Kiss Me Kate (The English Brothers Book 6) (23 page)

Their reactions were varying degrees of displeasure and disapproval as their eyes flicked to her fingers entwined with Étienne’s, but her anger—her fury—made it easy to stare them down. She would not be cowered. She would not be rebuked.

“Thanks for assembling everyone,” said Étienne in a clear, firm voice from beside her, and it occurred to Kate that he addressed Barrett, who nodded once, tersely.

“Didn’t leave me much choice. I assume the business was—”

“This isn’t about business,” said Étienne, shooting a quick look at Alex, whose eyes, Kate noticed, were narrow and angry. “This is about me…and Kate.”

Stratton huffed angrily, looking at Kate with an expression of such disappointment, it hurt her heart to see it.

“I told you who he was…what he said about you…and you got together with him? That’s great, Kate. Great choice.”

“Strat,” she said, pulling out a chair with her free hand and sitting down as Étienne maneuvered to sit in the chair beside her. “You have an old grudge against Étienne. But that ends today.”

“I have
many
grudges against Étienne,” said Stratton in a cold voice, “and I highly doubt anything that happens here today is going to change that.”

Kate looked at the TV screen where Alex looked as pissed off as Stratton.

“And you?”

“What
about
me?” he challenged. “What about
you
carrying on with this asshole?”

Étienne tensed beside her, but Kate squeezed his hand, asking him to let her handle it. “You want to jump into it? Fine with us. You beat Étienne to a pulp and got him expelled.”

Alex lurched forward. “Because of what he said about you, Kate! Jesus! I was just defending you!”

“You
heard
him say these things?” asked Kate in a level voice.

“Yeah. I mean, I-I know he said them.”

“Because you
heard
him,” Kate said again.

“Yeah.”

“Where?” she asked.

“Um, at mass…that morning.”

Kate shook her head. “He wasn’t at mass that morning. He was hung-over. He was in the infirmary getting aspirin.”

Alex’s eyebrows furrowed together as he stared back at Kate and dug in his heels, “I heard it.”

“Where? Not from Étienne,” she said.

“You heard Ten say those things about Kate, right Alex?” asked Stratton, straightening his glasses.

“
Everyone
was saying it,” bellowed Alex. “And he’d just pulled that shit with Stratton and Jillian O’Connor a few weeks before. He was fucking with our family, Kate.”

Stratton’s eyes shot to Kate and Étienne and then back to his older brother. “Alex, wait a second, you never heard Étienne say those things about Kate?”

“He didn’t hear anything,” said Étienne in a low, level voice, “because they were never said by me. They were things I never would have dreamed of saying about Kate.”

Stratton stared at Étienne, sizing him up from across the table. “But everyone said—”

Étienne turned away from Stratton dismissively and looked at Alex. “It was Kurt Martinson.”

Alex’s face registered instant recognition and surprise as he stared back at Étienne, crossing his arms over his chest.

Étienne continued, a sour look on his face as he stared back at Alex. “I told Kurt and Dash Ambler that Kate and I had been together, and Kurt wanted to embarrass you, Alex, so he told the whole school, in lewd terms, what had happened between me and Kate. And you took the bait.”

Alex stared back at Étienne, seething. “That’s not how I remember it.”

“Interesting, Alex,” mused Kate. “Because you actually don’t seem to be remembering it at all.”

“I was protecting you, Kate.”

“I believe that you love me, Alex. But, you acted rashly because you had an old score to settle with Étienne. An old score that actually started with Barrett,” she added, turning her eyes to her eldest cousin.

“Me? What the hell? I wasn’t even living at Haverford when all of this went down!”

“No,” said Étienne, “but you were living there when my brother was dating Bree Ambler, weren’t you?”

Barrett shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Bree said they’d broken up.”

“Yeah,” said Étienne acidly. “She just hadn’t told J.C. yet.”

“So, Barrett stole Bree from J.C., and Étienne stole Jillian from Stratton. Are we all up to speed?” asked Kate, looking around the table. She shifted her glance back to the TV screen where a belligerent Alex looked like he’d rather be anywhere than at this particular family meeting. “Then
your
ex-girlfriend’s brother spread a nasty rumor about me to get back at you, but instead of checking your sources, you went after Étienne. And you got him expelled.”

Alex clenched his jaw and swallowed, then looked down.

Kate turned to Stratton, who looked about as uncomfortable as Alex. “And all those times I cried to you during college…you never told me that Alex had beaten him up and gotten him sent away. You let me believe he didn’t love me.”

