Finally His Bride (Montana Born Brides Series Book 4)

by Maisey Yates

  “I didn’t ask for your protection, for your advice, for your disapproval. Only for your help. Are you ready and willing to give it?”

  For the second time in a few days, he was being asked for something pretty big. He had a woman looking at him, depending on him.

  Was he going to disappoint Kaitlin too?

  Being afraid to want anything because you think you can’t? That’s all on you.

  He’d spent so much of his life trying to fix the people around them because he’d felt unfixable. But Mel’d had the audacity to stand there and tell him it was his choice.

  He’d tried to fix Kaitlin, and he’d only broken them. He’d been blaming Beckett for all manner of shit because he was so bullheaded. He’d seen a problem and an easy fix rather than stopping for a moment and believing his friend because…

  Because he was just too damn scared to believe in anything. To want anything.

  That failure cut so deep he’d done his best to avoid it ever since high school. When he’d studied his ass off and still during tests every word had reversed and wiggled and swam on the page, and he’d come out with nothing but failure.

  Sometimes wanting it wasn’t enough, and he’d learned that then.

  But he’d traded it for not letting himself want anything. For controlling, fixing, for other people while he ignored himself.

  And it wasn’t working anymore. Because everyone suddenly needed more from him and he’d found himself unable to give it.

  Kaitlin needed support. Beckett needed trust.

  Melanie needed love.

  He looked down at his sister, at her large, searching gaze. And he nodded.

  Relief passed over her face, a small smile curving her lips. “Good. Now, say you love me. And you trust me.”

  He swallowed hard. “I love you.”

  “Luke.”

  “I’m just not sure I trust him with you.” But then, he wasn’t sure he could ever trust anyone with Kaitlin.

  “You should, asshole.”

  His lips twitched, but he couldn’t quite force a smile.

  “Come home with me. Be there when I tell Mom and Dad.” Kaitlin took a deep breath. “And I’m going to need your help with a plan.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that.”

  “You’ll hate it, but you’ll do it.” She stepped closer to him, wrapped her fingers around his wrist, took his hand and pressed it on her stomach. “If not for me, for this.”

  For the first time, he felt the full magnitude of what was happening here. He’d been so caught up in all the shit. His anger, his fear over her getting hurt, his own hurt at the…well, he’d felt like his friend had betrayed him. Basically, he’d made all of this about him. And he hadn’t paused to fully appreciate the fact that Kaitlin was having a baby. That he was going to be an uncle.

  Mel might be pregnant with your baby and you just told her you don’t love her.

  But he was a liar in addition to being a coward.

  Yeah, and what are you going to do about it.

  His chest felt full. Too full. And his throat felt too tight. He jerked his hands away. “Fine. Whatever. Just don’t…make me touch anything again.”

  He would go with Kaitlin now, help her out, support her instead of trying to make her choices for her…and then he had something very important to take care of.

  Chapter Eleven

  ‡

  There wasn’t enough buttercream frosting in the world to ease the pain that Melanie was going through. But she had no regrets. Because she had let go of fear, and she had gone for what she wanted.

  She took a spoonful of chocolate frosting out of a bowl, and took a bite. Okay, she had some regrets. Like Luke rejecting her rather than doing the sensible thing and pulling her into his arms and telling her he loved her too. Yeah, she had those kind of regrets.

  She licked the spoon clean and tossed it into the sink and turned around to survey the mess in her kitchen. She’d been baking nonstop since her life had fallen apart. As though she could rebuild it with bricks of baked goods. She could not. That much was clear. But it wasn’t going to stop her from trying. And it was in the name of work, since she really did need to finalize her plans for Nancy and Jared’s wedding.

  Unfortunate since all she wanted to do was climb beneath a fuzzy blanket.

  Too bad she couldn’t frost cakes from her bed. Really, it was a recipe for stickiness and heartbreak, and since she was already heartbroken she figured she’d better skip it.

  Stupid Luke. The thing was, he did love her. She was almost entirely certain that he did. Because she knew him. She knew that there was more to the connection between them than sex and friendship. It was deeper. It was those things, woven together, and bound tightly. Boundless love, she was sure of it.

  At least, she had been.

  She stuck her finger straight into the bowl this time, taking a healthy scoop of the frosting and licking it off. She was a little bit pathetic. But she didn’t care.

