My wife. Shit. What if she says no? What if she says she’s not ready? That she needs more time? We don’t have more time! We have to do this now. We can’t wait. But I can’t tell her why, so how am I ever going to convince her to do this?
Three hours later, I find the perfect ring. I also buy her diamond earrings and a diamond necklace. Then I go to Fifth Avenue to finish my shopping. On the drive into the city this morning, I called my personal shopper and arranged to have her meet me here. She already has things picked out when I arrive at each store. Some casual clothes for Rachel to change into when we arrive. A beautiful assortment of lingerie for our evenings together. And finally, the dress. There are several options to choose from and I pick the one I know Rachel will like the best.
By the end of the day, I’m exhausted. All of my purchases, except for the ring, are packed away on the Sinclair jet that Rachel, Royce, and I will be taking to Vegas. Royce is coming along so people will believe our guys’ weekend in Vegas story. We won’t be sharing that story until we’re already there. And when we call our families, we’ll make sure we sound extremely drunk. Like we got drunk while still in New York and decided to take Royce’s jet to Vegas. This isn’t unusual behavior for Royce, but it is for me. I normally wouldn’t do something like that, but Royce has a way of persuading people to do things they normally wouldn’t do, which is why I think my father might actually believe my story. And he shouldn’t be too upset by it. After all, he wanted me to be better friends with Royce, which is exactly what I’m doing, or what he thinks I’m doing.
I checked in with Royce this afternoon and he said he already had people working on the press release that will be sent out once Rachel and I are married. The announcement will appear on all the news outlets before we even get back to Connecticut.
The press release will announce that Rachel and I got engaged, not married, and that our wedding will be in the spring. Only our families and the organization will know the truth. I’m only telling the organization because if I’m already legally married, they can’t forbid it. It’ll be too late. And as Royce pointed out, my father won’t try to stop the fake wedding in the spring because it would reflect poorly on me. I need to appear mature and responsible, and calling off an engagement would make me look like I’m neither one of those things. My short marriage to Kristina got me enough negative press. I can’t afford to have any more.
Around four, I head back to Connecticut. Royce remains in New York. We’ll meet up at the airport later tonight, as long as everything goes as planned.
I go back to my loft and pack my bag, then shower and shave and put on a suit. If I had more time, I’d plan a big, elaborate proposal, but that’s not possible now, and truthfully, I don’t think Rachel would want something big and elaborate. She’d prefer something simpler, and hopefully that’s just me in a suit with a ring, because that’s all I have time for.
At 5:45 I knock on her door, my heart pounding. I’m nervous. Extremely nervous. Not about marrying her, but about her answer. Because if she says no, this will be the end for us. And it can’t be. I need her in my life. I won’t even have a life if she’s not in it.
She didn’t have to work at the museum today so she’s been home for a couple hours. I called her and told her I was heading over. She thinks we’re just going on a date. Out for dinner and maybe a movie.
When she opens the door, I feel myself smiling. One of those big, idiotic smiles that happen automatically every time I see her. It just confirms how much I love her. How much she lightens my dark, lonely world. How much she fills me with happiness.
“Pearce.” She smiles and pulls me inside her apartment. It’s overflowing with tulips in vases scattered around the room. I ordered fifteen dozen in different colors and had them delivered earlier today.
Rachel looks beautiful as always. She has her hair down in long, soft waves and she’s wearing the blue dress she wore on our first date. It’s more of a summery dress that’s sleeveless so she’s wearing a white cardigan sweater to cover her arms. She doesn’t have many clothes, but she will soon. If she’s my wife, she can have all the clothes she wants.
I pull her into my arms and kiss her. She smells like lavender from the soap she uses. I love that scent. I find it calming, probably because I associate it with her.
“I see you received the flowers,” I say.
“Yes. And thank you. They’re gorgeous. But why so many? It looks like a floral shop in here.”
“You like tulips.”
She smiles at me. She doesn’t need me to explain. She knows I tend to go overboard on things. And hopefully, she’ll keep that in mind when I pull out the ring.
“Why are you so dressed up?”
I kiss her. “I’m not dressed up. I always wear a suit.”
“Not on our dates. Did you come here straight from work?”
“I wasn’t at work today.”
“You weren’t?”
“No. I was shopping.”
“Shopping?” She laughs. I love her laugh. “You hate shopping.”
“Yes. But it had to be done.”
“What did you shop for?”
“I’ll tell you in a minute. First, I have to ask you something.”
“Okay. Go ahead.”
My heart is now pounding even harder. I try to control my breathing, but she notices the up and down movement of my chest.
She takes my hand. “Pearce, are you okay?”
“Yes.” I take a breath, trying to calm my nerves. I just need to hurry up and say this. If she says no, I’ll spend the rest of the night trying to change her mind. And if she still says no? Shit. She can’t say no.
“Pearce, go ahead.” She looks worried. I don’t want her to be worried. I want her to be happy.
