And he didn’t know. He wasn’t sure.
‘There’d....there’d be stipulations,’ she managed.
‘Stipulations?’
‘Yes,’ she said, and her voice cracked a little but she made herself go on. ‘You would need to do banking business. There’d be times you would need to go away.’
‘There would be,’ he agreed, the tension building.
‘Then we’d have to always have an alternative.’
‘An alternative?’
‘An alternative ringmaster,’ she said and she smiled and smiled, her eyes misting with tears, her heart swelling so she thought something down there might burst but she didn’t care. ‘So that if you need to travel, I get to come with you.’
‘Allie!’
‘I won’t stay in my Cinders kitchen,’ she said. ‘Or the wings of my circus either, for that matter. And I’d really like a bit of hands on involvement in your life, in your bank if we can swing that and in Jack’s sanctuary as well.’
‘Yes,’ he said, just like that, and she looked at him, she really looked at him, and everything sort of dissolved. Melted. It was as if her past was falling away and there was only this man, this moment, this love.
‘I love you,’ she whispered, finally, at last. ‘Matt, I don’t...I don’t really care about stipulations.’
‘It’s important to get it right,’ he said gravely. ‘This is a very important contract you’re entering into and, as a banker, I have to warn you to check the fine details. Allie, will you marry me?’
‘Yes.’
His eyes darkened and gleamed and he tugged her tighter.
‘Didn’t I just warn you?’
‘You can warn me all you like,’ she said and this time it was Allie doing the tugging. ‘But you’ve offered and I’ve accepted. I have two dogs who witnessed every word. Contract made, Mathew Bond, and there’s no way you’re getting out of it now.’
‘Matt,’ he said, because suddenly it seemed important.
‘Matt,’ she whispered, lovingly, surely, and she held him and held him, and when he tilted her chin to claim her mouth, as she melted into his arms, as her night dissolved into a mist of love and truth and happiness she thought:
Matt.
Superhero.
Ringmaster.
Love.
* * *
It was a strange place to have a wedding reception.
Matt and Allie married in the church at Fort Neptune, the church Margot had decreed would be used for her funeral before she’d decided that this wedding would come first. It was even possible now that baptisms would happen before funerals as well, Margot thought happily, as she watched Matt and Allie take their vows. And there might even be another wedding. Duncan was dining at her cottage every night now and the locals were starting to gossip. She’d promised him she’d consider marrying him and maybe she should. A Bond had to be careful of her reputation if she was to stay living in such a small town, and right now living looked good.
But they weren’t in Fort Neptune now. They were at Jack’s animal sanctuary. Bond’s Unleashed.
Duncan was holding her hand as Jack made a speech. Matt and Allie stood side by side in their bridal splendour, smiling and smiling, while Jack spoke about the future, about what Matt and Allie had achieved and what they had before them.
For, after this morning’s ceremony, the guests had all been transported to the sanctuary. They’d set up a canopy by the dam. There was a small chance that the elephants might be interested enough to move in on the ceremony, in which case the guests were instructed to grab the trays of food and retreat, but the elephants seemed to know. They stood back, Maisie and Minnie and three more of their now permanent herd, and watched as these strange human creatures did what strange human creatures did.
The formal opening of the fresh and newly funded Bond’s Unleashed animal sanctuary had been last week. This place was safe in perpetuity. Allie and Jack, newly elected members of the newly formed board, would see to it.
‘It’s our life’s work,’ Matt had said. ‘And our children’s and our children’s children. I was bequeathed a bank and a destiny as a banker. Our children—and not one called Mathew, by the way—can do what they like, but we’ll raise them to care.’
‘How could they not?’ Allie had said, and Margot, watching the two newlyweds, could only agree.
These two were right. These two were fine. The future stretched before them magically, wonderfully, and on impulse she turned to Duncan.
‘I will marry you,’ she said. ‘As long as I can share your dogs.’ And Duncan whooped like a teenager and whirled her right off the ground so Margot felt like a girl again and not like an aged spinster who should watch her dignity.
And from the dance floor, where Jack had spread planks over the grass and dust, where Allie and Matt had been persuaded to dance a bridal waltz, Allie whispered to Matt, ‘Look at Margot. Look at Duncan.’
Matt looked and smiled—and then he looked down at his bride and his smile grew wider, more tender, enveloping her in a warmth that would stay with her for the rest of their lives.
‘Maybe they’ve found what we’ve found,’ he said, and he took the first steps of the bridal waltz, holding her close, finding the steps worked automatically because Allie’s body in her beautiful white bridal gown simply melted into his, and it was as if one body was dancing. One heart.
‘Maybe it’s catching,’ Allie whispered, holding him tight. ‘Matt, I love you so much.’
