One Wedding Night... Page 12

  “Do you know how long it’ll be?”

  The woman shook her head. “I’m sorry, no. It could be fifteen minutes, or it could just as well be hours. There’s no way to tell about these things.”

  Lynn turned toward Russ. “What now?”

  “Let’s go upstairs and see about the waiver,” he suggested. “Thank you,” he called to the woman as they left.

  After waiting over two hours, they finally saw the judge and received a waiver of the waiting period. That left deciding on who would perform the ceremony.

  “We could wait. She said the other judge has been in court all morning and it’s already been another two hours. Maybe it won’t be much longer,” Lynn commented as they left the courtroom.

  Russ glanced at his watch. “We’ve already been gone most of the morning from the ranch, and we really have to get back.” He forced a smile. He hated the idea of putting off the ceremony until they could get away again. He didn’t want to take a chance on Lynn changing her mind. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like they had much of a choice.

  “We could check the yellow pages. There’s sure to be a justice of the peace listed.”

  “By the time we find one, we’ll have wasted more time,” Russ told her, steering her toward the door. He popped open the umbrella again as they stepped outside the building and headed for the truck. “We’ll just have to get away again somehow.”

  Once they were inside the truck and settled, he started the engine and drove away from San Luis, heading toward the ranch. The windshield wipers worked furiously trying to keep up with the rain pounding the truck.

  Shortly after they left town, Russ spotted a small church up ahead. “Look.” He pointed toward it. “That might be the answer. There’s a house next to that church. Maybe there’s a preacher living there.”

  Lynn gulped air. “A preacher?” she repeated. “You’re not serious!”

  But she discovered he was very serious when he pulled the truck into the gravel driveway of the church. “Wait here,” he commanded, then jumped out of the truck and left her before she had a chance to speak.

  Sitting forward, her heart pounding, Lynn watched him run up on the porch and bang on the door of the house. Her stomach knotted when it opened and Russ began talking to a short, stout man. She saw Russ reach for his wallet, and her breath quickened as he handed the man some bills. Before she had a chance to find her breath, he was back at the truck.

  “C’mon,” he said, opening her door. He reached across Lynn for the umbrella. “We’re getting married.” He opened the umbrella and held it for her.

  Lynn scrambled from the truck. “Here?”

  “Why not?” Russ grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

  “Because…because it’s a church.” She had to raise her voice to be heard over the thunder.

  “So?” he whispered as he pulled her inside and closed the door.

  He didn’t understand.

  Lynn clamped her lips together as she looked around her. Stained glass windows with biblical scenes lined the outside walls. Rows of pews made from pine faced the front of the church where there was a small platform with chairs for the choir.

  She stared at the altar, and a tingle ran down her spine.

  She’d prepared herself for marrying Russ. She’d gone along with the idea because they’d decided on getting married by a judge or a justice of the peace.

  Not by a preacher.

  She stared at the preacher as she and Russ walked down the aisle to the front of the church. The man was standing beside a woman Lynn assumed was his wife. The woman was just about as stout as her husband, and she was smiling warmly. The two looked like they belonged together.

  After welcoming them, the preacher introduced them both, then instructed Russ and Lynn to stand before the altar.

  This can’t really be happening!

  Lynn’s heart slammed against her ribs as Russ held her hand tight in his and looked into her eyes.

  The preacher held their license in his hand as he began speaking. He must have married a lot of couples because he knew the words of the marriage ceremony by heart. Lynn felt panic rise inside her as he talked about love and commitment. As he neared the end of the ceremony, her entire body stiffened.

  “Do you, Russ Logan, take this woman—”

  Their gazes locked, and Lynn couldn’t breathe. The tenderness in Russ’s voice, the solemnness of tone as he promised to love and cherish her brought a lump to her throat.

  When it came her turn to speak, she swallowed hard and willed herself to repeat her marriage vows. Her body trembled when the preacher asked God to bless their union. How could He, when she and Russ would part in the near future, when their union was out of necessity and not born out of love?