I take both her hands in mine, and just the feel of our hands joined together relaxes me and I’m able to speak.
“Rachel. From the first moment I saw you, I knew I had to meet you. And once I met you, I knew I had to get to know you. And once I got to know you, I couldn’t let you go. Because I knew I loved you. I knew it a long time ago.” I take a breath, my eyes not leaving hers. “I can’t even begin to tell you how much you mean to me. You’ve changed my life. You’ve brought light into my darkness. You’ve made me experience happiness for the very first time.”
Tears are now running down her cheeks, but she’s smiling. I hope that’s a good sign.
“I love you, Rachel, more than I can even describe. I didn’t know love like this existed until I met you. That’s why I know, without a doubt, that you’re it. You’re the person I’m meant to be with. The person I want beside me for the rest of my years.” I let go of her hand and reach into the pocket of my suit jacket. Tears continue to fall down her cheeks as she watches me take the box and hold it out in front of her as I get down on one knee.
“Rachel.” I open the box. “Will you marry me?”
She doesn’t even look at the box. Any other woman would be inspecting the ring. But not Rachel. This isn’t about the ring. This is about her and me, so her eyes remain on mine.
“Pearce.” She’s crying and I’m not sure what that means. Is she sad because she’s going to turn me down?
It seems like hours go by as I await her answer.
Then I see her slowly nod, her smile growing wider. “Yes, Pearce. I would love to marry you.”
I shoot up off my knee and bring her into my arms and hug her, tighter than she likes, but I can’t help it. She said yes! This kind, beautiful, loving, caring, smart, amazing woman agreed to marry me.
When I finally let her go, I present the ring to her once again. This time, she looks at it.
Her eyes widen. “Oh my goodness. That’s the biggest diamond I’ve ever seen!”
I take it out of the box. “It’s not that big. It’s only four carats. I would’ve bought a bigger one but you have small hands and I didn’t think it would look right.” I slip it on her finger. It fits perfectly. She left one of her rings
in my loft last week so I brought it with me to the jewelry store so I’d get the right size.
She holds her hand up. “It’s beautiful.”
I smile. “Not bad for someone who doesn’t know how to shop.”
She wraps her arms around me and kisses me. “The ring is perfect. But any ring you would’ve picked would’ve been perfect because it came from you. I love you, Pearce. I love you so much.”
Every time she says that, I feel this warmth in my chest. She’s the only one who’s ever said that to me and she says it all the time. It’s like she’s trying to make up for all those years I never heard it. I love her for that. I love how she cares about me. The real me, not the person I portray to the rest of the world. I love that she doesn’t care about the money or the status or my name. None of that matters to her. She doesn’t even know that side of my life. She only knows this side, the one I share only with her.
Her love for me is true, real, genuine. The old me would’ve doubted that, but the new me doesn’t. I have no doubts when it comes to her. What we have between us is real. I feel it deep within my soul and I never want it to go away. Which is why I don’t know what I would’ve done if she’d said no to me tonight. I couldn’t lose her. I can never lose her.
She smiles at me. “I can’t believe we’re doing this. But I’m so happy we are. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”
My heart starts thumping hard again. “I’m glad you said that because I feel the same way. Which is why I have something else to ask you.”
“Go ahead.”
I take hold of her hand. “Let’s go sit down.”
“Why?” She looks worried again. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” I walk us to the couch.
When we’re seated, she says, “Pearce, just say whatever you wanted to say. You’re making me nervous.”
I look down at our joined hands, then back at her face again. “Remember how we said that if we love each other, there’s no reason to wait to get married?”
She nods. “Yes.”
“Do you still believe that?”
“Um, I don’t know. I guess I do.”
“So if I said I wanted to marry you tomorrow, you’d agree to it?”
She laughs, assuming I’m joking. “Sure. Why not? I love you and I can’t wait to be married to you.”
“Good. Because I want us to get married tomorrow.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Thirty-Six Hours Later
PEARCE
I wake up with Rachel tucked inside my arms. She’s still asleep. I take a moment to look at her. She’s so incredibly beautiful.
I kiss the top of her head, waking her. “Good morning.”
She opens her eyes and lifts her head up to smile at me. “Good morning.”
I kiss her again, this time on her lips. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” She kisses me back then rests her head on my shoulder.
“What would you like to do today?”
“Stay here. With you.”
“We could go out tonight. Have dinner. Maybe see a show.”
“Or we could stay here in bed.” She kisses me as her hand moves over my chest. “Order room service. And make our own show.”
“That sounds perfect.” I run my hand along her curves, feeling the softness of her skin. “But I thought I should at least offer to take you out since you’ve never been here before.”
“The casinos don’t interest me. And we can see a show some other time.” She sighs happily. “Right now, I just want you.”
“You have me.” I kiss her. “Forever.”
A smile fills her face, extending all the way up to her bright blue eyes. “That makes me very happy.”
