“Well, Candy, we want a big wedding, don’t we?” he said. He’d been thinking about it for a while, and he wanted everyone from his business world, friends, family, and acquaintances to attend. He wanted witnesses to see how he had won over this beautiful woman and to announce to everyone what a lucky dog he was. She was his and his alone. He knew he was being possessive, but he didn’t give a damn.
“Uh, I don’t think we really talked about it,” she said hesitantly.
Just then, Neil spotted Maria carrying a tray with their lunch, a fresh shrimp dish. He could smell the spicy aroma, so he breathed deeply. “Maria, could you bring out another knife for Candy when you get a moment?”
She set the tray on the side table, and Neil set Candy’s dirty knife beside it. “I’ll get it for you right now,” she said, starting to lift the plates before Neil stopped her.
“No, I can handle that, Maria.” He tossed her an easy smile.
“Oh, you flirt, of course you can,” she replied. She walked back into the house, and Neil scooped up the plates, noting the fresh salsa on the side, each dish full of white rice and plump shrimp. He set a plate in front of everyone, pushing aside Candy’s salad. She stared at the dish and then glanced his way with a frown.
Neil sat back in his chair and watched as she picked up her fork and started poking at the shrimp, and he noticed his father exchange a puzzled look with his mother’s wide-eyed plea.
His mother leaned toward Candy. “Do you know that when I was going to marry your father, I had the worst attack of nerves?” she said. She smiled at Neil and then over at Candy.
“No, I didn’t,” Neil said, and he noticed Candy relaxing a bit. She no longer had a death grip on her fork. His father said not a word as he dug into his shrimp.
“I had met your father at school,” Becky continued. “Your father and I went to Berkley at the same time. I was still living with my parents, who had a place in the Napa Valley. We weren’t wealthy, but my father was a hard worker, and we weren’t poor, either. I didn’t understand the family your father came from until I met Angus, your grandfather. When Rodney took me back to the family ranch, he forgot to mention that Angus Friessen was as successful as he was; the president of the cattlemen’s association and a senator! Well, I felt like a country bumpkin, way out of his league. I nearly called off the wedding.”
Rodney stopped chewing and glanced over at Becky with a puzzled expression. “You never told me that,” he said.
Becky reached over and patted his hand. “I didn’t say too much, if you remember, when you took me home to meet your dad, but he sure had a lot to say to me.”
Neil watched his parents and wondered why his mother was bringing this up. It was obvious she’d never mentioned it to his father from the dark look on his face, which was something Neil hadn’t seen in a long time.
“What did my father say to you?” Rodney said, his deep voice holding a bit of an edge.
Neil glanced over at Candy, whose eyes widened. The entire atmosphere at the table had changed, turning from one of a bride with a case of nerves to some underlying spark between his parents. Just what the hell was going on with them?
Becky pressed the cloth napkin to her lips. “Oh, he gave me a little warning, said I had better be a proper wife to you and that if I had some fancy idea of marrying you just for a comfortable life with an abundance of money, I’d best look elsewhere. The ranch would be left to you, Rodney, and would then go to the eldest son of the children we’d have, but it would never be in my name,” Becky said. She set her napkin down, and Neil sat in silence as he watched his father hold his fork frozen in midair. A wave of emotions colored Rodney’s face, and Neil wondered what his mother was trying to accomplish and how his dad would react.
Neil could hear Candy breathing beside him as if trying to go unnoticed, but she was failing miserably. Was there a problem between his parents? This was definitely not how they usually acted. Sure, they argued like any married couple, but they were an example of commitment and family and love. They were his role models. As he watched his mother again, he wondered why he’d never heard this story, and he could tell by the way she was sitting so still, watching his father, that she was deeply bothered by something that had happened so long ago.
“After all these years, Becky, you pick now to tell me that story? What’s going on with you?” Rodney said in a tone that was a little harsh and so unlike him.
