Worth the Price

by Delilah Hunt

  Her eyes widened. “You did?”

  “No,” he confessed on a grin. “I asked him. Didn’t think he’d agree, but said he was more than happy to do it.”

  “And I meant every word of it, too,” a voice, heavy with a West Indian accent intruded.

  She turned to see Pastor Jones with a Bible in hand and eyebrows arched toward his temples. He gave them a knowing stare and rested his hand on Brandon’s shoulder. “How about we save that for later. After you’re wed in the Lord’s eyes.”

  Her heart pounded as the pastor shepherd her and Brandon to the chapel, where Zoe stood behind her. The lanky man she had seen from earlier also did the same in support of Brandon.

  The seconds ticked by. Her heartbeat, after slowing to a steady trot, galloped a mile a minute as she listened to Brandon recite his vows. She wasn’t naïve enough to believe the words were authentic reflections of his heart.

  “And you, Danika Prescott,” Pastor Jones began, “do you promise to love, cherish and honor this man?”

  “I do.” Wholeheartedly, she asserted her vows then held out her hand for Brandon to encircle her finger with the rings they had chosen together. Her hands trembled in return as she did the same for him. She didn’t need to know Brandon was staring down at her. She could feel his eyes on her, heating her skin and lower belly.

  Despite the rush of elation thumping in her ears and the throbbing between her thighs at Brandon’s heated stare, Danika heard loud and clear the words “man and wife”. Even louder, was the pastor’s innocent encouragement for Brandon to “kiss his lovely bride”. Her mouth went dry. It felt like the sun had eclipsed all else, focusing all its energy on heating her blood. There wasn’t a sound save for the whistle of wind she felt against her face as she lifted it to Brandon’s. He was eyeing her with a grim demeanor that spoke volumes.

  Laying aside her own fears and anxiety, Danika rose on the balls of her stiletto-clad feet. Her eyes fluttered closed the moment she pressed her lips to his. The heady sensation took her breath away as soft, firm lips crushed hard against her mouth. She felt the cragginess of the scar that scored the topmost edge of his upper lip.

  Pastor Jones cleared his throat in a loud, exaggerated fashion, or if it wasn’t exaggerated she hoped he would contact his doctor before the end of the day. Either way, she separated from Brandon and inhaled the breath his nearness had so wonderfully stolen.

  His head lifted, revealing a guarded expression devoid of any hints they had moments ago shared a passionate kiss. Surprisingly, she didn’t mind. In the past week she had learned so much about him, including his need for privacy. Danika traced two fingers across her tingling lips then intertwined their hands together. The ranch hands dispersed from their seats, chatting among each other. She glanced at Brandon, convinced she had felt the palpable tension leaving his body now that he was no longer the center of attention.

  “Never thought I’d live to see the day the boss here got himself hitched.”

  Danika spun around to see the man who had served as Brandon’s best man during the ceremony.

  “Well I never thought I’d live to see the day he asked me either.” That much was the truth since she had no clue if the newcomer was privy to the underlying reason for the marriage.

  “I suppose you’re itching for an introduction. Danika, this is Clint Rivers, my foreman. Clint, this is Danika. Now how about you give me a minute with my bride?”

  Brandon’s lips slanted into a scowl, which she figured had no bearing on the aging ranch hand. And she suspected Brandon knew it too.

  Clint chuckled and held up a hand. “A minute eh?”

  Brandon’s face was a study in the various shades of red. He muttered an oath to Clint who was well underway in his hasty retreat to the rest of workers.

  “You scared him off,” she chastised, biting back a grin.

  He returned her smile. “Don’t worry about Clint. He’s headed over to the house with the other guys. I hired a catering company to come out and make sure everyone was fed.”

  Danika grew still amid the feelings of guilt bombarding her. Brandon was going above and beyond to engrave this day into her memory, and for what? To turn around and pay her for his lavish and considerate treatment. She wanted to hang her head in shame.

