Afterward Lacey and Rafe drove through the entire complex, and aided by a map they had been given, pinpointed all the major attractions—from laundry locations to the game room. Lacey watched the clouds gathering as the afternoon drew on and wanted to catch thirty minutes or an hour on the beach before it rained, but such idleness didn't seem to be listed on Rafe's itinerary.
"The rain builds up every afternoon here in the summer," she was told when she asked about the dark clouds. "We get a torrential rain, and then the sun breaks out again. You'll see."
Rafe drove back to the condominium. "You have fifteen minutes to change clothes for the wedding," he told her.
"That's all?" She frowned.
"All you have to do is change clothes. You look terrific."
Lacey smiled. After the steamy heat of the afternoon, she'd love another shower, but if Rafe said fifteen minutes, he meant no more than twenty, and she could handle that, even if it meant putting her makeup on in the car.
"Clear out," she announced. "I need space for elbow room if you're only giving me fifteen minutes."
"I'll get dressed in the other bedroom," he said, trying not to laugh. He couldn't resist needling her just a little more. "Fifteen minutes and then I leave, with or without you. That's all the time you get."
"Just get out of my way," Lacey said, intent on impressing him by being ready with two minutes to spare. "You're standing on my time."
"Yes, ma'am," he said, and left the room.
Lacey raced into the bathroom with her dress and accessories, and took time to redo her makeup so that she felt as if she looked fresher. Then she hobbled into the living room with one shoe in her hand and her brush in the other. "How'd I do?" she asked, eyeing his relaxed form stretched in the living-room chair.
He looked down at his wrist. "Not too bad. You're only two minutes late."
Lacey wrinkled her nose at him and put her other shoe on. Then she looked up and remembered, "You don't even wear a watch!"
"It's all built in," he answered, getting up and admiring her flushed face, wanting to skip the wedding and go right to the honeymoon—their own.
The wedding took place in a small chapel a long drive from the condominium. Lacey could see why Rafe had given her so little time to dress. They had barely entered the church when the ceremony began.
Lacey sat quietly beside Rafe. She didn't know any of these people, but obviously he knew quite a few and was well known by many of the other guests. She turned and glanced at him during the ceremony. Was he a man who liked weddings? His face didn't reveal anything.
At least he had more respect for weddings than Dominick ever had, Lacey thought. Just the mention of a friend getting married had sent Dominick into a violent mood. He would always blame it on some other event which had gone wrong with his day. Now that Lacey had the perspective of time and distance behind her, she could see all their arguments had been connected to the topic of marriage. Lacey shuddered and Rafe put his arms around her. "Are you cold?" he asked.
She smiled, letting go of the past and focusing on the man sitting beside her. She shook her head, but touched his hand to let him know she liked having him touching her. At least Rafe wasn't opposed to other people's weddings. She wouldn't be here now if he were.
After the wedding, Rafe took Lacey's hand and strolled out of the church with her, meeting people and introducing her as they stopped and chatted, asking directions to the reception. Lacey smiled. She would never remember everyone's name, but clearly quite a few would be remembering her after today. She was new, and she was with Rafe, and that would be a subject for talk among his friends.
At the reception, Lacey stood proud and tall beside Rafe, pleased that he had chosen to bring her with him. Groups of strangers like this gave her a lot of information about the man she was with, without telling her a word. Everyone seemed happy to see him, coming up to him, shaking his hand, slapping him on the back, asking him, "Remember when?" Someone who wasn't well-liked wouldn't be getting that much attention, especially when the bride and groom were supposed to be the stars of this show.
The couple arrived after the photo session at the church. Lacey walked ahead of Rafe in the reception line, introducing herself to stranger after stranger while he lingered slightly behind her, talking with more friends from the wedding party. When they reached the bride and groom, Lacey was delighted to see the surprise on the groom's face that Rafe was here. Rafe had gone out of his way to attend, which said something about his positive attitude toward marriage.
She started thinking again while he took time to talk with the newly married couple. Dominick had gone with her to a wedding, but it had taken a lot of coaxing and apologizing from Lacey after an argument in which she had tried to convince him he should go. It had been a miserable day for Lacey. She would have enjoyed it if she had made excuses for Dominick and gone alone.
Dominick's latest girlfriend had been at the wedding, which at least explained to Lacey why she had managed to talk him into going with her. He had spent more time at the girl's side than he had Lacey's. Lacey had felt miserable, plastering a smile on her face, but fading into the background, trying not to put a blight on the happy couple's day because of her own anger. Several of their friends knew about the situation, and Lacey knew her bottled anger was obvious to her best friend.
So Lacey sat in a chair in the corner, a single chair next to an antique bureau so that it wouldn't be easy for anyone to sit next to her or even stand comfortably and talk to her. She had a collection of champagne glasses she kept adding to on the bureau beside her, and she picked a nice blank spot on the opposite wall and smiled at it all afternoon. She had already made up her mind it would do no good to tag along after Dominick or hang on to his arm the way the girl was doing.
Dominick had come by a couple of times asking Lacey, "Is anything wrong?"
Lacey had just stared back at him, smiling wider, but with less warmth than she had given the blank wall.