Neil glanced over at Candy. She didn’t know where to look, and she took a bite of her rice and glanced at Neil as if expecting him to do something. Neil rubbed the stubble on his jaw and realized he hadn’t shaved, but then, he’d had more important things to do with Candy in a hot shower.
“Mom, I’m surprised,” he said. “That was a pretty rotten thing for Gramps to say to you. I thought you got along with him?” Neil hadn’t met Angus Friessen, who had died before he was born, but he’d never heard his mother speak as if she had hard feelings.
“I never thought it was right, sharing it with you,” Becky said, ignoring Neil and speaking to Rodney. “Your father hurt me when he said that. I didn’t deserve to be treated that way. I wasn’t a gold digger, and I also wasn’t interested in creating a rift between you and your father. You had a tense relationship as it was, and then there was you and your brother, Todd.” Becky tossed her napkin down.
Neil didn’t miss the tension heating up between his parents. His mother was now glaring at his father. Maybe it was menopause, or was she past that? Rodney, though, just shook his head and dug into his lunch, taking another bite.
His mother let out a sigh. “So, Candy, tell me about the plans you have for your wedding.”
Neil winced when Candy stilled beside him and glanced awkwardly at his mother, and he said, “A huge wedding,” at the same time that Candy replied, “Something small.” Neil blinked for a moment, taking in his mother’s raised eyebrow and realizing that he and Candy needed to have a serious talk and get on the same page. Convincing her would be easy, though, he thought.
Chapter 5
Boy, was he mistaken. Convincing a woman that they had to have a huge wedding because it would leave everyone in ten counties talking for years about the wedding of the century, because it would be the right social setting for them, and because it would be in their best interest was going to be more of a challenge than Neil had expected.
The way she kept shaking her head, pacing his bedroom back and forth, about to wear a hole in the golden area rug at the foot of his four-poster bed, told him she wasn’t convinced. She wouldn’t look at him. In fact, she kept her mouth shut in a way that showed how stubborn she could be. But he knew that already. After all, he’d seen and experienced it, but he thought he’d softened it and pried it away. Well, at least that was what he did in bed. Maybe that was where he needed to convince her—on her back while he teased her and touched her until she begged and he could get her to agree to anything. That wouldn’t be honest, though, and he hesitated a second as he stepped forward to touch her.
“I do not want a big wedding, Neil. I don’t want to be on display for a bunch of strangers I don’t give a crap about. This is personal, private. I would rather have no one, just you and me; have Francesco marry us―”
“Francesco!” Neil said, cutting her off. “Hell, no. We’re having a priest marry us, in a church.” Neil liked Francesco, but he didn’t want just anyone marrying him; he wanted a marriage that was blessed and legal, and he somehow doubted that Francesco, who was a shaman, could legally perform a wedding.
Candy’s arms tightened around her middle. She was pulling into herself again, away from him, winding herself up so tightly into her cocoon that it would take a lot of time and effort to ease her back out. “I want Franceso,” she said. “I’m comfortable with him. I don’t want some stuffy old priest who babbles all this religious dogma that I don’t believe in, shoving it down my throat.” She signaled with a wave of her hand that she was done listening to him.
The
woman was testing him. That had to be it. What woman didn’t want a church wedding?
“Candy, I want a wedding with you, a big wedding. Francesco is nice, but we’re not getting married by a shaman. I want a real wedding,” Neil said, realizing as soon as the words were out of his mouth that she was about to shut down and go to that place where her temper flared and her sound reasoning fled. He could see her tense as she fisted her hands and then glared at him. If he wasn’t careful, she might slug him.
She opened her mouth to say something and started working her jaw. “You asshole, you sanctimonious prick. Are you kidding me? Getting married by a priest after you slept with me is a farce. I mean, really, what would a priest say if he knew what we’ve been doing in here? Oh, wait a second—you wouldn’t tell him. It would be one of those little white lies of omission. Well, I’m not okay with that. Getting married by a priest does not make it a real wedding!” she snapped. This time, she threw both arms in the air, breathing hard.