  “Do you have a ring?” the preacher asked.

  Russ held out his hand, and Lynn’s gaze fell on the two gold bands in his open palm. She hadn’t even thought about the wedding band that matched her engagement ring, believing it wouldn’t be used. And when had he bought a ring for himself? Before she had time to think about it further, Russ was claiming her hand and repeating after the preacher, then sliding the shining gold band on her finger.

  Her hand shook uncontrollably as she took Russ’s ring from the preacher and placed it on Russ’s finger. Butterflies attacked her stomach. Her voice faltered as she tried to speak, then she managed to say the words expected of her.

  Lynn heard the preacher pronounce them man and wife, and she knew what came next. She looked from the preacher to Russ. His eyes darkened as he drew her into his embrace. Suddenly, she was pressed against him, her body flush with his as he slipped his arms around her and dipped his head.

  His mouth touched hers briefly, tenderly, and Lynn lost the ability to think. Her eyelids drifted shut, and the pleasure of his kiss reached out and stole a piece of her heart.

  Panicking, she pulled away, careful not to look at Russ when she opened her eyes. She touched her mouth, still damp from his, and the taste of him lingered in her mind, crushing her determination to keep him at a distance.

  As quickly and politely as possible, they thanked the preacher and his wife, then left the church. The rain had slacked a bit, but they were both quite wet from running back and forth in it. Russ opened her door for her, then got in behind the wheel.

  “Okay, that’s done,” Lynn stated, making an effort to keep her tone even. She gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. For some silly reason, she felt like crying. But she wasn’t going to.

  Not here. Not now.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, looking at her closely.

  “Of course.”

  Russ’s lips twisted as he studied her. Her hands were clenched, her back was stiff and she was practically glued to the door. She was everything but all right, he thought. He ran his hand along her hairline, brushing her bangs away from her face. She turned toward him, and he couldn’t miss the shiny look in her eyes.

  Touching her was a mistake.

  Kissing her a few minutes ago had been an even bigger one. As he’d gazed into her eyes when she’d repeated her vows, he’d found himself wondering what it would be like if they were getting married for real. It was a foolish thought, he knew, wasted on something that could never be.

  He didn’t want to be married. He had nothing to offer a woman, nothing of himself to give.

  And Lynn didn’t want to be married, either. She wanted her freedom. She wanted to live her own life.

  Gritting his teeth at the irony of their situation, he turned away, started the engine and headed for the Bar M. “I’m sorry about kissing you, if that’s what you’re upset about.”

  “I’m not upset.”

  “I know we made an agreement,” he continued, feeling the need to justify his actions despite her quick denial. “I mean to abide by it. I just thought it would seem suspicious if I didn’t kiss you.”

  “Of course. I understand.” She didn’t look at him.

  “So you
’re okay about everything?” he pressed.

  “As well as I can be. I’m not at all excited about facing everyone and telling them what we’ve done.”

  “You were perfectly willing to pretend we were married.” He didn’t understand why she was having a sudden attack of conscience. It seemed to him that it hadn’t bothered her that much to intentionally mislead her family until now.

  “Not because I want to deceive everyone. I just want my brothers to let me live my life the way I want. Is that too much to ask?”

  “Hell, no, Lynn. I was pretty much doing the same thing until the night of Jake’s wedding.” Before he’d been trapped into this marriage fiasco.

  His words caused her to look at him. “I didn’t end up in your bed without your participation.”

  Russ’s lips thinned. “Point taken.”

  “And I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, you know. I was trying to save your job,” she reminded him.

  Russ took the turn off the main road. “Next time, let me defend myself.” He was beginning to think that a beating by Ryder would have been less torture than being with Lynn all the time and not being able to touch her.

  Hell, he was in for a ride. He hoped he was going to come out of this with his sanity intact.

  “Don’t worry, I will.” His sarcastic tone annoyed her. “You can start right now if you want to break the news,” she suggested as they drove into the yard and he pulled the truck up to his quarters.

