For Her Eyes Only
Page 23
“Okay, partner. It’s time.”
Stone moved out in front of the guests, his gaze locked on the empty aisle and the doorway beyond. Jack said something, but nothing registered except the distracted tone of his voice. A flutter of white beyond the doorway caught Stone’s attention, and he shifted, straining for a glimpse of Jessie.
Behind him, he heard the pastor take his place. And then music suddenly soared throughout the room and Stone saw a rose-colored dress as Brenda started down the aisle, and he thought, wrong sister.
As she came near, she gave him one last pointed stare and then took her place at the altar. It was a warning look he couldn’t miss. Stone almost grinned. The audacity of the Hanson sisters never failed to surprise him. This one was daring him to make a mistake. What look, he wondered, would his Jessie be wearing?
And then the familiar strains of the wedding march suddenly filled the air. He tensed, and for a fleeting moment remembered hearing the same music at his wedding to Naomi.
Oh, God, please let me get it right this time.
Jessie stepped into the doorway, and Stone’s breath hung in the back of his throat. When she started down the aisle, he inhaled slowly, remembering a time when he didn’t think he would live to see this day. When Jessie reached his side, he was looking at her through tears.
After that, everything became a blur of sensations. The touch of Jessie’s hand in his. The scent of her perfume. The quick intake of breath that she took before she responded to her vows. Stone was, in the true sense of the words, lost within the moment. And then, without warning, everything went dark.
Jessica gasped, echoing the emotions of the people who were gathered. Her first thought was Oh, no! Not again!
Stone’s reaction was entirely different, but in keeping with the cop that he was. The last time the lights had gone out at this lodge, Jessie had fallen and hit her head. Remembering what had happened as a result of that fall, he grabbed her arm as he shouted aloud, making sure everyone in the room heard what he had to say.
“This is the police! Don’t anybody move!”
A slight titter of laughter came from somewhere behind him, and he heard the rustling of clothing and the shifting of chairs as everyone settled.
“Is everyone okay?” he asked.
Murmurs drifted to him in the dark, and he moved his grip from Jessie’s arm to her hand, threading her fingers through his in a comforting squeeze.
“Jessie, are you with me?” he asked.
“Hen scratch,” she muttered. “I don’t believe this.”
He grinned, picturing the look on her face as she said that. Then he asked, “Pastor, you were saying…”
The pastor cleared his throat. “Let’s see, where was I?” he mumbled. “I believe Jessica had just finished her vows and Stone…Stone was—”
Jessica’s voice was unmistakable. “Stone was promising to love me forever.”
A soft wave of laughter filled the darkness, and Stone abandoned the formality of the ceremony to take Jessie in his arms. No one knew they were now standing face-to-face, or that he had lifted her veil and was cupping her cheek. Only Jessie experienced the intimacy with which he finished his vows.
His voice softened, and even though it was cheating, he leaned forward and brushed a kiss across her lips before he spoke.
“Jessie Leigh, I swear that I will love you forever, in sickness and in health, with love and laughter. That I will honor you, and keep you forever in my heart, and that I will remain faithful to you and you only until the day that I die.” Then a tinge of laughter colored his voice as he added, “If I’ve missed anything, I’m pretty sure you’ll remind me.”
Another titter of laughter moved across the room like wind coming through the trees. Out of habit, the pastor looked down and then realized he couldn’t see the words before him. But he’d said them before, so many times and in so many places that he knew them by heart.
“Having said this, do you, Jessica, take this man, Stone, to be your lawful wedded husband? Do you promise to cherish him and love him above all others, until death do you part?”
“I do.”
Because of the silence within the room, and the darkness in which they were shrouded, her vow seemed more intense, as if the sound of her voice was the only thing left to hear.
The words rang in Stone’s heart, and he pulled her head to his chest, holding her safe against the dark.
“And do you, Stone, take this woman, Jessica, to be your lawful wedded wife? Do you promise to cherish her and love her above all others, until death do you part?”
“I do.”
“With the powers vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Mr. Richardson, you may kiss your bride.”
And then, like a miracle, light illuminated the room in a sudden and blinding burst of electricity. Sighs filled the air, but not for the return of power. It was from the sight that met the guests’ eyes.
They saw a big man humbled by the weight of love as he held the woman of his heart. The traditional kiss had obviously come and gone, as Jessie already stood within the shelter of Stone Richardson’s arms. Her cheek was on his chest, her arms wrapped around his waist. He held her close, one hand splayed low at her back, the other at the base of her neck.
The pastor’s face was one big smile. “Well now, as the Master once said…’Let there be light.’ Ladies and gentlemen—I give you Mr. and Mrs. Stone Richardson.”
* * *
Jessica was on her back and staring up through the trees, her head pillowed on the strength of Stone’s uninjured arm. Still wearing the heat of the day, the ground kept them warm, although the mountain air was brisk and cool.
Stone felt her intensity as she lay without moving, staring up at the sky, seemingly suspended by the beauty above. Enveloped by the darkness in which they lay and the anonymity of night, he felt a peace unlike any he’d ever known. He turned his head, watching her profile and her unblinking stare, and then he saw her squint and remembered what he’d told her—about the stars through the pines, and how, if you looked at them just right and suspended disbelief, that they looked like ornaments on a Christmas tree.
Suddenly, she stiffened, and then impulsively reached out and grabbed for his hand. A mixture of amazement and joy colored her voice.
“Stone, you were right! They’re hanging right on the branches like bright Christmas lights.”
Mesmerized by the beauty, she stared until her eyes began to burn from the strain. Reluctantly, she finally had to blink, and when she did, the image was gone. She sighed and turned in Stone’s arms, looking up at him and the dear, familiar lines of his face, instead.
“Oh, Stone, did you ever see anything so beautiful in your entire life?”
He shifted and looked down at his wife in the dark. Only the barest of an outline was visible in the near-moonless night, but he knew the shape of her face by heart.
“No, Jessie Leigh, I can’t say that I have.”
Jessie didn’t need light to hear the want in his voice. She smiled to herself, holding the thought of his love in her heart.
“Stone Richardson, are you trying to make a pass at me?”
He grinned, testing the theory by sliding his hand across the flat of her belly to the curve of her hip, pulling her almost beneath him in one move.
“And what if I was?”
The magic of the stars was forgotten as she fell into the magic of her husband’s touch.
“Then I’d say…for an officer of the law, you’re awfully slow on the draw.”
Laughter.
It had been the first bond they’d shared. It would forever be the best.
About the Author
Sharon Sala is a native of Oklahoma and a member of Romance Writers of America. She is a New York Times, USA TODAY, Publishers Weekly and WaldenBooks mass-market bestselling author of eighty-five-plus books written as Sharon Sala and Dinah McCall. She’s a seven-time RITA® Award finalist, Janet Dailey Award winner, five-time
National Readers’ Choice Award winner, four-time Career Achievement Award winner from RT Book Reviews and four-time winner of the Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence.
ISBN-13: 9781460343128
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Sharon Sala for her contribution to the 36 Hours series.
For Her Eyes Only
Copyright © 1997 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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