Will needed more sleep to clear the fog in his brain. He hadn’t wanted to think about her kiss again. Not when he already couldn’t stop thinking about her. She was disrupting his nice, orderly world.
Where were his memories of Sara and her kisses?
He needed to keep his distance from Kelsey. Maybe it would be better if she stayed somewhere else.
“You said the inn isn’t much farther,” she said finally.
“It’s not.” He started up the path. “We’re almost there.”
When they reached the inn, Will concentrated on getting to the service entrance without being seen. Once inside, the heat warmed them. As did the cups of coffee he snagged from the kitchen. He led Kelsey through a pair of double doors and flicked on the lights. The wood parquet floors gleamed. Crisp, white linen tablecloths covered the tables. Each chair was perfectly aligned in front of an elaborately folded linen napkin. Another fine job by the Starr Properties staff.
Will smiled. “What do you think?”
“The room is lovely.” She stared at one of the four iron chandeliers hanging from the beamed ceiling. Kelsey’s chestnut braid fell back. The tilt of her head emphasized the curve of her neck. A neck that seemed to be asking for nibbles and kisses. But not from him. Definitely not from him. She touched one of the chairbacks. “Have you made alternate dining arrangements for your hotel guests on the day of the event?”
Event, not wedding. She was good, very good. “We have.”
She studied the room, including the wood molding and the pictures gracing the walls. She measured every inch with a tape measure.
Will tried not to notice how nicely her well-worn, well-fitting jeans cupped her bottom. He failed. Not a big deal. No crime in looking.
She stood in front of a fireplace so large it could fit multiple people inside it. The height was taller than Will. “Wow, what a huge fireplace. It’s beautiful.”
Will smiled. “When we were younger, Faith saw these life-size stockings and asked if we could buy them and hang them here for Santa.”
“What did your parents say?”
“Yes. Faith was a real cutie and usually got what she wanted. Good thing in this instance. We still have those same stockings, and Santa fills them every year.”
“We had so many different stockings that Santa must have gotten confused sometimes.” With a faraway look in her eyes, she stared into the fireplace. “Before we left Chicago and moved to Beverly Hills, Cade and I would spend Christmas Eve with one of my parents and Christmas Day with the other. My parents tried to outdo each other with presents. One year there were so many presents we couldn’t step into my mother’s living room. It was obscene. My dad’s house was almost as bad.”
“Every kid dreams of a Christmas like that.”
Kelsey nodded. “You know what my favorite gift was that year?”
“A stuffed animal or piece of jewelry?”
“A framed picture of my family. My mom, Dad, Cade, and me.” Kelsey’s smile reached all the way to her eyes. “My grandmother had my mother pick a photograph so she could have it framed, and my mom actually gave her one of the four of us taken before the divorce.”
Will not only heard but saw on her face how much one photograph of her family had meant to Kelsey. He tried to imagine what her life was like as a child, pushed and pulled between two parents who didn’t love each other. Not only at Christmastime but every day of her life. He couldn’t. “Kelsey—”
“This is the perfect setting for the reception, but the ceremony”—she clicked the top of her pen—“we shouldn’t have the ceremony here.”
Back to business. Just when it was getting interesting again. He wished he knew where her On/Off switch was located. Still, he respected how hard she worked. “Why?”
“If we hold the ceremony elsewhere and Faith cancels, none of the party guests will know a wedding was in the works. They’ll think they were only invited to your parents’ anniversary celebration. No decorations to remove. No seating to rearrange. No explanations necessary.”
“None will be needed,” Will said with confidence. “Faith won’t cancel.”
“You sound so certain.”
“If you could see her and Trent together… It’s the real thing.”
“What about Faith’s four other weddings and fiancés?”
“What do you mean?”
“You and your parents are die-hard romantics. What happened to Faith?”
