Free Gambling on Love (Stories of Serendipity #6) by Anne Conley Page A

been her prince, since the moment she’d seen him last night in the stanky hall outside her hotel room door, taking her breath away with his desperate appearance. He’d looked so pitiful, sitting there, with his head cradled in his hands. When he’d looked up at her, she’d seen the red-rimmed eyes, the stubble on his unshaven cheeks, his hair standing on end, looking like he’d just rolled out of bed.
    But he’d taken care of her. Kathy had wanted to stop him, to tell him that she wasn’t worth his ministrations. As he’d packed her things and gotten her out of hell, she’d desperately wanted to tell Luke that she’d been shopping around for someone to have sex with, to have a baby. She’d wanted to tell him she was a stupid cow, who’d let herself be robbed. Of everything.
    But she hadn’t. And now, he’d proposed and was planning an afternoon wedding and pampering her and she still hadn’t told him what he was getting into. He didn’t know she had been so unfaithful to him. So stupid. He said he didn’t want her to tell him now, but she could see the haunted look in his eyes whenever it came up. He wanted to know, and it was killing him.
    Kathy knew she wanted to marry him. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since she’d gotten here. Since before that, even. She wanted Luke to be the father of her baby. She wanted him to be her husband and spend the rest of her life with him. She wanted the whole package with Luke. She just wasn’t sure if he would want it with her if he knew what she’d done.
    Now, as she stood here, in the wedding chapel, Kathy looked at Luke standing next to her with nothing but love in his eyes. Love for her. She put her wayward thoughts aside, and forced herself to be happy in spite of her guilt. Luke was stunningly handsome. He was dressed simply in black slacks and a black shirt, but the dark colors set off the deep tan that came from working outdoors year-round. It emphasized his strength, the nearly platinum highlights in his blonde hair, his crystalline blue eyes that sparkled at her, as if they could read her thoughts, and found her inadequacies laughable.
    Looking around the room, Kathy felt a bubble of happiness despite her misgivings about Luke making a colossal mistake. Elvis was standing in as the best man, and Marilyn Monroe was the maid of honor. The look-alikes were amazing, and in the small time she’d been on the strip, Kathy had seen some doozies. Their Elvis was an early Elvis, wearing black jeans and a leather jacket. Marilyn was dressed in a black dress, reminiscent of Some Like it Hot . Kathy liked that they weren’t the typical icons she’d seen everywhere else. The chapel was small but tastefully decorated, and perfect. Candles and twinkling lights dotted the aisles and behind the pulpit, where a small fatherly man wearing a cleric’s collar stood, watching her expectantly.
    Kathy took a deep breath and looked again at Luke. His face was filled with hope and uncertainty, and guilt ripped through Kathy again. She looked at the preacher. “Can we have a minute?”
    He nodded. “You guys have the place for an hour.”
    Kathy took Luke’s hand and led him out to the empty foyer.
    “Luke, I need to tell you what happened before we do this.”
    He ran a hand through his hair, turning the stylish messiness into just plain messiness. It did nothing to detract from his handsome features.
    “Did you sleep with anybody else, Kathy?”
    Eyes wide, she shook her head emphatically. “No, but—”
    Luke exhaled a pent-up breath and put a finger over her mouth. “Then I don’t want to know right now. I know why you were here. I know your intentions, Kathy. It doesn’t matter. I take the blame. I’m the one who told you to go have your baby. I should have realized at the time that you would take me up on it. As long as there’s no way you’re pregnant with another man’s child, we don’t have anything to discuss right now. It can wait.” He