Free His Sister's Wedding by Carol Rose Page B

everything looked
     the way she'd left it with the exception of the flour and sugar canisters having been
     dumped in the sink.
    Lillie sank into a chair at the table, brushing self-consciously at the tears streaming
     down her face.
    "Where do you keep your coffee?" He opened a cabinet at random. "You'll feel better
     when you have something warm to drink."
    "I drink tea," she responded automatically, sniffing back her tears. "In the second
     door on the right. The tea pot is on the stove."
    "No coffee," Luke muttered under his breath, rummaging till he found the tea bags
     and cups.
    "I'm sorry to be such a baby about this," she said, feeling awkward. "It's just that
     it's such a shock."
    "Don't be ridiculous," he said, filling the tea pot and placing it on the stove. "It's
     only natural that you'd be upset. I'd be worried if you weren't."
    "Well, you're being very nice about everything." Lillie stared at her clasped hands,
     tears threatening again.
    "Sweetheart," Luke said, pulling out a chair to sit next to her, "even tough guys
     have their uses."
    Lillie chuckled, smiling damply at him as his hand covered hers where they rested
     on the table.
    "You know," he said, "there are a lot of good practical reasons to be with someone
     you can rely on. It's a lot easier to face the crummy things in life if you have a
     man there with you. Someone to help shoulder the load."
    She knew the point he was trying to make. "I agree, but I want that someone to love
     me completely, dizzyingly. I don't just want a partner in a marriage that's more business
     than emotion."
    "So you're waiting?" Luke questioned, brows lifted. "If you'd have been home tonight,
     you might not have lived to meet Mr. Right. What good is love then?"
    "I'm not going to settle for half a relationship," Lillie said, tugging her hands
     free of his to brush away the traces of her tears. "Just because I'm afraid to live
     alone? The jerks who broke in didn't know that I'm single."
    "You have an initial on the mailbox instead of a first name," he pointed out as she
     got up to get the kettle off the stove. "It's almost always single women who do that."
    "So I should marry for convenience just to get a man's name for my mailbox?" she questioned
     with exasperation.
    "There are other benefits. Don't you ever get lonely? Tired of coming home to an empty
     house?
    Don't you ever want to wake up and hear someone else's voice in the morning?"
    Lillie arranged the tea bags in the cups with infinite care, not wanting to turn to
     face him, not wanting him to see the longing in her eyes. Loneliness was a frequent
     visitor and there were days when she hungered for the simple warmth of a hug.
    "You're the kind of woman who needs a family," Luke continued. "Kids of your own to
     bake cookies for, a daughter who’s wedding you'll coordinate someday."
    Not responding to the evocative images his words conjured up, she poured the hot water
     over the tea bags. The soft sound of his step told her he'd crossed the kitchen to
     stand behind her. She felt the warmth of his nearness, her body coming alive as if
     plugged in.
    "There are a lot of good things to share together," he said softly. "Things that don't
     have anything to do with romance."
    Luke turned her around to face him, his hand urging her chin up. "I want you more
     than I've ever wanted a woman. Isn't that enough?"
    Looking up into his handsome, rugged face, surrounded by his tender protectiveness,
     Lillie could see how some women allowed themselves to settle. At that moment, she
     only wanted his kiss, only wanted to lose herself in his touch.
    Just then, she heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway.
    "They're here," she muttered, turning away from Luke with hands that shook still,
     but for a different reason than before.
    Two officers stood on the front porch, one of them looking absurdly young in his neatly
     pressed uniform.
    "Are you Lillie Parker?" an older, heavy-set officer asked.
    "Yes," she