One Night With a Santini by Melissa Schroeder

engagement behind her, she might not be that keen on marriage. He was going to do his damnedest to make sure she would reconsider marriage.
    He glanced over at her, studying her face. She was still pale, but she didn’t look quite as sickly as she had the morning before. When he remembered how little she had eaten at breakfast, worry knotted his stomach. She kept telling him she was fine, but he knew something was on her mind.
    “Did you want to go do something today? It seems really nice.”
    She smiled at him. “It is. My brothers have a rugby game today. Well, three of them will be there. I thought we could go watch. It’s up in Baltimore.”
    He nodded. “Did you want to get something to eat?”
    Her smile faded as she swallowed. “No.”
    Worry gnawed at his gut. Was she sicker than she let on? Had she called Wendy to talk about it? Thinking she might be sick bothered him even more than she was hiding something from him. He couldn’t take it anymore.
    “Kaitlin, tell me what’s wrong.”
    She studied him for a long moment. The longer she stared at him, the more his worry increased. Kaitlin had never been a woman who hid her emotions, but he had a feeling she had been doing that since her brother had been there the day before. It was almost as if she were going through the motions. The only time she had been truthful with him had been in bed. There she could not hide her emotions.
    “I have something to tell you, and I’m not sure how you are going to take it.”
    Before he could encourage her to say anything, his cell phone went off. When he saw his Aunt Joey’s number, he wanted to curse. There was no way he could ignore her call.
    “I’m sorry. I have to take this. Give me a second?”
    She nodded.
    He stood and walked into the kitchen. “Hello, Joey.”
    “Hello, Brand. You have been here for almost forty-eight hours, and you have not been down to see me.”
    He rolled his eyes and Kaitlin smiled at him. Just that simple little grin had his heart skipping a beat. Damn, the woman was scary. The fact that his happiness was tied into hers was a little too much to accept—but he was helpless to fight it.
    “Brand?” Joey said.
    “Sorry. I’ve been just a little busy.”
    “I thought you would be here for dinner.”
    “Today? I am kind of tied up today.”
    “Yes, I heard you were busy. You need to bring her over so I can meet her.”
    That sounded like a nightmare. If his mother could be a CIA interrogator, Joey Santini could be the head of the division.
    “Uh, no.”
    “Excuse me?” she asked in a way that made most Santini men run for the hills.
    “Listen, it is a delicate situation.”
    “Are you implying that I can’t help you with that delicate situation?”
    He opened his mouth to argue back, but the phone jostled. There were definitely sounds of a struggle on the other end. He heard Joey in the background.
    “Vicente Santini, you are not too old for me to bend you over my knee.”
    His oldest cousin was laughing when he came on the phone. “Hey, Brand. We’ll try and contain her. Dad said he’d try his best, but you better make your way down here next weekend.”
    “Gotcha. How’s Jules and the baby?”
    “Oh, they’re fine. Both of them are running me ragged.”
    He heard a female voice in the background.
    “It wasn’t mean. It’s the truth.”
    Brando laughed. “Tell Joey I’ll be there for Sunday dinner next week. Tell her to text me the time.”
    “Sounds good. Do you have a place lined up?”
    “I’m staying with a friend.”
    Kaitlin smiled at that.
    “Yeah, I heard.” The tone in Vicente’s voice told him he knew it was a woman, and there was more than just a friendship going on.
    “Damn.”
    “I am pretty sure even the English side of the Santinis knows about it right now. You better decide what you’re doing before they converge on you. That’s never pretty.”
    “Never is. Kiss that pretty wife for me.”
    “Get your own wife.”
    “Working on it,