Page 34 of Say Yes

It was ironic enough to be funny, but when Satan bit his toe, and the dog began her infernal yapping at top volume, his amusement vanished. Grumbling and cursing, Gavin got to his feet, then met Sara’s confused gaze. “Sorry. I need to put the cat and dog out.”

“Oh.” She scrambled for the covers, but Gavin caught her hands.

“No. Don’t move. I swear, I’ll be right back.” Sara hesitated, then relaxed into the bed, giving Gavin an uncertain smile. After one more long, sweeping look at her body, he hauled the reluctant cat into his arms and left the room, the dog following in his wake.

He refused to think about his decision. Sara was ready, he was sure of it. So what if she hadn’t told him she loved him, or even hinted that such a thing was possible? The fact they couldn’t resist each other had to count for something. It would be a good bargaining tool for marriage.

The cat kept giving him quizzical looks, and Gavin felt compelled to explain. “Don’t take it personal, big guy. You two just happen to have rotten timing, that’s all.” He sat the cat down and opened the front door. After hooking the dog to her lightweight chain and watching her run out, he turned to the cat. Satan stared back, refusing to budge. Again, Gavin nudged him with his foot. Satan only blinked.

Narrowing his eyes, Gavin murmured, “Now where did Sara put that bow…?” With a disdainful snarl, Satan sauntered out. Chuckling, Gavin was just about to close the door when his mother and father pulled up to the curb. Behind them was another car, and then another.

It looked as though the whole Blake family had arrived. Nieces and nephews began tumbling out the open car doors, and one of his sisters waved. Closing his eyes, Gavin silently went through every curse he knew. It didn’t help one iota. Talk about rotten timing.

It took his mother only a moment to reach him, and then he was smothered in a hug. He looked over her shoulder to the end of the sidewalk and saw Satan suffering a similar fate, only it was a group of four children who gathered around the cat. The dog was thrilled with her share of attention, and barked in canine elation. His father and brothers-in-law were slower in leaving their cars.

It was a regular family get-together—not quite what he’d planned, and certainly not how he’d planned it. He cleared his throat when he heard Sara singing along with the radio, then watched as his mother looked in that direction.

“Your new lady friend?”

“Ah, yeah. Mom…we weren’t exactly up yet.”

“Well, no problem.” She patted his shoulder, her smile impish. “You two can go ahead and get ready while we unload a few things.”

Gavin groaned. “Tell me you didn’t.”

“You know I can’t come empty-handed, son. It wouldn’t be right. Especially now that you’ve—”

Sara’s voice, slightly outraged, interrupted. “Gavin! Don’t you dare change your mind again. You started this, now come back here and finish it!”

Horrified, Gavin stared into his mother’s wide eyes, then winced as Sara’s voice rang down the hallway again. “You don’t want to be accused of being a tease, now do you?”

His mother raised one brow, indicating where her son had gotten the habit, and Gavin could only be thankful the rest of the family hadn’t heard. They were taking their time reaching the porch, stopping every so often to admire one of the newer houses being built on the street.

Gavin floundered. “She’s, ah…”

“Impatient?” his mother supplied, deadpan.

He shook his head, then walked to the hallway. “Sara!” He had to shout to be heard over the radio. “My mother is here.”

The radio snapped off, and after a moment of heavy stunned silence he heard the telltale sounds of Sara rushing around the room. She flew into the hall, wearing only a sheet.

“Sara!”

Running toward him, she yelled, “Don’t let her in until I get a pair of panties out of the…” She came face-to-face with Gavin’s mother. “Kitchen.”

The rest of the family chose that propitious moment to step through the door. Gavin didn’t know what to do, and his family, more silent than he’d ever heard the lot of them be, didn’t help by simply staring.

Sara turned and let her head hit the wall with a dull thud.

Then his mother asked in a subdued tone, “She keeps her underclothes in the kitchen?”

* * *

SARA WANTED TO DIE. She thought, If this were the Land of Oz, I could just sink beneath this sheet and melt away. But it didn’t happen. It was all well and good to plan a free-spirited affair with a gorgeous, virile man like Gavin, but it was quite another to have to face his mother—his mother, for God’s sake—wrapped in nothing more than a sheet, the evidence of the affair plain for anyone to see. Only there wasn’t an affair, dammit, not yet, because they’d interrupted. Hopefully his mother didn’t know that.

She felt more than embarrassed, she felt…guilty, and she wouldn’t tolerate it. She was a grown woman, and she could darn well do as she pleased.

She sucked in a deep breath, plastered a serene smile on her face, then turned to face the fascinated masses.

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