GROOM UNDER FIRE

by Lisa Childs

  Stephen reached his injured hand out to Tanya’s little sister, and he patted her cheek. “You’re pretty sweet yourself.”

  Rochelle? What kind of painkillers had they given him?

  Rochelle giggled like the child she’d once been before she’d become a bitter, angry adult. “I’m anything but sweet—Tanya will tell you that. I’ve been a complete witch to her.”

  “You didn’t know,” Stephen said. “I should have told you…”

  “Did you know?” Rochelle asked.

  Tanya furrowed her brow with confusion. Was her sister drunk? “It was his plan.”

  “Not the plan,” Rochelle said with another delighted giggle. “His feelings…”

  “Do you mind if I tell her alone?” Stephen asked.

  Rochelle nodded and walked out of the room as if she were floating a few feet above the ground.

  “Tell me what?” Tanya asked.

  “I love your sister.”

  “You what?” She had never noticed anything romantic between the two.

  “I love Rochelle,” he said.

  She was stunned. “When you disappeared, I realized she had feelings for you, but…”

  “I didn’t realize it either until I was locked up in that crate,” he said. “Hers was the face I most wanted to see again. Hers the voice I most wanted to hear.”

  Tanya uttered a wistful sigh, longing for someone to love her like that. And for that someone to be Cooper.

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “You have no reason to be sorry,” she assured him. “You and I were never anything more than friends.”

  “You, me and Cooper—the three amigos,” he said with a chuckle. “But you and him were never just friends. He married you.”

  She nodded. “Just so I would be able to inherit and pay a ransom in case one was made for your return.”

  “I heard he had some doubts about my part in all of this,” Stephen said. Obviously Rochelle had told him everything that had happened in his absence. “So maybe he had another reason to marry you.”

  “For my protection,” she said. “Mr. Gregory was trying to kill me.”

  “You wished it was real, though,” he said. “You love Cooper. You always have.”

  But it was even more hopeless than it had been when they were teenagers. “It doesn’t matter,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion, “because he doesn’t love me. He’ll never love…” She dropped into the chair beside his bed and her shoulders shook as she wept.

  With his injured hand, Stephen patted her hair.

  She should have been the one comforting him after everything he’d endured. But, as usual, he was the one offering her comfort.

  “I really love you,” she told him.

  A noise drew her attention to the door—where Cooper stood. Before she could call out to him, he turned and left, the door swinging shut behind him. He obviously thought she was in love with Stephen. But what did that matter to Cooper since he didn’t love her?

  *

  “SO YOU WOULDN’T stand up as my best man, but you want a favor from me!” Stephen exclaimed as he slammed the door to Cooper’s office and strode up to his desk.

  Coop was officially part of the Payne Protection team and as a family member as well as an employee he’d been given an office—a dark-paneled room that was smaller than Logan’s and Parker’s but bigger than the cubby they’d given Nikki.

  “I thought it was a favor you’d want, too.” Given what Cooper had seen and heard a couple of days ago in Stephen’s hospital room.

  The man had healed quickly—probably because he had someone waiting for him. But he still had a bandage on his head to protect the stitches that had finally stopped the bleeding. And he had dark circles rimming his eyes that were now wide in shock. “You think I want to draw up your divorce papers?”

  “I think you want me to divorce Tanya,” Cooper admitted with a trace of bitterness. Maybe he was more petty than he’d thought since he couldn’t bring himself to be happy for his friends.

  “Why?” Stephen asked.

  “So you can marry her.” Nikki had gone running out minutes ago to meet Tanya and Rochelle at the church to make wedding arrangements with his mother. Apparently Tanya was so anxious to marry Stephen that she’d forgotten that she was still married to Cooper.

  He hadn’t forgotten. He hadn’t forgotten anything about her. The smell of her hair. The taste of her lips. The way she felt when he buried himself deep inside her—the heat and closeness of her body holding him tightly.

