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Throughout the ceremony, Cherry kept repeating two things over and over.
Those little girls need me. And, This is the last time I’ll be disappointing Zach and Rebecca. Once I’m married, I won’t be their responsibility anymore.
She was concentrating so hard on convincing herself she was doing the right thing that she had to be prompted to respond when the time came. “Cherry?”
She turned and found Billy’s eyes on her. Worried again. And I won’t be a burden to Billy Stonecreek, either, she added for good measure. “What is it, Billy?”
“Your turn to say I do.”
Cherry gave Billy a tremulous smile and said, “I do.” It was more of a croak, actually, but when Billy smiled back, she knew it was all right.
“Rings?” the minister asked.
“We don’t have any,” Billy replied.
The minister pulled open a drawer in a credenza behind him, and she heard a tinny clatter. To Cherry’s amazement, the drawer was full of fake gold rings.
“Help yourself,” the minister said.
Cherry watched Billy select a plain yellow band and try it on her finger. Too small. The next was too big. The third was also a little loose, but because she wanted the awkward moment over with she said, “This one’s fine, Billy.”
“That’ll be ten dollars extra,” the minister said.
She saw the annoyed look that crossed Billy’s face and pulled the ring off. “I don’t need a ring.”
Billy caught it before it could drop into the drawer and put it back on her finger. He caught her chin and lifted it so she was forced to look at him. “I’m sorry, Cherry. I should have thought of getting you a ring. This is so…”
Cheap? Tawdry? Vulgar? Cherry knew what he was thinking, but couldn’t bring herself to say it, either. “Don’t worry about it, Billy. It doesn’t matter.”
“You deserve better.”
“It’s not a real marriage. I don’t need a real ring,” Cherry said quietly so the minister wouldn’t overhear.
Billy let go of her chin. He opened his mouth as though to speak and closed it again. Finally he said, “I guess you’re right. This one will have to do. Shall we get this over with?”
They turned back to the minister, and he finished the ceremony. “You may kiss the bride,” the minister said at last.
It wasn’t a real wedding, so Cherry wasn’t expecting a real kiss. To her surprise, Billy put his hands on either side of her face and murmured, “The ring is phony, but at least this can be real.”
Cherry had done her share of kissing. Experimenting with sex was an age-old method of teenage rebellion. She thought she knew everything there was to know about kissing and sex. It was no big deal. Boys seemed to like it a lot, but she didn’t understand what all the fuss was about.
Something odd happened when Billy Stonecreek’s lips feathered across hers. An unexpected curl of desire flitted across her belly and shot up to her breasts. Her hands clutched fistfuls of his Western shirt as his mouth settled firmly over hers. His tongue traced the seam of her closed lips, causing them to tingle. She opened her mouth, and his tongue slipped inside for a quick taste of her.
She made a sound in her throat somewhere between confusion and protest.
His hand slid around to capture her nape and keep her from escaping.
Cherry wasn’t going anywhere. She was enthralled by what Billy was doing with his lips and teeth and tongue. She had never felt anything remotely like it. Before she was ready, the kiss ended.
She stared, bemused, into Billy’s hooded eyes. His lips were still damp from hers, and she didn’t resist the impulse to reach out and touch.
His hand clamped around her wrist like a vise as her fingertips caressed his lips. “Don’t.” His voice was harsh, and his lips pressed flat in irritation.
Cherry realized her reaction, her naive curiosity, must have embarrassed him. The kiss had merely been a token of thanks from Billy. He didn’t want anything from her in return.
She had told him she didn’t want to be touched until they knew each other better. But she had touched him. She had set the ground rules, and then she hadn’t followed them.
It wasn’t a real marriage. She had to remember that.
There were papers to sign and collect before they could leave. The minister was in a hurry, because two more couples had arrived and were awaiting their turns. Minutes after the ceremony ended, she and Billy were back in the rental car they had picked up at the airport.
Billy finally broke the uncomfortable silence that had fallen between them. “I don’t know about you, but I could use a few hours of sleep before we fly back. We have the time. Your parents won’t start missing you until noon.”