“Because I didn’t think he did,” said Stratton softly.

Kate nodded.

“I do,” said Étienne in a cool, clear voice. “I love Kate. I’ve loved Kate since the day I met her.”

“Well,” said Stratton in a terse voice, his eyes narrowing, “that explains why Amy always felt like you were cheating on her.”

“Oh you know what, Stratton?” exploded Étienne, banging his free hand on the table. “Fuck you! Did you sleep with her? With Amy?”

“Unlike you,” said Stratton, “I have morals.”

“Some moral high ground,” sneered Étienne. “Amy was pretty clear that every time she wasn’t in my bed, she was in yours.”

“She was.” Stratton cleared his throat. “Or on my couch. But I didn’t
sleep
with her. She was always talking about
you
.”

“And you don’t think we were played?” asked Étienne, his eyes shooting daggers across the table.

“Étienne,” whispered Kate, her eyes begging him to calm down. His nostrils flared and he flexed his jaw, looking down at the table.

“Strat,” said Kate gently. “I know you cared for her. But Amy wasn’t exactly who you thought she was.”

“I know she was jerked around by
him
!”

Étienne huffed quietly beside her, and Kate turned to look at his bent head before rounding on Stratton. She’d had just about enough accusations hurled at Étienne.

“No, she wasn’t. No more than she jerked him around! And you! Did you know she’s not engaged anymore?” Stratton’s surprised expression confirmed he didn’t. “Did you know she called Étienne last night and asked for him to come back to her? Strat, you have one of the purest hearts I know, but she manipulated you just like she did Étienne. You’re smart. If you look back on everything, you’ll start putting it together, but I swear to you, Étienne wasn’t the monster that she claimed him to be.”

Stratton looked away disgustedly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Kate looked around at her uncle and cousins before glancing back at Étienne, who’d raised his head. Sensing that she was about to deliver her closing arguments, he gave her a small smile and nodded slightly, loosening his fingers from hers as if to say, I’m right here if you need me, but you should do this part on your own.

Kate flattened her hands on the table, taking a deep breath before she looked up.

“I love all of you,” she said, capturing the eyes of each of her family members in turn. “But I love Étienne too.”

She heard his soft, sharp gasp from beside her, and it made her lips tilt up in a smile as she glanced over at him and nodded. He reached for her hand again, weaving his fingers through hers, before urging her to continue with his eyes.

“I love him, and your actions”—she glanced meaningfully at Barrett, Stratton, and Alex before leveling her gaze at her Uncle Tom—“and those of my father, kept us apart for many years. Let me be very clear: I don’t require your protection. I don’t require your approval. I don’t require your permission. And all of you are going to need to get used to seeing Étienne’s face, because he’s welcome wherever I am. I love him and I choose him.”

Her uncle and cousins each nodded at her solemnly after this short speech, until she got to Alex, who looked at Étienne.

“If I was wrong,” he offered belligerently, “I’m sorry.”

“I understand,” said Étienne. “You thought I disrespected Kate.”

“I would have bet my life on it.”

“You would have lost.” Étienne squeezed Kate’s hand. “To be clear, I’m completely in love with your niece and cousin. She’s the only woman I ever really wanted, and Stratton? You’re right that I cheated on Amy in my heart, but you’re wrong about Amy as a person. Maybe you’ll figure that out one day or maybe you won’t, but you don’t know her like I do. I guarantee you that.

“The bottom line is that Kate and I didn’t have much of a chance the first time around, and as long as all of you are willing to bury the hatchet, I was hoping we’d have a better chance this time.”

Barrett cleared his throat, looking across the table at Étienne with a shrewd glance before shifting his eyes to Kate. “Does this mean that Étienne Rousseau is going to need an invitation to my wedding?”

Kate felt her lips tilt up—grateful when Barrett’s did the same—until she was laughing softly, nodding at her oldest cousin. “I think it does.”

“You free to come to my wedding?” asked Barrett, sizing up Étienne with a cautious smile.

“If you’re lucky, you’ll get out of being a groomsman,” said Weston. “These guys are pretty demanding at weddings.”

Kate watched, her heart bursting with pleasure, as Étienne grinned back at her cousins and answered, “If Kate’s going to be there, I’ll be there too.” He reached across the table and offered his hand to Barrett. “I’d be honored.”

