Free The Christmas Bouquet by Sherryl Woods Page A

and Grandpa Mick did talk about.”
    He shrugged. “The future, my plans, the state of medicine today, things like that.”
    Though he’d made a valiant effort to sound casual, as if none of it had amounted to much, Caitlyn knew better. She sat up a little straighter. “What future?”
    “Yours and mine,” he replied readily.
    “That’s what I was afraid you meant. Did you tell him we’d be getting married?”
    “Of course not. You haven’t agreed to that.”
    She saw the loophole. “But you said you were eager to get married, didn’t you?”
    He gave her an innocent look she didn’t come close to buying.
    “I told him it was a possibility, that it was certainly what I wanted,” he conceded.
    Caitlyn groaned. It was every bit as bad as she’d feared. “So now he knows if there’s a holdout, it’s me. No wonder you’re still in one piece and I have a half-dozen messages from him on my cell phone.”
    Noah shrugged, his expression unrepentant. “I gave him the facts about where I stand. He drew his own conclusions.”
    “So you got out of that room looking heroic in his eyes and left me swinging in the wind,” she accused.
    To her exasperation, he laughed. “That’s one way to look at it, I suppose.”
    “You are shameless. You tried to turn my own grandfather against me.”
    “Not against you,” he corrected. “I doubt I could do that if I wanted to. He obviously adores you. He also recognizes how stubborn you are.”
    “Because I take after him,” she muttered, suddenly regretting that. Up till now she’d always considered that hardheaded O’Brien determination to be a positive. It had given her the self-confidence and will to go after what she wanted. Her grandfather had respected that. Now he was likely to see it as an impediment to getting his own way and redouble his efforts to get her down the aisle.
    “He trusts you to make the right decision,” Noah said.
    She shook her head. “No, he trusts me to make the decision he thinks is right. And if I don’t, he’ll be knocking on our door to try to change my mind.”
    She put down her fork, resignation settling over her. “I’d better call him back.”
    “Now?”
    “I’ve ignored a lot of calls,” she said. “He doesn’t like being ignored. Trust me, I’d better get to him before he turns up here.”
    She braced herself for her grandfather’s brand of pressure, which could start with subtle coaxing, but could easily lead from there to stern lectures and sneaky manipulation if his family didn’t fulfill his expectations. He’d never used any of those tactics on her before. He hadn’t had to. Which meant she had no idea if she could bring herself to tell him to butt out or not.
    “Maybe you should forget about making that call until we’ve had a chance to talk about what we want,” Noah suggested. “I know you think I’ve been evasive, but you haven’t exactly been forthcoming about what you thought about while you were visiting your family. Let’s have that discussion.”
    She wasn’t crazy about his reasonable tone or the suggestion. “Are you thinking you can persuade me to fall into line with your plan in the next half hour?”
    “I’d like the chance to try,” he replied without hesitation.
    She shook her head. “I’m not going to let you bully me into making a hasty decision we’ll both come to regret,” she told him. “And that’s exactly what I intend to tell my grandfather.”
    A frown settled on Noah’s face. “Since when have I ever tried to bully you into doing anything my way?” he demanded.
    “Never before,” she conceded, to be fair. “But there’s never been a situation quite like this one.”
    “Which is exactly why we need to talk and work things out,” Noah said. “We’re in uncharted territory. I know this isn’t what we planned, Cait, but the baby’s going to be a reality in a few months. Pretending otherwise isn’t going to change anything.”
    “Believe me, I’m well aware