Jett so wonderful, his family had to be pretty great too. What did she know of interacting with family? Nada. Well, except for Molly—whom she couldn’t reach, damn it.
Where was her sister?
She glanced at the clock, but it wasn’t so late that she couldn’t indulge in a quick phone call. She called her stepmother first, but that was a dead end. Kathi claimed to have no idea where Molly had “gotten off to” and she didn’t share Natalie’s concern.
“She’s probably doing a book signing or touring or something.”
Natalie shook her head. “She always tells me first.”
Impatient, Kathi laughed. “Don’t be absurd, Natalie. Your sister is a grown woman, not a child, and she doesn’t have to account for her every moment, not even to you.”
Natalie rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t saying—”
“You know how Molly is. When she gets involved in research, she often forgets everything and everyone else.”
With you and Father, Natalie wanted to say, but she held back the snarky reply. Molly worked hard to maintain a relationship with their father because she still cared about those familial ties.
Natalie didn’t really give a flip one way or the other.
Striving for a polite tone, she said, “Could you ask Father if maybe he’s heard anything—”
“Not tonight I won’t.” Kathi laughed again in a wholly condescending way. “Natalie, dear, it’s late and you know that your father is far too busy to be bothered with this sort of nonsense.”
“But Dad might know something.”
“I’ll mention it to Bishop in the morning and if he does, I’ll call you. But really, stop panicking.”
Through her teeth, Natalie said, “I am not panicked. I am concerned.”
Kathi let out a sigh. “With you, it’s hard to tell the difference. Just give your sister a few days before you start bothering Bishop or anyone else. Now I really must go. Good night, dear.”
And with that, Kathi hung up. Natalie growled at the dead phone. No, she didn’t dislike Kathi just because she’d married her father, or because her father hadn’t mourned her mother’s death for long, or because Kathi had effectively distanced her even more from her father.
She disliked Kathi because she was a sanctimonious, uppity, judgmental bitch.
And because, given those traits, she was the perfect woman to be Bishop Alexander’s wife.
Making a face, Natalie decided on a long shot and called Molly’s ex-fiancé, Adrian.
Being that Adrian ran a bar, this was normal business hours for him. His bartender answered and put her through to Adrian’s office.
Surprise sounded in his tone. “Natalie?”
God, how Natalie despised Adrian Wiseman. From the very beginning, she’d known that he wasn’t good enough for her sister. It had taken Molly a while to realize it, unfortunately. “Hello, Adrian. I’m sorry to bother you.”
Cautiously, because Adrian held out hope of getting back with Molly, he said, “It’s fine, fine. What’s up?”
“I haven’t been able to reach Molly. She’s not answering her calls, and…you know how close we are.”
Unlike Kathi, Adrian accepted that. “Yes, I do.” A new alertness entered his tone. “You’re worried?”
“Getting there, yes. Tomorrow I’m leaving for a spring-break vacation, but I hate to go without talking to Molly first.”
He cleared his throat. “Ah…you do realize that we’re no longer engaged?”
Dolt. “Like I said, Molly and I are close.” And she’d cheered for Molly during the breakup. Never, not for a single second, had she ever considered Adrian good enough for her sister. He was an opportunist who saw dollar signs when he looked at Molly, not only because of their father’s wealth but because of Molly’s fast-growing fame as a bestselling novelist.
“Right.” Annoyance sharpened Adrian’s tone. “So then you’re calling me…why?”
Natalie sighed. “Just a long shot, I guess. I didn’t know who else to ask. It’s not like her to take off without telling me first.”
A heavy pause strained her patience, and then Adrian drew all the wrong conclusions. “You think she might be having regrets?”
“What? No!”
Adrian didn’t seem to hear her. “Maybe she’s off by herself, rethinking her position, maybe…missing me.”
Oh, good grief. “Not likely, Adrian. I thought you might have talked to her, though, and since you haven’t, I’ll let you go.”
“I’ll call her too,” he rushed to say. “If I get hold of her, I’ll let her know that you’re concerned.”
Lovely. Now Molly would strangle her. “That’s okay. I’m sure Kathi’s right and Molly is just off researching something. You know her research sometimes takes her to obscure places. Maybe she doesn’t have cell reception or something.” Natalie rushed through her words, but she wanted off the phone before she said anything else to encourage Adrian. “Gotta go. Take care, Adrian. Bye-bye.”
Adrian was in midsentence when she hung up on him, and she winced in guilt. She’d ended up doing the same as Kathi!
Without her sister to talk to, Natalie accepted that she had no one.
Except Jett.
But she couldn’t do that to him. In almost every way, Jett was the ideal bachelor. He had the job he wanted, the hours he wanted, the freedom he wanted.
He was good at being single, and he was great at winning female attention. She had to remember that at all times.
So what to do?
It took a few deep breaths for her to make up her mind. Men like Adrian were a dime a dozen; she and her sister had both had their share of shrugging off the jerks, the users, the fakes and phonies. But a man like Jett?
One in a million.
And he wanted her.
She’d be a fool not to take everything he offered, and if that meant navigating the uncomfortable social scene, or even meeting his family, so be it.
With her mind made up, Natalie went to the living room where she had everything she’d need for the trip piled up by the door. One tote bag held her beauty supplies—makeup, hair brushes, lotion and the like. She had her laptop case and her camera. Another bag held a few snacks for the road. Yes, she liked to stop often on the long drive, but she also liked to munch while driving.
She dragged her sparsely packed suitcase back to her bedroom, plopped it up on the bed and opened it. Now that
