by Francis Ray
“I only knew I wanted to be my own boss. Luckily, I was friends with a savvy businesswoman who owned a specialty dress store. She gave me a lot of good advice,” Victoria said.
“Why did you choose lingerie?”
“Women deserve to feel pampered and beautiful.” Victoria folded her arms. “Nothing can do that more than having something soft and luxurious next to her skin.”
Kane started to argue that the right man could make a woman feel the same way, but decided he’d do better to keep the conversation in relatively safe waters. “I told the owner I could save his company, but in return I wanted a twenty percent share and a voice in the operations.”
Victoria rolled her eyes. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
“If you don’t believe in yourself, who will?” he asked pointedly. Victoria remained silent. “Anyway, my investment paid off. ‘Cinnamon’ is among the top cosmetics firms in the country. About two years ago, I decided it was time to cut back on the time spent with the company and enjoy life more. My partner and the original owner, William Conrad, thrives on the hassle of running a corporation almost as much as he enjoys being solely in charge. I enjoy the ranch. This way we both get what we want and I don’t have to worry about the fluctuating price of beef.”
“I’ve heard of your company. You should be very proud of yourself.” She straightened and looked him squarely in the eye. “I only have one question left. Why did you want to marry me?”
Kane was in trouble again. He had to be very careful how he answered. “I told you why I wanted a wife.”
She glanced around the antique-filled room and shook her head. “Not all of it. I might have believed I was your last hope yesterday, but not after what you just told me and seeing this place. You wouldn’t have had any problems getting a wife. Some women can be as heartless as men when it comes to being greedy. Why me?”
It was on the tip of Kane’s tongue to blurt out everything until he realized Victoria wasn’t ready for the truth. She might be attracted to him, but she was fighting it every step of the way. Nothing would make her run from him faster than telling her he loved her.
“Well?” she prompted uneasily. “And remember, you believe in honesty.”
“Some of the women I’ve dated saw my money and not me. Others only wanted a good time. A few just wanted to get married to the first man they could drag to the altar,” Kane said without bitterness. “I needed a woman I could trust. A woman who had as much at stake as I did.”
Victoria nodded in understanding. “With me, you knew I stood to lose Lavender and Lace if anything went wrong.”
He may not have been able to tell her he loved her, but he could tell her how special he thought she was. “With you I get a woman who is compassionate, kind, loyal and beautiful. If I prayed to God on bended knees for a thousand years, I couldn’t have gotten better. And . . .” His eyes twinkled. “You’re really getting good at this pretend kissing stuff.”
Her face softened moments before she tucked her head. “You shouldn’t say things like that.”
“I know, but it’s such a pleasure to tease you and watch you blush. I never thought I’d find a woman like you. Maybe this will help you forgive me.” Reaching into his shirt pocket, he withdrew a ring. At her continued silence, unease twisted through him. “Don’t you like it?”
Victoria looked at the square-cut diamond surrounded by emeralds. The brilliant stones glowed with an inner fire reflecting the sunlight filtering through the large double windows behind her. “You’re doing it again,” she said, her voice barely audible.
“Doing what?” Kane frowned, clearly puzzled.
“Overdoing it. Giving and expecting me to take. Ours isn’t a real engagement. I don’t need a ring.”
“I thought we settled this last night. To all outside appearances our marriage will be the real thing. Everyone who knows me would be suspicious if you didn’t have a ring on.” One long finger stroked her cheek. “Wear my ring, Tory.”
“I can’t,” she said quietly. “You should save it for your real wife.”
“Then I guess you better put this on, because for the next year you’re going to be my real wife,” he said, picking up her left hand and sliding the ring on the third finger. He never planned for her to take it off.
“Will you listen to me,” Victoria said, trying to free her hand. “I’m not wearing your ring.”
“Wanna bet?”
