Just Kate: His Only Wife (Bestselling Author Collection) by Linda Lael Miller, Cathy McDavid Page A

“Football,” he said. “And cricket.”
    There was a light rap at the door, and Kate went to open it. When she saw Sean standing there, tall and handsome in his jeans, polo shirt and windbreaker, her heart skipped and her breath swelled in her throat.
    “Hi,” she finally managed to say.
    His green eyes danced. “Hello, love,” he responded. “May I come in?”
    Kate remembered herself and stepped back. “Sure,” she said, feeling like an adolescent.
    “We woke her up,” Gil commented, from his seat on the edge of Kate’s crumpled bed.
    Sean’s gaze was as soft as a caress. “Sorry.”
    Kate bit her lower lip. “It’s all right,” she replied lamely.
    Sean smiled at her nervousness. “Get your bags packed, Katie-did, and we’ll take you out of here. Plenty of room at our place.”
    Kate hesitated. Seeing Sean again, she knew she hadn’t really dealt with her feelings for him at all. It would be so easy to be wanton. “I...I wouldn’t want to impose,” she said quickly. “I mean, I can just as well stay here.”
    Gil looked so crestfallen that Kate went to sit beside him on the bed. She draped an arm around his shoulders. “What’s this? A sad face when I’ve just come all the way from America to see you?”
    “Let’s take your aunt Kate out for some breakfast,” Sean suggested quickly. He looked as disappointed as Gil.
    Since it was drizzling, Kate took her raincoat. They left the hotel and walked through the clean, modern streets to a small coffee shop that Sean seemed to know.
    A hearty breakfast made Kate feel better—and more adventurous. “Maybe I could stay with you for a little while,” she said to Gil, “if you’re sure I won’t be intruding.”
    Gil’s coffee-brown eyes were alight. “I’ll show you my dog, Snidely,” he exclaimed, beaming. “He can roll over and play dead.”
    “I’m very impressed,” Kate told him. “What else can he do?”
    Gil’s expression turned sheepish. “Not much else, besides chew shoes and make messes in the garden.”
    Kate laughed. “He sounds like a regular dog to me.”
    “Except for Georgie Renfrew, he’s my best mate,” Gil said.
    Sean winked at Kate from behind the rim of his coffee cup, and she was absurdly pleased, as though he’d made some grand gesture.
    They left the coffee shop several minutes later, and Kate held Gil’s hand as they walked back to her hotel. There, she packed her things and then checked out. She, Sean and Gil took a cab to Sean’s house in an elegant section of Sydney.
    It was as wonderful as Kate remembered, with a view of the harbor and the Opera House, and her room was a small suite, with its own bath and a real wood-burning fireplace. The carpets were a pale blue, the bedspread was a complementary floral print, and there was even a small balcony outside.
    “It’s beautiful,” Kate told Sean softly, but she was already regretting her decision to stay in this house. The place had belonged to Abby first, just as the man had, and Kate felt like an intruder.
    Sean touched the tip of her nose. “I see ghosts in your eyes. What’s the problem, Katie-did?”
    Kate bit her lower lip and turned away. In the distance she could hear a dog barking with unbounded glee. Evidently Snidely and Gil had been reunited. “I’m just a little tired, I guess,” she lied.
    Gently Sean turned her to face him. “And feeling just a little guilty, I think.”
    Kate nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
    Before Sean could say anything more, Gil bounded in with a huge, hairy dog of some indeterminate breed.
    “This is Snidely,” he said, glowing with pride.
    Snidely offered a yelp in greeting and then rolled over on his side to lie completely still. Kate supposed he was playing dead.
    “Good dog,” she said to please Gil.
    “Take him outside before Mrs. Manchester sees him,” Sean ordered.
    Reluctantly Gil led the animal out of Kate’s room.
    Sean traced the outline of Kate’s cheek with one index finger.