Harlequin American Romance Online Read
What Happens in
by Cathy Gillen Thacker
First comes marriage, then comes love?
The morning after her sister’s Vegas bachelorette party, Jen Baxter wakes up with a splitting headache, wearing a gown she doesn’t recognize—and in the arms of a man she most definitely does: best man Rick Steele! Making matters worse are the matching wedding bands they’re sporting…
It’s not long before Jen and Rick—coworkers who’ve been verbally sparring for months—remember the dare that led them to “I do.” And thanks to the media circus surrounding beauty queen Belle’s upcoming marriage to a Dallas NFL star, the news is already out. Fearing their boss,
Chapter One
Jen Baxter shifted sleepily on the large, comfortable bed, the bare skin of her shoulders sliding across the rich satin fabric beneath her. Having apparently survived her only sister’s bachelorette party in Vegas, Jen wanted nothing more than to drift back into dreamland, and would have, if not for the fact she had a raging headache pounding at her temples, and an equally awful taste in her mouth.
She wondered what the bartender had put in the cosmopolitans he had been serving her. After all, she’d paid him extra to make sure her beverages were—unlike those for the members of her betrothed sister’s entourage—strictly nonalcoholic. This, in order to make sure she didn’t lose all inhibition and do anything foolish, as she had been known to do in the past at these types of events.
Jen groaned and opened her eyes. Saw she had fallen asleep on top of the covers still wearing a pair of sparkly stiletto-heeled shoes she didn’t recognize, and that there was a strong male arm clamped just beneath her breasts.
Startled, Jen blinked to clear her head, and blinked again. What…in the…world…? Had she been drinking last night? Because, honestly, that was the only way to explain any of this!
Still trying to get her bearings, Jen pushed herself to a sitting position, stared at what she saw. Tousled walnut-brown hair, equally stunned sea-blue eyes and an incredibly handsome, oh-so-familiar face that she dreaded seeing daily, covered with a two-day stubble of beard.
***
Despite the fact that he and the groom had been friends since childhood, Rick Steele knew it had been a mistake to agree to be Aidan Whitmore’s best man. Mostly because Rick’s coworker and antagonist, Jen Baxter, was the maid of honor. Physically, Rick and Jen had enough sparks to light up the entire Lone Star state, but none of the natural compatibility needed to get along. Like oil and water, the two of them would never mix. Although Rick admitted privately to himself that he did enjoy getting under the pretty attorney’s skin. Had she not been so uptight… But she was. And he’d had far too many rules growing up to want to pepper his adulthood with any more. These days, he and he alone decided what was right for him, and in what manner he wanted to live.
As if to prove that point, Jen’s delicate hand closed over his wrist—which was still clamped against her slender form.
“You!” she hissed, flinging his arm away, like some odious piece of trash. “What are you doing here?”
Good question, Rick thought, rolling over onto his back and taking a lazy look around. They were in a hotel room, all right. Together. For what had apparently been the rest of the night. The larger question was, what were they doing in such over-the-top attire—even if they were in
“Explain to me what you are doing here!” Jen demanded.
Trying not to get distracted by how beautiful the disheveled honey-blonde looked in the sunlight pouring in through the windows, Rick glanced at the hand she was waving indignantly in front of him. More telling than the knowledge she was a lefty, was the plain gold band encircling her ring finger.
Rick fought the sinking feeling in his gut, and a hazy memory of an emotional albeit slightly tipsy exchange with Jen, followed by a dare, and a trip to the
He dimly recalled more taunting, the purchase of a marriage license, and then with Jen’s bossy sister trying desperately to derail the very bad idea while her groom-to-be goaded them on, a trip—with the entire wedding party—to one of the brightly lit wedding chapels on the Strip…
“Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?” Jen demanded, even more outraged.
Rick remembered selecting an Elvis and the Showgirl–themed wedding, never dreaming a straitlaced woman like Jen would follow through on the wild idea—even to win a bet. And then, there were wedding vows being said, but not by Aidan and Belle, but by…oh, hell…no…
Rick tore his gaze from the color streaming into Jen’s cheeks and looked down at his own left hand. In squaring with his fuzzy memories, there was a band there, too, identical to hers. Rather than try to explain, he lifted it for her to see. “Just this,” he commented drily, leaving her to fill in the rest just as he had.
Jen tossed her head indignantly. “If this is a joke—” she speared him with her green eyes, apparently not recalling anything yet “—I am not laughing.”
Nor was he. His heart thundering, Rick sat up, too. He shoved both his hands through his hair, hardly able to believe he had done what he swore he never would. And actually followed in the impulsive footsteps of his oft-married, even more frequently divorced, parents.
“You do know what happened!” Jen intimated.
“It’s beginning to come back to me,” Rick admitted gruffly. Although the memory was still fuzzy. And yet oddly romantic in a romantic comedy kind of way.
Jen leaped from the bed. Arms folded militantly in front of her, she paced back and forth, her hips sashaying sexily beneath the full organza skirt. “I can’t wait to hear!”
Rick tore his eyes from the sumptuous breasts spilling out of the narrowly cut top of her dress, and recollected, “It was after the bachelor party, when we met up with the bachelorettes in the bar next to the casino. Talk turned to marriage and you bet I’d never say ‘I do.’”
Jen paused, and wet her lips. Already, Rick noted, the story sounded plausible to her. Probably because she had been ragging on him about that since the two of them had first met two years before.
He shrugged and continued. “I said, ‘Sure I would. You’re the one who doesn’t have the guts to tie the knot.’”
Jen paled, apparently recalling now, too. “And that’s when I took you up on the dare and we all went to the county clerk’s office for a license, then to the chapel on the Strip…”
Rick tensed as it all became more and more real. “I kept thinking you’d back out.”
Jen sent him an accusing glare. “I kept thinking you would.”
Rick groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face. Unfortunately, neither of them had. “So we got married to the stunned amazement of everyone else in the wedding party, and the continual railing of your sister. And had a glass or two of champagne.”
“And that’s the last thing I remember,” Jen whispered, her hand pressed to her soft, trembling lips.
Rick only wished that were the case with him. Although not completely sober himself after an evening out carousing with the guys, he had known Jen was tipsy from the get-go. He’d even heard the other bridesmaids giggling about tipping the bartender extra to put liquor in her drinks after all, because they all knew the ever-uptight Jen had a tendency to say and do surprisingly unexpected and/or hilarious things when under the influence of even one drink. And they’d wanted to see if they could get her to loosen up, and liven things up.
Loosen up, she had.
Although, Rick admitted, his gaze drifting longingly over her feminine curves, not as much as he wished she would. The kiss they had shared at the conclusion of the ceremony had been close-mouthed and hopelessly chaste.
Once back at the hotel, they’d fallen exhausted onto the bed, too tired to think about the import of what they had done, and apparently fallen fast asleep. Which was a good thing, Rick noted. Otherwise he might have been tempted to consummate the marriage. Since they hadn’t…
Pale, shaking, Jen moved to sit on the edge of the bed.
