Dream Wedding(116)

“Where’s your pumpkin?” Cassie asked as she pulled Sasha to her feet and gave her costume a quick once-over. “Wasn’t it right here?”

Sasha frowned. “Pun’kin?”

“Yes, the plastic pumpkin Uncle Ryan bought you so that you can take it when we go trick-or-treating and get candy. It’s about this big.” Cassie demonstrated the size with her hands.

“Me know,” Sasha said, then dashed out of the room.

Ryan lowered the camera and stared after her. “Do you realize I’ve never seen that kid walk? She runs and skips, sort of, and races everywhere.”

“Excess energy. Too bad we can’t suck a little of it out of her each morning. Think of how much work we could both get done that day.”

“Interesting thought.” He returned his attention to her. Cassie had dressed in black jeans and a multicolored sweater. Her usual heart-shaped earrings dangled, catching the overhead light.

“You look nice,” he told her.

She glanced at him. A slight flush climbed her cheeks. “Thanks. I wanted to be warm. It’s going to be cool tonight. I knew that Sasha wouldn’t want to wear a coat over her costume so I put her in two long-sleeved T-shirts and long pants underneath her dress. She’s a tad bulky to fit in with the royal set, but otherwise, she’s the perfect princess.”

She didn’t quite meet his gaze as she spoke and the flush lingered. He made her nervous, he thought with some surprise, incredibly pleased by the fact. Maybe Cassie wasn’t as immune to him as he’d first thought. Then she raised her hand to tuck her hair behind her ear and he caught sight of the ring on her left hand. Joel’s ring.

She was already committed to someone else, he reminded himself. He had no right to mess with her life.

He set the camera on the counter. “You don’t have to come trick-or-treating with us tonight,” he told her. “You haven’t been out with Joel in several days. Don’t the two of you have plans?”

She shook her head. “Bradley Discount is having a big celebration, with candy for kids and several departments offering special sales. Joel is in charge of all that, so he couldn’t get away. Besides, I want to come out with you and Sasha. I doubt she remembers last year, so this will practically be her first time. She’s going to have fun.”

“If you’re sure.”

Her gaze met his. “I am.”

He was too, sure that he wanted her. He could feel the heat rising inside him, the need growing. One of these days he was going to have to start dating again, he told himself. He couldn’t keep having fantasies about inappropriate women—they were starting to interfere with his work.

Sasha raced back into the kitchen. She held out her plastic pumpkin and grinned. “Me find!” She handed the container to Cassie, then walked over to her uncle and raised her arms. “Up.”

Ryan bent over and gripped her, pulling her into the air and toward him in one, smooth motion. Her little arms went around his neck. He settled her at his waist, his forearm supporting her butt.

“Hey, kid, you ready to go out trick-or-treating?”

Sasha nodded. “Me pincess.”

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have called you a kid. Are you ready to go trick-or-treating, your highness?”

The toddler giggled.

The doorbell rang and she pointed. “Go see.”

“Oh, so I’m transportation now, am I?” Ryan asked, although he didn’t really mind. He liked that his niece was comfortable with him and that he enjoyed being around her.

Cassie beat both of them to the door. She pulled it open, allowing her sister, in crocodile costume, and a man dressed as a pirate to enter. Sasha took one look at them and buried her face in Ryan’s shoulder.

“It’s okay,” he said softly as Cassie greeted her sister and brother-in-law. “You know Chloe, don’t you? Cassie’s sister? You like her. And that man is her husband. I’m sure he would really like to meet a real princess. Especially one as pretty as you.”

Sasha raised her head slightly, gave a squeak and hid away again. Cassie smiled at him. “She’s gone shy, has she?”

Chloe glanced down at herself. “Do you blame her? I think the theory of the crocodile costume was a good one. While I don’t look hugely pregnant, I also don’t look much like a normal crocodile. Maybe one that has pigged out over the weekend and is a little bloated.”

“You look spectacular as always,” her husband said. He glanced at Ryan. “I’m Arizona Smith. You must be Ryan. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

They shook hands.

“Great costume,” Ryan said, motioning to the other man’s black wig, fitted blue jacket with a matching hat and the fake pistols strapped to his waist.