His brothers were astounded, and they, along with Carter who stared at them, and the whole crowd before them, gasped in shock. Camille grinned and clapped her hands together, happy at what she was seeing, and knowing more than anyone else in the room knew.
Everyone seemed to be holding their breath as Ryder knelt before Regina, awaiting her answer. For the briefest moment, the surety in his crystal blue eyes faltered, and became a genuine question. She saw it happen. Her heart pounded even harder inside of her, and she hoped with everything in her that she was making a wise choice.
She looked at him pointedly, and spoke. “As long as your playboy days are behind you and I am your future, then yes, I will be your wife.” She gave him a grin and watched as he heaved a sigh of relief. He pulled the ring from the box and slid it onto her finger. The crowd around them exploded with cheers and shouts of congratulations.
The ring fit like a glove and she wondered for a moment, but then remembered the day before when they had been sitting at the Tavern on the Green restaurant in Central Park and he had run his fingertips back and forth over her finger on that hand. She realized that he had been measuring her finger for the ring and she smiled at how sneaky he had been.
Ryder rose to his feet and reached for her, pulling her into his arms. A moment later, his lips were on hers and he was kissing her gently, his hand at the back of her head holding her close to him. She was surprised and her first instinct was to pull away, but he only held her closer, kissing her more deeply and firmly.
Her breath vanished and her rapid heartbeat seemed somehow to speed up. Fire traced through every vein in her body leading away from her heart, and she moaned softly as she tried to protest fruitlessly.
She wanted to pull away, but even as she tried for a moment, she realized that he was doing it for the cameras, and she began to kiss him back, telling herself that it was all for the money and that it didn’t mean anything. They had to sell it to every person in the room, including his family.
A long few moments later, he finally let her go and their breath mingled as it came back to them. He lifted his head slowly from hers, gazing hungrily into her eyes as he let her step back from him. There was only a moment from the time they parted that they were able to share their smoldering and breathless gaze before his brothers and sister crowded them, hugging them with delight.
Lucas and Pierce both embraced them each, and Camille hugged Regina tightly, speaking her congratulations in her ear excitedly and then kissing her cheek. She only got a glance at Ryder before he was taken off of the stage by their guests, and enveloped at the stairs by the stage by excited guests.
She managed a look over at Carter and saw that he had a stony expression on his face and that he had looked away from them both. He stayed still with his hands clasped in front of him, looking out over the crowd.
Camille took her by the hand and led her down the stairs and through the crowd of people to Ryder, where she let go of Regina and hugged Ryder tightly, congratulating them both. He moved with her through the thick and seemingly endless wall of people around them, heading toward the far doors.
They passed Tiffany and Amy and both of them gave her an icy glare, to which she merely grinned and held up her hand, waving her fingers and showing off the huge diamond ring she was wearing. People hugged them, kissed their cheeks, and shook their hands all the way to the door where they finally escaped the room and the crowd, just as Carter took the microphone at the podium on the stage and began to speak.
The door closed and they both looked at one another and heaved a sigh of relief. Ryder frowned slightly then and took her by the hand, leading her to a small garden courtyard with statuary and a water fountain.
He turned to her and looked into her light blue eyes. “What do you think you were doing up there on that stage making me wait for your answer? You had me worried you were going to turn me down!” He told her honestly and irritably.
She lifted her chin defiantly and frowned at him. “Why did you kiss me?”
“I had to make it look real! No one would have believed a proposal for a willing and blissful bride without a kiss. Besides,” He added with a sly smile, “you liked it. I know I did.” His smile became a grin and he considered kissing her again just to prove the point.
She planted her hands on her hips. “I made you wait because you never told me about the senator’s wife. Those two girlfriends of yours that I met, Tiffany and Amy, both told me all about your scandal with her. I don’t care who you’ve seen or slept with in the past, but I’ll tell you this. We might be in this just for the business, but you had better not make a laughing stock out of me while we’re together if you want me to go through with it. You might have hired me to play the part, but I’m not going to let you make a fool out of me.”
Turning on her heel, she walked away from him and headed back into the hotel, leaving him in the courtyard. She hadn’t been back in the hotel for a full minute when Camille ambushed her near the ladies room and wrapped her hands around Regina’s arm. Her grin was so bright that she could have warmed the whole world with it.
“Regina, I would really love to talk with you about the engagement and the wedding and all of the things that will need to be done to prepare for it!” She gushed excitedly. She wrapped her arms around Regina and hugged her tightly and then let her go. “Call me! We’ll get together and work on it. I’m so excited for it!”
Lucas and Pierce came to her once more to congratulate her, and she thanked them. She saw Carter watching her from a distance and she could not discern the expression on his face. He had said nothing to either her or to Ryder, and she wondered when he would and what it would be. There was no telling what he thought of their engagement, at least nothing that she could see just then.