Although the know-it-all had a habit of getting under his skin as thoroughly as he got under hers, Rick abruptly felt sorry for her. He reached over and covered her small, delicate hand with his. “Look. We were out of our minds.”
Jen stiffened and withdrew her palm. “Clearly.”
“We don’t have to get divorced. We’ll just get it annulled. You’re a lawyer. You know how to do that. Right?”
“Of course I—” The ring tone sounded on his cell. Jen frowned as the familiar melody of “Friends in Low Places” filled the room.
Rick knew the polite thing would have been to let the call go to voice mail. And he would have, had the caller ID not flashed the name of Grady McCabe.
“Well?” Jen said, torturous moments later, when Rick ended the call with the man who employed them both.
Rick exhaled and admitted grimly, “Grady knows. Everyone at work does.”
Jen studied Rick, aghast. “How?”
“A tabloid reporter was tailing the bachelor party, hoping to dig up some dirt on Aidan.” Which would have been news since the bridegroom played for the Dallas NFL team. “She couldn’t find anything on him, so she wrote the story on us instead. Apparently it’s already on the Internet.”
Jen’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “What are we going to do?”
“The only thing we can do,” Rick said flatly. “Stay married and ride out the storm.”
Chapter Two
Jen stared at Rick, sure now he had completely lost his mind, as well as any sense of gallantry he might have possessed. “That is without a doubt the nuttiest idea I have ever heard,” she announced heatedly.
Looking sexier and more determined than ever, Rick whipped off the ridiculous jacket and bow tie. “But the only sensible solution nonetheless,” he countered.
Jen lifted her chin and propped her hands on her hips. “And how do you figure that?”
Rick undid the first two buttons on his shirt. “Our boss at Grady McCabe Enterprises does not suffer irresponsible fools. And given what we did last night, we definitely fall into that category.”
Wishing Rick weren’t right about that, Jen bit her lip, thinking.
Rick continued, more grimly than ever. “If we want to hang on to our jobs—and I certainly do, since I’m in line for the vice-presidency slot in commercial real estate sales—you and I are going to have to hang tough. At least for a little while.”
“Hang tough?” Jen repeated, stalking back over to the bed. She sat down in a whoosh of organza.
Rick sat down beside her. “You know what I mean.”
Jen looked at the rock-solid musculature of his thigh, next to hers. She was five feet eight inches tall, with a fit, athletic build, but next to his broad-shouldered six-foot-three frame, she always felt impossibly feminine and delicate.
Rick squeezed her hand. “We can do this,” he reassured. And that was when the knock sounded on the hotel room door.
Hand tingling, Jen disengaged their palms and got up to answer it.
Her sister, Belle, stood on the other side of the portal. “There you are!” the former beauty queen stormed. She rushed in, everything about her as model-perfect as ever. “I’ve been looking for you all morning!”
Once again, Jen wished she and her only sibling were as close as they had been as children. Before Belle had forgotten what really mattered in life and become obsessed with celebrity. “What time is it?” Jen asked.
“
So they’d been in the hotel room for, what…three hours, maybe, at most? Three hours spent sleeping next to Rick…
Oblivious to the surprisingly wistful nature of Jen’s thoughts, Belle stormed closer. “How dare you upstage me like that!” Belle continued her tirade. “This is my week to get married! Not yours!”
Rick stepped in, wrapped his arm around Jen and drew her back into his protective embrace. “Trust me,” Rick told her sister, “we weren’t thinking of you and Aidan at all last night.”
Belle looked at both of them, shocked and dismayed. “You can’t tell me you’re going to continue on with this joke!”
For once, Jen allowed herself to react just as emotionally as her flamboyant older sister.
“Yes,” Jen retorted, “I am.”
***
“Are you okay?” Rick asked Jen, after Belle had left.
Jen nodded.
“You don’t look okay.” Rick took her in his arms once again. “You’re shaking.”
His arms were so warm and strong! Too warm. Wary where this might be leading, Jen tilted her head back. “Rick, I—”
His head lowered, their lips met and the kiss was everything their first hadn’t been. Passionate, hot and demanding. Soulful and yearning. Sweet and tender. Without volition, she found her lips parting. Their tongues tangled and Jen drank in the masculine taste of him. He was all she had ever dreamed a man could be. He challenged her, even as he protected, making her feel so very alive. Which was why, she figured, as his body hardened next to hers, that he had the good sense to end the spontaneous embrace.
***
Rick knew he shouldn’t have kissed Jen again. It would have been better to leave them both with the fuzzy memory of that brief, unsatisfying post-nuptial embrace. Now he knew what it could be between the two of them. Now he had proof that his gut feeling, that the two of them would be hot as a firecracker together, was proven, without a shadow of a doubt. And with the wedding rings on their fingers…
He dropped his hands, stepped back. “We have to keep this marriage in name only,” he ordered gruffly.
“Absolutely,” Jen agreed.
“Otherwise it’s going to get way too complicated.”
Jen’s face flushed a becoming pink. She stepped back, too. Held up a hand. “I agree. No more kissing, Rick. No touching, either.”
He nodded. “Except for what we absolutely have to do to make this look like the real thing.”
Jen swore. Probably, Rick thought, imagining how difficult the next few days and weeks, maybe even months, were going to be. “How long do you think we have to—” she swallowed, looking abruptly agitated “—um, pretend?”
Rick shrugged. “A year ought to do it,” he said.
***
A year, Jen thought to herself, as she went back to her own hotel room, and showered and changed. A year of being married to Rick, and yet never having been engaged. A year of having him take her hand or put his arm around her at appropriate times. A year of putting a smile on her face and sharing space… How in the world were they going to manage that? Jen wondered.
Rick had changed their seat assignments on the flight back to Dallas-Fort Worth so they would be sitting together, away from the rest of the wedding party. Consequently, they were tucked into a cramped two-person row in the very back of the jumbo jet. The seats were so small there was no way they could not be touching. But at least, Jen thought, trying desperately to ignore the warmth and strength of Rick’s tall body, at least they were away from the prying eyes, and the attention her former Miss
“I can’t believe I’m entering Belle’s world,” Jen murmured to herself. Especially when she had fought so hard to keep it real.
“What are you talking about?” Rick asked, shifting yet again, his leg brushing against hers.
In deference to the sizzling summer heat, Jen was dressed in a cotton sheath-dress. Rick had worn shorts and a camp shirt for the flight back to
“Whenever Belle is around Aidan, she acts so fake.” So unlike the person Jen knew Belle to be, deep down, when no one else was around.
“You’re saying I’m going to be disingenuous, too?”
Jen sighed, feeling even more upset. “We both are. Always pretending to be something we’re not. Which is happily married!”
“Not necessarily,” Rick corrected.
Jen turned to look at him.
He gazed deep into her eyes. “I know this wasn’t what we planned. Or would have ever wanted. But as long as we’re stuck together, can’t we at least be friends?”
***
Good question, Jen thought, as the jet took off, and she and Rick both closed their eyes. She sensed he wasn’t any more asleep than she was. But they both needed a break.