  Taking the key from the ignition, he hesitated. “Uh, on second thought, why don’t we wait until later.”

  Lynn caught herself smiling at him. “Biding time?”

  “Hell, yes,” Russ replied, and he grinned.

  She gave him a relieved smile. “I’ll tell them to expect you for dinner.”

  “Eloped?” Ashley jumped to her feet, and her chair scraped the floor as it was shoved back. Everyone at the dining room table stopped eating. Five pairs of eyes stared at Lynn and Russ.

  Lynn blushed and looked from her sister-in-law to Russ, a smile frozen in place on her face. She hadn’t expected her sister-in-law to be happy, and apparently she’d been right. They seemed to have taken them all by surprise. “Um, yes.”

  “Great!” Matthew grinned, obviously excited about the news of more family.

  Ashley’s head swivelled in his direction. “It is not great, Matthew! It means we missed seeing them get married, honey.” She turned to face Lynn and Russ. “You really eloped? When?”

  “This morning,” Lynn confessed, then felt her face get even hotter. “We drove to San Luis.” She stopped speaking for a moment. Their mystified expressions were almost funny. Almost. “We…we just decided not to wait.” Russ was sitting next to her, and Lynn reached over and covered his hand with hers. “Right, sweetheart?”

  Russ clasped her hand. “I tried to talk her into waiting, but she wouldn’t listen.”

  Lynn gasped. “You did not!” She tried to yank her hand back, but he held on to it and wouldn’t let go. Her eyes sent him a silent warning.

  “Just kidding, honey,” Russ said, and he grinned with a devilish glint in his eye.

  “But what about the wedding we were planning?” Ashley wailed. Disappointment shadowed her eyes.

  “Come here, darlin’,” Ryder said, taking Ashley’s hand. He scooted his seat back and tugged his pregnant wife down on his lap. “We should be happy for them. Besides, it’s not the end of the world. Deke’s still single. You can throw a wedding for him when he gets married.”

  “As if that’ll happen,” Jake quipped, then chuckled. He sobered when Ashley glared at him.

  “I know we talked some about planning a wedding, but we really hadn’t decided anything definite, yet,” Lynn quickly reminded her. She looked apologetically at both Catherine and Ashley. “I, um, we appreciate all of the thought that you put into planning the wedding and that you wanted to make it really special, but we decided we wanted to be married right away.”

  “Oh, I wish you’d told us,” Catherine said, her tone warm, but still disheartened. “We would’ve understood. Then we could’ve been there with you.” She got up and walked around the table. Lynn stood to meet her and they hugged tightly. “I’m so happy for you.”

  Everyone got up from the table at that point, and Lynn and Russ accepted hugs and warm, heartfelt congratulations from them all. They all made their way into the den, except Matthew, who thought playing on his computer would be more interesting than listening to the adults discuss the event. Catherine and Ashley wanted to hear every detail of their wedding, and Lynn and Russ did their best to relate the events throughout the remainder of the evening.

  Later, as the conversation quieted and it was nearing time to go, Russ tackled the second hurdle of telling them that he and Lynn were moving off the Bar M. Feeling they wouldn’t like it, he didn’t look forward to seeing how Jake and Ryder were going to take the news.

  He spoke to them all, but watched for Jake’s reaction. “There’s something else we need to tell you.”

  “You’re pregnant!” Ashley blurted, looking at Lynn.

  “No!” Both Russ and Lynn spoke at the same time. They looked at each other, then back at the group around the den.

  “No, she’s not pregnant,” Russ said again firmly, and despite his best effort to prevent it, his tanned face darkened. It was the truth as far as he was concerned. He and Lynn really didn’t know if she was.

  “What is it then?” Catherine asked.

  “We’re moving.” Russ didn’t miss the fact that both Ryder and Jake turned their full attention to him.

  “Moving where exactly?” Jake asked, and his words sounded close to a demand. He leaned forward in his chair, his facial muscles tightening. “When?”

