At least she hadn’t laughed at him. He straightened and shrugged as casually as he could, given that he felt like a man whose date had turned away when he tried to kiss her. “Suit yourself.”

He’d really misread this one. His spiritual radar was usually dead on. He began wrapping the cord around the sander. It had been a stupid idea. He could only imagine his mom’s reaction if his parents returned from their trip to find their son not only married, but married to Kate Lawrence. He’d never hear the end of it. And neither would his dad.

Nonetheless, it didn’t do much for his ego to know Kate would rather see the death of her career than marry him. He stuffed the ache further down and set the sander on the shelf next to his favorite drill, waiting to hear the click of her heels as she left the shop.

Instead, Kate’s voice broke the silence. “The people who know Bryan was the groom . . . what if one of them leaked it? Besides, there’s the marriage license and the tuxes. Something could go wrong, and if everyone found out, it would be a bigger disaster than what I have now—if that’s possible.”

Okay, already, I get it. “It was a stupid idea.” She’d made that plain enough. “You should get out your little notepad and make a list of things to cancel.”

“Wait. Just wait a minute; I have to think.” Apparently she did her best thinking while pacing.

Whatever. He turned back to his tools. He didn’t see what there was to think about. At this point it was just a matter of facing the music. He didn’t envy her that. But if Bryan was loser enough to jilt her at the altar, he wasn’t good enough for her.

He kept silent while she pondered her situation. By the time she spoke again, every tool was put away—something that hadn’t happened since he’d installed the shelving unit.

“I think I could arrange to keep everyone quiet. My editor and Pam certainly wouldn’t say anything. I can trust Anna and my dad implicitly. I have a couple of distant relatives here, but they’d keep it to themselves.”

She was thinking out loud, not even looking at Lucas. “Bryan’s family is small, and they’re mostly from the Boston area. There were eight relatives here, plus his best man. He could surely convince them to keep quiet. He owes me that at least.” Her eyes softened for a moment as if the thought of him made her ache.

Kate was actually considering it. He’d never known her to do a spontaneous thing, and here she was, thinking about marrying him at the last minute. She must be desperate.