  He’d felt as if they had become one, just as the minister had said when he’d married them. But Cooper hadn’t seen his wife since he’d heard her declaring her love for another man.

  Stephen chuckled. “Everybody said that you would change so much once you became a Marine. And after you got deployed…”

  He had changed, but for the most part he thought he did a pretty good job of holding back the memories and the nightmares. Even though Stephen was about to marry the woman Cooper loved, he was his friend. So Coop admitted, “I have changed.”

  Stephen shook his head. “No, you haven’t. You’re the same fool you’ve always been…”

  “You’re the fool,” Cooper said, “to come to my office and insult me.”

  “You called me here with that stupid voice mail you left, asking me to draw up divorce papers for you and Tanya.”

  He shrugged. “Annulment papers, then. I’ll sign whatever Tanya wants.”

  “Do you know what Tanya wants?”

  “You.”

  Stephen chuckled again. “She told you that?”

  He thought back, trying to remember their conversations. “She told the lawyer she wanted to divorce me.”

  “Did she tell you why?”

  “Because she doesn’t want to be married to me,” Cooper said.

  “Did she tell you that?”

  His ribs and back hurt less, but now the pain was throbbing in his head. “Why do you keep asking me all these questions?”

  “Because I want to make sure you really know what’s in Tanya’s heart and you’re not just assuming.”

  I love you…

  But he had only dreamed that she’d whispered those words in his ear. He had been completely awake when he’d heard her declare her feelings for Stephen.

  “I’m not just assuming,” he insisted. “I know…”

  “Do you know what’s in your heart?” Stephen asked.

  Cooper snorted. He was not going to have this conversation with the man who was about marry the woman he loved.

  “I didn’t know what was in mine,” Stephen admitted. “I didn’t know until I had all those days in the box to think about it.”

  “Are you suggesting I nail myself inside a box?”

  Stephen grimaced.

  “Too soon?” he teased.

  “Just a little bit.” But Stephen grinned. “I’ve missed you, my friend.”

  And because they were friends, Cooper had to do this. “Draw up the papers for me.”

  Stephen reluctantly nodded. “If that’s what you really want, I will.”

  Cooper sucked in a breath over the pain of the jab in his heart. “Okay…”

  “But I won’t do it until you talk to Tanya.”

  “That’s not necessary.”

  “It is if you want me to do this favor for you,” Stephen said. “You have to do this favor for me.”

  “Talking to Tanya is doing a favor for you?”

  Stephen grinned. “Yes, and it’s a favor that can’t wait. You need to talk to her now.”

  “But she’s at the church.” Planning his wedding.

  “Exactly. You’ve already wasted enough time,” Stephen admonished him. “Talk to her and then tell me if you want these papers drawn up…”

  He didn’t want them at all. He didn’t want to divorce Tanya. But he couldn’t stay married to a woman who loved another man. It was time to end his marriage.

  Chapter Ninetee
n

  Tanya found it hard to focus on the wedding plans the others were discussing in Mrs. Payne’s sunbathed sunshine-yellow office. She could only hear Cooper’s voice ringing in her head from the message he’d left on Stephen’s phone. She’d been with her friend when he’d played his voice mail. “I need you to draw up my divorce papers…”

  He’d promised that he would end their marriage. And Cooper Payne was a man of his word. She felt like a hypocrite—planning a wedding while her own marriage was ending.

  Rochelle nudged her shoulder. “I need your opinion,” she said. “You’re my maid of honor.”

  “Matron,” Mrs. Payne corrected her. “Your sister is married, so she’s a matron.”

  She wasn’t going to be married much longer if Cooper had his way.

  Rochelle giggled. She did that so often now, since she was giddy with happiness. “If only she were a little more matronly, I would look better.”

  “You’re going to look beautiful,” Tanya assured her. “You are beautiful. Radiant even.”

  Rochelle blushed. “You’re a good matron of honor.”