“You’re weak, Victoria. Weak. Weak,” Victoria mumbled to herself as she walked out the leaded glass front door of her grandparents’ house at ten minutes to six. Ruefully, she looked at the beautiful ring glittering on her left hand. She should have been stronger. But Kane had looked at her with those “killer eyes,” as Melody had called them, stroked her with his velvet voice, and she’d forgotten about resisting.
For so long now she had prided herself on being her own woman, making her own decisions. Since Kane had entered her life, she didn’t appear to be able to do either. Now, she faced the added responsibility of meeting his family.
Kane and his parents would be coming down the boxwood-edged driveway and pulling up within minutes. Brushing a hand over her beige linen suit, she shifted from one foot to the other. Her stomach had been in knots since leaving Kane’s ranch the previous day.
On the return trip to town they decided the best thing to do was to stick as close to the truth as possible. A call to Bonnie confirmed that she hadn’t told his mother where or how Victoria and Kane had met. Although Bonnie had an early-morning flight out of DFW Airport to New York for an art show, she promised to come and give moral support that evening.
A gray car appeared, followed by two trucks, one of them black. Kane opened his door first and started toward the car. A few feet behind him walked a stunning young woman with stylishly cut short black hair. She wore a cropped herringbone jacket, a white blouse, and wide-legged black trousers.
Bonnie and her mother, Doris Fisher, emerged from the front seat of the car. Out of the back stepped a slender, gray-haired woman whose smile was slightly hesitant. Kane put his arm around her waist, then took the arm of the raw-boned man who had climbed down from the truck Matt drove. Releasing the older couple, Kane came to stand by Victoria.
“Mama, Daddy, Addie, I’d like you to meet Victoria Chandler, my fiancée.”
Victoria extended her hand. “I’m pleased to meet you.”
Mrs. Taggart’s black eyes misted. “Kane, she’s beautiful. I always knew you’d choose someone extraordinary.”
“Why should a son be any different from his father?” Mr. Taggart said, his gaze warm and loving on his wife.
“Hello, Victoria,” Addie said. “He’s the best there is, so treat him nice.”
“Hey,” Matt called as he walked up to the small group. “What about me?”
Addie snorted. “Why would any sensible woman marry you when she could have Kane?”
Matt smiled, and this time it almost reached his eyes. “I once knew a sensible woman who stood in front of a calf running for the exit gate in order to get a man’s attention.”
Victoria flushed.
“Don’t mind Matt, Victoria,” his mother said, giving her middle child a stern look. “We have so much to talk about. I want to know everything. Where and when you met? Why I’m the last to know?”
Victoria’s smile slipped only for a second. “Please come inside. We’ll talk there. My grandparents will want to meet you.”
“They’ve already met Kane?” asked Mrs. Taggart crisply.
Victoria glanced at Kane. “He came to dinner the other night.”
“They know about the engagement?” Censure laced Mrs. Taggart’s voice.
Victoria and Kane exchanged another look. “We called them after Kane talked to you,” Victoria said, glad to be able to tell the truth about something.
Mrs. Taggart’s expression softened. “Then I wasn’t the last to know.”
“No, Mama, you weren’t,” Kane said. “But from
what I know about Victoria’s grandmother, she probably already has the wedding planned.”
“I hope not,” his mother said. “There are a few things I’d like to have a say about.”
Kane and Victoria exchanged another look and groaned.
“The rose garden will be perfect for the wedding.”
“All the Taggarts have been married in church.”
“The colors will be pale pink and white.”
“Peach would be prettier.”
“She’ll carry roses.”
“Gardenias.”
They agreed on nothing. Although Clair Benson and Grace Taggart sat close to each other, their ideas were light years apart. They had started planning “the children’s wedding” five minutes after the introductions. Dinner and protests from Victoria and Kane were seen as minor obstacles. To Victoria it was no wonder the men left as soon as they finished dessert.
Their excuse was to watch Matt in the calf-roping finals at the rodeo. The look of relief as they almost ran for the door told its own story. The Taggarts might be a rodeo family, but hers wasn’t. Yet her own grandfather had supervised the fast exit. Bonnie, Doris, and Addie gave Victoria sympathetic glances and tried to remain out of the war zone.