Marriage was stressful.
And what looked to be even more painful was telling her parents what she had done.
As it turned out, Jen did not have to do that. Belle had done it for her, and their parents were waiting at the airport baggage claim.
When Jen saw them, she slowed her steps.
Belle rushed forward and burst into public, noisy tears, while her pro-football-player fiancé stood uncomfortably at her side. The scene caused more than one person awaiting their luggage to turn and gawk. As the two
Jen grimaced again. It was just like Belle to amp up the drama even more, in order to keep all the attention solely focused on her and Aidan.
Jen turned to Rick. “Let’s get out of here while this blows over.” They could claim their bags later.
To her frustration, Rick remained planted firmly where he was. Which gave Belle enough time to lead their parents over to Jen.
Jen’s father, Frank, gave Jen The Look he always gave Jen when Belle was upset and it was “all Jen’s fault.” Her mother, Martha, faced off with Jen, too.
“Tell me it’s not true,” Martha murmured, with her own version of The Look, the one that reminded Jen that, these days anyway, her parents always eventually bent to Belle’s will, and expected Jen to do so, too, for the sake of peace in the family.
Rick wrapped his arm around Jen’s shoulders, as more cameras went off, and Belle cried crocodile tears. Rather than apologize, he looked proud to be standing firmly behind what they had done. “Jen and I got married in Vegas,” Rick told her folks.
And that was that.
Chapter Three
Rick had been right. Within hours of the marriage, photos were everywhere, on and off the Internet. In the
“Welcome back. Please accept my personal congratulations.” Grady looked them both squarely in the eye.
Unable to help herself, Jen flushed. Rick, on the other hand, looked cool as a cucumber, which was what she got, she told herself grimly, for marrying someone in sales.
“The company voice mail is clogged with requests for interviews,” Grady continued grimly.
Grady’s personal secretary appeared in the doorway. “Sorry to interrupt. Alexis Graham from Foreverlove.com is at the reception desk, asking to see Jen.”
Rick squeezed Jen’s hand. “Guess you won’t be needing a matchmaker any longer.”
Grady’s brow lifted in silent inquiry.
Jen gestured inanely, feeling even more embarrassed. “I hired Alexis…before…”
“Did the agency pair the two of you together?” Grady asked, more curious than ever.
“Heavens, no!” Jen replied, before she could stop herself.
“I’m not in favor of dating services,” Rick declared.
Jen pivoted toward her “husband.” “I don’t know why not. They are very accurate in figuring out via computer if two people are suited for one another.”
Grady paused. “I can see where that might be a good thing,” he mused out loud.
“In any case, we didn’t need a matchmaker to get married,” Rick explained.
Grady’s preoccupied look faded. “So this is serious, then?”
Their boss’s expression gave no clue as to what he was thinking, but his past behavior indicated it had better be. Grady had been married to the love of his life, and lost her shortly after the birth of their only child. For the past five years he had been bringing up his daughter,
“Serious as a heartbeat,” Rick said, still holding Jen’s hand.
“I wasn’t aware you two were even seeing each other,” Grady continued.
“Every day,” Jen replied. Unfortunately. Try as she might, she had not been able to avoid Rick at work, and since they socialized with people from GME, they often saw each other on weekends, too.
She and Rick just hadn’t dated.
Grady nodded, taking that in. He circled around his desk. “Where are the two of you going to be living?”
Jen jumped in once again. “That’s still up for discussion.”
“For now,” Rick added, giving her hand another stay-with-me squeeze, “we’re going to be using both apartments.”
“We’ll shuttle back and forth as needed,” Jen said honestly. And only as needed. If she could get away with continuing to live alone, as she more or less had last night, she would do so.
***
“Do you think Grady bought it?” Rick asked Jen, as they took the elevator down to the reception desk, where Alexis Graham still waited to see Jen.
Jen swallowed. “Not sure.”
“Me, neither.” Rick fell silent. “If Grady thinks we’re putting one over on him—”
“That this is some con—”
“We’re both in the ditch here. As far as our careers go.”
“I know.”
“Like it or not, we’re going to have to start living together,” Rick said.
Jen made a face. She did not need more intimacy with Rick when the little they’d experienced so far had thrown her emotions into turmoil.
The elevator doors opened. Across the lobby, Alexis Graham rose. “May I have a word with you?” the elegant blond matchmaker asked Jen.
“I’ll catch you later,” Rick said, and sauntered off.
Jen escorted Alexis to her office in the legal department at GME. She shut the door behind them.
The always poised and professional Alexis sat opposite Jen. “Are you okay?” Alexis asked softly.
Without warning, tears blurred Jen’s eyes. She fumbled through the stack of messages on her desk, wishing people would stop asking her that.
“I know how much you had your heart set on finding your own Mr. Right,” Alexis continued kindly. “And I can’t help but think…”
“I rushed into this marriage with Rick?”
Alexis leaned forward compassionately. “Weddings bring out the romantic in all of us.”
“Or the just plain crazy,” Jen muttered under her breath, still hardly able to believe she had done such a thing as elope with Rick Steele!
Alexis sat back. “It’s not too late to undo it, if it isn’t right.”
As an attorney, Jen knew that. As a woman caught between her disgruntled family and her need to keep climbing the ladder of success at work…she still agreed with Rick…and felt she had only one option. “I’m determined to make this marriage work,” Jen said. For better or worse.
Alexis paused thoughtfully. “Even if you don’t love him?”
***
Alexis Graham’s observation stayed with Jen the rest of the day. She was still thinking about it at
“For what?” Jen asked with a frown, aware she hadn’t gotten anywhere near the work completed that she should have that day.
Too late, her colleague was gone. With a sigh, Jen got up and walked down the hall. The GME offices were oddly silent. Jen turned the corner.
“Surprise!” everyone yelled.
Rick stepped forward, a welcoming smile on his face. “Isn’t it great?” He enfolded Jen in his arms and bussed her cheek. “They got us a cake and everything!”
Two glasses and many toasts of champagne later, the impromptu party came to an end. Rick and Jen stood at the door like the real couple they weren’t, and thanked everyone for coming. Finally, the two of them were alone with what remained of the wedding cake.
Jen looked at Rick. Rick looked at Jen. “I feel like a fraud,” she whispered.
“Why?” he teased. “Because you don’t really like butter cream frosting?”
“Because…we’re not…”
He lowered his lips to hers. “We are.”
Rick hadn’t meant to kiss Jen again. And certainly not in the office. The wistful look in her eyes prompted him to do otherwise. He knew Jen. Always thinking what lay on the other side of tomorrow was going to be so much better. Never really appreciating today…
Her hands splayed across his chest.
“Rick,” she whispered, still kissing him back.
He threaded both hands through her hair. “For once,” he murmured, surprised by how much he needed her, needed this, “let’s live in the moment. And take this for what it is.” He tilted her face up to his.
“And that is…?” Jen searched his eyes.
His hand on her spine, Rick guided her closer yet. “A chance to find out what kind of chemistry the two of us really have.”