  Tanya had been so touched that her sister had asked her, that she was making an effort to end their resentment and misunderstandings and finally form a real sisterly bond. To ensure Rochelle’s happiness, she had to put aside her own pain and loss.

  “I’m so happy for you both,” she said.

  Rochelle leaned over and squeezed Tanya’s hand. “You could be this happy, too.”

  “I just told you, I’m happy.”

  “For me and Stephen. I want you to be happy for yourself,” Rochelle said. “Tell Cooper how you feel about him.”

  She had. But she’d just cowardly whispered the words in his ear. “It doesn’t matter…”

  “Why not?”

  “Because he doesn’t feel the same.”

  “How do you feel about my son?” Mrs. Payne asked with a big smile that suggested that she knew exactly how Tanya felt about Cooper and that she had probably always known.

  “How do you?” a deep voice asked. And his tone suggested that he did not know.

  He must not have heard those words she’d whispered in his ear that night. “I told you,” she said.

  “When I was sleeping…”

  So he had heard her.

  “But I still told you,” she insisted. “What about you?” She gathered the courage to finally ask what she’d been dying for years to know. “How do you feel about me?”

  And she held her breath, waiting for his answer.

  And waiting…

  *

  HEAT CLIMBED INTO Cooper’s neck as he realized all these women were staring at him. His mother. His sister. Her sister. And Tanya…

  She had really said those words; he hadn’t just imagined them. She loved him.

  “I heard you tell Stephen the same thing,” he said.

  “I do love Stephen. But like a friend,” she clarified. “Not like Rochelle loves him. Not like he loves Rochelle.”

  And then he got it. “It’s their wedding you’re here planning.”

  Rochelle grinned. “You thought she was planning a wedding to Stephen. She’s not a bigamist.”

  “He called Stephen to draw up divorce papers,” she shared with her sister.

  “He wouldn’t do it until I came here and talked to you,” he admitted.

  “So you’re only here because of Stephen.”

  He was losing her. He felt it, felt her slipping away. “When you said those words to me, did you mean them the same way you said them to Stephen?”

  She made him wait. Her body tense, lips pursed as she considered whether or not to answer him. He didn’t blame her if she didn’t. He’d just told her that he only came here to get divorce papers drawn up. It would take a lot of courage for her to put herself out there first. But Tanya was much stronger than she looked.

  “I have never felt about you like I do Stephen,” she said. “You and I have never been just friends. At least not on my end.”

  “Not on my end either,” he admitted.

  She waited again.

  And he hesitated. He had never been a coward before. He hadn’t hesitated to join the Marines. He hadn’t hesitated to engage in combat. But he hesitated now because Tanya could hurt him more than any bullet or bomb. She’d said the words, but that didn’t mean they had a future together. “Your grandfather was right all those years ago. I had nothing to offer you. I have nothing to offer you now either.”

  “Yes, you do,” she said. “You’re just not willing to offer it.”

  “I have no money.”

  “I don’t either,” she reminded him. “I’ve been fine without money.”

  “Then why were you going to marry Stephen to collect it?”

  “She had plans for the money,” Rochelle answered for her. “She was going to help people.”

  Of course she was. No wonder he loved her so much.

  “She doesn’t need the money to help people,” he said.

  Rochelle nodded in agreement. “But there actually is some left. Stephen found Mr. Gregory’s offshore accounts. And there’s already been an offer on Grandfather’s house.”

  Tanya turned toward her sister, her brow furrowing with confusion. “Who would want that thing?”

  “A funeral home.”

  She laughed in delight.

  She would inherit some money now since she’d married before her birthday. Would it be enough to put her out of his league again?

  “I don’t need money,” she said as if she could read his mind.

  He actually had more than she or his family probably realized. Because he’d needed very little to live on, he’d invested what he’d been paid, and given the bonuses for every time he’d re-upped, it had mounted.

  “What about love?” he asked her. “Do you need love?”