“Okay, maybe we should just cool down,” he said, reaching out for her arm, but she slapped his hand away.
“No!” She leaned in and then started to walk around him.
“Candy, stop,” he said. He stepped behind her just as she reached the door and slid his arm around her waist, pulling her against him.
“Let me go,” she pleaded. She pried at his arm and struggled as he pulled her closer, wrapping his other arm around her. He pressed his mouth against her cheek and then her temple, but he didn’t let go.
He waited and kissed her cheek again, and she stopped fighting him. He could see how she had shut her eyes, and he slid his hand over the silky skin of her arm, running his lips lower until she offered her neck, leaning into him with a sigh. He took what he could, kissing her neck and tracing his tongue across her collar bone, reaching up and sliding the thin strap of her tank top over her soft, tanned shoulders as he nipped at the side of her neck. She relaxed into him further.
He knew he was being a bastard, but he knew how to strip her down, to make her pliable and knock down, once and for all, those walls she kept erecting between them. He turned her and pressed her against the door.
“Neil, you’re a bastard,” she began, but she didn’t finish as he claimed her lips, sinking into the kiss deeply, tasting her, and she responded in a way that made Neil think his knees would go weak. She kissed him back with passion and ferocity, as if she’d been waiting for him for years, giving everything in the kiss. Neil couldn’t think, as his good sense had been tossed out the moment Candy touched him. He had to have her now—he couldn’t wait. This woman, with her touch, her body, could drive him half blind. He reached under her long skirt and slid down her underwear, lifting her and pressing his body into hers.
He reached between them and slid down his zipper, pushing inside her, and he froze, gazing into the heat and passion glowing in her eyes. She couldn’t hide how she felt. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and her smoldering brown eyes turned their passion for one another into Fourth of July fireworks as he moved inside her.
“Oh, Neil,” she said, breathless as she slid her hands over his cheeks, touching him, loving him.
“You will marry me. You are mine, by God…”
“Neil… oh, Neil, I love you.”
He felt her come apart, and he couldn’t hold back, shouting something right before he felt himself tumble over the edge into paradise, her arms clutched around his neck and every part of her tight around him.
He didn’t know how long he held her against the door, but he slowly pressed his lips and forehead against hers. “Okay, change of plans. We’re getting married, but not here. We’ll compromise; just a family wedding at the family ranch.”
He was still inside her when she let out a sigh and said, “Okay.”
Chapter 6
“We’re going to have the wedding at the ranch, just family,” Neil said to his parents as Candy leaned into his embrace. He glanced down at her, kissing the tip of her nose.
She couldn’t believe that Neil had convinced her with this so-called compromise, and she was going along with it. She didn’t know anything about the family ranch or his brothers, but every time Neil made love to her, he had this way of melting her resolve, organizing and arranging. She couldn’t resist anything about him. The man was impossible and overbearing, but if he stepped out of her life, she didn’t think she would be able to breathe without tearing a gigantic hole in her heart. So she agreed without understanding one bit of what she had agreed to, and here she was, attempting a pitiful smile while feeling as if she’d just been bulldozed.
“Just small, Neil, just family. Remember, you agreed. Not the three hundred people, acquaintances, and business associates you wanted. Something simple,” she blurted out as her heart rate ramped up. She patted his chest and the crisp linen of his blue dress shirt. He was freshly shaven, his hair impeccably groomed, and for a moment, as she stood in his arms, she felt dowdy and way below his league. These were her insecurities, her fears of not being good enough, and she couldn’t help but wonder at times, why her?
Becky and Rodney were seated in the comfortable living room, which was flooded by bright sun through the floor-to-ceiling glass doors. Becky set her book down, and Rodney folded the newspaper while slipping off his reading glasses.
“Have you talked to Brad?” Rodney asked.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Becky said before Rodney could finish. “Talk to Emily, but I’m sure she’d love it.”