That, Jen thought, was easy. Together, like this, the two of them were completely compatible. In fact, if she kissed him much longer, she knew she really would burst into flames.
Which was why she shoved at his chest again, forced them apart, then stood there, looking up at him, breathing hard. She wanted him. So much.
But she knew the worst thing she could do, for either of them, was to make love to him without being in love with him. “I’m not going to settle for anything less than what I deserve,” she told him, smarting at the realization of how easily she could have let herself be completely utterly vulnerable to him. “And if you’re smart, you won’t, either.”
Chapter Four
Rick met Jen at the door of his apartment Wednesday evening. “What?” he teased, giving her the sensual once-over, as he ushered her in. “No toilet-paper tiara and veil?”
Jen scoffed in amusement. “Your idea of what goes on at a bridal shower is sadly out of date.”
That quickly, he got with the program and peered at her closely. “You don’t look like you’ve had mojitas.”
“Only because my mother was the one throwing the party. She used to think my avoidance of alcohol was a silly thing. After my marriage to you…she’s changed her mind. She wants me stone-cold sober at all times. Especially when she knows I’m going home to you.”
“She doesn’t…”
“Know our marriage is only a platonic arrangement? No.” Jen sighed. “If I told her that, she’d really freak out. As it is, she and Dad are still trying to get used to the idea.”
“What about Belle?”
“Believe it or not, she’s actually grateful to us for getting hitched.”
Rick’s glance turned speculative.
“She said our elopement ended up drawing much more attention to her wedding this weekend than would have happened otherwise. She and Aidan have had tons of press coverage and she in particular is getting lots and lots of sympathy, so that makes up for me temporarily stealing the spotlight from her.”
“Has it always been this way?” Rick asked.
Not sure she wanted to discuss what had become, for her, a major disappointment in her life, Jen shrugged. “You have to understand. Belle’s always been way prettier—”
“Not in my estimation,” Rick interrupted. Gently he took her face in his hand. “Real beauty comes from within. And in that regard, she can’t hold a candle to you.”
Jen thrilled at the compliment but the years of feeling second-best made it hard to accept. She shrugged. “You don’t know me.”
Don’t I? his look said. Rick dropped his hand. “I know you’re the one who organizes all the charity drives at work.”
Jen moved away. “I have the contacts.”
Rick followed. “The one who makes sure that everyone who is sick or going through any sort of personal or family challenge gets a card and flowers and whatever other help is needed.”
Jen swung around to face him. “I have the time.”
Rick shook his head, firmly discounting her self-effacing attitude. They both knew, as a corporate lawyer, time was one thing she didn’t have to spare. “You have the heart.” He took her into his arms. “And heart is what’s needed most of all.”
***
Jen hadn’t figured she would be kissing Rick again. After all, they had managed to spend the previous night together, albeit in separate rooms, without ratcheting up the intimacy between them. But tonight she needed comforting. Needed, after an evening spent honoring Belle, to feel like she was appreciated, too, even if for only this moment in time.
Rick broke off the increasingly passionate kiss. “I thought this was only a platonic relationship.”
“So did I.” Jen threaded her fingers through his hair, went up on tiptoe and kissed him again. When she came up for air, she admitted, “I changed my mind.”
That pronouncement was all it took.
Rick lifted her off her feet and carried her to the bedroom. He deposited her gently on the bed. “If there’s anything I like,” he murmured, taking her back into his arms, “it’s spontaneity.”
Funny, Jen mused, if there was one thing she thought she didn’t like, it was anything done on a whim. But as she and Rick began kissing once again, tenderly, evocatively at first, then with more and more passion, she realized not knowing what lay ahead was infinitely more exciting than planning life every step of the way.
Discovering what an amazing body Rick had beneath his clothes was matched only by the ardent look in his eyes when he undressed her. Feeling the heat and warmth of his body pressed against hers, allowing him to take the lead, show her how much she could feel, how fast, was equally thrilling, as was doing the same for him in return. Until at last they were one, moving recklessly toward the same ecstatic goal, soaring ever higher, ever deeper. And then there was no more holding back, no more pretending, no more living without the physical expression of love.
***
Rick hadn’t meant to make love to Jen, but now that they had broken that barrier, now that he held her so close he could feel her heart beating in tandem with his, he knew it had been the right decision.
It was clear Jen needed affection and intimacy in her life, every bit as much as he did. And there was nothing that made two people feel more alive than coming together the way they just had, with passion and speed and a recklessness, heretofore unknown, to both.
Jen was the kind of person who strategized every move she made.
So was he.
But there had been nothing preplanned about what they had just done, Rick noted in satisfaction. Nothing calculated. Their coming together had been driven strictly by need and yearning. And Rick liked that feeling.
He turned toward Jen, fully intending to make love to her all over again. The doorbell rang. Rick looked at Jen, brow raised in silent inquiry.
She looked at him, the same way. “It’s your apartment.”
Hence, her deduction, likely his guest.
“Don’t move.” Rick kissed her forehead. “I’ll get rid of whoever it is.”
He reached for his shorts, tugged his T-shirt over his head, exited the bedroom and headed for the foyer. Once there, he looked through the viewfinder on the door.
On the other side of the portal were the two people he least expected to see.
***
Jen lay in Rick’s bed, still breathing rapidly, trying not to worry about who might be there at
“I can’t believe you’re both here, together,” Jen heard Rick say.
“We thought it might be more effective if we talked to you at the same time,” a woman’s voice said.
A man followed up. “Your mother and I agree. We want you to end this farce as soon as possible.”
Jen’s face burned. Not just at the fact she was lying there, eavesdropping, but because of what was being said. Figuring she had already heard enough, she leaped from the bed and rushed into the bathroom. Closing and locking the door quietly behind her, she turned on the shower and stepped beneath the spray. For the next ten minutes, she tried to wash away the ridiculously romantic feelings she had felt, earlier, when making love to Rick. By the time she wrapped herself in the fluffy white spa robe she had left hanging on the door, Rick was knocking on the bathroom door.
“Jen?” he said firmly through the wood. “We need to talk.”
***
Rick had hoped that Jen hadn’t heard any of what had been said. One look at her beautiful flushed face and averted eyes told him otherwise.
“That was my parents,” he told her. “They wanted to meet you, but given the reason they were here—”
“To convince us our elopement was a mistake,” Jen reiterated what she had obviously overheard.
Rick nodded reluctantly, wishing he had been able to do more to protect Jen’s feelings. “I told them it wasn’t the right time.”
She nodded, still not looking at him as she ran a wide-toothed comb through the fragrant silk of her just-shampooed hair. “Well, this is awkward,” she said with a wry shrug. “Particularly since they’ve never even met me.”
Rick shrugged, taking his folks’ reaction in stride. “They don’t want to see us go through an ugly divorce.”
Slowly, Jen lowered the comb. “Why would they presume our breakup would be unpleasant?”
If, Rick thought, that was indeed what happened in the end.
Rick edged even closer. His voice dropped a consoling notch. “Maybe because every divorce each of them has been through has been horrible. My dad has been married four times, my mother five.”
