Miss Impractical Pants (53 page)

She gave him her grandest smile and tried not to melt into the Waverlys’ fancy-pants upholstery. “What boyfriend?”

“Brilliant,” he breathed, smoothing his lips over hers.

“Wait!” she yelped, shimmying away from him. “Kissing cousins cause catastrophic confusion and create colossal consequences!”

“Sorry?” He blinked, his confusion morphing into laughter.

She wanted to jab a pitchfork into her head for her stupidity. Why didn’t she think before expressing her imbecile proverbs? Ignoring the flames in her cheeks, she attempted to gather her composure. “What I mean is—are we still trying to be cousins?
Because that just might be a little too creepy for me.”

He studied her for a few intense moments. “No more cousins…but how you do feel about interoffice dating?” His lips twisted into a grin.

“It sounds like a big mistake to me.” She raised a seductive eyebrow and pressed against him.

“Probably.”
His grin turned mischievous and he captured her mouth with his.

“Andrew!”

Katie saw his form jogging toward them and tore across the tarmac of the private terminal to meet him, her gimpy leg trying to keep up with the rest of her.

“How are you?” he wheezed in response to her long embrace, giving her a twirl as he gently lifted her from her feet.

Puddles welled in her eyes as she took in the faint bruises and cut still healing on his face. “It’s good to see you, friend.”

“It’s good to have you back. I’ve missed you, Duchess.”

Katie rolled her eyes and groaned. “That’s a name I could go the rest of my life without hearing again.”

“Too bad.”
He winced as she bit his shoulder.

Strolling behind, carrying her backpack and holding his bandaged side, Lucas nearly did a double take watching the pair’s interaction. Andrew released Katie and turned his attention to Lucas. A strained moment of silent deliberation
ensued
as each man sized up the other. Then Andrew reached out and pulled Lucas into an emotional hug that expressed what he could not speak. Lucas returned the gesture. Katie felt her bottom lip tremble and marveled that it took near-death to dissipate years of animosity.

“They told me a family member would be waiting, but I’ll admit, I didn’t expect it to be you,” Lucas stated.

Andrew dipped his head. “I begged for a second chance given that I buggered up my last airport pickup.”

“And I came along just to make sure he didn’t bugger it up again,” a familiar brogue came from out of nowhere behind them.

Katie’s impulse was to run and knock Mr. Scott down with a big bear hug, but then she saw how Lucas’s eyes ignited into an explosion of chocolaty fireworks and knew this moment belonged to him. Lucas wiped the tears that drizzled down his rugged jaw line with the cuff of his sleeve, dropped the backpack, and sprinted into the waiting embrace of his uncle Avery.

Andrew picked up the backpack and slung it over his shoulder, then put an arm around Katie. “Love the new hairdo,” he smirked, tugging at one of her short, untamed curls.

“Thanks.” She nudged against him with her shoulder. “I did it myself.”

The two walked along companionably, allowing the long-overdue reunion between uncle and nephew to take place.

“I never thought I’d see you back in England,” Lucas’s voice trembled with emotion.

“Neither did I, lad, neither did I,” Mr. Scott agreed, resting a hand atop his nephew’s shoulder. He beamed down the tarmac toward Katie. “
A remarkable lass
once told me, ‘A home, if not left from time to time, can become a cage.’”

Lucas followed his uncle’s gaze. “She is bloody remarkable, isn’t she?”

“That she is. I’m chuffed to see you love her as much as I do. I have to admit, I had at one time hoped—”

“Is it that obvious?” Lucas interrupted.

“
Lordy
! I haven’t seen a man so besotted since I first met your Auntie Jane.”

Lucas blushed like a young schoolboy revealing his first crush.

They stood for a moment appreciating the animated exchange between Katie and Andrew before Mr. Scott, radiating with perfect happiness, broke the silence.

Patting his favorite nephew on the back, he teased, “I daresay you’ll fit into her Amazing Plan quite nicely.”

About the Author

Katie Thayne lives in the incred
ible
redrock
country of Moab, Utah
, where she shares a home with a veteran river guide, a needy golden retriever, and the occasional traveler in need of a shower and comfy sofa.
When she's not working she's writing, when she's not writing she's reading, and when she's not reading, hopefully she's traveling to places she hasn't yet discovered.

You can follow Katie on
her
blog at:

katiethayneauthor.wordpress.com

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