The Bride Said, I Did?

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  “It’s only going to get more complicated if you don’t,” Dani warned.

  Beau walked in, Jeremy bundled up in a colorful beach towel, trotting along beside him. Ignoring the obvious tension between the two sisters, Beau announced amiably, “Jeremy wants all four of us to have dinner together. What do you two ladies think?”

  Happy for the reprieve, since it was clear nothing was going to get settled or be revealed this afternoon, Dani smiled. If they couldn’t assuage Jeremy’s questions, at the very least they could distract him, wonderfully and warmly. “I’ll go you one better. Let’s round up the other two Lockhart sisters and make it a real family party.”

  THEY ENDED UP cooking at Meg’s. Beau grilled the chicken. Meg prepared the scalloped potatoes. Dani made a garden salad. Kelsey pitched in where she could. And Jenna brought a lemon meringue pie from Isabel Buchanon’s bakery and made the iced tea. To Dani’s pleasure, Beau got along with all three of her sisters; it was as if he’d known them for years. And seeing how happy he made Dani, her sisters had no problem welcoming him into their family with Texas-style enthusiasm and gusto.

  “Admit it,” Dani teased him gently as the two of them walked the six blocks home in the dusky evening light. She couldn’t recall ever being as happy as she was at that moment. “You loved being surrounded by all those women!”

  Beau slanted her an acknowledging grin. “With every one of your sisters as warm and loving and lively as you? You bet I did.”

  There was no doubt about it, Dani thought. Beau was going to be an asset to her family. He was going to be an excellent daddy to their child, as well as a good role model for her nephew, and her sisters all liked and respected him.

  Dani smiled at Beau again, thinking how nice it was just to be with him like this, strolling through Laramie as if they hadn’t a care in the world, talking and enjoying each other’s company. She never would have imagined it. As recently as a few days ago it had been a stretch to think they might even be just friends again. And yet now they were so much more than that. So much more than simply husband and wife. They were lovers and soul mates, too. She tucked her hand in his and teased gently, “What happened to the Lady with the Poison Pen?”

  Beau turned to her, and the vulnerability in his eyes got to her the way no smooth seduction technique or carefully crafted words ever could have. He wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her chin. “She disappeared the day I married you,” he said huskily.

  The next thing Dani knew, their lips had locked in a searing kiss. His tongue swept her mouth and desire poured through her in mesmerizing waves. Her muscles, deliciously relaxed only moments before, now stretched and strained. She arched against him wantonly, no longer caring who saw them together like this, no longer caring that they were standing on the street where she lived, in plain view of anyone who might happen by. She cared only that this never end.

  She could feel his arousal pressing against her and knew he was just as deeply caught up in the changes happening between them as she was.

  And there were changes, Dani admitted to herself as they slowly, reluctantly, let their kiss come to an end. Because it was true. She did feel different now. And it was all because of Beau. For the first time since her parents’ death she was beginning to think maybe life wasn’t all leading up to tragedy. For the first time in years she was beginning to think that maybe there was still a chance for her to have the kind of life she had always wanted as a kid. With a satisfying career, a husband and children to love.

  Still holding her in his arms, Beau traced the dewy moisture on her lips with the pad of his thumb, whispered, “You are one sexy lady. You know that, don’t you?”

  The look in his eyes made her breath stop. She had never seen—or felt—such desire. “You certainly make me feel that way,” she admitted huskily.

  “Good.” Beau’s arms tightened around her possessively. His expression was grave. “And I intend to keep on making you feel that way.”

  Dani gave a soft shuddering laugh. “Then we better get home,” she said, happy they were so much in synch in their wants and needs. “Before we really give the neighbors something to talk about.”

  “And speaking of home,” Beau said as they turned and continued walking—faster now. “Isn’t that Billy’s car up ahead?”

  Dani nodded at the beat-up Honda with the FILM-BUF plate. “It looks like he’s still at the house,” she murmured, frowning because she hadn’t meant for Billy to work so late.