Victoria kept her eyes on the sitting room door. One hour ticked into the next. How long did it take to rope a calf anyway? “Matt’s best time is 5.3 seconds. The record is somewhere around 4.8 seconds.”
Victoria’s startled gaze swung to Addie, who had an impish smile on her beautiful almond-colored face. Realizing she had spoken aloud, Victoria glanced around.
“Pay attention, Victoria,” admonished Clair. “It’s nice to know you miss Kane, but we have work to do. You can’t even decide on a simple thing like the flowers for your bouquet, let alone big decisions like china or crystal pattern.”
Panic swept through Victoria. There was no way she was going through that again. “Grandmother, Mrs. Taggart, perhaps we can just spend the time getting to know each other and finalize the plans for a small wedding later.”
“That’s just it, Victoria,” Mrs. Taggart chimed in. “We don’t have the luxury of putting anything off. I can’t believe Kane only gave you two weeks. You both deserve a proper wedding.”
“As long as the minister pronounces us man and wife, it will be,” Kane announced from the doorway.
“Kane!” Without thought, Victoria was on her feet and running to him. His arms closed around her waist and pulled her close. The comforting warmth of his body reassured her. She pressed even closer.
“That bad huh?” he asked gently, and smiled down into her upturned face.
The rumble of his deep voice vibrating through Victoria made her want to curl up in his lap. Her eyes widened with the realization of where her thoughts had strayed, what she was instinctively doing.
She tried to pull away. His arm became a steel trap. The smile on his face remained, but the eyes were unrelenting. She wasn’t going anyplace.
“If anyone is interested, I came in second,” Matt stated laconically.
“What stopped you from being first?” Addie asked.
“That’s right, Kitten. Keep him humble,” Mr. Taggart said as he and Henry brought up the rear.
Matt grunted and leaned against the door frame.
The Taggart family laughed. Victoria glanced around and again saw the family closeness. No one noticed that she had panicked. They were too involved in sharing Kane’s illusion of happiness.
“Matt, you know I care, but at the moment we’re trying to plan a wedding on an impossible schedule.” Mrs. Taggart picked up a color chart. “Victoria has yet to pick out her colors.”
“I don’t know about hers, but mine is any color she’s wearing,” Kane said, a lazy smile on his dark face.
Warmth Victoria didn’t want to feel, shouldn’t feel, spread through her. Kane always said the right words. Why couldn’t she do the same without getting restless? She pulled away and this time he let her go.
“I think we should have the reception with a sit-down dinner at the Four Seasons,” Mrs. Taggart suggested.
Clair straightened in her seat. “Well, I don’t. If the wedding can’t be here, I insist the reception be held in the garden.”
Mrs. Taggart shook her head. “You have a beautiful home and I’m sure the grounds are just as lovely, but ours is a big family, plus all of Kane’s friends. If they can make it, I’d say we’re looking at two hundred people easily.”
Victoria’s eyes widened. “You’re planning on feeding over two hundred people at a sit-down dinner?”
“It will be our wedding gift to both of you. Thanks to Kane’s financial advice, his father and I can afford to be generous,” Grace said proudly.
“No.” Victoria said. “It’s too much. We’re having a simple wedding. Isn’t that right, Kane?”
“Whatever you say, Tory. Thank you, Mama, Mrs. Benson, but it’s up to Tory. Go get your things, honey, and I’ll follow you home.”
“Kane, you can’t take her home. We have too much to decide,” Clair said, looking at Grace Taggart for support.
“Kane?” Grace said hesitantly.
“We’re leaving,” Kane said, a note of finality in his voice.
Grace leaned back in her seat. “I’m sorry, Clair. When he gets stubborn, there is nothing anyone can do to change his mind. Since his decisions are usually sound ones, the family learned to give in a long time ago.” She sent her eldest a penetrating glare. “Now I’m beginning to wonder if that was such a good idea.”
Kane grinned. “I love you too, Mama.”