‘I love you so much I’m willing to share,’ he said grandly, sweeping her round the makeshift floor while their audience, half of Fort Neptune, all of the circus, so many from Bond’s Bank, erupted into applause. ‘If you knew how hard it was to get all these people all the way here...’
‘Just so they can share,’ Allie said, and looked around at the audience, at their friends, at the elephants far in the background, and she held Matt and she thought...sharing.
She’d always shared, she thought, but she’d been isolated in her sharing.
Matt had simply been isolated.
But two islands had suddenly become the mainland, the centre, the base on which the future would grow.
‘How many kids?’ she asked as Matt reached a corner of the dance floor. He was concentrating on a tricky turn, steering his bride so he didn’t take her off the boards, so he didn’t lose her to the dust.
Her question, though, almost made him mis-step.
‘Kids?’ he said. He’d thought about them in the abstract, but...real?
‘Kids,’ she said happily. ‘Kids and dogs and
ponies and camels and gran and grandpa and uncles and all of Fort Neptune. You’ll never be alone again, my Matt.’
‘I’ll never want to be,’ Matt said and then stooped and whispered into her ear. ‘Will you wear sparkles on our wedding night?’
‘I surely will,’ she said and smiled and smiled. ‘As long as you wear your top hat.’
‘Just wave your magic wand and decree,’ he said grandly. ‘Who said circuses are all about illusion? Magic does happen. It’s happening here.’
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from Little Cowgirl on His Doorstep by Donna Alward
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CHAPTER ONE
HE HAS A face that could frighten small children.
That was the first thing that sprang to Avery Spencer’s mind as she stared up at the imposing figure of Callum Shepard. With his stubbled face and long tangle of hair, he didn’t look anything like the clean-cut, charismatic groomsman she’d met just over a year ago. And definitely not the image of a doting dad, she thought with dismay. He stood with feet spread wide, one broad hand splayed on the edge of the door, glowering down at her like she’d committed a cardinal sin.
Except if anyone was the sinner here, it was him. And she reminded herself of that fact to keep from being intimidated—as surely that was his intent. She felt the first tiny trickle of sweat sneak down her spine in the cloying summer heat. Everyone always said Alberta was a dry heat, but that sure wasn’t keeping her shirt from sticking to her back. It made her shift uncomfortably just at the moment she needed to be in absolute control. This could go so wrong in so many ways....
“What do you want?” he asked sharply.
Apparently he had also acquired the manners of a boor. How lovely. For a brief second Avery considered that making this trip might have been a colossal mistake. But then she squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. No, it had been the right thing to do. At least after today there would no longer be any secrets or lies. She wouldn’t spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder wondering what would happen if he ever found out about Nell. Far better to face it head-on and get it over with.
Besides, when it came down to brass tacks, Avery really believed that Nell deserved to know both parents. She swallowed, battling against the familiar wave of grief whenever she thought of her sister, Crystal. In this case, Nell deserved to get to know the one true parent she had left. Callum.
“You don’t remember me, do you, Mr. Shepard?”
His dark brows pulled together. “Should I?”
That stung. After all, she remembered him, and he’d looked far different the last time she’d seen him, which was one year, one month and...what, five days ago? Not that she was counting, mind you. Back then his hair had been precisely cut, his face clean-shaven and he’d been wearing a suit with a single white rose in the lapel. Avery’s tongue snuck out and licked across her dry lips. She knew that because the moment he’d stepped into the hotel suite she’d looked up and her mouth had gone dry and her palms sweaty. Callum Shepard had been gorgeous. And when he’d smiled, her stomach had gone all swirly.
Even when he’d looked right past Avery and his gaze had fallen on her sister.
Now his hair hung in straggly waves down to his collar, he looked as if he hadn’t shaved in two days and his plaid shirt was only half tucked into old jeans. And smile? More like permanent scowl. The change was remarkable—and disheartening considering the circumstances. Not to mention incredibly intimidating.
Being intimidated wouldn’t suit at all, not if she were to stay in control of the situation as she planned. “I’m Avery Spencer.” She held out her hand, determined to meet the task ahead with politeness and a modicum of grace.
His face stayed blank and his hand stayed beside his thigh. Not much surprise that it didn’t sound familiar, she supposed. After all, he’d only had eyes for Crystal that weekend. He probably hadn’t given Avery a second glance. Why would he?
“It doesn’t ring a bell, sorry.” And still he stood in the middle of the doorway. No invitation to come in, no nothing. Gatekeeper, lord and master of his own domain. She lowered her hand again, feeling foolish.
“We met in Niagara Falls last year.”
Ah, she thought with satisfaction. A flicker of something passed over his face. Avery swallowed and added, “At Pete and Elizabeth’s wedding.”
