“I suspected as much,” she said and mentally gave herself a shake when she heard the note of disappointment in her voice. “Come on, it’s time you met some people around here.” She guided him through the throng where they not only spoke with her half-sisters, and Mason and J.D., but she introduced him to her half-brothers and three quarters of the town. While he seemed to recognize a sprinkling of the guests at the reception, Katie knew them all.

“It’s hard to believe there are this many citizens in the town,” he whispered to her as she located Josh, who was ignoring his crutches in favor of hanging out with Stephen and a couple of other boys.

“I should go and talk to my son,” she said, but hadn’t taken a step in Josh’s direction before Brynnie caught up with her.

“Come on, come on,” she said, tapping Katie’s shoulder. “We’ve got dinner in the dining room and it’ll go to waste if we don’t eat it.”

“In a minute—”

“Now or forever hold your peace.”

“I think we’d better not cross my mother,” Katie said with a teasing grin.

“Good idea,” Brynnie remarked as she beelined toward her twin sons and hustled them in the direction of the buffet.

They dined on salmon, prime rib and venison, though Katie’s appetite was nil. She was too keyed up, being with Luke. Touching him and smelling the faint odors of leather and musk that clung to him caused her heart to flutter, her mind to spin, and, apparently, her stomach to shrink. She played with her food, barely eating a bite, sipped a little more champagne, and after the meal, danced to a couple of songs. She then stood beside Luke as Bliss and Mason cut their five-tiered cake and fed each other enormous pieces that left smudges of frosting on their faces. Mason kissed the icing off Bliss’s cheeks and she repaid him by swiping a dab of the white confection onto his nose.

The crowd laughed and Katie glanced up at Luke, who managed a smile.

“Silly, huh?”

“But fun,” he conceded, staring so deeply into her eyes that she had to swallow hard and her mouth lost all moisture. “I . . . I . . . uh, need to talk to Tiffany,” she said to break the spell, the pure madness that seemed to be a part of the night.