I kiss her hand, just below the sparkling four carat diamond ring perched atop her finger. “That’s all I want. For you to be happy. And I promise I will do everything possible to make sure that you always are.”
“You don’t have to do anything, Pearce. As long as we’re together I’ll be happy.” She closes her eyes, that smile still on her face.
She really means it. She really can be happy with just us. She doesn’t need designer clothes, expensive jewelry, or a mansion to be happy. She just needs us.
“Shall we have breakfast?” I ask her.
She looks at me, her hand wandering below the sheet. “I’d rather do something else first. With my husband.”
“Well, then, Mrs. Kensington.” I ease her onto her back. “That’s what we shall do.”
We spend the rest of the day in bed. We haven’t left this room since after the ceremony. The wedding was yesterday in a small chapel near the Vegas strip. Royce was there, along with a showgirl he met earlier that day. She was still wearing her outfit from the previous night’s performance, complete with a bright blue feather headpiece.
It was a true Vegas wedding. Something I never thought I’d do in a million years. But desperate times call for desperate measures. This wasn’t the wedding I wanted for Rachel. I wanted her to have her dream wedding in a beautiful setting with flowers and candles and whatever else she would want. And that’s exactly what she’ll get in the spring when we do this again.
I told her about my plans for a second wedding last Friday night, explaining that, given who I am, I’m expected to have a large, formal wedding. I told her it would be a high-society event that would receive a lot of media attention. As for my plans for this weekend, in order to get her to go along with it, I had to explain why we had to hurry up and get married and do so in secret. I couldn’t be entirely truthful, because that would mean telling her about the organization. And I can’t do that. So instead, I used my parents as the reason we had to elope. I was completely honest with her and told her how my parents disapproved of her and probably always would. She needs to know this, because my parents will never change and Rachel needs to be okay with that. And she was. After meeting my parents the other night, she knows they have no interest in my happiness. But she does. Rachel is the only person in my life who wants me to be happy, so when I told her my parents would do anything possible to keep us from getting married, she agreed to elope with me. She didn’t want them interfering with our future.
As for her own parents, she considered calling them to tell them what we were doing but then decided against it. She knew they’d be disappointed and she didn’t want them trying to talk her out of it. Rachel loves her parents and has a strong need to please them, but she also wants her independence and they’re reluctant to give that to her. In some ways, our situations are similar. My father tries to control me and her mother tries to control her, but in different ways. Both of us fight against their control, wanting to follow our own path in life without their interference. It’s this shared goal that helped make this secret wedding possible. She wants to be with me as much as I want to be with her and we didn’t want our families interfering with that.
Neither one of us has even mentioned our families since getting married. Right now, we’re trying to remain in this blissful state, locked inside a luxury suite on the top floor of a five-star hotel, high above the Vegas strip. Our every need is catered to so we can simply relax and savor these last few hours together before we have to return to real life.
When we do return, it’s going to be hell. I knew that before we did this, but I wouldn’t let myself worry about it. But now it’s almost time to go home and I’m starting to panic. I have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen. I know it’s going to be bad, but I don’t know how bad. Rachel’s parents will be upset, but mine will be livid. Beyond outraged. I can’t even imagine what my father will do. If he could kill me, he probably would, but I’m his only son and he needs me to take over the company someday, so killing me isn’t an option. But he can make me wish I were dead.
As the room darkens and evening rolls in, I hold Rachel in my arms and she nestles against my side, her hand moving softly over my chest.
“Pearce, relax,” she sa
ys, sensing my worry. It’s like she can read my mind. She senses my stress and knows my mind is on my father. “It’ll all work out.”
If only that were true. She always tries to see the positive side of things, and I love that about her. But she wouldn’t be so positive if she knew the truth. She doesn’t know the whole story. She doesn’t know the real reason why we’re not supposed to be together. She doesn’t know about the members. The organization. The rules, and what can happen if you don’t follow those rules.
Worst of all, she doesn’t know me. Not all of me. Not the real me. She has no idea what I’ve done or what I’ll be forced to do in the future. I have to live that side of my life in secret. I don’t like hiding that from her, but I can’t tell her. I can never tell her.
And so, my life will remain a secret, as it’s always been.
But at least now, I have happiness.
At least now, I have love.
At least now, I have Rachel.
From the Author
This series, The Kensingtons, is a spin-off of The Jade Series but you do not need to read The Jade Series in order to read The Kensingtons. For Jade readers, this series will provide more background into the Kensington family, thus enhancing the story of Jade and Garret. If you haven’t read The Jade Series, The Kensingtons is a story that stands on its own, covering the complicated life of Pearce Kensington.
Ready for book two? It’s coming soon! Check my Facebook page for the release date as well as teasers and excerpts.
Author Allie Everhart Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/AuthorAllieEverhart
Other Books by Allie Everhart
Choosing You
Knowing You
Needing Her Page 36