“I must admit I feel exhausted,” Cherry said. But she wasn’t sure whether it was fatigue or a delayed reaction to their strange wedding. She had never wanted to get married, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t fantasized about having a grand wedding. She had imagined wearing a white satin gown with a train twenty feet long, having at least three bridesmaids, and hearing the wedding processional played on an immense pipe organ. This ceremony had fallen far short of the fantasy.
“Regrets?” Billy asked.
Cherry stared at him, surprised at his intuitiveness. “Were my thoughts that transparent?”
“I can’t imagine any woman wanting to get married the way we did. But drastic situations sometimes require drastic solutions. In this case I believe the end—we’re now legally husband and wife—justifies the means.”
Cherry hoped Zach would see the logic in such an argument.
The hotel Billy chose was outlined in pink and white neon and advertised a honeymoon suite in the center of a pink neon heart. “At least we’re sure they’ve got a honeymoon suite here,” Billy said with a cheeky grin.
Cherry laughed breathlessly. “Why would we need a honeymoon suite?”
“It’s probably going to have a bigger bed than the other rooms,” Billy said. “It’ll be more comfortable for someone my size.”
“Oh,” Cherry said.
“That almost sounded like disappointment,” Billy said. “I agreed to wait until you’re ready to make it a real marriage. Are you telling me you’re ready?”
“No, Billy. I’m not.”
He didn’t say anything.
“Are you disappointed?” Cherry asked.
“I guess grooms have fantasies about their wedding nights the way brides have fantasies about their weddings,” Billy conceded with a grin. “Yeah. I suppose I am. But I’ll survive.”
Cherry wondered if Billy was remembering his first wedding night. She knew she looked nothing like Laura Trask. She wasn’t the least bit petite. Her hair wasn’t golden blond, and she didn’t move with stately grace. She had a million freckles that speckled her milk-white skin and frizzy hair that changed color depending on the way the sun struck it. She had a small bosom that had no freckles at all and absolutely no intention of letting the groom find that out for himself tonight. No, this was not a night for fulfilling fantasies.
She followed Billy inside the hotel with the overnight bag she had picked up at her friend’s house, so they weren’t entirely without luggage. She pressed the ring tight against her fourth finger with her thumb so it wouldn’t slip off. She stood at Billy’s shoulder while he registered and got a key card for the door.
They took the elevator to the top floor and found the honeymoon suite at the end of the hall. Billy used the key card to open the door.
Before she could say anything, Billy picked her up and carried her over the threshold. She was wearing the jeans and T-shirt she had put on to replace the torn chiffon dress and she could feel the heat of him everywhere his body touched hers.
Her arm automatically clutched at his shoulder to help him support her weight, but she realized when she felt the corded muscles there, that he didn’t need any help. He carried her over to the bed and let her drop.
She bounced a couple of times and came to rest. “Good grief,” she said, staring at the heart-shaped bed. “How do they expect two people to sleep on something shaped like this?”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “I don’t think they expect you to sleep, if you know what I mean.” He dropped onto the bed beside her and stretched out on his back with his hands behind his head on one of the pillows. “It’s nowhere near as big as it looked in neon, either.”
Cherry scooted as far from him as she could, but although there was plenty of room for two pillows at the top of the bed, the bottom narrowed so their feet ended up nearly touching.
Billy toed off one cowboy boot, then used his stockinged foot to shove off the other boot. He reached for the phone beside the bed. “I’ll ask for an eight o’clock wake-up call,” he said. “That’ll give us time to fly back before noon.”
Cherry was wearing tennis shoes, and she reached down and tugged them off with her hands and dropped them on the floor. She lay back on the pillow with her legs as far on her side of the bed as she could get them, which was a few bare inches from Billy’s feet.
Billy reached over and turned out the lamp beside the bed. It should have been dark in the room, but the neon lights outside bathed the room in a romantic pink glow.
“Do you want me to close the curtains?” Billy asked.
