object? Because my father was too old for her?”
He shook his head. “From what I know of your father, he’s a nice man. An astute lawyer with a good reputation. I’ve never heard anything about him that my family could object to.”
“But?” she prompted.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Elaina’s twelve years older than I am. She and Gabriel are the children from my father’s first marriage. Their mother died in childbirth when my half-brother was born and it was years before my father remarried. Elaina’s never shown any interest in having children, but we all thought with the biological clock ticking…”
“She’d choose a younger man, not someone my father’s age with a grown child of his own?”
“That, yes.” He hesitated, unsure how much of his sister’s history to divulge. “Elaina was always a bit wild, into trendy clubs and late-night parties. She tended to attract younger men to her. It seemed odd that she’d choose an older man to marry.”
Kara was silent while she took a bite of the shrimp ravioli that was fast cooling on her plate. “I don’t know what to say,” she said finally. “I don’t believe Elaina is a good match for my father, but he has seemed happy since they’ve married.”
The comparison to her father’s marriage and her failed engagement hung between them. “You’re wondering how you know if someone is right for you? How you could have been wrong about Frank?”
Kara nodded, her eyes widening with surprise as their gazes met.
He gestured, a big, wide, open-hand movement. “Elaina is my family and I’ll always support her, but I haven’t been comfortable with her lifestyle.” Especially not when she moved to Miami and began going to bed with the friends he brought home to visit during college breaks, Niko thought. “I have no idea if something happened in her life or if there was something about your father that made her change. Perhaps you should ask him.”
She nodded slowly. “Maybe I’ll talk to him one day, but not tonight.”
Tonight. In a few short hours, he’d be dropping her off at the resort and she would be out of his life, at least for now. He’d been considering moving back to the States. If he did, it was likely he’d be invited to join their family for holiday celebrations. He’d be there when Kara began dating again, expected to make pleasant conversation with the new man in her life. The thought made his gut twist into a painful knot.
Mentally, he shook himself. He should walk away now, before he got in too deep, but there was something different about Kara. She got under his skin. He couldn’t seem to erect the barriers he usually kept between him and other women. Perhaps it was the shared ordeal of failed relationships that had created the bond between them, but however tenuous and fragile it might be, it existed. And he didn’t want to let it go.
* * *A few hours later, however, he’d changed his mind. He wanted nothing more than to take her back home to her father. The alternative was to take her to his bed and make love for hours. That would be unacceptable to both sides of the family, without doubt, but oh-so-acceptable to him.
First, the woman had dragged him to every museum on the island as well as the aquarium, a place he’d never deigned to visit in all his years of coming to Key West. It had been fun, he grudgingly admitted to himself, but only because he’d enjoyed watching the emotion chase across her face as she absorbed it all. Her cheerful attitude was forced at times, probably to avoid thinking about the fact that she should have spent the afternoon in a salon preparing for her wedding rather than traipsing around tourist attractions with him.
He’d willingly followed where she led, seeing more pirate gold, both real and fake, and hearing more people using pirate lingo than he ever wanted to hear again. He liked walking down the crowded streets with her, but had not liked how she attracted the
He shook his head. “From what I know of your father, he’s a nice man. An astute lawyer with a good reputation. I’ve never heard anything about him that my family could object to.”
“But?” she prompted.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Elaina’s twelve years older than I am. She and Gabriel are the children from my father’s first marriage. Their mother died in childbirth when my half-brother was born and it was years before my father remarried. Elaina’s never shown any interest in having children, but we all thought with the biological clock ticking…”
“She’d choose a younger man, not someone my father’s age with a grown child of his own?”
“That, yes.” He hesitated, unsure how much of his sister’s history to divulge. “Elaina was always a bit wild, into trendy clubs and late-night parties. She tended to attract younger men to her. It seemed odd that she’d choose an older man to marry.”
Kara was silent while she took a bite of the shrimp ravioli that was fast cooling on her plate. “I don’t know what to say,” she said finally. “I don’t believe Elaina is a good match for my father, but he has seemed happy since they’ve married.”
The comparison to her father’s marriage and her failed engagement hung between them. “You’re wondering how you know if someone is right for you? How you could have been wrong about Frank?”
Kara nodded, her eyes widening with surprise as their gazes met.
He gestured, a big, wide, open-hand movement. “Elaina is my family and I’ll always support her, but I haven’t been comfortable with her lifestyle.” Especially not when she moved to Miami and began going to bed with the friends he brought home to visit during college breaks, Niko thought. “I have no idea if something happened in her life or if there was something about your father that made her change. Perhaps you should ask him.”
She nodded slowly. “Maybe I’ll talk to him one day, but not tonight.”
Tonight. In a few short hours, he’d be dropping her off at the resort and she would be out of his life, at least for now. He’d been considering moving back to the States. If he did, it was likely he’d be invited to join their family for holiday celebrations. He’d be there when Kara began dating again, expected to make pleasant conversation with the new man in her life. The thought made his gut twist into a painful knot.
Mentally, he shook himself. He should walk away now, before he got in too deep, but there was something different about Kara. She got under his skin. He couldn’t seem to erect the barriers he usually kept between him and other women. Perhaps it was the shared ordeal of failed relationships that had created the bond between them, but however tenuous and fragile it might be, it existed. And he didn’t want to let it go.
* * *A few hours later, however, he’d changed his mind. He wanted nothing more than to take her back home to her father. The alternative was to take her to his bed and make love for hours. That would be unacceptable to both sides of the family, without doubt, but oh-so-acceptable to him.
First, the woman had dragged him to every museum on the island as well as the aquarium, a place he’d never deigned to visit in all his years of coming to Key West. It had been fun, he grudgingly admitted to himself, but only because he’d enjoyed watching the emotion chase across her face as she absorbed it all. Her cheerful attitude was forced at times, probably to avoid thinking about the fact that she should have spent the afternoon in a salon preparing for her wedding rather than traipsing around tourist attractions with him.
He’d willingly followed where she led, seeing more pirate gold, both real and fake, and hearing more people using pirate lingo than he ever wanted to hear again. He liked walking down the crowded streets with her, but had not liked how she attracted the
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