A Madaris Bride for Christmas. Brenda Jackson

around noon. A truck had arrived and the deliveryman had not only unloaded the groceries but had taken the time to put them away. Before leaving he’d handed her a note that said:

      Ingredients needed for tomorrow’s dinner.

      Lee

      “Pretty much sounds like it, but do you really want to cancel?”

      Carly nibbled her bottom lip as she thought about Heather’s question. “I really don’t know what I want. Things are happening so fast. First I kiss a guy on the hotel balcony and two days later I discover he owns the hotel. Now he wants an affair.”

      “Are you sure? He didn’t ask for one. From what you told me, all he wants to do is get to know you better,” Heather said.

      Carly rolled her eyes. “For what purpose? What guy do you know that’s not looking for something?”

      Heather chuckled. “If you recall, I thought the same thing about Joel but he proved me wrong. Maybe this guy will prove you wrong. Hey, he’s cooking dinner for you, so he can’t be all bad. And you did say he was good-looking.”

      “Too good-looking, which makes me suspicious. Why me when he probably has a slew of others who would die for the chance to get to know him?”

      “Why not you? You’re beautiful. Stop putting yourself down. You have just as much to offer as anyone else, maybe more. You’re not a parasite who plans to feed off Lee Madaris’s wealth, and I bet he’s encountered plenty of women like that and sees you as being different.”

      Oh, she was different all right, Carly thought. So different that she was brazen enough to kiss him the first night they met. That was probably what he remembered the most. He probably wondered what she would initiate if he had her in the privacy of her own home.

      “Well, I plan to keep my guard up. Nathaniel proved that some men can’t be trusted.”

      “At least you said some and not all.”

      Carly smiled. “Only because your Joel renewed my faith in some men.” And he had. Heather’s fairy-tale courtship had been special. Carly’s best friend had tried resisting Joel but he had been determined to sweep Heather off her feet and had done just that.

      “Well, I’ll let you know how things turn out. But don’t be surprised if after Thursday he decides never to bother with me again.”

      “What do you plan to do?”

      “Be myself. Then he can decide if I’m as boring as Nathaniel claims I am.”

      Heather asked how Aunt Ruthie was doing and Carly let her switch the topic, asking Heather about her parents and her brother. Heather told her how beautiful the weather was in Spain, and Carly told her about the garden she had started in her backyard. Those living in Vegas had told her that if she planned to grow anything, now was the time to plant and wish herself luck.

      Then Heather said, “I’m still checking the Miami Herald every day online and I assume you’re doing the same.”

      “Yes,” Carly said.

      Although Heather had doubts about Carly’s story about what she’d heard that night, her friend still checked the paper just in case.

      “But so far I haven’t come across anything,” Carly said. “I’ve decided to check for a few more weeks and if nothing comes up then that’s it. It’s going on six months now and I can’t live my life wondering if I’m sane or not.”

      “You’re sane, but you might have been slightly confused that night. Remember, you had worked a double the day before.”

      Carly remembered, but still, why did the sound of that man’s voice keep resurfacing in her mind? She had not dreamed that, had she?

      “You did all you could,” Heather said. “If the police had found anything it would have been in the papers.”

      Carly knew Heather was right.

      “Call and let me know how tomorrow’s dinner goes. I’m still working on Joel about that trip to Vegas that he promised.”

      After ending the call and clicking off the phone, Carly glanced around her kitchen. It seemed that Lee meant business. She couldn’t help lifting her lips in a smile.

      “Dinner should be interesting.”

      * * *

      Lee looked across the table at the three men he’d flown to Dubai to meet. They were older cousins whom he thought of as older brothers. Justin, Dex and Clayton Madaris had already been out of college and working in their chosen professional fields when Lee and his close cousins had become teens. It had meant a lot to be able to ask their older cousins those questions they wouldn’t dare ask their parents. Justin, the oldest, was a doctor; Dex, the middle brother, was a geologist; and Clayton, the youngest brother, was an attorney. All three were happily married with families.

      “I’m surprised the three of you could plan to come to Dubai on vacation at the same time,” Lee said, taking a sip of his wine.

      Justin chuckled. “Syneda planned it all. That should tell you everything.”

      Lee smiled. It did. Syneda was Clayton’s wife and was quite outspoken. She was known for the outlandish. And everyone adored her, as they did Justin’s wife, Lorren, who had been Syneda’s best friend since childhood, and Dex’s wife, Caitlin. All three couples were known to give lavish parties. Visiting them had always been a highlight while growing up.

      “You know you didn’t have to come all the way to Dubai to see us,” Dex said, his lips forming a smile. “Houston was closer.”

      “Your reluctance to visit home has nothing to do with Mama Laverne’s prophecy, does it?” Clayton asked, his eyes showing amusement.

      Lee shook his head. He wished he could find the situation as amusing as Justin, Dex and Clayton did. “Did she find your wives?”

      “Nope,” Justin said. “I think she was taking a break during our generation.”

      “But she did give me grief at my wedding,” Clayton said, grinning.

      “Get the story right, Clayton,” Dex said, taking a sip of his drink. “You were the one causing grief by breaking every rule.”

      Lee chuckled. He’d been at the wedding that day but had been too young to know what had been going on behind the scenes. The one thing all of them had known was that Clayton was the rebel in the family, along with one of their other cousins, Felicia Laverne, who’d been named after Mama Laverne.

      “To answer your question, Clayton, I’m trying to come up with my game plan before coming home for Christmas. Nolan called a few nights ago and said he heard Mama Laverne planning my wedding to her friend’s granddaughter.”

      “Well, she did give you fair warning at Angelo and Peyton’s wedding,” Dex said, shaking his head. “What can you do other than avoid coming home?”

      Lee wished he could answer that question. He was saved from having to come up with something when he saw Lorren, Syneda and Caitlin heading for their table. “Here come your beautiful wives.”

      He watched the expressions on his three cousins’ faces when they stood, waiting for the ladies’ arrival. It was easy to see they adored the women they’d married. It would be nice if all marriages were like that. Lee had been exposed to enough solid marriages in his family to know they could work if both people were on the same page and in love. His parents’ marriage had lasted close to thirty-five years and long marriages ran in his family.

      He had an MBA. He understood business, not this emotion called love. What if there was no love? Could two people marry and become life partners?

      He brought his glass to his lips just as he was slammed with a whopper of an idea. “Why didn’t I think of that before?” he said aloud.

      “Think of what?”