“It’s kind of pretty.”
Which might make a difference if they wanted to watch each other while they made love, Cherry thought, but wasn’t going to matter much when they closed their eyes to sleep. But she noticed Billy didn’t get up to close the curtains.
“Good night, Cherry,” Billy said, turning on his side away from her. “Thanks again.”
“Good night, Billy,” Cherry said, turning on her side away from him. “You’re welcome.”
She lay there in uncomfortable silence for perhaps five minutes before she whispered, “Are you asleep, Billy?”
Cherry felt the bed dip as he turned back toward her.
“I thought you were tired,” he said.
“I am. But I’m too excited to sleep. It’s not every day a girl gets married.”
She stiffened when she felt one of his hands touch her shoulder and slide down to the small of her back.
“Don’t get skittish on me, woman. I’m just going to rub your back a little to help you relax.”
His thumb hit her somewhere in the center of her back, and his hand wrapped around her side.
Cherry gave a luxuriant sigh as he massaged her tense muscles.
“Feel better?”
“Yes.” She was impressed again by his strength. And his gentleness. And wondered how his hand would feel caressing other places on her body.
Cherry sought a subject they could discuss that would get her mind off the direction it seemed to be headed. “Could you tell me a little bit about your daughters?”
“Raejean and Annie are just finishing the first grade. Their teacher has had a devil of a time telling them apart.”
“Do they look that much alike?” Cherry asked.
Billy chuckled. “Sometimes they try to fool me. But it isn’t hard to tell them apart once you get to know them. Raejean carries herself differently, more confidently. She looks at you more directly and talks back more often. Annie is kinder, sweeter, more thoughtful. She follows Raejean’s lead. When the two of them team up, they can be a handful.”
“Have you had a lot of trouble with them?”
His hand paused for a moment, then resumed its disturbing massage. “A little. Just lately. I think they’re missing Laura as much as I am.”
He rubbed a little harder, as though he had admitted something he wished he hadn’t.
“Were you expecting twins when they were born?”
Cherry felt his hand tighten uncomfortably on her flesh. She hissed in a breath, and his hand soothed the hurt.
“The twins were a complete surprise. They came early, and for a while it was touch and go whether Laura and the girls would all make it. They did, but there were complications. The doctor said Laura couldn’t have any more children.”
“You wanted more?”
“I didn’t care one way or the other. But Laura did.”
Abruptly his hand left her back, and he rolled away from her. “Go to sleep, Cherry.”
Apparently their conversation was over, leaving her with a great deal of food for thought.
The twins missed their mother. Like he did.
Cherry could do something to replace the loss in the twins’ lives. She could be a mother to Billy’s little girls. Of more concern was the temptation she felt to ease Billy’s sorrow. There were dangers in such an undertaking. She had to remember this was a temporary marriage. It was safer to let Billy cope with his loss on his own.
On the other hand, Cherry never had chosen the safe path. As she closed her eyes again, she saw the four of them smiling at one another…one happy family.
BILLY STARED AT THE neon outside the window, willing himself to sleep. But he couldn’t stop thinking about his new wife.
The wedding kiss had surprised him. In the fluorescent light of the wedding chapel, Cherry Whitelaw had looked like anything but a radiant bride. Her blue eyes had been wide with fright and her skin pale beneath a mass of orange freckles. He’d had significant second thoughts about the marriage. And third and fourth thoughts, as well. All his thoughts came back to the same thing. She needed his help. And he needed hers.
He had been proud of her for getting through that awful ceremony—including the last-minute search for a ring that would fit—with so much dignity. That was why he had offered her the kiss, not because he had been wondering what her lips would taste like. When she had reached out to him afterward, he had stopped her because that wasn’t part of their deal, not because he had been shocked at the way his body had gone rock-hard at her touch. Just thinking about it caused the same reaction all over again.
Billy swore.
“Billy? Is something wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong, Cherry. Go to sleep.”
He closed his eyes, determined to get some rest, but a picture of her breast half revealed by the torn chiffon bodice appeared behind his eyelids.