Shock turned to compassion. “Sorry,” Jen murmured, reaching out to him. She swallowed. “I didn’t know…”
Rick shrugged at the pain the reluctant memories conjured up. “It’s nothing I care to advertise.” And also why he had always been so determined not to marry. He hadn’t wanted to go through as an adult what he had suffered as a child. Having grown up with two oft-divorcing, chameleonlike parents and a total of nine different stepparents—each with his or her own idea of how children should be brought up—he did whatever he could to live by his own rules.
Jen exhaled and lounged against the bathroom countertop. She looked pretty and content, wrapped in the fluffy white robe. “No wonder you don’t believe in marriage.”
“I don’t when two people go into a marriage with unrealistic expectations,” Rick corrected. “But when they go into it sans romance of any kind, the way you and I did…” He paused, aware that in the past few days his feelings had changed. He shrugged affably. “I’m beginning to see how it could work.”
Chapter Five
“We may have made a mistake,” Jen told Rick the next morning, as they rushed around, simultaneously getting ready for work.
Rick studied Jen as she stood before the bathroom mirror in a sleeveless silk shell and trim gray “lawyer” skirt. The clothes were dull—the woman inside them was not. Mesmerized, he watched as she ran a straightening iron through the thick honey-blond strands of her layered shoulder-length hair, swiftly transforming the delectably sexy bedhead to office chic.
Wishing they could shirk their professional obligations and concentrate only on the personal, Rick smeared shaving cream on his jaw.
“In not deciding to take the day off?” He picked up where she left off.
Jen’s gaze tracked the strokes of his razor. “In consummating our marriage,” she said.
She hadn’t had any complaints the second and third times they’d made love, Rick thought. But then, that had been in the dark of night. This was the bright light of day. The time when all romantic regrets were likely to surface.
Rick turned away from the turbulent sheen in her emerald-green eyes and went back to shaving the day’s growth from his jaw. Just because Jen had doubts didn’t mean he had any. He forced himself to sound casual. “Kind of a moot point, isn’t it, since what’s done is done.”
“I guess.” Jen lounged against the bathroom counter, facing him. Her teeth raked the softness of her lower lip.
His own pulse racing, Rick rinsed his face and blotted it on a towel. He reached for the aftershave lotion, slapped some on, never once taking his eyes from her face. Figuring he knew what was bothering her, he told her what he assumed she needed to hear. “We can keep it casual.” He indicated their wedding rings with a nod. “Despite this.”
“Speaking of which…” She lifted her hand, shifted the ring slightly to show him the skin beneath. It was turning her finger green.
Rick chuckled. That, they could do something about.
***
“Every bride should have a diamond,” the jeweler assured Jen and Rick, at
Jen shook her head, nixing the idea as firmly as it was offered. “We were never engaged.”
“Maybe we should have been,” Rick said. Maybe then, Rick thought, she wouldn’t be driving him crazy with lust and longing…coming close one moment, flitting away the next…
Jen pivoted in astonishment. She looked like she was warm all over, which wasn’t surprising given the heat of the June day. “Really, it’s not necessary.”
“Perhaps,” the clerk insisted smoothly, “if you were to try one on…the square cut solitaire, perhaps?”
Rick nodded his approval. Jen sputtered in protest, but acquiesced when the ring was produced.
As lovely as it looked on her hand, it was clear Jen did not like it.
So Rick went with what he would have chosen. The round three-karat set in platinum with the matching, diamond-studded wedding band.
Jen caught her breath when she saw it on her hand. The pure joy on her face made his next decision easy. “We’ll take it,” Rick said.
Just that quickly, her expression changed. She looked at him as if he had lost his mind. Given the fact this was a wedding of convenience, she might have had a point, Rick allowed silently. Except for one thing. “I don’t want my wife wearing a ring that turns her finger green.”
“And you shouldn’t, either,” the clerk agreed.
Fifteen minutes later they left the store, bands on their fingers. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do this right,” Rick said.
Jen sighed and lifted her shoulders dispiritedly, as if to say, “I guess.”
Their gazes clashed a moment longer. “And speaking of spousal commitments,” Rick told her, “I’ve got a business dinner tonight with a potential client I’d like you to attend.”
***
Hours later, Jen freshened her makeup in preparation for the evening out with Rick’s clients. She still couldn’t believe what a romantic idiot she had been. For a second there, she’d deluded herself into thinking that the rings Rick had purchased for the two of them on their lunch break meant the commitment they had made in haste was beginning to take on some real heft! Instead, the jewelry was just one more prop in this comedy of errors…a way to keep them from looking foolish to all those around them!
So while they had all the paraphernalia necessary to look really married, and even the lovemaking and the shared space to go along with that, in reality it was still all a sham. And now she had to go out this evening, with Rick and one of GME’s most important clients, and play the dutiful wife.
Luckily for her, the first part of the dinner was dominated by talk of Grady McCabe’s new development project, a mixed-use high-rise in downtown
Rick’s client, a prestigious
But as soon as that deal was concluded, the talk turned to Rick and Jen and their new marriage. “Tell me,” Joan Lang said. “When did you realize something was going on between the two of you?”
That, Jen thought, was easy. “The first time I ever saw Rick he caught my eye,” Jen said honestly.
Rick looked intrigued. He reached over and took her hand, squeezing gently. “How so?” he asked softly.
Jen couldn’t look into that gaze of his and not admit, “You were just so handsome,” she said. He had such a wonderful laugh. A way of teasing anyone and everyone out of a mood and back into a happy state.
“But then,” Jen continued, even more honestly, withdrawing her hand from his, “you started getting under my skin. Especially with all your talk about how marriage was no longer a viable institution!” The fact he didn’t think any man and woman could make it over the long haul—when all she had ever wanted was a life with and the love of one man for the long haul—had kept her away from him.
She hadn’t let herself really get close to him.
Hadn’t dared think he might one day change his mind about the importance of commitment.
But now, seeing the way he was looking at her—with such love and affection, kindness and respect—it was hard not to imagine the two of them together in the days and weeks and months, maybe even years, ahead.
As if he were thinking exactly the same thing, Rick chuckled, admitting to Bill and Joan Lang, as well as Jen, “I admit I did bring up that topic every chance I got. I couldn’t help it.” Rick turned back to Jen. “You were just so pretty when you got worked up.”
The Langs chuckled while Jen recalled every hot-tempered, overly emotional argument the two of them had ever had.
“It was a little like fifth-grade recess,” Jen told the Langs.
“Until we realized there was no way around it,” Rick picked up the story where Jen left off. “She was right. And I was wrong. And the two of us were meant to be.”
***
“Why did you say that to the Langs?” Jen asked Rick when they went back to her apartment, where they were set to spend the night that evening. “That I was right…?”
Rick waggled his brows. “Because you are.”
“And we were meant to be!”
Rick wrapped his arms around Jen and drew her close. “Because it’s true.” He pressed a kiss on her temple. Another on her cheek. The shell of her ear, the nape of her neck…
“It isn’t,” Jen protested, already going weak in the knees.
