by Diana Palmer
Mandelyn looked into his eyes while she spoke the words, and he couldn’t seem to look away, even when it was time to slide the ring on her finger. He did it blindly, with amazing accuracy. And then he bent to kiss his wife.
It was a beautiful day, and Mandelyn felt like a fairy princess. She clung to Carson’s lean hand, hardly believing all that had happened. When he suggested that the four of them stop by a bar on the other side of the border for a drink, she was too happy to protest.
“Isn’t this nice?” Patty sighed as Carson and Jake went to get drinks. “I loved your wedding. Jake must have enjoyed it, too,” she added with a grin, “because he proposed under his breath while you two were sealing the ceremony with that absurdly long kiss.”
Mandelyn blushed. “I hope you’ll be as happy as we are,” she laughed.
“I hope so, too. Didn’t it all work out…”
“What the hell do you mean, ‘move over, Pop’?” Carson’s deep, angry voice came across the room like a cutting whip and Mandelyn opened her mouth to say, “Oh, Carson, don’t,” when the sound of a hard fist hitting an even harder jaw echoed in the sudden silence.
Mandelyn gritted her teeth. “No,” she groaned, watching Carson going at it with a man just his size. “Not on my wedding day. Not just before my wedding night!”
“Carson’s tough,” Patty promised her. “Quit worrying. It will be all right.”
Just as she said that, a man who’d been standing beside Carson’s opponent picked up a chair. Mandelyn’s mouth flew open. Her temper flared like wildfire. That was her husband that ruffian was about to hit!
“Mandy, no!” Patty called.
But Mandelyn was already bounding over chairs. She picked up a vase from one of the tables and threw water, flowers and all into the face of the man holding the chair.
He sputtered, wiped himself off and glared at her. “Women’s libber, huh?” he said curtly. “Okay, honey, put up your dukes.”
“Whatever happened to chivalry?” Mandelyn wondered out loud. She brought her high heel down on the man’s instep and when he bent over, she brought up her knee. The blow was apparently very painful, because he went sideways onto the floor.
She grinned, heady with success. “Hey, Carson…” she began.
Just about that time, the man who’d been trading blows with Carson took one too many hard rights and careened backwards into Mandelyn. He rammed against her and she fell headfirst into a huge planter full of ferns.
Wet, covered with dirt, she heard the sounds of the brawl escalating all around her as she struggled to get up again. As she raised her head, Carson came flying backwards from an uppercut and landed against her, and in she went again.
Somewhere there was a siren. And minutes later, she was extricated from the planter by a heavyset, blue-uniformed man who looked as if he had absolutely no sense of humor at all.
“We can explain all this,” Mandelyn assured him in her most cultured voice.
“I’m sure you can, lady, but I assure you, I’ve heard it all before. Come along.”
“But we just got married,” she wailed, watching Carson being led out between two burly deputies.
“Congratulations,” the uniformed man said blandly. “I’ll show you both to the honeymoon suite.”
As they waited to be booked Mandelyn leaned against the wall staring daggers at her new husband. Her hair was thick with dirt and traces of green leaves; her dress was ruined.
Carson cleared his throat and sighed. “Well, honey,” he said with a grin, “you have to admit, I’ve given you a wedding day you’ll never forget.”
She didn’t say anything but her eyes spoke volumes.
He moved closer, oblivious to the noise and confusion around them. “Mad at me?” he murmured.
“Furious, thanks,” she replied.
“My Charleston lady,” he whispered, smiling with such love that her poise fell apart.
“You horrible, horrible man,” she murmured, “I love you so much!”
He laughed delightedly. “My poised little lady, right at home in a barroom brawl. My God, you laid that cowboy flat! I’ve never been so proud of you….” He lifted his head and looked stern. “But never again, honey. I don’t want you fighting, even to save me. Especially not now,” he added. His gaze went to her waist. “We don’t know yet, remember,” he whispered tenderly.
She flushed and looked up into his eyes. She knew exactly what he meant.
He bent and kissed her very gently. She managed a watery smile.
“Oh, I hope I am,” she breathed fervently.
His chest rose and fell heavily. “We can make sure, if you want,” he replied in a voice hoarse with passion.
“Is it too soon?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Not at our ages. We’ll just be spreading love around, that’s all.” He grinned.
She laughed. “You can sing lullabies,” she said. “And I’ll sit and listen.”
“Remember that song I wrote—
Choices?” he asked, searching her eyes. She nodded. “I wrote it for us. That’s right,” he added when she looked stunned. “I thought someday, if you ever started noticing me, I could sing it to you, and it might tell you something.”
She sighed miserably. “And I was too busy being jealous of Patty to listen to the words,” she mumbled.
“I’ll sing it to you tonight, while we make love,” he whispered.
“And here we are in jail,” she moaned.
“Patty and Jake will be here any minute to bail us out,” he promised. He grinned. “Don’t you worry, honey. Everything’s going to be fine. Next time, I won’t hit, I’ll just cuss. Okay?”
She burst out laughing, loving him with all her heart. “Okay. But don’t change, will you?” she added seriously, searching his pale, glittering blue eyes. “Darling, I love you just the way you are.”
He looked at her for a long time before he spoke. “I’m no gentleman.”
“I’m no lady. Remember last night?” she whispered.
He trembled and kissed her quickly again.
Nearby, two slightly intoxicated men were staring at them. Mandelyn thought she recognized them from the brawl.
“Ain’t that the blonde who threw the vase at me?” one asked the other, who squinted toward her.
“Yep. Looks like her.”
“And kicked me on the foot and knocked me out with her knee?”
“The very same one.”
The burly man grinned. “Lucky son of a gun,” he slurred.
Carson glanced at him with a slow grin. “You don’t know the half of it, pal,” he murmured and bent his head again.
Mandelyn smiled, feeling as if she had champagne flowing through her body. “Darling, about that brawl…”
“What about it?” he murmured absently.
She grinned. “Could we do it again sometime?”
And that was the last thing she got to say until Jake and Patty came along to bail them out. Not that she minded. She was already making plans for the night and whispering them to a glowing new husband.
ISBN-13: 9781460375501
CATTLEMAN’S CHOICE
Copyright © 1985 by Diana Palmer.
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