Tension broken, they all stood as Alex hung up to take a call and Étienne crossed the room to shake hands with Fitz and Weston. As he joked with Barrett, Fitz, and Weston about weddings, Stratton made his way around the table to Kate, finally standing in front of her with a troubled look.

“I don’t know. It’s a lot to take in.”

“Tell me about it,” said Kate.

“I’ve always felt guilty that I knew about you two and didn’t blow the whistle. I could have protected you better.”

“You made the right decision to keep my secret. I’m grateful for that.”

“If I was wrong about him, I’m sorry. But only time will tell.”

“It certainly will.”

Stratton nodded once, then passed Kate on his way out of the room, pressing his lips to her cheek before leaving.

“Kate,” said her uncle from behind her, and she turned to face him. “In my brother’s defense, he was only trying to protect you. When that boy arrived at his apartment that night, well, he knew about the fight with Alex, and I think his only goal was to protect you.”

“I’ll have to take it up with him, Uncle Tom,” said Kate, thinking that she only saw her father once or twice a year, and by then she might want to concentrate her energy on introducing him to Étienne instead of rehashing the past. “Or not.”

“You were the only girl in the family. We just wanted—”

“I know. But no more.”

He nodded at her, his blue eyes looking tired and sorry. “No more, Katie. I promise.” He kissed her forehead and started out of the room, then turned around at the door. “If you decide to get married, though, good luck finding a date. These guys have the calendar pretty booked,” he said hooking a thumb at his sons before slipping out of the room with a wink.

“Cart before horse, Uncle Tom!” Kate exclaimed then gasped as she felt two strong arms encircle her waist.

“Oh, I don’t know,” said a lightly-accented French voice close to her ear. “It doesn’t sound like such a bad idea to me.”

“Étienne!” she said, spinning in his arms as the rest of her cousins filed discreetly out of the boardroom. “We have to date a while. We need to get to know each other again and I don’t even know what you want for dinner tonight, and besides, you haven’t met the trio yet, and—”

Grinning at her with that old twinkle in his eyes that Kate had first fallen in love with, Étienne lowered his head, and whispered, “Kiss me, Kate.”

And she did.

Two months later, there wasn’t a dry eye in the gardens of Haverford Park when Barrett English looked into the face of Emily Edwards, whom he’d loved since he was a child, and promised to love her for the rest of his life. Kate, who stood beside bridesmaid, Molly McKenna, had entered the church first, since she had the added responsibility of reading a verse from First Corinthians. Now she looked across the minister and happy couple to the groomsmen, almost all of whom were looking at their mates: Fitz at Daisy, Alex at Jessica, Stratton at Valeria, Weston at Molly, and Étienne…at her.

Asked to join the wedding party at the last minute when Barrett’s college roommate came down with the flu three days ago, Étienne had graciously accepted and it had thrilled Kate to be able to walk down the aisle with her boyfriend instead of a stranger.

Even more thrilling was the fact that over the past couple of months, Barrett, Fitz, and Weston had accepted Étienne as a friend, inviting him to all of the bachelor pre-wedding events. Étienne and Fitz, who were both lawyers, had a lot in common, and Kate was always delighted to spend more time with Daisy, who was due to have baby Caroline any day.

A tense peace existed between Étienne, Stratton, and Alex, but Kate trusted their relationship would get better over time. After all, Kate had no intention of letting Étienne go, so her cousins would simply need to accept him eventually.

“So,” said Jessica, leaning over Alex to chat with Kate later at the reception. “Alex won’t tell me any of the good stuff about how you two got together. It sounds so jolly secretive! How’d you get to know each other? Where’d you meet?”

Kate had stared at Jessica with her mouth open as it dawned on her that Jessica’s family home, Westerly, had, in fact, been where she’d fallen in love with Étienne. She glanced at his face, split with the same smile she wore, then turned back to Jess.

“We met over Spring Break a long time ago.”

“Here? At Haverford Park?”

“Mm-hmm.” Kate nodded, feeling Étienne’s fingers slip through hers under the table. “Here and there,” she said, glancing over at the hedges where they’d said their final farewell so long ago.

“Did I see Jax here?” Jess asked Étienne, unaware of the subtext in her questions and Kate’s answers.

Étienne nodded. “Yep. Jax, Mad, and J.C. are all here.”

“I’ll have to catch up with them,” said Jess. “It’s been ages.”

“And it’s been ages since you’ve danced with me,” said Alex. Grinning at his fiancée, he turned to Kate. “We’ve been practicing with Val…for the wedding.”