“Kiss me and tell me that again and I’ll believe you,” Rick dared, his lips lowering to hers.
Jen tried to formulate an argument. Heaven knew, as a practicing attorney, she ought to have half a dozen ready to go, on any subject, at any time. But when Rick drew her close and electricity arced through her entire body, all she could think about was touching her lips to his once again. A thrill shot through her at the taste and touch and feel of him, making it impossible to heed the warnings her intellect was sending out when all she wanted to do was give in to the demands of her heart and heed the siren call deep inside her.
Because, she realized, as they tumbled onto her bed, the truth was that she was falling in love with him. Had been for what seemed like forever. And now that they were married, now that they were living together and making love, she could no longer pretend she didn’t want to entwine their lives. Or find a way to make this union of theirs last and last and last…
***
Rick knew this was nothing but a game of make-believe to Jen. It had started out as a lark to him, too. But now, being here with her, like this—being with her anywhere—was all he wanted. Jen had shown him how right the two of them were and how satisfying marriage could be. She made him want to dig deeper into his soul. She brought out the kindness buried deep inside him and encouraged him to want more out of life than success. Left him needing and wanting her, as his partner and soul mate—not just until the time they could reasonably divorce—but for the rest of their lives.
Now, Rick thought in satisfaction, as they brought their bodies together as one, all he had to do was convince her that a long and happy life together was what she wanted, too.
Chapter Six
Rick wasn’t sure what he expected of Belle and Aidan’s wedding rehearsal late Friday afternoon. Certainly not the advice he got every time he turned around in the century-old downtown
“Jen should have had all this, too,” her mother, Martha, whispered in an aside.
“I don’t care how much of a hurry you two were in. You cheated my sister, depriving her of all this,” Belle pouted.
“You blew it, son,” his father-in-law, Frank, said with a paternal slap on the shoulder.
A week before, Rick would have said they were all wrong. But this afternoon, watching Jen march up the aisle in advance of her older sister, paper bouquet in hand, Rick knew there was something to that declaration.
Jen might present herself as a woman who was practical in the extreme, but deep down she was as romantic as all get-out. And it was up to him to figure out what to do about it.
***
Jen knew she was getting weird looks. She even knew why.
After months of not caring less, or at least telling herself she couldn’t have cared less, the importance of this weekend had finally hit her.
Her older sister—her only sister!—was getting married. When the ceremony tomorrow evening concluded, Belle would no longer be an integral part of the family they had both grown up in. She would instead be the female head of a family of her own.
Sure, Belle and Aidan would be around for holidays. Even more frequently if Aidan kept playing football for the Dallas NFL team. But they would also be with his relatives, and on adventures of their own.
And Jen realized that most poignantly of all when the wedding party moved from the church to the restaurant for dinner and watched the video of Belle’s childhood, put together by their mom.
There were Belle and Jen. Belle teaching Jen how to walk with a book on her head. Belle and Jen playing in a wading pool. Belle teaching Jen how to strike a cover-girl pose. The two of them roller-skating at the local rink, with Belle catching Jen every time she fell down. Belle trying to teach an unwilling Jen how to put on makeup with beauty-queen expertise.
And then Jen, cheering Belle onstage, at the Miss Texas Pageant, when Belle was crowned.
Memories.
So many memories, Jen thought wistfully.
All of them good.
And that was why it was such a shock, after the video ended, when Jen, near bawling, had escaped to the ladies’ room on another floor of the restaurant to pull herself together. And saw the last thing she had ever wanted to see.
***
“It wasn’t what it looked like.” Aidan blocked Jen’s exit from the alcove outside the restrooms.
With effort, Jen quelled the urge to deck her future brother-in-law. “You patting a woman on the butt seemed pretty clear to me.”
“She’s an old friend.” Aidan shrugged.
Jen smirked. “I’ll bet.”
Aidan tried again. “I was drunk.”
“That was just seconds ago and you seem pretty clearheaded now.”
“You can’t tell Belle,” Aidan reiterated, with a threatening stare.
Rick rounded the corner. Took one look. Scowled and shoved Aidan aside. “What the hell is going on here?” Rick demanded of the groom.
Aidan stared at Jen another long, telling moment. Then turned back to Rick. “She’s your wife. You’re the best man. You handle her.” Aidan stormed off.
Rick’s eyes radiated concern. “Did he make a pass at you?”
The question stunned her. Jen’s anger quickly found a new target. “You know he does that?” she asked in astonishment.
Rick scowled. “I know he did before he got engaged to Belle.”
“You approve of it?”
Rick tensed, torn, it seemed, between his allegiance to a guy he had known since they were kids, and Jen. “I try not to judge,” Rick said finally.
Right. Jen folded her arms in front of her militantly. “Meaning you look the other way.”
“Meaning it’s none of my business,” Rick reiterated curtly. “At least it hasn’t been. And you didn’t answer my question. Did Aidan make a pass at you?”
Rick looked ready to deck Aidan if that were true.
Jen inhaled deeply. Feeling partly reassured, she shook her head. “No.”
Rick relaxed, too. He took her hand. “Your parents sent me up to find you. Tomorrow’s a big day. They’re about ready to end the party and call it a night. They want you to be there with them when they do.”
Her feelings still in turmoil, but not wanting to cause her sister any more pain, Jen clasped Rick’s hand tightly. “I’m ready to go home, too,” she said.
***
Rick would have known there was something wrong on the ride back to Jen’s apartment where they were staying the night, even if he hadn’t seen Aidan intimidating her outside the restrooms. She was far too quiet. Almost hauntingly sad.
They walked in.
Jen kicked off the high-heeled sandals.
Looking exquisitely pretty in a flowered sundress with a ribbon sash that her sister had picked out for her to wear that evening, Jen flounced down on the sofa.
Rick opened a bottle of champagne and filled two flutes. “I was saving this for tomorrow evening, but it seems like we need it tonight.”
She let him press the glass in her hand, but did not take a sip. “I’m really not in the mood for celebrating.”
“Is it because your sister is getting married tomorrow?” Rick asked gently.
Tears appeared in the corners of Jen’s eyes. “I know it seems like the two of us don’t get along. And in recent years, I guess we really haven’t, but I do love Belle, Rick. So very much.” Jen’s voice broke. Her lips trembled and tears rolled down her cheeks.
“I know.” Rick set both glasses aside. He lifted Jen onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her. “I get this wedding is emotional for you.”
Jen buried her face in his shoulder. Her slender body shook with sobs. “I want her to be happy. I do!” she sobbed.
Whether that would be possible married to Aidan, Rick didn’t know. The bighearted kid Rick had grown up with had morphed into a football star with an air of entitlement and ego the size of his fame, to the detriment of the character and values Rick’s old friend had once had. “And I want you to be happy,” Rick said, stroking his hands through Jen’s hair.
“Then hold me,” Jen whispered, already loosening his tie. “And make love to me. And make everything all right.”