“I’m ready.” Victoria reentered the room, her car keys in one hand and her purse in the other.
“Good night, everyone, and thank you for sharing tonight with us. Thank you for having us, Mr. and Mrs. Benson. Mama and Daddy, I’ll call tomorrow.” Kane brushed a kiss across his mother’s cheek, then led Victoria to her car.
“Thanks for the rescue. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take.”
“It will be over soon.”
“I may not last that long.”
“Kane, Victoria. Wait a minute,” Addie called as she ran down the walk to them. “Please don’t kill the messenger, but both of you are expected back here after church tomorrow to continue discussing wedding plans.”
Victoria looked at Kane. “We should have escaped while we had the chance.”
Things are getting out of hand, Victoria thought as she drove to her apartment. Tomorrow, her grandmother and Kane’s mother would politely ask Victoria and Kane their opinion, then do exactly as they wanted. Unfortunately, what they wanted was to turn a quiet ceremony into a social event.
A large wedding would only make things worse for her and Kane. Instead of acting like an ecstatic bride-to-be, she knew she would act the way she felt, scared and unsure of herself. Deceiving hundreds of guests would be next to impossible. She’d embarrass and humiliate Kane. She couldn’t do that to him.
Another increasing concern was her growing attraction and dependence on Kane. His size and strength might once have intimidated her, but she was beginning to rely on that same size and strength. And reliance on a man, even one as nice as Kane, was sheer stupidity.
Neither of them spoke as they took the elevator to her floor. Inside her apartment, Kane said, “Sorry, Mama means well.”
“Kane, I’m the one who should be apologizing.” Victoria tossed her purse onto an easy chair. “Your mother is doing what any woman in her place would do. It’s not her fault I’m a fraud.”
“Tory, don’t.” He reached for her, but she moved away to pace the length of the fireplace.
“You should have heard her after you left. She was so pleased that some unscrupulous woman wasn’t marrying you for your money.” Shaking her head, she glanced away. “I can’t go through the next thirteen days planning a big wedding I know is going to end in divorce.”
“I’ll have a talk with my mother.”
“That still leaves my gra
ndmother, and no one is going to keep her from doing what she wants.”
He nodded. “What do you suggest?”
There was only one way out of this. “Do you have any objections to signing a premarital agreement tonight?”
His face remained impassive. “No. After what happened with Stephen and your grandmother, I didn’t think my word would be enough.”
Victoria winced on hearing the bleakness in his voice, but she couldn’t turn back now. “I’ll call my lawyers.”
“Why won’t it wait until tomorrow?”
“Because if you can possibly change your mind about a church wedding, I’d like to get married tonight.”
Chapter 8
“We’re home.”
Shutting off the truck’s ignition, Kane glanced at his bride. Nothing moved except her head as she looked at the dark house. She hadn’t said a word since they walked out of the justice of the peace’s home an hour ago. It was as if only then did the full magnitude of what they had done finally hit her. She was scared.
So was he.
Getting married had been the easy part. Signing the premarital agreement at her lawyer’s house had taken less than thirty minutes. Tracking down a district judge who could waive the seventy-two-hour waiting period took a little longer, but less time than it would have taken for them to drive across the state line to Oklahoma.
Luckily, the judge’s neighbor was a justice of the peace. Neither the JP nor his wife seemed the least bit bothered that he was being asked to marry someone at one o’clock in the morning. Nor was the JP concerned that he had to repeat the vows several times to the bride.
When he pronounced them man and wife, Kane had turned to kiss Victoria. He was unsurprised to see the fear in her drawn face, taste it in the coolness of her lips. He had a bride, but it remained to be seen if he had a wife.
Teaching her to love him was going to be the hardest and most important job he had ever undertaken. Yet, what if he couldn’t get her to overcome her fears and learn to care for him? What if at the end of the three months she walked out of his life? Callused hands clamped on the steering wheel. That wouldn’t . . . couldn’t happen. Until tonight, each time she was with him she became less wary, more accepting of him, of his touch.