“Like he needs practice,” said Val, rolling her eyes. “Smoothest dancer I ever saw, and the wedding’s still three months away.”

“Any excuse to get his woman on the dance floor,” said Stratton, “which seems like a very fine idea to me.”

Kate watched as Stratton and Val joined Alex and Jess on the dance floor.

“What do you say, Molly? Want to…dance?” Weston grinned wickedly at his girlfriend, offering his hand to her.

“Weddings are sort of our thing,” said Molly to Étienne, winking at Kate before slipping out a side door nowhere near the dance floor.

“Ooooph,” Daisy sighed, massaging her tummy through her bridesmaid dress. “She’s kicking like crazy tonight.”

“You want to head home, mama?”

“I think I’ll just go upstairs and lie down.”

“Room for one more with you two?” asked Fitz, his eyes soft with love.

“Always room for you,” said Daisy, letting him help her up and waving goodnight to Kate and Étienne.

“I never thought I’d say this,” said Étienne, watching them go, “but I like your family.”

“They’re growing on you, right?”

“If you had told me six months ago that I’d be in one of the English brothers’ weddings? I’d have told you that polar bears would sooner take over hell.”

“Would you have believed that you’d be sitting here next to me?”

“I think I always hoped,” he said, taking her hand in his and kissing her knuckles tenderly.

She still hadn’t gotten used to how beautiful he was…not after countless nights in his arms and innumerable mornings watching him sleep. Even now, as he watched the couples dancing, his profile was so stunning it made Kate’s breath catch. And he belonged to her.

He belongs to me
, she thought with wonder.

Two months together had proven that Lib was—of course—right when she said that it wasn’t impossible to meet the love of your life when you’re fifteen. It’s not necessarily that Kate had fallen more in love with Étienne since New Orleans, but she trusted the love they had. In living their lives together—half at his place and half at hers—she was learning that he was everything she’d ever dreamed of in a man…possibly because the man of her dreams was the adult version of the boy she’d so loved. Whatever the reason, for the first time in Kate English’s life, she was completely, blissfully happy.

“I have something for you,” said Étienne, still staring out at the dance floor. “Two things, actually.”

“What? Like a gift?”

He shrugged, still not looking at her, but his lips were smiling slightly like he had a wonderful secret. “Something like that.”

“I’d planned to give this to you on our first anniversary, since paper is traditional, but it turns out I can’t wait that long.”

“Not to mention we’re not married,” said Kate, laughing. “I don’t think those rules apply to dating couples.”

Étienne reached into his vest pocket and pulled out an envelope. Kate could tell it was old as he handed it to her, but her mouth dropped open as she saw the flowery script that had addressed the letter. It was hers. It was one of her letters to him. Her fingers trembled as she took the envelope in her hands, her eyes watering so that she could barely make out the words. Turning it over she found it was unopened, still sealed like the day she’d sent it.

She raised her eyes to his, “But how?”

“Turns out my mother kept them. She gave them back to me.”

“All thirty?” asked Kate.

Étienne nodded. “Every single one.”

“Have you read them?” she asked, clutching the letter to her chest as a tear rolled down her face.

“No,” he answered, reaching into his other vest pocket and slipping to his knees on the floor in front of her. When he opened the little white box holding a dazzling diamond engagement ring, his eyes met hers. “I thought…we could read one every anniversary for the next thirty years.”

“Oh,” gasped Kate, covering her mouth with her free hand as her tears fell double-time. “Are you…Are you doing this? Right now? Here?”

His smile was tender and loving as he peeled her hand from her mouth and held it in his. “I’m doing this right now. I told you a long time ago that I defied any plan for my life that didn’t include you. I swore to God that I would still love you on the day that I died.”

“I-I remember,” said Kate, through shallow breaths and soft sobs.

“I said that we were real, that me loving you and you loving me, was real.”

Kate nodded, her shoulders shaking as tears coursed down her face.

“We lost each other in the worst way and somehow found our way back. That’s a miracle. You’re a miracle to me.”

She couldn’t speak, so she just stared at him, all the love in her heart pouring from her eyes.

“Kate English, who I lost and found, who
is
love and my own personal miracle, and whom I will still be loving on the day that I die…will you marry me?”

And Kate, whose heart had been broken into a million pieces and put back together, who wanted the first boy she ever loved to also be the last, who wanted a lifetime of hot, wet, sweet, messy, filthy kisses that would make her toes curl forever…

…said yes.

THE END