***
Rick did his best. And while the sex was certainly as satisfying as ever that night, there was clearly something wrong.
Jen didn’t sleep.
Any time they weren’t actively enjoying themselves, she seemed a million miles away.
He awakened to find her, not in his arms, but sitting on the window seat in a sleeveless nightgown, her knees drawn up to her chest.
Once again, it looked like she had been crying.
Rick reached for his boxer-briefs, and slid them on. He joined her on the window seat.
“I know as your husband I can’t command you to do anything, but I sure wish you would tell me what’s going on,” he coaxed gently.
Finally, Jen did. “I saw Aidan with his hand on a woman’s butt last night. He was clearly propositioning her. I think she might have said yes.”
Many words went through Rick’s mind. None could be said in polite company. Finally, he asked, “Do you think Belle knows?”
Looking more miserable than ever, Jen shook her head. “Belle thinks Aidan has been faithful since the day they met. She wouldn’t… There’s no way she would be with someone who didn’t worship her and the ground she walked on.”
Rick covered her hand with his. “So what are you going to do?”
Jen shrugged. She wiped away a new flood of tears with the back of her hand. “What can I do?” she sniffed.
“Tell her what you saw.”
Jen shut her eyes as if in pain. “It would ruin this day.”
“Better that than the rest of her life,” Rick ventured.
Jen exhaled and lifted her gaze to his. “The thing is, I don’t think Belle would believe me, not without some kind of proof, and I don’t have any.”
Rick paused. “Any idea who the woman was?”
“None. Not that it matters. If that woman has designs on Aidan, there is no way she would betray him.”
Chapter Seven
Rick met up with Aidan at the church and quickly brought him up to speed. “You have to tell Belle the truth,” Rick said. “And promise her it won’t happen again.”
Aidan looked at Rick. “Are you my best man or worst enemy? ’Cause I have to tell you, I don’t recognize you right now. Besides, what happened to your old mantra, ‘So many women, so little time’?”
The mantra had been a joke, designed to keep any female who was serious away from him. “You know I was never really like that,” Rick said.
“A pity, too. You could have had all my leftovers. And I have to tell you I’ve snagged some pretty fantastic—”
Rick didn’t know what happened; he’d never decked anyone in his life. One minute he was just standing there. The next he had the famous athlete flat on his keister, sliding across the vestibule floor. Rick grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him to his feet. “I swear to all that’s holy. You hurt Belle or anyone in her family ever again and you will answer to me.” Rick let go and stepped back.
Aidan dusted himself off and glared at Rick like the self-involved stranger he had become. “The only reason you’re going to be my best man is because it would cause too much talk now if you weren’t. But after today?” Aidan growled. “I don’t know you.”
“Fine with me,” Rick shot back.
“Now, if you don’t mind…” Aidan opened his customized black cell phone with the big silver star on the back. He showed off the text on the screen. “I’ve got a hot babe to call before I change into my tux.”
***
“You’re not supposed to be in here!” Belle chided Rick short minutes later.
Rick shrugged off the chiding and made his way to his wife. It was clear Jen hadn’t said a thing. Belle and every other female in the wedding party looked ecstatic. Jen looked as if she were trying to feign wild happiness while secretly miserable.
“But maybe you can cheer her up,” Belle hoped aloud.
Jen enveloped Rick in a hug. Standing on tiptoe, she whispered in his ear, “I didn’t and you can’t.”
“I know,” Rick whispered back. “That’s something Belle has to discover on her own.”
Jen nodded, still looking upset.
Rick set the pilfered phone down on the closest table.
No sooner had he done so, than it went off again. Thanks to Rick, the ringer had been set to loud. The obnoxious ring tone filled the room.
Belle frowned. “What’s Aidan’s phone doing in here?” She rushed to pick it up. Then paled as she read the text aloud, “‘I want to…’” Belle looked around. “Is this some sort of a joke?” she asked to no one in particular.
“Give me that.” Jen dived for the phone.
Belle held tight and kept scrolling. “I want everyone to leave except Jen and Rick.”
“Honey,” Martha Baxter implored.
“I mean it, Mom! Take all the bridesmaids and Aidan’s mom and just go.”
The women filtered out of the room.
Belle stared at Rick, a fairy princess about to explode. “Is this for real?” she repeated again.
Rick ignored the shock and ambivalence in Jen’s expression. “It’s his phone.”
“The messages,” Belle stipulated.
Rick ignored Jen’s pleading glance. He looked into her sister’s eyes. “As far as I know, yes.”
“Okay,” Belle said to Rick, pointing to the door. “You need to get out, too.”
Jen caught Rick’s sleeve as he passed. Once again her eyes were filled with tears of relief and fury. “I can’t believe you just did that,” she hissed.
“You’ll both thank me later,” Rick predicted, and prayed that was the case.
***
Belle collapsed on the nearest chair, no longer caring what the action might do to her silk skirt and train. As she looked Jen in the eye, what little remained of the years of estrangement disappeared. Once again they were sisters, in heart and soul, as well as last name. “Obviously,” Belle deduced, “you knew.”
Jen swallowed, aware the only thing she could do now was tell the truth—and let the chips fall where they may as Belle made what was arguably the most important decision of her life.
“Only since last night,” Jen admitted quietly, realizing belatedly that Rick had been right to do what he had. Neither of them could have lived with themselves had they covered for Aidan and kept the truth from Belle.
Belle passed a weary hand over her eyes. “You saw his texts?”
“I saw him with his hand on another woman’s butt.” Briefly, Jen explained.
“And didn’t tell me,” Belle accused, betrayed.
“I wanted to…but…you had already accused me once of trying to ruin your wedding…and I didn’t have any proof. Not like that.” Jen pointed to the phone.
Belle leaped up and began to pace. “So you chickened out.”
“Yes,” Jen admitted, ashamed. She struggled not to cry.
Belle swung around, heavy skirts swishing. “So now what am I supposed to do?”
Belle fingered the elaborate bouquet in her hands. Outside, they could hear the music starting. She studied her gigantic diamond ring.
Their mom popped her head in.
Belle held up a hand.
Their mom popped right back out.
Belle looked at Jen. “Tell me what you think,” she insisted quietly, for once—maybe for the first time in her life—looking as if she really needed her baby sister’s advice.
Jen knew a lot was resting on her answer so she gathered her courage and spoke from the heart. “I think you deserve better. We both do. A week ago I might not have known this, but I do now. True love is worth waiting for.”
Belle looked sad for herself, happy for Jen. “Are you saying…?”
“Yes. I’m in love with Rick.” So in love, in fact, Jen was willing to stay married to him even if he didn’t ever love her back.
***
“We can’t let everything go to waste!” Jen and Belle’s mother said, after Belle had told her fiancé it was over, marched into the chapel, made the announcement and marched right back out. “The flowers, the food, the dinner, the band, the limo—everything has been paid for!”
“It doesn’t have to go unused,” Belle said, looking more serene than she had in years, now that the decision had been made. “Rick and Jen can take our place!”