When the evening began to die down somewhat, Ryder and Regina slipped out of the event and he took her home. They talked about the party, the people, and a little about the engagement, but nothing was said about the kiss they had shared until he walked her to her door.
He pulled her close to him and embraced her, and at first, she embraced him in return, but then as their cheeks were so close together, he moved to kiss her again, and she turned away from him. Taking a step back, she looked at him seriously.
“Ryder, this is just business, and it’s going to stay that way. We can’t afford to make it anything else. We both have a lot at stake in this.” She bid him a gentle goodnight and went into her home, closing her door behind her.
Ryder frowned and went back to his car in a sullen state. It had been so natural to kiss her at the event, and it had felt so good. She had set him on fire with just that kiss, and he had left it hungry and wanting more. It was frustrating to him that she could walk away from it and not want anything else. He was attracted to her, and he was getting to a point where he had to admit that even to himself. He wanted her to want him back as much as he desired her, and it bothered him tremendously that she didn’t.
Regina watched him leave from the privacy of her curtains, touching her finger to her lips. It had been difficult to tell him no, that she didn’t want him to kiss her, but she told herself that just because it set her on fire, it didn’t mean anything. She needed to keep her wits about her and focus on the money and the divorce. She promised herself that the only other time that she would kiss him would be at the wedding when they made their vows.
Chapter12
Carter was sitting behind his large wooden desk in the study when Ryder came in the next morning with a dour expression on his face. He was displeased with having been summoned by the old man.
“You sent for me?” He asked with a dark undertone.
Carter looked up from the paperwork on his desk and rose from his chair, his brow furrowing deeply and his eyes glinting angrily. “Yes, I most certainly did send for you. I want to know just what in the hell you think you’re doing asking some cocktail waitress to be your wife in front of God and everyone we know!”
Ryder had k
nown that some fallout would come of it. He had anticipated it, and he was ready for it, though his stomach tensed at the oncoming fight with his father. He kept his face still, free of showing any sign of emotion as he replied evenly, “I fell in love with her and I want to marry her. You should be pleased. That’s exactly what you wanted me to do.”
Carter came out from behind his desk, furious with his son. His normally ivory face had begun to turn red in his anger. “Don’t you play games with me young man!”
“I’m not playing games.” Ryder shot back, knowing that it was a blatant lie. He was playing the biggest game of all. “You’re judging her because of what she does for a living, rather than who she is. Besides, after I marry her, she won’t be a cocktail waitress anymore.”
“You’re playing with fire here, and you have no business doing it! You don’t know anything about her!” Carter shot at him coming within a few feet of his son, facing off with him. He was a few inches taller than Ryder, and it seemed like more as he stood there glaring down at his son hotly.
“You have no idea what I know about her.” Ryder snapped irritably.
Carter’s sharp blue eyes pierced into him, almost as if the old man was seeing straight through him. “How long have you known her?”
Ryder was ready for him. “I’ve known her long enough to know I want her. Listen,” Ryder held his hands up between them as if to stem the flow of the fight, “just be happy that I’m settling down and tying the knot.” He gave his father a cold stare. “Just like I was ordered to do.”
He turned away from Carter then, and walked out of the study, closing the door firmly behind him. Carter glared at the closed door and walked around his desk, standing at the large window behind it, looking out onto the back grounds and the sea. He clasped his hands together behind his back and pressed his lips together tightly in a thin line as he contemplated the situation.
***
There was a knock at Regina’s door and she looked up from the kitchen table where she was doing her homework. She hadn’t been expecting anyone, and she was surprised by the visitor. When she opened the door, she saw Ryder standing there before her with a defiant and fiery grin on his face.
“Well hello, fiancé of mine. How are you doing?” He asked with a hint of delight in his voice.
She smiled and stepped out on the porch to give him a hug. “I’m good! Just doing some homework. How are you?”
“I couldn’t be better. I was out in the neighborhood and thought I would drop in to see you. I hope the timing is alright.” His blue eyes twinkled.
She crossed her arms over her chest and eyed him suspiciously. “You just happened to be in this neighborhood?” She laughed a little.
He shrugged. “Well, I might have gone a little out of my way, but I had to. I have an early wedding gift for you.” He grinned at her and held his hand out to her.
Regina laughed and smiled broadly at him as she let him take her hand and lead her outside. “A wedding gift? You don’t have to do that, especially since it’s not a real wedding.”
Ryder gave his head a shake. “Yes, I do. I told you that I would. I’m just calling it a wedding gift, and it fits anyway.”