  “You didn’t have to do all of this, Brandon.” The weight of the elegant, solid white-gold wedding band, embedded with diamonds, threatened to weaken her to the knees. Danika sighed. “I feel like all I’m doing is taking, taking, taking. I’m blinded as to how marrying me will benefit you.”

  “Then don’t think about it. Anything I do for you, I do it because I want to. Not because I have to or feel obligated. Understood?”

  Danika nodded, suddenly feeling shy. “I got it.” She glanced about and saw that they were alone on the steep hillside. “Are we going back to the house?”

  “We are.”

  She was in no hurry to join the others. Judging by the look on Brandon’s face neither was he. A stilted silence penetrated the ease of chatter. She drew in a heavy breath. The sweet Rocky Mountain air felt so thick, as if it too was saturated with anticipation. Steadying herself, Danika raised her lashes to meet her husband full on. His pale blue gaze collided with hers and darkened like a thunderstorm sweeping in across the big Montana sky on a clear summer day.

  “Can I kiss you again?”

  The uncertainty laced around his beautiful request made her teeter on the edge of completely falling for him. Danika stood on her tiptoes to meet his impressive height. She flattened her palm against his massive chest and swept her lips above his warm mouth. Like before, she felt his body slowly relax, melt into her touch. The kiss deepened, with Brandon’s arms tightening about her waist, lifting her slightly off the ground. His mouth hardened, grinding into her lips, as if he wanted to imbibe the very taste of her.

  An ardent moan sprung from the back of her throat. His lips traced along the column of her neck, travelling lower to the swell of her breasts peeking above the plunging neckline.

  “Danika,” he whispered, in a strangled tone.

  Her eyes fluttered open and shut in response to his need. Her own. “It’s all right,” she murmured into his ear. At the junction of her thighs, Danika felt his erection, hard and persistent, jutting into her through the clothes that separated their heated skin.

  On a ragged breath, he eased away from her and tipped her chin to meet his eyes. “I know I’m a mess to look at it, but I’m not letting you go. I don’t care if your father and everyone in this town despise the sight of me. I’m not going anywhere. I’m not giving up my ranch and I won’t ever give you up.”

  Danika found the strength to nod, despite the stabbing pain in her heart. Each time Brandon referred to himself as a mess, it became more difficult than the last time to hear. She leaned into him. Danika nuzzled the side of her face to his. Her lips caressed a line along the length of the ridge-like scar. “I’m glad you feel that way. Because I wasn’t planning on going anywhere without you.”

  He fell silent, save for the harsh intake of breath that proved her words had an effect on him. “Ready to head back?” he asked after awhile. “I’ve got Acer saddled up and ready.” He pointed to a thicket, not too far from where they stood.

  “You rode him out here?”

  He nodded. “The house isn’t far from here. It’s easier to jump on a horse when you live on a ranch. I ride him just about everywhere out here. Didn’t see a reason not to today.”

  Danika looked around. Brandon did have a point. The Bar S was much larger than she had previously thought. No wonder her father wanted it so badly. “You might have to put a tracking device on me in case I get lost one of these days.”

  His lips thinned into a fleeting smile. “Know why I rode Acer, out here today?”

  “Tell me.”

  Brandon closed his hand around hers and guided her toward the bay stallion secured underneath the shade of a cottonwood tree. He swung his long powerful legs over the h
orse then lowered his hand to hers. “I wanted to show you the ranch, your home, the best way I know how.”

  Danika clasped her hand in his, allowing him to assist her into the saddle. “I can’t think of a better way either.” She wriggled her hips to gain comfort.

  He turned, pinning her with a captivating stare. Danika shifted in the saddle again, although this time it wasn’t her rear that was the source of her discomfort. Self conscious beneath his scrutiny, she swept her tongue over her lips.

  A muffled oath sprang from his lips. She barely had time to blink before Brandon’s mouth descended on her lips in a searing kiss. He wound his fist around the hair loosened at her nape then pressed his forehead to hers. His breath came out in short rasps beside her ear, as she whispered, “Take me home, Brandon.”