"Can I get you some champagne?" he had asked her.
"Just exactly what I need," she said, looking at the four glasses next to her and the fifth in her hand.
Dominick looked best in blinders. They suited his personality. He had smiled and disappeared, returning with another glass of champagne and handing it to her, saying, "I need to go talk to Tom. See you later."
And he had left Lacey sitting there with a glass of champagne in either hand. That was when the spirit had gone out of her and she had decided a life with Dominick was hopeless. Even if she got him to marry her, she would be more miserable than she was that day. Seeing the happiness on her friends' faces on their wedding day told her she hadn't felt that kind of happiness in a long time. It was an innocent kind of expectation about what a life together would mean. Problems might arise, but the love they had for each other would let them work through the bad days together. Lacey had never felt that way about Dominick. She had begun to wonder if it was possible for her to ever feel that way, and then she had met Rafe.
"Is anything wrong?"
Lacey didn't respond at first; that was what Dominick had asked her at the wedding that day.
"Lacey," Rafe said, putting his hand on her arm. "Are you all right?"
Lacey blinked, and smiled: it wasn't Dominick. Rafe was here now. Rafe wouldn't be so unkind as to parade his other girlfriends in front of her. Surely they existed, but he knew enough to keep the past behind them, as he would allow her to do. The present and the future had started on the day they met.
"I'm fine, just don't get me any champagne."
He looked closely at her, not convinced by her words. He had just seen her, standing alone, with all the life gone out of her. It made him feel protective; he wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her everything would be all right, whatever it was that was bothering her. But he couldn't do more than touch her arm here in this crowded room. "There isn't any champagne," he said, hoping his light tone would bring a sparkle back to her eyes. "Will punch substitute?"
"Lovely," she said, her eyes focusing more clearly on Rafe.
He stared at her a moment longer. Whatever it was had disappeared. She looked like herself again. He caught his breath, realizing how tense he had become just watching her. A shaft of fear had penetrated him when he had seen that look on her face. Now that it was gone, he had time to think about it and realize he had felt a measure of what life would have been like if she left him. For those few minutes she hadn't been with him, but was in a world which had excluded him. "If I go away and come back, will you still be here?"
Lacey smiled at him. "Of course," she said, and then realized he was asking her something more serious than whether she was going to move when he left her side to get a drink for her. "I don't want to leave you," she said, reaching up and brushing his cheek with the back of her hand. "The only thing that could make me do that is if you tell me to go. And if you must do that, do me a favor?"
"What?"
"Come right out and tell me you want me to get lost. Don't use any psychological warfare on me that's going to drive me away. I've been through that. I'd rather have the walking orders given very clearly, black and white, typed. Okay?"
Rafe leaned down and kissed her, ignoring the roomful of people. Lacey was the most important thing that had happened to him in a long time. She fit well into his world, too easily sometimes. How could he have been so lucky as to find someone who put up with him as he was, without trying to manipulate him to be the Prince Charming of every girl's poster pinup, which he wasn't about to try to be. He was Rafe Chancellor, take him or leave him. And she seemed to enjoy taking everything he threw her way—from the ABC instructions he had given her for their first meeting, to arriving in the 1933 Chevy with someone else, to making love with him whenever the mere thought entered his mind.
"Rafe…" Lacey said, touched by the tenderness of his kiss, knowing it was unusual for him to display such emotion with a crowd of people hovering around them, even if they weren't the center of attention right now. "Rafe, I love you," she said, tired of playing the wait-and-see game.
Rafe looked at her, confusion on his face. "I want to say the same thing to you. I do," he said. "I love you too. But you don't know what you're getting into."
"Maybe not, but I'm in already."
"I love what's happening between us, but I have Angela to think of too, not that she won't like you when she meets you, but I have a lot of responsibilities to think of that you don't deserve to have dumped on you."
"What if I'm holding out my arms, waiting to accept it?" she asked, smiling, her heart skipping because he had said "I love you" and because now he was explaining why he hadn't been able to say the words sooner. "I already accept the fact that you come as a tandem deal. That just makes you more lovable to me. Angela was one of the reasons I was so impressed by you when I first heard the legend of Rafe Chancellor!"
Rafe sighed, wanting to say more, but this wasn't the time or the place, and someone was trying to get his attention. He gave Lacey a look that said, "I love you, I adore you, I'll be right back with your punch," and he disappeared.
Story of my life with Rafe Chancellor, Lacey thought, grinning as she watched him walk away with an elderly woman. Someone or something's always going to be taking him away from me. She had better get used to the idea, because he was the type of person who could be relied upon, and everyone who knew him knew that. And he was the type of person who was driven by his own desires and goals. To take that away from him would change him. Besides, during the time he spent with her he gave her his full attention: quality time. While no one could guarantee fidelity to her, Rafe was one man she would put money on if it came to a contest.
They didn't have a chance to talk the rest of the afternoon, as the events of the wedding continued to dominate everyone's attention. First the cutting of the cake, then the toasts, and more informal chatter. Whenever Rafe looked at Lacey or Lacey caught his eye, they both knew they were thinking the same thing, that all they wanted right now was a corner to themselves to discuss further the love topic they had just introduced.