He walked her down the steps to the sidewalk and held his hand out, indicating the vehicle in front of them. It was a shiny new red Tesla. She gaped at him in disbelief.
“A car? You bought me this car?” she could only take her eyes off of it long enough to look up at him, stunned.
He grinned and nodded, pushing his hands halfway down into his jean pockets. With a shrug, he looked at her happily. He knew that it was probably the nicest thing she had ever owned, except for the ring on her hand.
“You deserve it, you work hard and you study hard, and you deserve it. I told you I’d get you a car, anyway. I don’t want you driving around in that wreck you have. It’s a disaster waiting to happen; that old jalopy is on its last tire.” His brow lowered somewhat in distinct disapproval. “Besides, if you’re going to be my wife, even for a little while, you have to have the best.”
She shook her head. “Yeah, you did say that you were going to buy me a car, but I thought you meant some little used car… something small and cheap that ran better than mine. I didn’t think that you meant something like this!” Covering her mouth with her hands, tears sprang to her eyes and she tried to blink them back as her breath came shallow and she tried to hold in the emotion that threatened to overwhelm her.
Ryder saw her reaction and reached for her, taking her into his arms and embracing her. She cried a little for a moment and then dried her eyes and stood back from him, almost unable to believe her incredible situation.
Excitement overtook her shock, and she began to grin and giggle. “You’re really giving me this car?”
He nodded, pulling the keys out of his pocket and holding them up in the air between them. “It’s done. It’s in your name. This is your car.” He had never felt so good about a gift he had given anyone in his whole life, except for a few to his mother when she was still alive.
Regina let out a muffled scream of delight and ran around it to the driver’s side to open the door and check it all out. He chuckled as he watched her for a moment, and then he took some time to show her the special aspects of it, and when she was familiar with it, she gave him a bright smile and a mischievous grin.
“Do you want to go for a ride?” she asked, twirling the keys on their keychain around her finger.
“I thought you’d never ask,” he winked at her and climbed into the passenger’s side.
She drove them through the city and onto the highway headed north until the traffic had dissipated and she was able to really open the engine up and let it roar on the open road. After a while she turned it toward Long Island to take him home.
When she dropped him off at his home, she got out and went around to where he was beside her new car. She couldn’t stop the wide grin on her face, and she reached her arms up around his neck and hugged him tightly, holding him for a moment before letting him go and kissing his cheek softly.
“Thank you so much. Thank you more than I can say.”
He gave her a nod and a heartfelt smile. “You’re very welcome.”
Something changed inside of him at that moment. The lust he felt so often for her seemed to shift a bit, and he felt the bond of friendship growing within him. She saw that he looked at her differently in that moment, and she began to wonder if somehow beneath all of his flirting and audaciousness, he wasn’t truly a good man deep down.
She called Marie and told her that she wanted to take her out for a coffee. She said nothing about the car, but when she pulled up to Marie’s apartment, Marie was shocked to see it, and thrilled for her that such good things were happening for her.
Her best friend hugged her tight and suggested that perhaps all of the good things had been building up over time and they were finally all happening at once.
Regina wasn’t sure if it was all the good things that should happen to her happening at once or not, but she was glad for it all and she wouldn’t trade it. She drove home with the window down and the breeze in her red hair, sending it sailing back over her shoulder like all of her troubles and worries, going, going, long gone.
***
A week later, Regina, Marie, and Camilla went dress shopping. They were on the hunt for bridesmaid dresses and a wedding dress. Regina had asked Camilla to be one of her bridesmaids, and Camilla couldn’t have been more excited to be part of the wedding. Ryder was going to make her his best man, but Regina asked her first and she had committed. They had laughed about it, and Camilla had joked that she wished she would always be in such high demand.
The wedding guest list had been made quickly, and it had been capped at four hundred people. It was going to be a massive wedding. Regina looked over the guest list as the three ladies sat at lunch during their shopping outing, and frowned slightly.
“What’s wrong?” Camille asked worriedly. “I know you don’
t know most of those people, but they’re really close to the family. They’re must have’s.”
Regina sighed a little. “It isn’t that I don’t know them. It’s that out of all of these four hundred people, only fifteen of them are coming for me. I guess I just didn’t realize how few people I know or who I would want at such an important event in my life.” Even if she was faking the wedding and the marriage, she still would have wanted her friends and family there with her. It was supposed to be real to all the world except her and Ryder.
Camilla smiled at her and reached her hand out to Regina. “Those people are all going to be there for you, too. You’re going to be a Carrington. You’re going to be family, and that means that they are your guests too.” She spoke with a comforting voice, and Regina was grateful for her sentiment.
The Billionaire's Secretly Fake Bride (MANHATTAN BACHELORS Book 3) Page 14
