What started out as a project deemed to allow her toget to know my soon-to-be daughter-in-lawsaw me sidelined and her take over all the plans. Living on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean has meant she’s made the lion’s share of decisions. But there are some things I will put my foot down on. If not, I’ll be opening myself up to a whole host of issues when Kris and I start a family of our own.
Lunch drags until I make my escape, lying about an appointment to see potential office space. Cybil tuts again. To her, I should be giving up my career when I marry Kris, stayingat home and making his life comfortable. The way Annie, his first wife, did. I’ve been told over and over again how she was there and supported him through the early years of his business until she and their unborn child were ripped from him in such a tragic way.
I’ve explained to Cybil that I’m not Annie, but it seems like, in Kris’s mother’s eyes, I need to live up to a ghost.
On my way home, I visit designer stores, collecting a few additional items for our honeymoon. Kris and I are taking his yacht, somewhere neither one of us can be contacted for a whole week. Not that I believe that for a moment. Kris is more of a workaholic than I am, and that’s saying something. But I’m hoping the time away will be good for us. From the moment Kris proposed, everything snowballed. I’m hoping this will allow us time to… connect.
Kris’s driver drops me back at the house and I find Kris exiting the kitchen, phone pressed to his ear.
He smiles across at me.
“I’ve got to go. Pen just got home.” There’s a pause. “Nine AM is fine. Call my secretary and have her put it in the diary.”
He ends the call and pulls me into his arms, dropping a kiss on my lips.
“Sorry about running out on you earlier. I hope Mom behaved herself.”
“I take it she’s called you?” I say.
He raises an eyebrow and smiles. “Of course, and I told herwhatever Pen wants is what I’m going with.”
“Ouch,” I say, wrapping my arms around his neck. “She was positive you’d take her side.”
“That’s her problem, not yours or mine. I’m sorry if she was pushy. I don’t think she ever thought I’d get married again. She’s just excited.”
I don’t burst his bubble. His mother is a control freak. She can’t control her son, so she’s trying the next best thing. To try to control me.
“We have dinner tonight with the Duffys,” Kris says.
I groan. “I thought we were having a quiet one. We haven’t stopped since I flew in last week. I’m jet-lagged.”
“Duffy is looking to invest. I can’t exactly turn him down when he tells me he wants to meet my fiancée. It’s not like you’re living here. You fly over and leave again.”
I unwind my arms and step back.
“It’s not like you’ve spent much time in the UK with me either,” I say, trying to keep a lid on my rising temper.
I press my thumbs into my temples, the pressure of the day and jet lag catching up with me.
“That’s not fair. I don’t have offices in the UK. You’re looking to set up here. Me staying in the UK is wasted time.”
“So getting to know my friends and family is wasted time. Good to know.”
Kris steps back and looks at me.
“What’s biting at your ass?”
“Sorry. As I said before. I’m tired. I was looking forward to a quiet night cuddled up on the sofa. Just the two of us.”
I rub a hand down my face and draw in a breath. When I raise my eyes to his, I force a smile.
“It’s been non-stop since I landed, and it was a busy week before I left. I’m trying to get everything ready for my move. It will be a while before the US office is up and running. I need to make sure I dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s before the wedding.”
Kris pulls me against him, and I go willingly, resting my forehead against his shoulder.
“If I could get us out of tonight, I would, but?—”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll go and have a lie down now. That way, I’ll be refreshed for this evening.”
