“Yep. Now he’s completely drool-worthy. I still can’t believe he’s mine.” She paused before asking quietly, “So will I be coming back to Amesport for Jared’s wedding soon?”
“Jared?”
“You and Jared,” Hope clarified. “Are you guys going to bring me back here again before I move permanently? I really wouldn’t mind. I don’t think my morning sickness will last that much longer.” Hope’s voice was hopeful as she spoke about the possibility of coming to Jared’s wedding.
Mara’s heart skittered. “No. It’s not like that. Jared and I are just . . .” What the hell were they doing? “Seeing each other,” she concluded. “Jared said he doesn’t really believe in love.”
Hope snorted, nearly choking on her cracker. Sarah, Kristin, Randi, and Emily chortled along with her. “Uh-huh. He so completely looked like he wasn’t in love when he hightailed it out of Grady’s house last night carrying you like he was afraid you wouldn’t go with him if he didn’t.”
“He hasn’t had the best of luck with women.”
“His college girlfriend?” Hope asked curiously. “Evan answered more of our questions after you two left last night. Jared did have it rough, but I don’t think he’s really given up on love. It’s not that easy, although he’d like to think it is. To tell you the truth, he was always the most sensitive of all of my brothers. I wish I would have known. I hate that he was hurting and none of us knew except Evan. I love my oldest brother, but he isn’t the most compassionate man in a situation like that.”
“I think it helped that Selena’s mother finally took the blame off Jared’s shoulders. And I think Evan helped a lot in his own way.” Mara wasn’t going to reveal any information about how low Jared had sunk, and she didn’t think Evan would reveal those secrets, either.
“I’m worried about Evan,” Hope confessed. “He just seems so . . . alone.”
Mara thought Evan was probably the loneliest man alive, even though he was surrounded by people most of the time. “He doesn’t date?”
Hope’s face scrunched up in a look of concentration. “Honestly, I can’t remember him even dating one woman in his past. And he’s never been seen with anyone for as long as I can remember, unlike Jared. Evan goes everywhere alone.”
“Maybe there are just some men who are happier alone,” Kristin said soberly from her seat beside Hope, her ankle propped on a chair.
Randi nodded. “I’m happier alone. I know that for a fact.”
Mara watched as Sarah, Hope, and Emily shook their heads slowly. Hope finally spoke. “I don’t think he’s happy being alone. I think he lives his life that way for some reason.”
“I think you’re right,” Mara whispered under her breath, hoping that Evan Sinclair found the right woman to break the heavy layers of ice that surrounded him. It was going to take an extraordinary female to accomplish that task.
“He’ll find somebody someday,” Hope declared optimistically.
Mara hoped that Evan’s sister was right as the wedding planner entered the room to hurry them all out to take their places to walk up the aisle.
The wedding was beautiful, and Mara knew her mascara was smudged after the ceremony. Just watching Dante and Sarah face each other, the look of love so clearly on both of their faces as they spoke their vows, made Mara start to weep.
She’d felt Jared’s eyes on her several times during the ceremony, no doubt checking out the plunging neckline on the beautiful black tea-length dress each of the bridesmaids had worn for the ceremony. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen her before she’d left the house, and even though he’d made it very clear how beautiful he thought she looked, he hadn’t been crazy about the daring neckline.
Mara smiled at herself in the bathroom mirror as she gently wiped the dark smudges from under her eyes. Jared had been perfectly fine with her wearing the dress for him, but he had told her he’d be distracted during the whole ceremony and reception, declaring himself her personal wardrobe watcher to make sure her breasts didn’t pop out of her dress.
Tossing the damp tissue into the trash, she tugged on the scraps of material that covered her cleavage. She hadn’t popped out. Not once. Granted, the top portion was a little bit narrow. Running short on time, she’d concentrated on making certain the waist fit properly and hadn’t bothered with the neckline. Kristin was slightly smaller busted than she was, but not that much.
She smoothed on a little more lipstick and put the container back in the tiny black clutch purse she was carrying. At some point during the ceremony, she must have been chewing on her bottom lip, because most of the color was gone.
Probably while I was drooling over Jared in a tux.
It had been hard not to look at Jared when he’d been standing directly across from her in black formal wear as casually as he did wearing a pair of jeans, not looking the least bit uncomfortable.
He’s a billionaire.
No doubt he dressed that way often. But damn, he could rock a tuxedo . . . or anything else he chose to wear. She guessed that’s the way it was when he’d been brought up wearing fine clothes, attending social occasions of the very wealthy.
Taking one last look at herself, Mara sighed. She’d pretty much given up wondering if Jared wanted her, but she hadn’t quite stopped wondering why. She wasn’t ugly, but she wasn’t a bombshell, either.
Enjoy it. Who cares why? He’s not faking his interest or his desire. Let him keep making you feel like a goddess. It feels good. You’ve been lost and lonely since your mom died. Jared makes you feel loved, even if he hasn’t said the words.