The bride was getting ready to toss her bouquet into the air and someone was trying to round up all the eligible girls. Lacey hung back, pretending attachment to Rafe. All she needed was a bouquet to dangle in his face reminding him that she was the next to get married. It would be nice, however, if he caught the garter.
They waited until the couple had changed clothes and were ready to leave, taking satin roses filled with rice to throw at them as they hurried from the building to the car, which someone had locked, giving everyone who was in on the deception a chance to pour a sackful of rice down the groom's collar.
It had rained while the reception took place. As promised, the sun was peeking out of the clouds now and the streets were steaming from the downpour. Rafe drove with his hand on Lacey's knee, which made Lacey smile as she stroked his arm.
He took her to eat freshly caught seafood in a small restaurant located right on the wharf where the fishing boats came in each day. Lacey waited for Rafe to return to the subject they had started at the wedding, but the conversation never seemed to head in that direction. Yet the love lay unspoken between them. Lacey finally decided all that needed to be said had been said. The problems Rafe anticipated with Angela, and Lacey's acceptance of her, would have to be worked out as they arose. Time alone would provide the answers to their relationship.
She looked across the table at him in the flickering light from the candle. The scarred side of his face was in shadow—just as the circumstances surrounding how he had gotten the wound wouldn't be brought to light unless Rafe decided to tell Lacey about it. But she could still imagine the pain he must have suffered. It probably had a connection with why he seldom showed his emotions around her.
Being an officer, especially in Vietnam, had required that he not reveal his feelings. He had to set an example for his men, and that didn't involve opening up to them, telling them when he was lonely, when he hurt, when he was just plain tired of holding everything inside. He had to always give the appearance of granite strength, even if that was the last thing he felt like inside. Lacey could see where that kind of necessary conditioning could become second nature to him. And she wouldn't have even thought about it if one of his friends this afternoon hadn't told her about some of the missions they had been on together in Vietnam.
"A good man to go to war with," his friend had described Rafe to Lacey. Lacey smiled across the table at him now and thought he was a good man to go anywhere and do anything with.
Because he had lived so long with that cold, calculating existence, which might be behind him in fact, but would probably never completely be behind him in mind, Lacey wanted to make up for what he had missed. She wanted to be the tenderness and the loving and the emotion he had denied himself out of duty to his country. She wanted to be spontaneity and surprise and frivolity— especially frivolity, because she liked to see him laugh.
There was no way she could tell him that. It would have less impact put into words. Showing him was the best method. She hoped he already saw some of her efforts in action, because she didn't want to lose him. He gave her so much, things that she had never had before and had not realized how important they could be. Like respect for her as a person, wanting to see her be the best she could be in whatever she chose. He watched in awe as she pursued her career, and supported her efforts to make the business better and create a name for herself. And he did his best to understand the complications of her field instead of treating it, the way Dominick had done, as if it was a hobby.
Rafe gave her tenderness and loving and more variety than she had yet had a chance to categorize and label. He constantly surprised her with the diversity of his interests. His own dedication to his goals in business and with his daughter challenged her to do more with her latent abilities. He pulled her up when she was down, and approached everything from a positive standpoint. She was almost afraid to think negatively around him. The
impossible was not in his vocabulary. And he had never yet taken her for granted.
It was dusk by the time they returned to the condominium and Rafe suggested they go for a walk along the beach. Lacey changed into her shorts and sandals and was waiting for him in the living room this time. "I may have been two minutes late this afternoon," she said, glancing down at the hairs on her wrist, "but you're ten tonight."
"You're not even wearing a watch," he noted.
"I don't care," she said. "We're on my time now, and I'm telling you you're late. What do you propose to do about it?"
"I propose to race you down to the beach," he said, and dashed out the door before Lacey could yell after him, "Do you have the keys? No fair! You didn't tell me the rules first!" But when she joined him at the edge of the water where he was waiting for her, they were both laughing and he was watching a crab scuttling sideways to catch the tide.
They pulled off their shoes and walked in the damp traces of waves on the sand left by the overlapping water licking at the shore. Lacey wrapped her arms around Rafe and tried to stretch her pace to his long stride.
As dusk turned to darkness and they reached a remote area of shoreline, Rafe caught Lacey in his arms, lifting her off her feet. He turned with her, laughing at her squeal of delight.
"Do you ever do anything predictable?" she asked, still laughing as she threw back her head, reveling in the strength of his grasp. Rafe's arms were around her; she knew she was safe.
"Hardly ever," he answered, placing his moist lips on her throat as he let her foot slide against his hardened thighs. "It's part of my mystery," he whispered against her neck, where he was nibbling his way toward her ear.
Lacey let her hands trace the outline of his chest through his shirt, pulling out the shirttails to place her bare palms on his firm, flat stomach. Then, just as suddenly as he had lifted her off the sand, she put her mouth to his navel. Her tongue, swirling around the contours of his abdomen, caused him to suck in his breath with surprised excitement. He knelt on the sand, taking her with him.
Male Order Bride Page 17
