Soon To Be Brides: The Marrying Macallister / That Blackhawk Bride. Barbara McCauley

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ to someone special. Everything will be just fine.”

      As conversations started throughout the bus about what they were seeing out the windows, Caitlin cocked her head to one side and studied Matt, who looked at her questioningly.

      “What?” he said.

      “You believe that babies are capable of experiencing love at first sight, but adults aren’t?” Caitlin asked. “At what point in their lives do they change their view on the subject?”

      “Well…” Matt shrugged. “I don’t know. When we grow up and get worldly and wise, I suppose. Love at first sight? Give me a break. Love…adult, man-and-woman love…is something that grows over time, has to be nurtured, tended to, sort of like a garden that eventually produces beautiful flowers and… Jeez, I’m getting corny here.”

      “No, you’re not,” Caitlin said quietly, looking directly into Matt’s eyes. “I think you expressed that very nicely, and I agree with you.”

      “Which is why,” Matt observed, switching his gaze to the scene beyond the window, “I don’t see falling in love in my near future because I don’t have time for the nurturing, doing my part in tending to the…well, to the garden.”

      “I know,” Caitlin said, then stared out the window again.

      Well, Matt thought, he covered that topic very thoroughly, right on the mark. And for some unexplainable reason it had caused his ulcer to start burning with a hot pain as though voicing displeasure at what he had said.

      Matt reached in his pocket, retrieved an antacid tablet and popped it into his mouth, frowning as he chewed the chalky circle.

      “I saw that, MacAllister,” Bud said. “Whatever you’re talking about over there, change the subject. Your doctor has spoken.”

      “Cork it, Mathis.” Matt glared at Bud.

      The bus driver made a sudden sharp turn, and moments later they rattled to a stop in the circular driveway in front of a modern high-rise hotel.

      “We have arrived,” Elizabeth said. “This is a lovely hotel, and you’ll be very comfortable here. I’ll check us in as a group again and hand out the key cards. It would be best if you’d wait in the lobby, though, while I telephone Dr. Yang and find out what time the vans are coming to take us to the orphanage. That will save me having to call each of your rooms to let you know. Okay?”

      Elizabeth received quick, affirmative and excited answers to her request. The group was soon standing in the spacious, nicely furnished lobby with luggage at their feet and key cards in their hands as they waited to hear the outcome of her call.

      They were all booked into the fourth floor, Elizabeth explaining that it kept crying babies from disturbing other guests. Matt glanced at Caitlin’s key card, then his own, and nodded in approval that they were in side-by-side rooms.

      Good, he thought. He’d be close at hand if Caitlin needed help with Miss M. She didn’t have any experience with babies, while he had years of it due to being a MacAllister.

      A MacAllister. Ah, yes, the powerful and well-known family of Ventura, the movers and shakers, the overachievers, who seemed to excel in whatever career choices they made. As each new generation came along, the pattern was repeated. Pick a subject? There was a MacAllister who did it…extremely well. Lawyers, doctors, architects, police officers, the list was endless. If you were a MacAllister, by damn, you’d better be top-notch at whatever you did or…

      Whoa. Halt. Enough, he thought, frowning. Where was all this coming from? He was standing in a hotel lobby halfway around the world from Ventura and his clan. Why was he suddenly focusing on something that had hovered over him from the time he was a kid? A kid who wasn’t good at sports in school, who had been an average student not a super brain, a kid who looked at the Mac-Allisters surrounding him and continually wondered why he fell short time after time after…

      “Matt?” Caitlin said.

      “What?” he said, looking at her.

      “Do you have a headache? You’re frowning and rubbing your forehead. Are you okay?”

      “Oh, sure, sure, I’m fine.” He forced a smile. “Just suffering from a bit of jet lag like everyone else.” He paused. “Maybe I should figure out the time difference between here and Ventura and decide when I can call the hospital and see if everything is running smoothly.”

      Caitlin sighed. “I wondered how long it would take before you felt the need to do that. You’re not focused on a new daughter like the rest of us. You’re centered on your work.”

      “That’s not true. I’m really eager to see Miss M., Caitlin, I told you that. Remember? I said there was nowhere else I’d rather be than—”

      “Calling the hospital in Ventura,” she interrupted, lifting her chin and meeting his gaze.

      “Forget the call. I’m not going to do it. I’m not telephoning the hospital and checking up on things.”

      “Right.” Caitlin rolled her eyes.

      “I mean it. Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye. Oh, hey, here comes Eliza beth.”

      No one spoke as Elizabeth rejoined the group.

      “Okay, we’re on target,” she said. “It’s four o’clock. Go unpack and be back down here at five ready to go to the orphanage.”

      “Oh,” Caitlin whispered. “Oh, my goodness.”

      Three new mommies-to-be burst into tears.

      “Shoo, shoo,” Elizabeth said, laughing and flapping her hands at them. “Go to your rooms. There. I sound like a stern old auntie. I’ll see you all back down here in an hour.”

      Everyone collected their luggage, and Caitlin and Matt headed to their rooms.

      Matt stopped as Caitlin poked the key card in the slot when they reached her room, then opened the door when the green light blinked on. She stepped inside the room far enough to hold the door open with her bottom and look back at Matt.

      “I see the gizmo on the wall for the card so I can turn on the lights,” she said, laughing. “I’m a quick study.”

      “Good for you, but maybe you should turn around and see what they’ve put in your room.”

      Caitlin frowned slightly in confusion, turned, then a gasp escaped from her lips.

      “Oh. Oh, Matt, look. It’s a crib. A port-a-crib. It’s Miss M.’ s crib where she’ll sleep after I bring her back here tomorrow. Isn’t that the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?”

      Matt’s gaze was riveted on Caitlin as he heard the awe, the wonder, the heartfelt emotion ringing in her voice.

      “Yes, I’m looking at one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen.” He cleared his throat as he heard the rasp of building emotions in his voice. “I’ll knock on your door when it’s time to go back downstairs. Okay?”

      “’Kay,” Caitlin said absently, starting toward the crib.

СКАЧАТЬ