to work tomorrow. She had real writing to do, and Morgan would be expecting to review the results soon.

Morgan stood on the curb by the taxi, passionately kissing Owen good-bye. “You make it awfully hard to leave New York,” she told him.

“You made it awfully hard to leave my apartment,” he replied. “I’m sorry we missed the fireworks.”

She lifted an eyebrow and smiled. “I’d say we made some fireworks of our own.”

He kissed her firmly on the lips. “Stay one more day,” he begged. “What would it hurt?”

Morgan’s gaze flitted to the taxi, then back to Owen’s gorgeous green eyes. “I’ve already booked my flight.”

“I’ll buy you another.”

Morgan flushed with pleased surprise. “You’d do that?”

“You betcha,” he said, his eyes twinkling.

Morgan felt weak in the knees and leaned into the handle of her rolling bag. “Owen, you’re impossible.”

“Tell me impossible means yes?”

He grinned and Morgan’s heart fluttered.

“I’ll pay the taxi,” Owen offered. “I’m sure it’s no difference to him if I cover the fare.”

Morgan looked at him in wonder. “Where have you been all my life?”

Owen passed the driver a couple of large bills and took her in his arms. “Waiting for you, I guess.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Cassandra followed Mauve down the narrow trail through the forest. She felt like such a nature girl. Who knew? When Mauve had suggested this little outing, she’d put on short shorts with tennis shoes and baby-oiled her legs. She didn’t know why she cared how she looked, but she did. And she looked
good.
Mauve came to a clearing and halted, holding out his arm to stop her. “Wait!” he said quietly. “Is that who I think it is?”

Cassandra peered across the flowering field to spy none other than—oh, yes it was—Jill and Hunter! They were having a picnic beneath a shady tree. Hunter leaned back on his elbows laughing easily, while Jill prettily pulled provisions from a picnic basket. She was dressed in a flowing sundress that was tucked around her knees, and on the blanket between them there appeared to be a bucket of chilling wine. “Well, I’ll be,” Cassandra said.

“Looks like a very romantic picnic,” Mauve observed.

“It does look romantic, darn it.” Cassandra backed into the woods, feeling weak. Everywhere she turned, Jill and Hunter seemed to be paired up in some cozy couple’s act. Hadn’t she and Mauve just spotted them the day before driving through town together in Hunter’s SUV? They’d both been dressed casually, but nicely, like they were going somewhere. Probably some Fourth of July deal, the sort Cassandra never got invited to. And now here they were again! It was like Cassandra couldn’t escape their lovey-doveyness! Cassandra suddenly felt the need to sit down. She backed into a boulder lining the path and plunked down on it. “I don’t know what’s happening to me,” she said, bringing a palm to her forehead. “I’m totally losing my touch!”