A Wish For Love (Gates-Cameron 2)

“Anna, we need this time alone before the baby comes. It’s our last chance for a real honeymoon. Aunt Mae and Cara are perfectly capable of running the inn for a few weeks, especially at this time of year, and now Bailey’s here to help out if they need her. Do you really want to let this opportunity pass us by?”

Dean sounded so patient, so enticing. Bailey couldn’t help smiling at the differences she’d noticed in her brother during the past year or so. Once he’d been an up-andcoming workaholic marketing executive in Chicago, intense, stressed, impatient, unhappily married. After his divorce from his first wife—an event Bailey still secretly celebrated—he’d deliberately made changes.

He’d walked away from the income and the prestige of his former career to buy this old inn in tiny Destiny, Arkansas. And he’d fallen head over heels in love for the first time in his life. He and Anna had married after a whirlwind courtship, the details of which Bailey had never quite figured out, and were blissfully expecting a baby in six months.

Bailey was delighted

to observe that her brother looked genuinely happy now for the first time in years. He laughed, he relaxed, he enjoyed, but most noticeably he almost glowed with love for his lovely, dark-haired wife. Even if Bailey hadn’t taken immediately to Anna—which she had—she would have loved her just for making Dean so happy. It was the type of happiness that had always eluded Bailey, to her regret.

“I’m being silly, I suppose,” Anna murmured, her voice just audible to Bailey through the bushes that lay between them.

“I understand,” Dean responded quietly. “You’re thinking about your brother.”

Bailey’s eyebrows rose sharply. Brother? This was the first she’d heard of Anna’s having a brother.

“Yes. I—I know he’s been.. .gone for months, but I can’t bear to think that he might still be just drifting, all alone. I suppose I’m afraid to leave because I cling to the hope that he’ll come back to me someday. Somehow. What if I’m not here when he tries to reach me?”

Dean’s sigh was as expressive, as sympathetic as his words. “I understand, darling. We’ll cancel the trip, if it makes you feel better. We don’t need a seaside resort for a honeymoon. We’ve been having a beautiful honeymoon right here.”

“Oh, Dean, I really am being silly, aren’t I? We can’t spend all our time secluded here, waiting for something that will probably never happen. We have lives to lead, and… and he would want me to live mine to the fullest. We’ll only be gone for a couple of weeks, and I intend to enjoy every day of it. I really want to be alone with you in a tropical paradise.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Dean said fervently. “But are you sure, Anna? Really sure? I only want you to be happy. I never want you to regret choosing to stay with me, even though it meant being separated from your brother.”

“I have never regretted my decision for one moment,” his wife replied, sounding more like the confident, decisive Anna that Bailey had come to know. “I’ll see my brother again someday. And in the meantime, I’m very happy here with you. With our inn. And soon we’ll have a child. I’ve told you many times, Dean, and it’s still true—if I had it to do over, I would still choose you.”

There was a rustle of movement, followed by an unintelligible murmur. The significance was unmistakable. And suddenly Bailey realized that she’d been blatantly eavesdropping on an intimate conversation.

Her cheeks flamed as though she’d actually been caught in the act. How embarrassing.

She quickly hid her face behind her book, pretending great interest in the historical romance unfolding within its pages. Maybe if he spotted her like this, he would think she was too absorbed in her reading to have paid attention to his conversation.

To Bailey’s relief, Dean and Anna went back inside a few moments later, presumably without having realized that they’d had an audience. Her lip caught between her teeth, Bailey looked toward the inn, unable to stop thinking about what she’d overheard.

Why was Anna so reluctant to leave? It wasn’t as if she’d spent her entire life here, though the Cameron Inn had been built by her great-great uncle. As far as Bailey knew, Anna had visited the inn for the first time less than a year ago, to research her family history. That was when she had somehow met and fallen in love with Dean, though no one in the family had even known Dean was dating anyone until he’d announced his engagement.

Why had Anna told everyone she had no living family? Why had she never mentioned her brother? Why had Dean made it sound as though Anna had been forced to choose between him and her brother? Had her brother so opposed the match that he’d severed all ties with her because of it? Surely not. Couldn’t he see that Anna and Dean were perfect for each other?

Bailey only wished she could find someone who made her feel the way Dean obviously did when he looked at his beloved wife. After her last disastrous attempt at a relationship, she was beginning to believe it would never happen for her.

BAILEY WASN’T the only eavesdropper that afternoon. In one shadowy corner of the gazebo, Ian stood thoughtfully watching Bailey. He’d been there for some time.

Ian found her fascinating to watch. Her face seemed to mirror all her emotions, her expressions changing swiftly, revealingly.

She obviously appreciated the inn. She smiled when she looked at it, her blue eyes soft and dreamy. He liked that.

She frowned when her thoughts turned inward. Something was bothering her, making her unhappy. Occasionally, she scowled as though in self-castigation. Once or twice, she’d looked utterly disheartened.

He wondered who had hurt her. And why she seemed to blame herself.

He, too, overheard the conversation between Dean and Anna. He frowned when he heard the grief in Anna’s voice as she explained why she was reluctant to leave the inn. He didn’t want Anna to grieve. She had been given a chance to live, to love, to beloved. Ian was happy for her.

If only there was some way he could let her know. He’d tried, but to no avail. He simply couldn’t reach her.

Though he was usually able to accept his lonely fate with resignation, if not equanimity, there were times when he thought the overwhelming frustration with his lack of control would drive him insane. Whatever mistakes he’d made in his twenty-five years of life, whatever sins he’d committed, there could have been no worse punishment than to take away his uncompromising command of his own destiny.

He was relieved when Anna finally agreed to go on the trip with her husband. He hoped she would enjoy it. Something told him Dean would make sure that she did. From what Ian had seen, there was little Dean Gates would deny his bride. To be perfectly honest, he was spoiling her. Ian smiled indulgently, thinking that no one deserved to be spoiled more than Anna.

The couple went into the inn and Ian turned his attention back to Bailey. She had buried her nose in her book. Her cheeks were pink from embarrassment. Because she’d overheard a private conversation? It wasn’t as though she’d been sneaking around, trying to hear something not meant for her ears.