Trial by Desire (Carhart #2)(93)

Kate choked on her laughter, relieved that he wasn’t serious. “She would hate us forever.”

“Yes, well. You’re the one who insisted we needed to add difficulty to our life. How better to accomplish that than to guarantee from the start that our daughter can’t even pronounce her own name?”

“Ned, if you name our daughter Iphigenia, I will…I will…”

“You,” Ned said with an assured sparkle in his eye, “will love me just as much as ever. But maybe you are right. How’s Hatshepsut?”

“Hatshepwhat?”

“Egyptian is all the rage right now. No?”

“Decidedly not.” Kate smiled at him. “Try again.”

“Vertiline? Permelia?”

“Where are you getting these names? Why is it that they all seem to have eighteen syllables?”

“I know the one. Obraya.”

“That is not a name.”

He waggled his eyebrows at her. “Can you be sure?”

“Goose.”

He frowned. “Well, at least that one’s short, but I think she won’t appreciate the connotations. Isn’t that a little pejorative?”

Kate burst into laughter. “Stop. You have to stop.” When she finally was able to breathe again, she shook her head at him. “What’s wrong with your mother’s name? Have you some objection to Lily?”

“I suppose not,” Ned said. “This is why I love you. Always practical.” He reached out and took her waist and drew her closer.

No. Not always. Not when he held her this close, not when his lips brushed her cheek once, her jaw a second time.

“And what if it’s a boy?” Kate asked.

He leaned over to brush a third kiss on her forehead. “Then, my love, he is really going to hate being called Lily.”