Jen gasped. This was the wedding of a lifetime. “I couldn’t,” she protested, hand to her heart.
With the generosity and love she’d shown Jen when they were kids, Belle said, “Sure you can. We’ll even swap dresses.” Belle grinned.
Looking surprised, but nonetheless cooperative, Rick shrugged. “I’m willing,” he announced.
“Well, I’m not!” Jen folded her arms in front of her.
Jaws dropped. Martha looked like she might faint. Frank looked annoyed beyond words.
“Give us a moment,” Rick said to Jen’s parents and sister.
In relief, everyone filtered out of the anteroom.
Rick held out his hands to Jen. “You deserve the wedding of your dreams.”
Jen couldn’t argue that. Still… She looked at Rick, determined to be as honest with him as she had just been with her sister. “This was Belle’s dream. Besides, it’s in a church, before God and all that, and I don’t think I—it’s not—in this case,” Jen stammered, “a civil ceremony would be better.”
Rick looked at Jen, as always seeing so much more of what she was feeling than she would have wished. “Mind telling me why?” he asked finally.
Total honesty, it seemed, was the guiding principle of the day. Jen inhaled deeply, marshaled all her courage and looked Rick straight in the eye. “Because you don’t love me,” she said quietly, “and I don’t want you pretending that you do.”
Chapter Eight
Rick stared at Jen, hardly able to believe what he had just heard. “I don’t love you?” he echoed in stunned disbelief.
“Shhh!” Jen pressed her finger to his lips, as aware as Rick that others might very well be listening outside the door. “You don’t have to speak so loudly!” she chided.
“Apparently, I do,” Rick stated, more determined than ever to make her understand. “Because I do love you, Jen, with all my heart!”
Jen’s face lit up with a glow that came from deep within. She looked deep into his eyes. “You mean that,” she noted softly, happily.
Rick gathered her in his arms for a long, soulful kiss. “I do.”
A contented silence fell. Rick knew what they would have done next, had they been alone. But they were in a church, with a chapel still full of everyone who had shown up on the bride’s side.
The groom’s guests had, at his behest, already departed.
“I understand if you want to turn Belle down on her offer to take her place, and go back to square one, do the whole courtship and proposal thing from the very beginning, and plan your very own wedding,” Rick said.
Jen held up a staying hand. “Actually, now that you mention it, the answer to that is no. I’ve always been practical and to tell you the truth, planning a wedding like this one is nothing but one giant headache, from my point of view. Selecting the flowers and the caterers and the invitations and the band, it just takes forever, and I don’t want to waste that time. Not when I could already be still married—”
“Really married this time,” Rick clarified.
Jen smiled. “—to you.”
Rick gathered her slender body closer yet. “So?”
Jen took a deep, enervating breath. “I’m willing if you are.”
No question there. “I am.”
***
It took another forty-five minutes to get the dresses changed, and Rick’s very surprised but willing parents to the chapel, as well. There was also the little matter of talking to the minister and agreeing to do their prenuptial counseling sessions after the fact.
But once that was all accomplished, with Rick’s father standing in as best man, the wedding march sounded, and Jen glided down the aisle on her father’s arm, the way she had always secretly wanted.
Rick was standing at the altar, all the love she had ever wanted in his eyes. She approached him, all the love she had ever wanted in her heart.
“We are gathered here today to witness the union of Rick Steele and Jen Baxter,” the minister began. “Although the two of them are already married in the eyes of the law, they’ve also asked to be married in the church.”
And thus, the ceremony that would tie them to each other for the rest of their lives began.
***
“Have I told you what a beautiful bride you make?” Rick murmured in Jen’s ear, as they took the floor for the bride and groom’s first dance together as husband and wife.
Jen flirted back, “In my borrowed dress.”
Rick kissed the top of her head. “In any dress.”
Jen exhaled in contentment and snuggled closer in Rick’s warm embrace as they swayed to the beat of “What a Wonderful World.”
Rick’s grip tightened possessively and Jen cast a look at her sister, who was gamely cheering them on. “I just wish things had turned out better for Belle,” Jen murmured.
“They will,” Rick assured Jen.
And, as it turned out, they did…
***
One year later…
“Hurry up!” Jen called from the top of the stairs.
Belle opened the door to her childhood bedroom and stepped out. She was dressed in a breathtakingly simple Vera Wang wedding dress. A real diamond tiara was threaded through her exquisitely upswept hair.
Jen caught her breath. As always, her sister’s beauty was astounding. Happiness radiated from Belle. “You are without a doubt the most stunning bride I have ever seen,” Jen told Belle.
Belle clutched the bouquet she would carry in the formal gardens, where she was to be married. This time, Jen amended silently to herself, to a man who loved Belle as much as she deserved to be loved, and whom Belle loved equally in return.
“You mean that, don’t you?” Belle smiled.
Glad the last twelve months had reinstated the closeness the two had felt in their youth, Jen nodded. “I do, but if we don’t hur—” Jen paused, put her hand to her midriff and caught her breath.
“What?” Panicked, Belle came closer. “Nothing’s wrong, is it?”
Tears gathered in Jen’s eyes. She took her sister’s hand and put it on her waist. “Only very right.”
Recognition lit Belle’s face. “Is this…?”
“The first time.” Jen could barely contain her excitement. “Yes.”
Belle went to the stairwell. “Rick! Get up here now!” she yelled.
Jen protested. “We’ll be late.” And there was no guarantee it would happen again!
“I don’t care!” Belle said, laughing and pushing her own needs aside, as she teased merrily, “If you’re upstaging me anywhere, little sis, it’s here!”
Rick dashed up. He looked as alarmed as Belle’s hasty summons commanded. “What?” Rick demanded, coming to a rest at Jen’s side.
Belle took Rick’s hand and fit it into Jen’s. “She’ll explain,” Belle promised with a wink. To Jen, she added, “I was going to say, ‘Don’t take too long!’ But what the heck—take all the time you need.” Belle winked. “The important moments in life only come once. Right?” Belle kissed Jen’s temple and, being very careful of the fabric of her dress, headed down the stairs.
“What was that all about?” Rick demanded, perplexed.
Jen felt it again. “This.” She took Rick’s hand and put it across her softly rounded belly. And there it was again, as if on cue, the tiniest kick, followed by another.
Rick’s gaze widened. “Is that…?”
Jen nodded, a joy unlike any she had ever felt coming over her. “Our baby. It is.”
“Wow,” Rick said, waiting once again.
The baby kicked once more, then fell silent.
From the curb, they heard the limo honking.
“We better get going!” Jen said.
“Not before this,” Rick said. He took her in his arms and kissed her once again, thoroughly and sweetly.
Breathlessly, they drew apart. “I love you,” Rick said, “with all my heart.”
Jen looked deep into his eyes and kissed him back. “I love you, too,” she said softly. “So very much.”
The horn sounded again, longer, louder this time.
Rick and Jen laughed.
“Belle can be patient, but only for so long!” Jen warned.
“Then let’s get going, so we can all live happily ever after!” Rick said.
And they did.
THE END