92 Pacific Boulevard - Debbie Macomber [99]
She turned back to look at him, her face tense. She met his gaze, her eyes dark and speculative. Finally she nodded. She’d reached a decision. “Okay. But I want to wait six months and…and this is important. I won’t sleep with you.”
“Ever?” he gasped.
“Not while we’re engaged.”
“But you’ll stay in Cedar Cove?”
She nodded again.
That lightened his mood. Still, there was this six-month engagement she was insisting on. “Why wait that long?” he asked.
“It’ll give both of us enough time to decide if a marriage will work. At the end of six months, we can reevaluate. If there’s no physical contact between us, it would be easier for either one of us to break off the engagement and walk away.”
Mack’s mouth went dry. He didn’t know how to respond.
“Take it or leave it.”
“Ah…”
“Should I assume our arrangement’s off or do we wait six months?”
“Okay, okay, if that’s how you want it.”
Mary Jo relaxed and held out her hand for him to shake. “Then we agree?”
“I guess.”
“Becoming engaged is serious, Mack. ‘I guess’ is not a sufficient answer.”
He swallowed tightly. It was either accept her terms or risk losing her and Noelle. The baby gurgled and smiled up at him. “Okay, we’ll do this your way,” he muttered and they shook hands.
“So we’re engaged,” Mary Jo said.
Engaged. To the woman he loved. But it seemed more like a business deal—and not a very advantageous one, either.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” Linc felt obliged to ask. He and Lori Bellamy stood in front of the Kitsap County Courthouse nearly three weeks after their initial meeting. Their hands were tightly clasped. Linc wore his best suit. Fact was, he only had the one suit—and he might be wearing it a second time this year at Mary Jo’s wedding. Her engagement to Mack McAfee wasn’t a complete surprise, and it did give him a certain measure of reassurance.
Lori was so beautiful in her pink dress it was an effort not to stare. She responded with a delicate nod. “I’m ready if you are.”
“Did you tell your parents?”
“No.” Her eyes connected with his. “Did you tell your brothers? And your sister?”
Linc shook his head. He didn’t feel it was necessary for his brothers to know just yet.
“You have the license?”
Linc patted his suit pocket. “Right here.”
“We’ll need witnesses.”
Linc had forgotten all about that. “Someone from the judge’s office can stand up for us.“
Lori swallowed hard and looked away. “I didn’t tell anyone because I knew if I did, everyone would try to talk me out of it.” She blushed slightly, her right hand clutching the small bouquet he’d bought her. “I want to marry you.“
“Me, too.” Linc wanted a wife, an “old-fashioned” woman who shared his values and wanted to make their family her career, at least while their children were young. Although he didn’t know Lori well, what he did know suited him just fine. They’d had a number of intense conversations, mostly on the phone.
“If anyone knew I’d agreed to marry a man I’d seen a total of four times, they’d think I was mentally unbalanced.” She looked up at him. “Can I ask you something before we go inside?“
“Of course.“
“Linc…” She turned away from him.
“Yes?“
“Do you love me?“
Linc had been afraid she might ask this, and he wished he knew what she wanted to hear, what she expected him to say. As tempting as it was to lie, he didn’t feel that would be a good start to their marriage.
“No,” he said, then immediately qualified his answer. “I don’t love you yet, but I like you more every time we talk.“
“We talk a lot, don’t we?“
Every day, which pleased him. They needed to lay the groundwork for their relationship, set everything in place and work out any disagreements before they said their vows. As a result of their lengthy conversations, he’d made concessions and so had she. He felt that marrying this woman was the right decision, despite their short acquaintance.
“I put in an offer on a commercial property off Harbor Street—the one we talked