  But Beau apparently felt no such compunction. “Good. I need to talk to him.” Still holding her hand tightly in his, Beau headed for the front steps.

  “About what?” Dani slanted Beau a curious glance as they crossed the front porch.

  “His future.” Beau smiled and held the door.

  As Dani had feared, Billy was still working feverishly, entering cataloged films into the computer database he had set up on Dani’s computer. “I can’t believe you’re still at it,” Dani scolded as she glanced at her watch.

  “I’m going to take a dinner break soon,” Billy said.

  “You mean you haven’t eaten yet?” Dani said, incredulous.

  “No, but…” Billy blinked as he looked past Dani at the dusky light outside. “Is it that late?”

  “It’s almost nine o’clock. You’ve worked almost twelve straight hours today, Billy.”

  He looked bewildered. “Wow. It felt more like, I don’t know, seven or eight.”

  Beau looked at Dani. “Why don’t you rustle up something for Billy to eat while he and I talk man to man?”

  Billy’s eyebrows lifted at the idea of anyone giving a woman as independent as Dani orders, no matter how much she liked Beau or how politely they were worded. Indeed, had such a suggestion come from anyone else, it would have been promptly volleyed back or ignored. But Dani had only to look at the determined set of Beau’s jaw to know that the conversation between him and Billy was going to take place whether she wanted it to or not. Hence, it might as well be here and now, she reasoned practically, still bristling a little at Beau’s take-charge kick-butt cowboy attitude. This way, she’d have a better chance of finding out what it was all about.

  Nevertheless, very much aware it wasn’t in her nature to take orders from any man, she smiled and excused herself. Then went back to the kitchen to prepare a sandwich and salad for Billy. When she returned, tray in hand, Billy and Beau were seated in the living room, conferring earnestly.

  “Basically I can offer you two options,” Beau was saying as Dani entered and set the tray in front of Billy. “The first is to take a one-year internship with my production company in either the Los Angeles office or the new satellite office here in Laramie, defer admission to USC for one year and save your earnings. This would give you a chance to see if you like the business side of moviemaking before you start an expensive education. The second option is to go ahead and enroll in USC in the fall and take a part-time internship with my company’s L.A. office during the school year to pay your living expenses. In either case, my production company is awarding you a scholarship for tuition. But there’s a catch. Actually, three catches.” Beau waited a beat. “One, you have to work for my company after you graduate for every year of tuition paid. Hence, if we pay for four years of undergraduate education, you owe us four years at the regular entry-level director’s salary.

  “And two,” Beau stated firmly as Dani sat down on the arm of the sofa next to him, “no more passes at Dani. She’s my woman now and that’s not going to change.”

  “Beau!” Dani protested, face flaming. Honestly, sometimes he carried his John Wayne attitude too far.

  “And three,” Beau continued, pausing only long enough to clasp Dani’s hand and shoot her a hotly possessive grin before he turned back to Billy, “you have to get your parents to agree to whatever option you choose.”

  Billy, who’d looked quite excited up to this point, predicted dourly, “Well, that’ll never happen.”

  “Actually,�
�� Beau said as he rested their clasped hands on Dani’s thigh, “you might be surprised. I spent a couple of hours with them this afternoon.”

  So that was where he’d been when she first went over to baby-sit Jeremy, Dani thought.

  “I told them how impressed I was with your drive and your knowledge,” Beau continued. “I went over all the financial details of my proposition with them.”

  “And?” Billy waited with bated breath.

  “They were okay with it.” Beau smiled, explaining, “They were just worried you’d get an expensive education and graduate and not be able to find a job. Since that’s been taken care of, they’re seeing things in a new light.”

  Billy got choked up. Dani was feeling a little overcome herself, finding out Beau was every bit the softhearted mentor to young people she was. “I don’t know what to say,” Billy stammered finally.

  “You don’t have to say anything right now,” Beau said. “Just go home and talk to your folks. You can let me know what the three of you decide in a day or two. From there, we can notify USC.”

