“They have a beautiful baby girl. That speaks for Jake and Skye still being together.”
“Then why isn’t he here?” Grief showed in David Holt’s gaze. “If they’re so happy, why hasn’t he made any attempt to be here for Skye and Grace?”
“The investigator I hired was able to find out Jake is in the Middle East, he just doesn’t know where yet.”
“I don’t understand why his assistant won’t just give you his number.”
“She....” Keaton hesitated, unsure if his mother had shared the next part with his father. “Told me when I identified myself that Jake didn’t have a brother.”
David sucked in a sharp breath. “Did you tell that to your mother?”
“She knows.”
“One of you should have told me.” The news had obviously landed a huge blow to Keaton’s father.
“I honestly thought he’d be here by now and that there wouldn’t be anything to tell.”
“I’ll call her,” Keaton’s father said. “She’ll give me his number or I’ll—”
“David,” Gloria called. “Come over here and hold your granddaughter.”
“Mom already tried calling,” Keaton told his father. “The assistant won’t budge. There’s something a little off with her.”
His father snorted. “A little?”
“The investigator will find him,” Keaton said, sounding more confident than he felt.
“See that he does.” With those parting words David crossed to where his wife snuggled their granddaughter. Lark offered a shy smile as she passed Keaton’s father. He responded with a brief nod. While she bustled about the kitchen, pulling out side dishes and heating the oven, Keaton assessed her state of mind. She was looking agitated again. He had to block her between his body and the counter in order to gain her attention.
“Relax,” he said.
“You keep saying that, but it’s not going to happen.” She scowled at him. “Do you think I didn’t notice the way your father was looking at me? He isn’t happy about our arrangement.”
“He said you were pretty.”
The stern look Lark leveled at him would have started a lesser man sputtering apologies. “And then proceeded to warn you that Taylor girls bring Holt boys nothing but heartache?”
“Not in so many words.”
Lark set her hand on his stomach, intending to push him away. Keaton grabbed her wrists and pulled her arms around his waist. She stiffened, but he held firm.
“They’ll see,” she hissed.
He couldn’t care less. When Jake and Skye had fallen in love, the connection between their feuding families began to transform. With Grace’s arrival, there was yet another string binding them together. A sound relationship between Keaton and Lark would put an end to multiple generations of fighting.
“That’s the idea.” And then he kissed her.
Her lips quickly grew pliant and responsive. He kept the contact romantic, ignoring the passion that flared between them. There would be time enough to satisfy that later. When he was sure he’d made his point, he released her and stepped back.
“Keaton?” His mother’s voice had a slight warble as she spoke his name.
“Yes, Mom?” He kept his gaze on Lark, letting her glimpse what was in his heart.
“Are you and Lark...together?”
He shifted one eyebrow up and waited for Lark to tell him what to answer. Her nod was barely perceptible, but it released all the tension in his muscles. “Yes. We are.”
Lark’s whole body felt as if it was on fire, although whether desire or embarrassment was the dominant cause, she wasn’t sure.
“Okay, you’ve made your point,” Lark muttered to Keaton, stepping around him to go back to dinner preparations. She didn’t glance into the great room to see how Gloria and David Holt reacted to their son’s announcement. She imagined their faces reflected horror.
“Is this a new development?” Gloria sounded closer than she’d been moments earlier.
Unsure what she should contribute to the conversation, Lark kept her back to her guests and focused on getting her side dishes into the oven. She still had a green salad to pull together. After agonizing over which recipe would be best received, she decided to go with a simple collection of lettuce, carrots, grape tomatoes and cucumber. Along with that, she’d offer four different types of salad dressing.
When she’d told Julie about her limited entertaining experience and tools, the research assistant reached out to the surgical nurses for help. They’d plied her with serving dishes and favorite recipes. Lark had come home with more than enough to satisfy Keaton’s parents.