Page 31 of Forbidden Flame

It was the brother I’d met, Teddy, with a pink boa around his neck, his hair teased so that it was sticking straight up with random bows attached to chunks of it. “This is good blackmail material.”

She plucked the phone from my hands. “You’re going to pretend you didn’t see that.”

“Thank you for showing me that. It’s nice to know your brothers have a softer side.”

“Only when it comes to Izzy.”

“Is that her name, or is it Isabelle?”

“Isabelle. There were so many options for nicknames, but my brothers just started calling her Izzy, and it stuck. When she’s older, she might want to change it, but for now—”

“Can I see the image again? I was a little distracted by your brother wearing a pink boa.”

She held the phone up to me. This time I took in her little girl who stood with her hands on her hips. She wore a yellow-and-blue dress with a crown in her dark hair. She was the spitting image of her mother.

“She’s obsessed with Beauty and the Beast right now. She’s Belle. Although that might be the similarity to her name.”

I cleared my throat. “She’s adorable. Looks just like her mama.”

Daphne smiled with pleasure. “I’m happy for that.”

I could imagine she wouldn’t want a reminder of Izzy’s father, who wasn’t present in her life.

“I bet you’re a great mother.”

She tucked her phone in a tiny clutch. “I try. It’s hard when you’re the mother and the father. But she has lots of uncles and her grandpa.”

“They’re smitten with her, just like we are with Addy and Ember.”

“My life is nothing like I imagined, but I’m grateful for my family.”

“Cheers to surprises,” I said as I cupped her cheek.

My heart squeezed when she pressed her cheek into my hand.

I wanted to lean forward and kiss her, but I was very aware of where we were and that anyone could spot us.

Reluctantly, I moved my hand and got out of the truck. I rounded the hood, opened her door, and helped her out.

I took her hand as we crossed the uneven stones on the lane. “You don’t think they’ll say anything about this, do you?”

“I’m being a gentleman. If I wasn’t, they’d kick my ass. That was one thing Uncle Larry and my cousins taught me: how to treat a woman right.”

Her lips curled into a smile. “You weren’t a gentleman that night in the hot tub.”

“Did you ask me to be?” I lowered my voice to ask her.

“Definitely not.”

“There you go,” I said as I opened the door for her to precede me into the room.

There was one long table at the front of the room with names indicating it was reserved for the bridal party.

“It looks like we’re sitting together,” Daphne said as she stood by her chair.

I pulled it out for her. “Don’t look so excited.”

When I sat next to her, she said, “You need to behave.”

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