  She heard a knock at the front door and she crossed the kitchen, making her way to the entryway. She stopped suddenly, her stomach tightening. And she knew. Knew that it was him. She just wasn’t sure if she was ready to have this conversation yet. Whatever the conversation was going to be. He was probably here to try and convince her to continue their friendship. And she was weak. Weak for just the sight of him, the sound of his voice. She had no idea what all he might talk her into if he had the chance.

  She stood there for a moment, not opening the door, considering never opening it.

  “Mel, it’s me.”

  “I know,” she said, furrowing her brows.

  “And you are going to let me in?”

  “Maybe not. I’m mad at you.”

  “I know,” he said, his voice muffled by the door. “And you should be. I suck.”

  “Yes, you do. But did you only come here to tell me that you suck or did you come here to do something about it?”

  “I have to ask you something.”

  She took a deep breath, opening the door a crack. “What?”

  “My sister is marrying Beckett.”

  She blinked, her stomach turning into lead. “Oh?”

  “Yes. He doesn’t know it yet. But she’s marrying him. She needs a cake. I thought you might have an extra.”

  “Are you… Using me for free cakes? After what you did? Wasn’t my virginity enough, you want to take my cake too?”

  “Let me in and we’ll talk about more than just cake.”

  She frowned but stepped back, opening the door wider and allowing him entry. “Fine. But if you’re mean to me again I’m throwing you out.”

  “Sure.” He moved into the entryway, shoving his hands in his pockets and clearing his throat. “I’m an idiot.”

  “I could have told you that,” she said, her throat tightening, her breath leaving her lungs in a rush.

  “I know. You pretty much did. But I was being an idiot so I didn’t listen. I thought about it. And I… It’s been a weird few days.”

  “Weird isn’t the word I would use for it. Terrible. Horrible. No good, very bad. Something like that.”

  He ran his hand over his face, and for the first time she noticed how tired he looked. Good. She was happy to think this hadn’t exactly been a walk in the park for him. “I know. I talked to Beckett. Saw a lot of what I did to you reflected in his face. Since Kaitlin pretty much turned down his declaration of love too. Then I talked to Kaitlin. Who was a lot braver than I was, and I realized that she was making the wrong decision sooner than I did.” He took a ragged breath. “You’re a lot braver than I am, Mel. You came through a lot worse a lot better than I ever did. I believe in hard work. I believe that people can change their circumstances. At least, I wanted to. And then I couldn’t do it for myself. I couldn’t study hard enough, couldn’t overcome my dyslexia. I’m a grown man, standing here admitting that, and I feel stupid. Stupid that I let that run my life, but I did. It didn’t end there. It’s like, thi
s thing inside me that I can’t fix and can’t control. So I’ve tried for so long to control and fix everything around me, to try and make that smaller. To make it so it didn’t matter. And on top of that, I never wanted to try and fail again. So I just didn’t. Sure, I opened the garage, I started my own business, but none of that was a dream. Now, I think somehow I knew that if I let myself dream about you, you would consume everything.”

  “What?” The word came out a whisper, thin, hopeful. She despised herself for allowing that hopefulness. For getting drawn in. But she couldn’t help herself.

  “I knew I could want you for everything. Always. More than I wanted to graduate, more than I wanted to make my parents proud. More than I ever wanted to protect Kaitlin from the evil clutches of Beckett. I knew that I could want you more than any of that. Somewhere, deep down I did. And I wrapped all of it up in excuses, even when I realized that I wanted you. It was easy to justify touching you. To tell myself I was fixing things for you. Ignoring the fact that I wanted it for myself. That I wanted you for myself. And then, the picnic. The spaghetti. The romantic garlic bread. In hindsight, garlic isn’t that romantic.”

  “Shut your mouth. Butter is always romantic. Almost especially when in combination with garlic.”

  “Okay. Clearly it was the right choice for you. I told myself I did that for you. To fulfill the promise I made you to…give you something normal. But it was because I wanted more. I wanted to be with you as more than just a friend. More than just a lover. I wanted the romance, the in between. The everything. The… The love thing.”

  She swallowed hard, her heart beating so fast she was dizzy. “Please tell me that you’re going to say that you love me. If you’re throwing around the love word, but you’re not going to apply it to me, I’m pretty sure I’m well within my rights to punch you in the face.”

  He closed the distance between them, pulling her into his arms, looking at her intensely. “Yes, I love you.” Then he was kissing her, deep, hard, and perfect. “I love you,” he repeated when they parted.

  She frowned. “Why did you have to make it hurt like this? Why did you have to make it so hard?”