  “Well, you made his day,” Dani said after Billy had left and Beau had led her back into the living room.

  “Think so, hm?” Without letting go of her hand, Beau sat in one of her large comfortable club chairs.

  “I’m impressed.” Responding to the gentle tug on her hand, Dani sat on Beau’s lap.

  Beau grinned at her praise. “Finally!”

  “Although—” Dani’s sultry voice took on a teasing note as she settled more squarely on his lap “—I’m not sure whether I should be pleased or annoyed at your high-handedness in ordering me around and calling me your woman and basically just throwing your weight around that way.” Not that his take-charge demeanor hadn’t been sort of sexy, because it had been. She liked that she never knew quite what her new husband was going to do next. Just as she loved the solid warmth of him, his inherent dependability, his strong sense of responsibility. Beau was the kind of man you could depend on through thick and thin, the kind of man who would never use or betray you.

  Beau’s eyes glimmered. “I would hope,” he said, slipping one arm around her and threading his fingers through her hair, “that you’d be pleased by my chivalry in protecting you against unwanted advances and young overeager suitors. In any case,” he confessed with a cocky grin as he slipped his hands beneath the hem of her T-shirt and unfastened the front clasp of her bra, “now that you are my woman and my wife, that’s just the way it is.”

  Their lips met. Feelings soared. His mouth was hot and demanding above hers, and Dani put everything she had into the kiss. She wanted him with every part of her heart and soul, and she wanted him to know it.

  Commanding everything she had to give, he tangled his hands in her hair, holding her head just so. As they continued to kiss, mating lips and teeth and tongues, sensations sizzled through her, and the scent of his cologne, so brisk and masculine, filled her senses. Twining her arms about his neck, Dani surged with heat and arched against him. She wanted to feel all of him against all of her. And she wanted it now.

  Moaning in frustration, she whispered, “Darn it all, cowboy, we’ve got on too many clothes.”

  Beau chuckled. “My feelings exactly.” He kissed her with a thoroughness that took her breath away, then lifted his head and looked deep into her eyes. Never had Dani seen such desire, and she moaned as he tugged off her shirt and bra, baring her breasts to his view. “Better,” he murmured as he bent to kiss her again, beginning yet another slow voluptuous exploration of her mouth as his hands explored her soft curves, his thumbs and fingers playing over her breasts, the shadowy valley between and her nipples until they were tight aching buds. The heat of his caresses shattered her.

  “We’re not going to make it up to the bedroom, are we?” she whispered shakily as Beau set about unfastening the waist of her shorts.

  “Nope. We’re not.” Beau lifted her off his lap long enough to draw off her shorts and then her bikini panties. “That going to bother you?” he asked as Dani knelt in front of him and whipped off his T-shirt, boots, jeans and shorts. She took the velvety length of him in hand.

  “Not at all.”

  Bending her head, she loved him with the same thoroughness as he had loved her, learning anew the sleek contours of his hips and buttocks and thighs. She loved him until he was hot and dewy and shuddering with need.

  “My turn,” Beau said on a ragged breath. He tugged her to her feet, then drew her onto the chair, so she was sitting and he was kneeling in front of her.

  As his warm hands slipped between her thighs, it was all she could do not to cry out. “I already want you,” she whispered as his lips trailed across her tummy.

  “I know.” Beau dipped his tongue into the well of her navel, causing Dani to part her thighs and lift her hips and tremble all the more. He fit his lips around the tip of her breast and suckled lightly, until she strained impatiently against him. “Just not enough.” He moved to her other breast. “But you will,” he promised huskily. “That I promise you.”

  His lips dropped to the most delicate part of her. Hands on her thighs, he pushed her legs even farther apart. And then he kissed and caressed her with a wild sensual pleasure that seemed to have no end. Over and over he loved her, until she was shuddering and trembling, every secret silken inch of her. “Now,” she murmured, pushing him to the floor. Needing to give, even as she took, she straddled his hips, then knelt, her knees astride his thighs. Slowly she lowered herself, took the hot velvety length of him inside.