  Worth the Price

  Hours later after the workers trickled out of the house, Brandon wasn’t sure if he was relieved or terrified. He was a married man without a single clue of what he was doing. Marrying Danika or any other woman for truth sakes, had never been in his plans, but the alternative of allowing Danika to walk away from him, possibly into the arms of another man who could provide her with the money she needed, was unthinkable.

  And now…now he was staring at his wife of only a few hours, as she stood by the doorway of the kitchen, fear and restlessness mirrored in her alluring dark brown eyes. Did she think he was going to attack her on their first night together?

  Brandon clenched his hands at his sides. God, he hoped he wouldn’t. That dress she was wearing didn’t help in the slightest to calm the raging erection inside his pants. Since the moment she had stepped out of the limousine, he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her. Being alone with her made keeping his distance a feat unto itself.

  Danika might not welcome his touch right now, but at least he could look. And look his fill he would. Brandon lowered his gaze to the steady rise and fall of her chest. Her breasts were pushed high against the barely there neckline. They looked as if they would spill blessedly out, with much luck right into his awaiting hands, if she made the slightest ill movement. Sadly, the moment never came.

  Brandon swallowed a lump in his throat and crooked his finger to her. He prayed she would come to him. He needed to feel the softness of her skin beneath his touch to remind himself this wasn’t another dream that left him burning with arousal so hot, not even the bitter reality of their differences could extinguish it.

  “Your friends were all really nice.” She stopped before him, her lips tilted in a smile.

  His own lips curved in response. He knew her smile was a mixture of nerves and bravado.

  “They’re workers. I write their paychecks. They have to be nice.”

  Her smile wilted in the span of a heartbeat. Sensing her plan to withdraw from him, Brandon maneuvered his arm around her waist. He held her close with one hand rested above the small of her slender back, right at the provocative dip where the silken fabric hugged the bare skin above her sweetly rounded ass.

  She stiffened at his touch and averted her eyes with a defiant turn of the chin. Her refusal to look at him spurred Brandon into anger. “How interesting. You’ve yet to ask about the money. Were you thinking about it while you repeated the vows, Danika? Perhaps that explains why the words fell so easily and sweetly off your lips? Or were you waiting until after we had sex to demand your payment?”

  Her huge brown eyes grew wide, reflecting his own shock that he’d lashed out and demeaned her. The acid taste of shame and regret on the surface of his tongue robbed him of speech. The hand on her bottom fell limply at his side.

  “How…” She took a sharp breath. “How long were you waiting to say that to me?”

  Shite. “Danika, I didn’t—”

  “You meant it. You’re thinking of me just like everyone else would if they found out I agreed to marry you for money.” She shook her head. “You have no idea how much I’m starting to despise that word. When I recited those vows, money was nowhere on my mind. You can’t imagine how many nights I’ve lain in bed this past week eaten up with regret that our longest conversation in the two years I’ve known you was centered on money. I wish it could have been different.” She threw a hand in the air. “What am I even saying? My reasons for getting into this marriage are obvious, but you still haven’t given a good reason why you were so willing to make this deal. It’s still up for debate if you even like me. If you would have dated me. For all I know, you could have suggested this just so you’d have something over my father. So tell me, Brandon, is that what it is? Did you plan to keep me here for humiliation as a way of scoring revenge on my father? Did everyone at the ceremony know that I came to you and asked for the money, because my father is about to lose everything?”

  His chest tightened with pain. Eyes watery and vivid with the sting of betrayal stared back at him. The tautness in her cheeks told him she awaited his answer as if she truly believed he was capable of hurting her.

  “No. Apart from Clint‌—‌who’ll take it to the grave‌—‌no one else knows the truth and let’s clear this up right now. The only way Prescott factors into our marriage is that you’re the only reason he won’t be living on the streets.

  Her irises sparkled. “I take it that’s your way of trying to making me feel better. It ain’t working, Brandon and I just can’t shake the feeling that you look down on me.”