His dark eyes settled on her, so intense it made her want to fidget. She clenched her fingers together and made herself remain still.
“You were there?” he asked.
If that was an attempt to make her feel insignificant, it succeeded. Was she so plain that she wasn’t even the least bit noticeable? The slightest bit memorable? Granted, she’d never been as beautiful as her sister and whenever they were together, Avery did tend to fade into the background next to Crystal’s perfect figure and pretty face. But confirmation that he didn’t remember at all...
Ouch.
“I was in the wedding party,” she explained, wishing she could just tell him her reason for showing up and get it over with. But she had to ease into it. Especially since she hadn’t really been afforded so much as a smile or welcome. This was going to be so much harder than she’d imagined, and she’d practiced the words in her head over and over on the flight from Toronto to Edmonton, and from the drive from Edmonton to Cadence Creek. Now those words didn’t seem to fit the situation at all.
“You were?”
Why did he keep questioning everything she said? Annoyance flickered and she struggled to tamp it down. She had to keep a lid on her temper. Calm and rational was the only way to get through this first meeting.
“I was one of Elizabeth’s bridesmaids. You were Pete’s best man.” She tried a smile, hoping to soften him a touch. A slight breeze ruffled her blouse, offering a tiny bit of relief from the blazing heat. There weren’t even any shade trees to offer respite from the sun, just green and brown fields surrounding the rather plain farmhouse, broken only by a large barn and a couple of sheds.
“Yes, I think I can remember that much,” he said, a touch impatiently.
Avery looked over her shoulder, glancing back at the car she’d rented at the airport. So far Nell hadn’t made a peep—but that wouldn’t hold out forever. She was glad now that she’d chosen to leave Nell in the car, considering Shepard’s convenient amnesia about the weekend in question. But time was ticking. The window was rolled all the way down, but it was too hot to leave the baby in the car for more than a few minutes.
She turned back, deciding they were getting nowhere and she might as well step it up. “You probably don’t remember me because you were pretty interested in my sister,” she stated plainly. “Crystal.”
Something lit in his eyes. So he did remember. She wasn’t surprised. It was hard to forget Crystal Spencer once you’d met her. Pain flickered at the thought. Avery’s sister had been the brightest light in her life. Her death had been sudden and shocking, only a few days after giving birth to Nell. Avery had been plunged into darkness, losing her only real family.
But the darkness only lasted for a short time. Nell had become the new light in her life. Her saving grace.
“I remember your sister,” he said, a touch of caution in his voice. “But that doesn’t explain why you’re knocking on my door...what did you say your name was, again?”
“Avery,” she repeated firmly. “My name is Avery.”
“Right. Look, if this is about Crystal, we had an understanding from the start. It was a weekend thing. No expectations.”
Avery noticed he ran his hand through his hair, though, li
ke he wasn’t quite as cool about everything as he’d first appeared. And Avery was quite aware that the terms of the weekend had been set out from the start. Crystal had made that abundantly plain each time Avery tried to convince her to try to find Callum. Each time Crystal had flatly refused to budge. She’d been determined to raise Nell on her own. She didn’t want some here-today-gone-tomorrow soldier as a father to her child. Especially since they barely knew each other.
Avery had never judged Crystal for how she’d conceived Nell. But she had judged her for willingly keeping silent about her pregnancy. Avery still believed that Callum deserved to know, but she wished she could take back the things she’d said to her sister.
“Crystal is dead, Mr. Shepard.”
His hand dropped to his side as silence fell around them. Avery swallowed around the thickness in her throat. Saying the words never got easier.
“I’m so sorry,” he said quietly, his voice a low rumble, and his gaze softened. It was the first sign of humanity she’d glimpsed in him.
“I don’t know how else to put this, so I’m just going to say it,” she said, taking a deep breath and thinking a quick, silent prayer for strength. She was going to need it in the hours...in the days...ahead. “Crystal died shortly after delivering a baby. Your baby, Mr. Shepard. She’s sleeping in the car behind me, and she’s just over four months old.”
* * *
Callum heard the words but they seemed to swim around in his head, not fitting together right. Crystal...Niagara Falls...baby.
But they’d been careful...hadn’t they?
There had to be some mistake. He couldn’t be a father. He remembered Avery, all right. He’d been flat-out lying about that part, not wanting to give himself away. At the first glimpse of her he’d flashed back to a memory of the bridesmaids, all lined up in dresses the color of a peacock feather. She’d been there, all right, an understated beauty next to the flashier glamour of her sister. At the time he’d thought her fresh and innocent. Perfect. And intimidating as hell.
Sparks Fly with the Billionaire Page 18
