“Go for it,” he said, gratified for the reprieve. Putting up with the teasing of Jeannie and her friends would be easier than putting up with his family’s.
As Ellie hurried from his side, he figured he should at least turn around and acknowledge his family. Ellie was greeting his sisters and nieces like they were long-lost friends, while his five brothers-in-law were standing in the opening between the reception area and dining room with their phones raised, laughing and taking pictures. Of him. Standing there in a skirt and holding a teapot. He gave them the middle finger.
“Nate, I need more tea.” A woman held up a teacup three tables over from Jeannie’s.
The teapot was empty. “I’ll be right with you.” He sighed when four other women held their cups in the air. “With all of you.”
Sadie and Chase waylaid him as he walked to the kitchen. “We need to hurry everyone along,” Sadie said. “People are arriving for the next seating.”
“It’s just my family. Ellie’s taking them to see the guest rooms.”
“A few others have just arrived.”
Nate looked over his shoulder. Several women stood waiting where his brothers-in-law had been moments before. He glanced at Jeannie’s table. “I can get rid of a few of them for you right now.” By the time he’d driven each of them home on his bike, his family should be ready to head out. He shared his plan with Sadie and Chase without sharing the reason behind it.
“That’s sweet of you to offer, Nate. But I have to pick up Granny anyway. I’ll drop them off. Besides, I’m sure you want to spend time with your family.” Before he could assure her he didn’t, Sadie walked over to Jeannie’s table.
Chase laughed. “Good try, buddy.”
Twenty minutes later, Chase was no longer laughing as he helped serve Nate’s family. They took up four tables. “It’s not a skirt. It’s a kilt,” Nate heard Chase telling his boss and Nate’s least favorite brother-in-law, who hadn’t stopped teasing them since he sat down.
Which is why after saying hi, hugging and kissing every female member of his family, and enduring ten minutes of his sisters and nieces teasing and singing Ellie’s praises, Nate stayed busy serving the other tables. But Ellie had pulled up a chair beside Val, and the two of them were involved in an animated conversation with his other sisters. As though she sensed his attention, Ellie looked at him and smiled. All five of his sisters did the same. He recognized those smiles and knew he was in serious trouble. Before he shot them a warning look in return, a commotion at the other end of the dining room drew his attention.
The older women at the table closest to the entrance were all aflutter, patting their chests and batting their eyes at a guy wearing a pink button-down, navy pants, and a pair of brown dress shoes that probably cost more than Nate made in a month. Ditto on the sunglasses that he removed, giving the older women a smile that indicated he was used to garnering attention wherever he went. Nate didn’t see the appeal, but then again, he wasn’t a woman.
Nate was about to replenish his empty sandwich tray when Ellie hurried over to him. She fisted her hands in his T-shirt and tipped her head back. “Kiss me,” she said, sounding desperate.
“What’s going on?”
“Spencer,” she hissed. “He’s not supposed to be here until Tuesday!”
“That’s your ex?” He glanced back at the man half the women in the dining room were now staring at with their hearts in their eyes, including the female members of Nate’s own family. But there was only one woman who held Spencer’s attention, and that was Ellie.
“Yes! And I have no idea why he’s here.”
Nate knew exactly why her ex was here. Tough luck, asshat, he thought. No way was Nate about to let the guy think Ellie had been wasting away pining for him or that he had a chance in hell of winning her back.
Sliding an arm around Ellie’s waist, Nate drew her tight against him and lowered his head to kiss her. It was a good kiss considering she was distracted and frantic, but it would take more than this kiss to convince her ex she was done with him. Thinking back to the romantic movies his sisters had subjected to him to, Nate bent Ellie low over his arm.
A small gasp escaped from her parted, kiss-swollen lips. Nate smiled down at her. “I’d never let you fall, Ellie.”
She stared up at him, bringing her hand to cup the side of his face. “I already have.”
Chapter Nineteen
Oh yes, Ellie had fallen for Nate big-time. Somewhere over the course of the past few days, she’d gone from crushing on him to falling for him. Spending last night in the clearing with him under the stars had sent her over the edge. There was no going back now. She could no longer pretend that she wasn’t in love with the man who’d bent her over his arm in a move straight out of a romantic movie. In front of his entire family. She wondered if he realized what he had done.
He would now, she thought at the whistling and clapping coming from his family’s tables. Right on cue, his smile went from reassuringly sweet to outright panicked. Or maybe he’d just realized she wasn’t talking about falling on the ground but falling for him. Either way, she imagined the result would be the same. She just hoped it didn’t send him running for the hills.
“Baby brother, you’re supposed to kiss her again,” his sister Val called out.
“He must have missed that part of the movie,” one of his other sisters said.
“Kiss her, Uncle Nate. Kiss her!” his nieces called in their singsong voices.
Nate’s sun-bronzed cheeks reddened, whether from anger or embarrassment she wasn’t sure, but he planted his hands on her waist, lifted her up, and put her over his shoulder. If he was making a run for the hills with her, she was totally on board with that. She wanted to be anywhere other than in the dining room with Spencer.
Ignoring their audience, who were now on their feet hooting and hollering, Nate stalked to the sliding glass door and threw it open. Feeling like she had to do something other than just hang off his back, Ellie lifted her head and offered a smile to their audience and a little wave. “We won’t be long.”
Nate sighed at the inappropriate comments that followed them onto the patio. Ellie noticed that the only person in the dining room who didn’t seem to be enjoying the show was Spencer. He stood with his arms crossed, an irritated expression on his handsome face. She didn’t think it had anything to do with her being with Nate. It was just that Spencer was used to being the center of attention.
Ellie tapped Nate on the back as he strode off the patio. “You can put me down now.”
“Sorry.” He slid her off his shoulder and set her on her feet. “I don’t know what the hell came over me.”
Ellie had a fairly good idea what had set him off, but instead of sharing her thoughts, she said, “I think you were just looking for the quickest escape route, and you didn’t want to leave me behind.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah. Maybe. But I didn’t do either of us any favors. I’ve just created more for them to gossip about.”
“Well, that was kind of the point, wasn’t it? No one will question that we’re together now.” Except Nate. To him, this was all an act.