A Wedding In the Family by Kathryn Alexander Read Free Book Online Page B

time since I’ve had anyone significant in my life, but Angela…”
    ”…could be significant?” Grace suggested with a mother’s smile.
    “Yes,” Adam concurred and studied the gentleface of this older woman across from him—a face much like Angela’s might look twenty years from now.
    “You’re a wise man, Adam Dalton, and you have great taste in women.” Grace stood up, and Adam did, too. “I’m going to try to catch up with those two and help with the children. Thanks for coming here tonight. I’m sure you could have done something more enjoyable than being at this church gathering of people you don’t know, meeting us, eating hamburgers that tasted like lighter fluid.”
    Adam laughed. “Mine wasn’t so bad.”
    “Well, mine was,” Grace remarked, “but fortunately, I wasn’t very hungry. They never seem to get someone to grill the meat who actually knows what they’re doing.” She reached out and touched Adam’s cheek. “We hope to see you again soon.”
    “You will,” he answered.
    Grace nodded, and left him to join her husband and daughter.
    Adam stood at the edge of a group of people gathered around the bonfire, and watched Angela cross the grassy area toward him. She hugged her corduroy jacket closer as the chilly air of the early October evening settled in.
    “Where are the kids?” he asked when she neared.
    “Mom and Dad offered to take them for a while.” She looked toward the dwindling crowd. “And they all wanted to go.” Then Angela raised her gaze to study the shadows falling across Adam from the roaringfire close by. His eyes seemed more distant than she’d noticed before, and she looked away.
    “The temperature has dropped since the sun set,” he remarked. “Do you want to walk up where it’s warmer?” He touched only her coat as his hand moved to her arm.
    “No,” she said a little too quickly, and then paused. She wanted to say it right “I…I’d like to leave now.” Her cautious blue eyes returned to meet his dark gaze.
    Adam searched her face in the flickering firelight, then responded with no more than a slight nod. He clasped her hand in his and gave an easy tug.
    They walked hand in hand across the gravel parking lot. Angela kicked up some pebbles with the toe of her boot, while Adam slid the key into the lock, and opened her door. She smiled up at him through the twilight Even in air rendered smokey from the bonfire, she was close enough to enjoy the spicy scent of his cologne, and it filled her with unfamiliar longing. As she moved past him toward the passenger seat, her right arm and shoulder brushed against his chest in an unintentional contact that jolted her. Her hand flew up spontaneously, involuntarily to touch the front of his shirt. Never before could she remember wanting anyone’s kiss as much as she wanted Adam’s in that solitary moment And it took all her willpower to pull away from him and climb into the van.
    Adam looked away from her toward the subdued light of sunset in the western sky, giving no indication that he had noticed the awkward moment Then heshut the door and walked slowly around to the driver’s side to join her in the vehicle.
    Angela looked straight ahead, staring steadily out the window. If she so much as glanced his way, he would read these emotions in her eyes. No feelings this strong could be hidden for long, she knew, but if they could get away from here—all the people, cars coming and going, the kids, her parents…If they could be alone, some place, any place, private—even if only for a few minutes…If he kissed her, she’d know how he felt about her. She closed her eyes momentarily at the thought of Adam not kissing her, and sighed audibly. That couldn’t happen. Surely he felt something similar for her, didn’t he? These feelings in her didn’t arise out of nowhere. Their beginning was with him, in him, from him.
    Adam drove in silence for several minutes. Then when they did speak, they did so