Marrying Daisy Bellamy by Susan Wiggs Page A

in. Let him go, she thought. Let him go.
    After breakfast, she returned to her room to get her bag, pausing to check her hair and makeup. For some reason, it seemed important to look nice when she told him goodbye.
    In the lobby, she was surprised to find Julian there by himself.
    He was dressed in civilian clothes, loose cargo shorts and a pink golf shirt. It didn’t escape Daisy’s notice that every woman who passed by checked him out, yet he seemed oblivious to the attention. He had no idea how amazing he looked, at the peak of fitness, his posture perfect even when he was relaxing. The minute he spotted Daisy, his gaze never wavered, focusing on her with laserlike intensity.
    So much had changed for them both, but one thing remained constant—this pull of emotion that drew them together. It felt particularly present this morning, and Daisy discovered she was not the only one who felt that way.
    â€œMorning,” he said in a low voice that sounded intoxicatingly sexy. “I thought you’d never get here.”
    This was not, she reminded herself, the way she had scripted the conversation in her head. She was supposed to have a talk with him, tell him their lives were taking them in different directions and figure out how they were both going to deal with that.
    â€œWhere is everyone else?” she asked, trying to get her bearings.
    â€œThey all took off for the airport. They said to tell you goodbye.”
    â€œConnor and Olivia?”
    Julian picked up her overnight bag. “Already headed back to Avalon.”
    â€œWhat?” She stopped in the hotel doorway. “But what about me?”
    â€œI’ll get you home.”
    Her heart skipped a beat. “You’re driving me all the way to Avalon?” It was a long drive. The idea of having him all to herself was almost too much to bear.
    â€œI’m not driving you,” he said.
    â€œThen how—?”
    â€œYou’ll see.”
    They boarded a campus-to-town bus marked Cayuga, the name of the narrow, forty-mile-long lake that stretched from Ithaca to Seneca Falls.
    She looked around nervously at the other passengers. “Don’t tell me we’re—”
    â€œHush.” He gently put a finger to her lips, and his touch made her shiver despite the warmth of the day. “You’ll see.”
    She tried to steel herself against his charms but instead settled into a sense of delicious anticipation. Their heart-to-heart could wait a bit longer. “I do love surprises,” she said.
    â€œThen I guess you’ll love this.”
    At the lakefront he led the way past a busy marina, bobbing with sailboats and runabouts. There was a boathouse, with kayaks and canoes stacked on racks. At the end of a long, L-shaped dock were a couple of float planes.
    When Julian started down the dock, she balked. “Really, Julian? Seriously? You’re flying?”
    He grinned, his eyes bright with excitement. “You okay with that?”
    Unable to hold herself back, she set down her camera bag and raced toward him, leaping into his embrace and wrapping her arms and legs around him. “What do you think?” she demanded.
    He held her as if she weighed nothing. “Cool. We’ll be back in Avalon before Connor and Olivia.”
    â€œI’m in no hurry,” she said. “I mean, I miss Charlie. I always do when I’m away overnight, but—”
    â€œIt’s okay.” He brushed his knuckles over her cheek.
    He knew her well. He knew that having a good time without Charlie around was a struggle for her. She and her little boy were a pair, even when they couldn’t be together.
    The float plane was a single engine two-seater that had been painted fuchsia. It belonged to the local flying club, which Julian had joined as soon as he’d matriculated at Cornell. He’d been taking flying lessons all through college, exchanging mechanical and maintenance labor for