Kate would rue the day she ever trapped him any further.
But now she was carrying his baby.
“If you leave—” he tipped her chin back to look at her “—who’s to tell me it isn’t your way of making me come get you?”
She edged back, wide-eyed, then scowled. “I would never do that! I don’t want you to...do anything. Plus, it would be hard for you to follow me with a new wife attached to your arm.”
“A wife I will not have if I choose not to,” he said. “Why don’t you tell me why you’re so interested in her if you’re not interested in staying here?”
She glared, and suddenly it was just too painful to look at him.
She shook her head, and turned to walk away but he wasn’t letting her go just yet.
“Where are you going, Katie?” he taunted. “Do I frighten you? Is it me you’re running away from?”
She was struggling, but he caught her and looked fiercely into her eyes. His breath fanned her face, slow and steady, warm and unexpectedly sweet.
“Garrett...” she whispered, dying with want as she clutched his shoulders.
He squeezed her. “Kate, I’ve known you all my life. I’ve been there for you all my life—I have to be there for the rest of it. You have to let me. We need to talk about what happened. We can’t just pretend that it didn’t when I’m consumed with knowing that it did.”
Her eyes were fastened to his mouth, and all she could think of was that his mouth was there for her. His lips were there to sear her again, brand her again. Kate trembled with the need to wrap herself around his shoulders and neck and never let go. She wanted to crush his mouth with hers and do all the things she hadn’t done with anyone else because she’d been waiting for the boy she secretly loved to look at her.
Now he was looking at her. His gaze hungry, missing no detail of her features. Almost seeing into her soul, discovering her secret, aching love for him.
“Tell me why you’re leaving. Is it because of me?” He couldn’t seem to help himself as he lifted his finger to trace her lips. Her breath caught, and his face darkened as he watched.
Kiss him. Tell him it’s him and that he’s going to be a father! But while all these impulses rampaged through her, she drew back an inch and considered it a good moment to retreat before she truly lost her senses. She’d lost them once. Now she was pregnant. She didn’t want to castigate him for that night, a night she had been wishing and praying would someday happen. She didn’t want him to pay with his whole life. She simply loved him too much.
Kate shook her head and glanced away. “No, it’s not you.”
Spinning away before she could lose her head, she hugged herself and stared into the house, where there was light and music and smiles everywhere.
“You could be carrying my—” Garrett cleared his throat behind her “—you could be pregnant, Kate.”
The air felt static as she turned back to him in alarm. “Excuse me?”
The intensity in his eyes terrified her. “We didn’t use protection, Freckles.”
She shook her head. Fast. Almost too fast.
“You’d tell me if there were consequences, right?” he asked meaningfully.
Her world tilted on its axis. What if she went ahead and told him that she was having his child? Her stomach cramped at the thought.
She was loath to worry Molly a day before her wedding. Kate was the eldest and had cared for her like a mother, had always set a good example. How could she bear detracting from her sister’s joy right now?
She had to wait until after the wedding.
She bit her lip, glancing away. “Whatever happens, I meant what I said. I’m not marrying ever without love.”
“Why? Do you love another man?”
Swallowing, Kate met his stormy black gaze. “No, Garrett. It would have been hard for me to love anyone, when my whole life I’ve been in love with you.”
He blinked at her words.
God.