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“I thought you were beyond redemption.”
“I am.” He offered a crooked smile. “But you’re a woman. So you’ll try, anyway.” He’d insulted her again. Unfortunately, he suspected it wouldn’t be the lasttime.
“Once we know for certain I’m not pregnant, I’ll end the marriage,” she assured.
Her promise should have relieved him. Perversely, he found himself thoroughly annoyed. “You’ll stay until you’ve fulfilled your promise to make a home for me. Then you can go if that’s what you want.” Maybe.
“It will be.”
“Fine. Now get back over there and tell them you’ve changed your mind. It’s a long drive to Colorado. I’ll want to leave for the ranch as soon as you’re packed.”
This time when they resumed their positions in front of the priest, he paid attention. Several minutes into the ceremony, another painful nudge from Rafe’s fist prompted him to repeat his own vows. Not that he needed any prompting. He hadn’t been lying to Shayne. Once he’d realized the potential results of their rather enthusiastic reunion, he’d have been back on her doorstep demanding marriage.
Gathering her hands in his, he spoke the required words. If anyone noted that he omitted the word “love” they didn’t call him out on it. But he knew Shayne felt the impact and silently cursed again.
Why did she leave herself open to such hurt? She was a fool to marry him. And he was an even bigger fool to let her. In her heart, she was still that naive seventeen-year-old, believing in miracles and fairy tales.
Well, life with him would soon disabuse her of that notion.
“You have rings you wish to exchange?” the priest asked.
“Sorry, Idon’t—”
“Allow me,” Rafe interrupted, slipping his hand into his pocket.
Chaz forced himself not to move, not to knock loose a few perfect white teeth set in an arrogant mouth. Any doubts that he’d been set up vanished. “All the details planned, right down to the rings, is that it, Beaumont?”
“I like to be prepared.”
Chaz swiveled, lowering his voice so only the two of them could hear. “Then start preparin’, brother. Next time we meet, you and I are going to exchange more than words. And one of us is crawlin’ away from the meeting wishing he’d never played God with my life.”
“If that will make you feel better, you may try to make me crawl. So long as you treat my sister well, what you do to me is immaterial.” Rafe forced the ring box into Chaz’s hand. “But if you hurt her, Iwill make your life a living misery.”
“Too late, Beaumont. You did that already.”
Beside him, Shayne caught his arm. “Chaz? Is everything all right?”
He bit back the words he longed to vent. Words that would make a mockery of the vows they’d just uttered. “Everything’s fine.”
Thumbing open the jewelry box, he silently swore. Beaumont had taken tickets from the Cinderella Ball and fashioned them into wedding bands. Of course, they fit perfectly.
The minute their union had been blessed, Chaz gathered his wife into his arms. She lifted her gaze to meet his and he saw there an inner strength that had been barely perceptible nine years ago. Time and experience had forged that strength with steel. He wasn’t the only one who’d walked the painful side of life and fought back. And yet she still retained the full depth of a woman’s heart, open to the possibility of love, no matter how remote.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured beneath his breath.
“Sorry that you married me?”
“No. Sorry that our marriage will hurt you.”
Leaning down, he captured her mouth, drinking in the taste of her along with the knowledge that she’d soon live with him as his wife. That for a few short weeks he’d have the fulfillment of a dream. It was a painful irony now that he no longer believed in dreams. But for some reason, he found his cynicism fading, found that all he could think about was the woman in his arms and the sweetness of her kiss. She opened to him, giving what he refused to take by force, offering all of herself despite the threat he posed.
Ever so gently, he released her. “You need to pack. We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready.”
“I’ll help,” Ella offered.
Rafe stepped forward and embraced his sister. “Your husband and I will wait for you in my office.”
She returned his hug with unmistakable enthusiasm and Chaz nearly groaned aloud. It annoyed him no end to see her bestowing her affections on such undeserving recipients. First him. Now Beaumont. Did the woman have no sense of self-preservation?