  “Russ bought the Peterson place. That’s where we’ll be living,” Lynn told them.

  Obviously pleased to hear his sister wasn’t going far, Jake sat back, his shoulders relaxing. “The Peterson place? That meets our property line. I was interested in the land myself and wondered if they’d sold it when they moved.”

  “The timing was right, and Peterson and I made a deal before it went on the market,” Russ explained.

  “What are your plans?” Ryder asked.

  “To start my own horse ranch. I hadn’t planned on leaving the Bar M just yet, but—”

  “Leaving?” Jake looked affronted at the idea.

  “Well, not right away, but eventually, once I get some stock and get the ranch operational, I won’t be staying on here.”

  “Hell, Russ,” Jake interrupted. “I don’t want to lose you, but stock isn’t a problem.” He nodded at Ryder. “We’ll give you enough horses to get the ranch off the ground as a wedding gift.”

  Lynn was sitting in a chair, and Russ was perched on the arm of it beside her. His grip on her hand tightened as he shook his head. It was obvious to her that he wasn’t comfortable with the idea.

  “No, I—”

  “We won’t take no for an answer, will we, Ryder?”

  “No way,” her other brother agreed.

  “You don’t have to do this, Jake,” Lynn said, aware of the tension in Russ.

  “Lynn, you own a part of this ranch. Essentially, you’ll be taking what belongs to you,” Jake informed her in his usual compelling tone.

  His words caused her chest to tighten. Had she jumped into this marriage to Russ prematurely? Would Jake have signed for the loan she’d wanted if she’d have asked?

  Well, now she would never know, would she? For the time being, she and Russ were married, and there was nothing to do except make the best of it for a while until they could get out of it.

  She looked at Russ, and his face was impassive. Jake spoke again and drew her attention.

  “Russ, we’d like for you to continue putting in some time here for a while, if you think it’s doable.”

  He nodded. “Sure. That’ll work out fine. I’ll continue to work here while getting things off the ground.” Glancing up
, he caught Lynn’s eye. “You ready to leave?” he asked, hoping she was.

  Lynn quickly got to her feet. “We’ll be moving everything tomorrow. All help will be appreciated.” She’d already packed a suitcase to take with her. Excusing herself, she went to get it. When she returned, Russ held his hand out to her as he took the suitcase from her.

  “We’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Everyone wished them well again, then they left and went across the yard to Russ’s quarters. Russ had discreetly moved some of his things to his ranch, and although the Petersons had left a few pieces of furniture, they’d taken the beds. So that meant he and Lynn would be sharing the night in his room.

  “That didn’t go as bad as it could’ve,” he commented, opening the door for her and waiting for her to go inside.

  Lynn smiled brightly at him as she walked inside. “No it didn’t. Oh my gosh, Russ,” she said with excitement, spinning around to face him, “can you believe that we’re gonna have horses? Our own horses?”

  Russ censured her with a glare. “You’re gonna have horses, sweetheart.”

  Looking offended, Lynn stared at him. “What?”

  “They’re gonna be your horses, not mine.” He sat on a chair across from the bed.

  “That’s ridiculous. They’re giving them to both of us.”

  “No, they’re not,” he said adamantly. “Essentially, as Jake pointed out, you own an interest in the Bar M. I’ll help you train them, but don’t think for a minute that I own any part of the horses you’re getting.” Marrying her had been the right thing to do, and he’d do it all over again to protect her. But he hadn’t planned on Jake and Ryder giving them stock as a wedding gift.

  It didn’t really matter. He didn’t consider them his. Lynn wasn’t in love with him, and this marriage was a long ways from being real. She didn’t want to stay married, and neither did he. Actually, when he thought about it, she was getting everything she’d wanted all along.

  Lynn really didn’t need him at all.

  “Can we please not argue about this?” She clamped her lips together. Eyeing the rumpled bed as the only other place in the room to sit, she picked up her suitcase and started for the bathroom.