  “I learned the wrong lesson from life. I learned to run. I learned to stop trying. I had to want something enough to relearn that lesson. To find the strength to push through, instead of turning away. That was you. You were the thing I wanted more.”

  She thought her heart would burst, and she knew she was going to end up crying in front of him. But she didn’t care. “I would like to be a little bit more angry with you. A little bit more self-righteous. But I was afraid too. I knew I wanted you. But I was too afraid to reach out and take you. And I almost went straight into the arms of another man rather than going after you, because I was too afraid to take what I wanted.”

  “Aren’t we a pair?”

  “A yellow-bellied pair.”

  “Well,” he said, “not anymore.”

  She smiled. “No, not anymore.”

  “I think that’s why it was so easy to stay your friend,” he said. “I could be close to you, talk to you whenever I wanted, and never risk a damn thing.”

  “That was easier. But not enough.”

  “What will be enough?” he asked, cupping her chin.

  “Everything. Everything should be enough.”

  “Then everything is what I’ll give you.”

  Epilogue

  ‡

  Luke Shuller walked down the aisle of the exquisitely decorated church, love and marriage on his mind, absolutely in that order.

  The guests would be here soon, their families, everyone they’d ever loved would be here to watch him marry Melanie Richards. He still wasn’t a businessman, still wasn’t a college graduate, or even high school graduate. Still wasn’t everything his parents had worked for, wasn’t everything they’d wanted him to be.

  But he loved Melanie. And today, he was going to become her husband. The rest just didn’t seem to matter so much.

  The doors to the church opened wide, a rush of cool fall air blowing inside. They hadn’t had a lot of patience to wait to get married, which meant a wedding in less than ideal weather. But since the bride was ideal, he didn’t really care.

  Along with a gust of wind, said bride blew right inside of the church, her white lacy dress swirling around her legs, her veil and blonde hair blowing over her shoulders. She forced the doors shut, and looked up at him and smiled.

  There she was. He let himself look at her now, all of her. Didn’t force himself to see her with a filter of friendship applied. He looked at her, and saw a beauty so intense it hurt. The most beautiful ache in existence.

  “What are you doing in here, Mel? You know I’m not supposed to see you before the ceremony.”

  Her smile turned wicked. “Are you going to throw me over your shoulder and carry me back out?”

  “I’d hate to start rumors.”

  “The truth is I came to see you. I just wanted a moment before things got going. A moment alone.”

  “You aren’t about to tell me you’re leaving me for Beckett or something, are you?”

  “I think Kaitlin would kill me. And in spite of her advanced pregnancy, she would be well able to do it.”

  He raised his brows. “Is that the only reason?”

  “Beckett is a sexy bastard. But I have a weakness.”

  He brushed her hair out of her face, adjusted her veil. “What’s that?”

  “I want it all. And you, Luke Shuller are the whole deal.”

  “I’ve waited a long time for this day,” he said. “I didn’t know how long. I didn’t know it’s what I was waiting for. But it was. I’m so glad it’s here.”

  “Finally.” She smiled again, stretching up on her toes, kissing his lips.

  Right then, he knew he had had it all. He didn’t need to protect himself. Didn’t need to control everything, protect his heart from pain. He was surrounded by a joy so bright, so strong, it overshadowed everything else.

  He had Mel. His best friend. His lover. His bride. Finally.

  The Montana Born Brides Series

  If you enjoyed Finally His Bride, you’ll love the other Montana Born Bride stories!

  The Fairy Tale Bride by Scarlet Wilson

  Buy now!

  The Blushing Bride by Dani Collins

  Buy now!

  Bride by Mistake by Nicole Helm

  Buy now!

  Finally his Bride by Maisey Yates

  Kiss the Bride by Rachael Johns

  Buy now!

  Two Nights with His Bride by Kat Latham

  Coming soon

  About the Author

  USA Today Bestselling author Maisey Yates lives in rural Oregon with her three children and her husband, whose chiseled jaw and arresting features continue to make her swoon. She feels the epic trek she takes several times a day from her office to her coffee maker is a true example of her pioneer spirit.

  In 2009, at the age of twenty-three Maisey sold her first book. Since then it’s been a whirlwind of sexy alpha males and happily ever afters, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Maisey divides her writing time between dark, passionate category romances set just about everywhere on earth and light sexy contemporary romances set practically in her back yard. She believes that she clearly has the best job in the world. Visit her at MaiseyYates.com.

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