  Beau groaned and caught her hips in his hands, drawing her into an even deeper union. Then his fingers were moving between their bodies, caressing and loving, enhancing her pleasure. The need within her exploded and her self-control evaporated. Dani cried out. Next thing she knew she was on her back again. Beau was on top of her, rubbing his chest across her bared breasts, tantalizing her budding nipples with his silky mat of chest hair and the hard muscle beneath. Dani rocked against him, shuddering uncontrollably, even as Beau took her lips in a slow mating dance and trembled with the need to hold back his own release.

  “Deeper,” Dani whispered, lifting her knees and holding him tight. She knew he wanted their lovemaking to last and she felt the same. She wanted his slow sensual possession of her to never stop. And yet…she was half out of her mind with wanting him, quaking with sensations she could hardly bear. She was so aroused, in fact, she could barely breathe.

  “Like this?” Beau loved her an inch at a time, going deeper, deeper still.

  “Yes.” Dani kissed him again as he pressed into her as far as he could go, then withdrew and filled her again. “Just like this.” The love she felt for Beau pouring through her, she surrendered herself to him, luxuriating in the emotion, the longing and tenderness, and yes, love in his eyes. And then they were kissing again, desperately, sweetly, passionately. Commanding everything they had to give. Surging. Writhing. Cresting together, wave after wave. Lost in the passion and the need. And each other. Then the world fell away and they were lost in the cascading pleasure.

  Afterward Beau held her close and stroked her hair. Dani had never felt as close to anyone. Never loved anyone, as much as she loved Beau at that moment. She wondered if he felt the same. Resting her chin on her hand, her forearm on his chest, she looked up at him. He was deliciously disheveled, sexier than ever. But there was a tenderness in his eyes, a gentleness she hadn’t seen before. Her heart swelling with love, she decided to put her observations to the test, asking, “You don’t have any regrets about marrying me, do you?”

  Beau grinned as if that question was a no-brainer. “Best thing I’ve ever done,” he asserted confidently, lifting his head and kissing her once more. “What about you? Regrets?” he prodded as desire shimmered through her anew.

  “Not a one,” Dani said just as confidently, looking deep into his eyes and finding they had never been so blue. She kissed him again as she sought to make all his wishes come true. Just as he had he
rs. “And I mean that, Beau, with all my heart.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Beau had just returned from his morning run when Sharon Davis drove up and parked in front of the house. He could tell by her made-up appearance that she was ready for a showdown. Knowing what a stir it would create if the neighbors saw him and his ex-wife having an emotional confrontation on Dani’s front lawn, Beau ushered Sharon inside.

  “How did you find me?” he asked wearily, hoping Dani did not come back in time from her jaunt to the office-supply store with Billy and witness any of this. They’d had such a great night. A great week. He didn’t want anything to ruin it now, and it was pretty clear, from the ugly resentful look on Sharon’s face, that this was her agenda.

  “Just because you didn’t tell me where you were staying in Laramie doesn’t mean I can’t track you down,” Sharon said sweetly. “Everyone in town is talking about how tight you two are—someone even saw you kissing on the street last night.” She chided him with a scornful shake of her head, “Not very discreet, darling ex.”

  Beau supposed it hadn’t been. Not that he cared. He was damned eager to tell the world he was married to Dani. He just didn’t want her in the middle of this ongoing mess with Sharon. And until that was resolved…“I didn’t know you were tuned in to local gossip,” Beau said tightly. He grabbed the towel he had left on the stairs and headed for the kitchen.

  Sharon sauntered after him, her vampy high heels clicking on the polished wood floor. “It’s not just local anymore, sugar. The tabloids are going with a page-one story next week. ‘Beau Chamberlain makes peace with his most passionate critic.”’ Sharon looked at him with new venom as Beau uncapped the bottle of water he had chilling in the fridge. “The copies will be out just in time for the premiere of your new movie, of course,” Sharon finished with relish.