Candy squeezed his side. He glanced down and must have noticed her confused expression, because he said, “My brother Brad and his wife, Emily. You’ll love her. I’ll be calling him next to talk to him. How could it be a problem? It would probably be easier, with all the new babies, for Diana and Jed and for Andy and his twins. It’s closer for them.” He slid his hand down Candy’s arm. “You know what? I’m going to call Brad now. No time like the present to get it planned.” Neil started to walk away as alarm bells rang shrilly in Candy’s head.
She wondered if Becky had noticed, because she asked, “Well, when is the wedding?”
“Next week,” Neil said as he strode out of the room. At this, Candy gasped out loud as all the air in her lungs left in a whoosh.
****
“Come sit down, Candy. You’re looking a little pale. Rodney, why don’t you go get some lemonade for us?” Becky said as she somehow shooed Rodney out of the living room and seated Candy on the plump cushy sofa beside her. “Let me guess: You didn’t know you were getting married this soon?”
Candy pressed her palms to cheeks that she could feel were becoming a little clammy. A week, seriously? What was the rush? She knew Neil wanted to marry soon, but she didn’t realize he’d meant as early as next week. She felt the cushion dip beside her.
“Neil, I’m sure you’ve come to understand, doesn’t sit around and wait for things to happen. He makes them happen,” Becky stated in a clear, no-nonsense voice.
“Yes… but next week…” She was still trying to sort through her jumbled, confused feelings when Neil clapped his hands as he strode back in, all smiles.
“All set. Brad is thrilled, and Emily can’t wait. In fact, they’re helping to organize the wedding now: decorations, flowers—anything we need. Emily suggested having the service in the living room, since the weather is getting a little unstable, with lots of rain and maybe some snow, so an indoor wedding will be cozy.”
Neil was beaming, and Candy couldn’t believe how she just sat there as if the rug had been yanked out from under her. All she could think to say was, “I don’t have a dress.”
Chapter 7
Flying first class was something Candy had never expected to experience, not in this lifetime. She knew Neil was wealthy, that his family was wealthy, but she realized she’d never understood the powerful circles they mingled in. Neil travelled first class, and she knew well that the price of the airline ticket would be steep. Even flying economy was way out of her budget, but Neil did
n’t seem to blink at arranging, paying for, and handling everything. The stewardess smiled brightly and handed her a glass of champagne, and Candy just stared in confusion.
Neil cleared his throat and reached for the glass. “Ah, thank you. Candy, would you like some champagne?”
She stared at the bubbles in the glass flute and then reached for it. She’d never tasted champagne, and of course she was curious, wondering what it would taste like as she accepted the flute from Neil. She couldn’t smile, but she took a swallow and nearly choked, as it wasn’t quite what she had expected. She grimaced and pulled a face.
“You don’t like it?” Neil asked as he took a swallow from his own glass.
“How do people drink this stuff?” She didn’t know why, but she took another swallow, the bubbles tickling her nose. Maybe it was the buzz she needed, courage or something, not that she ever drank much more than the occasional beer.
“Don’t drink it if you don’t want it,” Neil said, taking the glass from her and handing it to the passing stewardess.
All Candy could do was stare as the stewardess walked away with her champagne. She squeezed her hand awkwardly.
“Buckle your seatbelt,” Neil said. She fished around for it, and Neil reached across and buckled it for her before she could finish. He took her hand in his, linking their fingers. “You excited?” he said, smiling down at her. He finished his champagne, handing the empty glass to the stewardess.
She pasted a smile on her face. “Sure,” she said, glancing out the small window beside her as the plane taxied down the runway and took off.
“It’s going to be a long flight. Why don’t you lean back and get some sleep?”
She didn’t look over at Neil as she said, “Okay.” She was rattled and confused by her feelings. She was self-conscious and felt like a fraud, sitting up in these wide leather seats. She gazed out the window as the plane steadily climbed, and then she shut her eyes.
The Wedding Page 2
