All I Ever Need Is You (The Sullivans #14)(42)

For hours, time had dragged on endlessly. But now that he wanted it to slow, it raced forward faster than ever before. The song was ending too soon, leaving him only a handful of seconds with Kerry in his arms before he lost her until Thursday.

“Kerry?”

In a split second, her body went from loose and languid to taut as a bow. She stepped out of his arms before he could try to keep her close.

“Mother.” Kerry’s voice had a sharpness in it that hadn’t been there just minutes before. “I’m so glad you were able to come to the wedding.”

Adam could see where Kerry’s beauty had come from. Her mother was a stunning woman. A little too thin, perhaps, but otherwise she looked barely two decades older than her daughter.

Her mother gave her a kiss on both cheeks in the British style. “I would have been here earlier, but I’m afraid the event I was chairing ran long.”

Adam extended his hand and smiled as he said, “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Ms. Dromoland. I’m—”

“Adam Sullivan, the architect.” Kerry’s mother shook his hand. “I recognize you from the story I recently read about your work on the historic women’s club. I’m very impressed with the way you revived the building.”

“Thank you, I enjoyed working on it.”

Despite her compliment on his professional skills, Adam had a sense that Kerry’s mother wasn’t necessarily impressed with much else about him. Clearly, she knew of his reputation as a ladies’ man. Just as clearly, she wasn’t thrilled to find one of her precious daughters in his arms. If he had a daughter and found her dancing with a guy like him, he’d feel precisely the same way.

The thought didn’t sit quite right with him.

“How did you two meet?” Kerry’s mother asked them, clearly assuming they hadn’t just met at today’s wedding.

“Adam’s brother Rafe is working with us for his wedding. Adam helped design a marvelous gazebo for the event. He’s also volunteered to build it, which is very sweet of him.”

Adam had to work to fight back a grin at the way Kerry was trying so hard to come up with a list of unarguably good points in his favor. At the same time, he wondered at her use of the word us as she’d spoken about working on Rafe and Brooke’s wedding. Was Kerry’s mother still involved in the business? That wasn’t the impression he’d gotten so far, but maybe he’d missed something along the way.

“I’m also a good friend of Jodi and Paul,” he added, “which is why I’m here today.”

“What do you think of today’s wedding?”

“Pretty much every Sullivan on the West Coast has gotten married in the past couple of years, so I’ve been to plenty of weddings, but the truth is that today’s wedding is by far the best one I’ve attended.”

Kerry’s mother was silent for a long moment as she studied his face to assess how genuine his statement was. Finally, she said, “Kerry is the best wedding planner on any coast.”

Kerry looked more than a little surprised—and very pleased—by her mother’s praise. “I learned from the very best.”

Her mother smiled at her, and he liked seeing the deep warmth in the other woman’s eyes toward her daughter. Kerry deserved to be loved by absolutely everyone.

“Everything except dancing with the guests rather than making sure everything is running smoothly,” her mother added, with a small upturn of her lips.

When he felt Kerry stiffen beside him again, knowing she was still mortified to be caught goofing off for a few minutes while on the job, he took her hand and held it as he said, “I didn’t give her much choice, I’m afraid.”

“Nonsense.” Her mother was still smiling, but the slight edge was back in her tone as she looked down at their linked hands. “One always has a choice.”

With that, she kissed Kerry’s cheeks again, said how lovely it was to meet him, and went to mingle.

“Thanks for the dance,” Kerry said, but she sounded distracted, her eyes following her mother’s movement across the lawn beneath the fairy lights.

Kerry’s hand was far too cold, and he covered it with both of his to try to warm her up. “Your mom is one seriously elegant lady. I’m glad I finally got to meet her. I see where you get your strength from. And your beauty.”

Finally, Kerry’s eyes met his again. “She’s amazing. And,” she said with an upturn of her lips that didn’t quite reach her eyes, “probably worried that I’m dropping the ball big-time by goofing off with one of the guests. I really should get back to work now to make sure everything’s beyond perfect.”

She tried to slide her hands from his, but he wasn’t ready to let go just yet. “I want to dance with you again. Not tonight,” he said before she protested that she couldn’t goof off with him twice in one night, “but soon.” He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the back of it before handing her back her iPad. “Time to let you go back to showing everyone why you’re the best wedding planner on any coast.”

And though she smiled as she took the device from him, he didn’t like the worry that was barely a layer down. Nor did he care for the way she ran herself off her feet the rest of the night to make up for a dance that she clearly thought had been a terrible transgression.