  Her breath audibly caught and her green eyes widened with surprise and hope. “Do you…?”

  “Love you?” He nodded. “Only with all my heart and soul.”

  “Well, if that’s all…” She jumped up from her chair and threw her arms around his neck. She pressed a kiss to his cheek and his chin and his nose. “I love you! I love you!”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Nikki said, feigning disinterest despite her sparkling eyes. “Tell us something we haven’t all known for years and years…”

  Cooper laughed. “I want to do it again.”

  “What?”

  “I want to marry you again,” he said.

  “Another wedding?” his little sister asked. “It’s like you know someone who owns a wedding chapel or something…”

  “Yeah, it’s like…”

  His mother chuckled as she always had at the teasing bickering of her children. That was why they’d started doing it so much—to make her laugh.

  Tanya pulled out of his arms. “We can’t!”

  And panic clutched his heart. Had she changed her mind? Did she not feel strongly enough about him to marry him again?

  “We can’t infringe on Rochelle’s day,” she said. “This is her time.”

  “Finally,” Rochelle murmured. “We’ve both taken our time getting here. How about we walk down that aisle together?” she asked Tanya. “We’ll give each other away to the men we love.”

  *

  TWO BRIDES AND two grooms stood at the altar. There were two best men—so identical in their black tuxes that it was impossible for Tanya to tell one from the other. Until Parker winked at her.

  She and Rochelle shared a maid of honor. Nikki juggled both their bouquets. Tanya’s was simple and small—just a bunch of yellow roses—while Rochelle’s was a trailing mass of colors and textures.

  Rochelle’s dress was also nontraditional—short and ruffled and the same blush as the color on her smiling cheeks. Since Rochelle had had time to find that dress, Tanya might have been able to find a new one, too.

  But there was only one dress she’d wanted to wear on her wedding day. And thankfully the paramedics
hadn’t damaged it. She wore Mrs. Payne’s—Mom’s, as Penny now insisted she call her—beautiful beaded lace gown.

  Tanya had worried during the few shorts days it had taken Mrs. Payne—Mom—to pull together the weddings that she was infringing on Rochelle’s day. But her little sister was happier than Tanya had ever seen her. And so was Stephen as he slid his ring on her finger.

  Then it was Cooper’s turn. He took her hand in his. Her skin tingled from his touch—and from the intensity of his blue eyes as he gazed down at her.

  “With this ring, I thee wed,” he repeated as he slid a gold and sparkling diamond band onto her finger.

  She marveled at the beauty of it. She had known Cooper since they were both kids, but the man could still surprise her. Like when he added his own vows: “I will love and protect you for the rest of my life, Tanya Payne.”

  Tanya Payne.

  “I love the sound of that,” she murmured. “I love you. Always have and always will. You are my best friend. My soul mate. My everything…”

  Cooper blinked his thick lashes as if he, too, was battling tears. Of emotion. Of love.

  “I now pronounce both couples men and wives,” Reverend James said with a chuckle.

  Stephen kissed his bride. And Cooper lowered his head to Tanya’s, his lips pressing tenderly against hers in such a sweet and gentle kiss that tears sprung to her eyes.

  “There’ll be more kissing later,” he promised her in a whisper for her ears only.

  She couldn’t wait for later. The reception passed in a blur of eating and dancing and laughing. This was the wedding she had always wanted. And it was all the sweeter that she was able to share it with her sister, her friends and her new family.

  Parker twirled her around the dance floor. “This wedding’s been kind of boring,” he complained with a teasing grin. “Nobody’s gotten kidnapped, shot at or poisoned.”

  Tanya blew out a breath of relief that none of those things had happened. Because usually those things happened to her or Cooper. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she teased back as the Payne family—her family—loved to tease. “It’s been the most exciting day of my life.”

  Cooper tugged her out of his brother’s arms and swung her up in his own. “It’s about to get more exciting,” he said, “we’re heading off for our honeymoon now.”