Page 66 of Sincerely, Your Inconvenient Wife

“I don’t know about that.” Dad chuckled. “From the way I hear it, you’ve been living the high life in Denver. At least until you met my daughter.”

Ah, so he’d done a little research into his new son-in-law. Probably not finding the most flattering pieces of info either.

Luca hooked his arm around my waist. “I lived a very different life before Saoirse, one I’m not ashamed of—though I wish like hell it hadn’t been documented for anyone to read the bits and pieces the press chose to publish.” His fingers curled around my hip, lightly tapping a pattern there. Was he actually nervous? Luca wasn’t one to fidget.

I covered my hand with his. “Thank god no one followed me around in my early twenties. I would hate for all my adventures to be on the internet for anyone to Google.”

Dad raised his hands. “Point taken. No father wants to see his new son-in-law pictured with all kinds of women, but not many fathers have the opportunity to easily take a microscope to their new son-in-law’s past. I’ll take what I learned at face value—it’s in the past, and Saoirse is your present and future.”

“I don’t get a clean slate with many people because of who I am, but I appreciate you giving me one, Connell.” Luca leaned forward. “And don’t worry, Elena has already told me what will happen if I misstep with Saoirse.”

That earned a genuine, belly-deep laugh from my dad and a worried look from me. “What did she say?”

Luca grinned at me. “There was something about pink bats.”

Dad laughed again. “That girl is a gift to the world. Don’t think she’s bluffing, though. She isn’t.”

“I absolutely believed her. It’s fortunate I’ll never hurt Saoirse.”

Dad gave him a long, considering look. “I’ll be honest and tell you I was prepared to be pissed off you married my daughter without getting to know her family first. But there’s something about the two of you together that eases my worries.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m willing to reserve judgment and see how this thing goes.”

Luca gave my side a little shake. “That’s all I ask.”

Dad raised a brow at me. “You still haven’t told your mother?”

“No. I’m hoping I can get away with a FaceTime call.” I held up my crossed fingers. “Think that’ll be enough?”

“Not even close, kid,” he rumbled at me. “Good luck with that.”

I blew out a heavy breath. That was a chat I couldn’t put off much longer but didn’t want to think about, so I changed the subject entirely. “Luca’s never been on a horse.”

Dad’s head swiveled from me to Luca. “Is that true?”

Luca nodded. “It is. Not on purpose. I just haven’t had the opportunity.”

He patted Luca’s shoulder. “We’ll have to rectify that. You can’t be married to a Kelly girl and not be able to chase her down on a horse. Let’s get you saddled up.”

My father and Luca talked while he gave Luca a lesson on the basics of riding. I spent time with Athena, noting with pleasure how well taken care of she was. I’d have to tell Hannie and Cay they’d been doing an excellent job with my girl.

Even though we asked my dad to join us on a ride around the ranch, he begged off, saying he had too much work to do. We all knew he was trying to give us alone time, which I appreciated. Luca had to be overwhelmed. He was basically a fish out of water here.

This was a lot for a temporary husband to take part in.

We meandered over the acres. Athena was such a sweet girl. She would patiently walk with me all day, never straining to run. That was a good thing, so Dad and I chose our old boy Barney for Luca. Barney didn’t do anything in a hurry anymore, but he liked getting out and going for rides, poking his muzzle at everything he saw along the way.

And goddammit if Luca didn’t look sexy on old Barney. Though it was his first time, there was nothing clumsy about his ride. In his jeans and fitted T-shirt, the low wind ruffling his hair, he looked like a movie cowboy.

I blamed it on spending my formative years on a ranch, but a cowboy would always,alwaysdo it for me—even more than a man in a suit. Knowing Luca could pull both off to a T made him doubly dangerous.

We stopped beside the stream that ran through our property and hopped off the horses. Luca rubbed his backside, giving me a frown.

“I don’t know if I should be insulted you gave me a senior citizen horse to ride.”

“Don’t be insulted.” I glanced back at Luca as I started for the stream. “He’s perfect for beginners and gets along well with Athena.”

Luca followed me, standing next to me at the bank of the stream. “It’s gorgeous here.”

I sucked in a lungful of the freshest air in the world. “Yeah. I’m glad you got to see it.”

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