The Billionaire's Bridal Bid by Emily McKay Page B

in fact it was always the highlight of her week.
    However, she had not expected Kyle to ask about her date with Matt. Certainly not after his years of feigning complete disinterest in all of the Ballards.
    Like everyone in town—everyone with eyes,anyway—Kyle had figured out his relationship to the Ballards. Since Kyle had his grandmother’s distinctive almond-shaped, whisky-colored eyes, as well as her strawberry allergy, it was pretty obvious which family genes had contributed Kyle’s Y-chromosome. Kyle had figured out the truth when he was seven.
    He’d come to Claire to ask about it. “I wouldn’t want Mom and Dad to think they’re not enough,” he’d explained. At the time, she’d told him the truth as simply and as honestly as she could. Of course, he’d known she was his aunt by blood for as long as he’d known he was adopted. The few times he’d asked her about his birth mother, she’d been able to honestly say that she admired the decision Courtney had made to give him up for adoption. At sixteen, Courtney was smart enough to know she wasn’t ready to be a mother. Giving Kyle up was the greatest gift she could have given him and moving on with her life away from Palo Verde was the best decision she’d made for herself. But Claire had a much harder time explaining about Vic.
    At seven, Kyle hadn’t yet been old enough to understand how distasteful—not to mention illegal—it was that Vic had gotten such a young girl pregnant. And he certainly didn’t understand that Vic’s crimes had gone unacknowledged by most of the town merely because Vic was from a wealthy and powerful family. All Kyle knew was that his birth father lived right there in town and never so much as smiled at him.
    Even at seven, he’d been astute enough to know that if the Ballards hadn’t acknowledged him yet, they were unlikely to do so at all.
    And that had been the last time Kyle had mentioned the Ballards to her. Until the Wednesday after her datewith Matt, when he sat there, poking listlessly at his sandwich.
    She was so surprised by Kyle’s question, she just sat there for a long moment, staring at him, dishcloth hovering over the counter she’d been wiping down. Finally, she tucked the cloth into the tie of her apron. “Just a restaurant in San Francisco.”
    Kyle stabbed a slice of fried zucchini. “What’s he like?”
    “Brilliant,” she answered without thinking. “Stubborn. He doesn’t tolerate fools or people who don’t work hard. And he never—” She broke off abruptly, suddenly aware that she was not only serving her own selfish need to talk about Matt, but feeding Kyle’s curiosity about him, as well.
    Kyle sat very still on his stool, his expression carefully blank. She knew instantly that his facade of disinterest hid a spark of curiosity. A glimmer of hope. Kyle was as sensitive as he was smart. She alone knew how hurt he was by the Ballards’ cold rejection. She hated to think that he might be harboring any anticipation that Matt would feel differently.
    Kyle had been hurt so many times by the Ballards, she couldn’t stand to see him hurt again. She leveled her gaze at him and said, “He’s a good man, but he’s still a Ballard.”
    “I know.” He nodded seriously, before shoveling several more zucchini fries into his mouth. “You’re not going to marry him, are you, Aunt Claire?”
    “Nope. Not a chance.” She didn’t bother wondering who had put the idea in his head. Seemed like the whole town was obsessed with the idea that Matt was going to…she didn’t know what people expected to happen. For him to fall in love with her? Come back to town andsweep her off her feet? Ride through town on a white horse to rescue her from a flame-spouting dragon?
    Well, actual dragons flying through town were more likely.
    Kyle, excruciatingly polite kid that he was, waited until he’d swallowed before saying, “That’s good. Even Mom thought that was why he’d come back. But I told her