  “That’s not true.” He should have known better than allowing his insecurities to taint their first night together. “I didn’t mean a word of what I said.”

  “Then why did you bring it up?” Her shoulders lifted on a sigh. “You have no idea how scared I was. It took a full week for me to gather the courage to come to you in the first place. I was well aware you could have ordered, if not hauled me off your property.”

  “That would never happen,” he said thickly.

  She tapped a finger to her lip in mock concentration. “That’s weird, considering I’m no different from everyone else in town you separate yourself from. Tell me something, Brandon. Were you pining for me all this time? Were you going insane with want for me?” Hips cocked at an enticing angle, she swept a hand through her hair and coiffed a fistful of those tiny curls to the top of her head. Her lips, though pouted in an exaggerated mocking of sensuality, made his shaft twitch. “Did you see all this B-cupped chocolaty goodness and know you had to have a taste?”

  The ache inside his chest became unbearable. It was heartbreaking to watch her mock herself because of the doubts he had placed within her. Brandon stuck a hand inside his pocket and matched her gaze. “I wanted you long before you came out to the ranch and I want you now more than ever.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “You want a woman who you believe will up and leave after you dole out the cash?”

  “Danika, I never said—”

  “I know you didn’t outright say it. I’m not stupid, though. I don’t want you to hold this thing between us over my head. I don’t want you to have it inside your head the money is all there could ever be between us.

  A spark of hope lit beneath his skin. “Could there be more?”

  “You tell me.”

  The challenge in her eyes ignited the shred of hope he’d tried so hard to extinguish and he should be happy… yet the niggling doubt inside his mind refused to budge. Would Danika have been willing to marry another man if he, too, had made the same terms and agreed to her twenty grand request? The question burned at the tip of his tongue. Brandon managed to swallow it back. Knowing himself, he’d only succeed in destroying the rest of the night.

  He slipped his arm around the span of her waist and gathered her to him. “I’m trying so hard to do this right with you, Cailín.”

  To his delight, she leaned into his embrace. “How about we start over, Brandon. Forget about my father. Forget about what everyone else in Hart’s Fall thinks about you…us. I want you, Brandon.” A tender kiss warmed the pulse on his neck. “I want all of you.” Eyes soft and luminous gazed up at h
im.

  Unfamiliar feelings and longings fluttered inside his stomach. His erection went impossibly hard. This was the first time a woman… a beautiful woman was looking at him with the remote hint that she was actually attracted to him. The fact that Danika had gone so far as to voice that she wanted him. It was all too much for him.

  “Do you feel that?” He ground his hardness into her. “That’s how much I want you. You have no idea how frustrating it’s been for me all evening watching you. I don’t want you to be afraid of me again, but I can’t stay away from you. I even told myself I wouldn’t try to touch you tonight.” He kissed below her hairline and looked down at her. “Tell me to leave you alone tonight. Say it and I’ll go into one of the spare bedrooms. Remind me that I’m still the same ugly bastard who had no right to marry you.” Yet, as he said the words, his hands strayed toward the smooth skin above her ass, cupping and caressing the lush flesh.

  “I can’t tell you that because I’d be lying to myself and to you.” She placed his hand on her chest. “Do you feel that? That’s how much I want you, Brandon Sharpe. How fast my heart is always beating when you’re around.”

  He buried his face in her hair, inhaling the exotic scent of coconuts and orchid. I’m definitely not dreaming.

  “I want to see our bedroom.” She slid her arms around his neck.

  Brandon groaned inside his head. “Danika, if we go in there, I won’t be able to stop myself from touching you. Every inch of you. I won’t stop tonight until I lose myself completely inside you.”

  “Show me which way to the bedroom.”

  Brandon froze. His finger rose and pointed to the staircase. By the time his brain regained function, she was already halfway up the staircase turning a corner to the bedroom.

  Danika flicked her gaze backward to see Brandon advancing up the staircase, his long legs annihilating the distance separating them. His eyes were cold and hard, yet simmering with a thirst that she longed to quench.