“We will not talk about this later. Maria put me in charge of you when she sent you here to represent your side of the family. She would be horrified if anything happened to you and I did not offer support.”
Right. More like Maria—Lucy’s flu-ridden mother—would be horrified to know that her eldest daughter was the center of family gossip, and Ella hadn’t done her utmost to find out every single detail in her absence.
Lucy sighed. Another pair of fancy stilettos appeared under the stall door, signaling the arrival of another relation. She mentally kicked herself. This was why the bathroom was never a safe place to hide out. Joel might not be able to follow her in here, but every other female member of her family certainly could.
The toilet seat slammed down in the stall beside her before someone climbed on top of it.
Hot-pink manicured nails appeared over the top of the stall rim, followed by her youngest cousin’s cherub-like face. “She’s not taking a leak,” Natalie confirmed from her bird’s eye view. “No excuse not to come out, Lu.”
“Ugh, fine.” Lucy groaned, getting up and unlocking the stall door.
It swung open to reveal her aunt and five other relatives.
Her Zia Ella placed her fists on her ample hips. “Now, what is this about you being married?”
Lucy’s mind raced. No way could she tell them the truth.
First, they wouldn’t believe it. Second, she’d never hear the end of the insult she’d brought to the family by not inviting a single soul to what should have been the real wedding of the century. It wasn’t every day a Morgan married a Barone. Especially notthatMorgan, tothisBarone.
“Of course I’m not married,” Lucy lied, deliberately not following up the statement. Let them draw their own conclusions. They would anyway.
The moment of silence that followed was loaded with nosy expectation, but Lucy stood her ground.
“So why would people say you are then?” her aunt finally demanded.
“And why is Joel prowling the hall outside this washroom like a caged lion?” Her cousin Matilde jerked her thumb behind her toward the door.
“The way he was looking at you, all possessive and Christian Grey-like. So hot. I didn’t think you had it in you, Lu. I mean a guy like Joel Morgan. How’d you do it?” Natalie asked.
“Agreed. The way he was acting, if you aren’t married yet, you will be,” Matilde said with a self-satisfied smirk.
“I bet you’re secretly engaged!” a woman in a green dress, who she’d never seen before, exclaimed.
A collective gasp filled the room.
Zia Ella’s eyes widened like saucers. “Luciana,” she whispered-shouted. “Is it true? Are you engaged?”
Crap. This wasn’t going how she hoped it would go. Then again, she hadn’t a clue how it would go, because she hadn’t expected—well, Joel.
“It’s complicated,” she said for the second time that night. They were beyond the point of believing her if she said it was nothing. Besides, it wasn’t nothing. It was something.She and Joelwere something, and she’d had years to do something about it. She just hadn’t.
And neither had he. Until tonight.
Zia Ella gathered Lucy’s hands and gently guided her to a velvet-covered chair in the corner of the bathroom. The tribe of women followed, the satin of their gowns crinkling as they moved in unison.
“Luciana, how complicated can it be? We’re family. Just spit it out. You are either engaged to the man or you’re not.” Her aunt’s glare homed in on hers with the accuracy of a lie detector.
She couldn’t tell the truth; she couldn’t lie. She was trapped. Trapped in this bathroom, trapped by her ginormous traditional family, trapped by the wallflower reputation she’s created for herself. Just trapped. And the only time she hadn’t felt that way was when she’d been with Joel.
Then, like she’d conjured him, his voice echoed through the bathroom.
“We’re engaged.”
CHAPTER THREE
Every perfectly coifed head in the room turned to face Joel. If he looked ridiculous taking up the doorway of the women’s washroom, he didn’t care. He was here for one reason and one reason only. His gaze cut through the pageant-style glamour sparkling around him, right to the quiet, subtle beauty sitting in the corner. Lucy was the only woman who’d ever claimed his whole heart.
Seeing her, just breathing the same air as her, took a thousand-pound weight off his soul. And so it had always been. Whenever Lucy was around, he felt peace.