He opened his eyes and stared at the neon again. Who would have thought he would find a freckle-faced redhead so erotically exciting? Or that his new wife would be off-limits for heaven knew how long? Billy heaved a long-suffering sigh. It was going to be one hell of a marriage.
His eyes slid closed again as sleep claimed his exhausted body.
BILLY WAS HAVING a really spectacular dream. He had a handful of soft female breast, which just happened to belong to his new wife. Her eyes were closed in passion, and as he flicked his thumb across her nipple, he heard a moan that made his loins tighten. He lowered his head to take her nipple in his mouth. It was covered by a thin layer of cotton. He sucked on her through the damp cloth and felt her body arch toward him. Her hands threaded into his hair…and yanked on it—
Billy came awake with a jerk. “What the hell?”
Cherry was sitting bolt upright in bed with her hands crossed defensively under her breasts. A damp spot on her T-shirt revealed that he hadn’t been dreaming.
It shouldn’t have surprised him. His last thoughts before drifting to sleep had been about Cherry. No wonder his body had been drawn to hers during the night. He shoved a hand through hair that was standing on end and groaned. “God, Cherry, I’m sorry. I was dreaming.”
She eyed him suspiciously.
“I swear I didn’t know what I was doing.”
That made her look crestfallen.
“Not that it isn’t exactly what I’d like to be doing at this moment,” he said.
She gave a hitching breath that was almost a sob. “We agreed to wait.”
“Yeah, I know,” Billy said. “I don’t suppose you’ve changed your mind.”
She hesitated so long he thought maybe she had. Until she shook her head no.
Billy looked at the clock. It was only six. But he didn’t trust himself to lie back down beside her. “I can’t sleep anymore. How about if we head for the airport?”
“All right,” she said.
He started pulling on his boots and felt her hand on his shoulder. He froze.
She cleared her throat and said, “I liked what you were doing, Billy. It felt…good. I wanted you to know that. It’s just…”
He shoved his foot down into the boot and stood. He had to get away from her or he was going to turn around and lay her flat on the bed and do something he would be sorry for later. “I know,” he said. “We agreed to wait.”
She had a brave smile on her face. And looked every bit her youthful age.
What on earth had possessed him to marry her?
It was a silent flight from Las Vegas to the airport in Amarillo. And an even more silent truck ride to the Stonecreek Ranch. Billy pulled up to the back door of a large, two-story white clapboard house and killed the engine. The blue morning glories he had planted for Laura were soaking up the midday sun on a trellis along the eastern edge of the porch.
“We’re home,” Billy said. His throat tightened painfully. They were the same words he had spoken to Laura—how many years ago?—when they had moved into this house.
Suddenly he realized he couldn’t go back into Laura’s house right now with a new wife. It was still too full of Laura. He needed a little time to accept the fact that she really was gone forever.
“Look, why don’t you go inside and introduce yourself to Mrs. Motherwell, my housekeeper. I just realized I was supposed to pick up a load of feed in town this morning. I’ll be back in an hour or so.”
Cherry was staring at him as if he had grown a second head. “You want me to go in there without you?” she asked.
“Just tell Mrs. Motherwell you’ve come to replace her. I’ll explain everything to the kids when I get back.” When Cherry continued sitting there staring at him, he snapped, “Changed your mind already?”
His new wife looked sober and thoughtful. There were shadows of fatigue beneath her eyes. “No. I’m determined to see this through.” She gave him one last anxious look before she left the truck. “Don’t be gone long.”
“I won’t.”
Billy resisted the urge to gun the engine as he backed away from the house. Once he hit paved road he headed the truck toward town. He hadn’t gone two miles when he saw flashing red and blue lights behind him. He glanced down at the speedometer and swore. He swerved off the road and braked hard enough to raise a cloud of dust.
He was out of the truck and reaching for his wallet to get his driver’s license when he saw the highway patrolman had a gun in his hand that was pointed at him.
“Freeze, Stonecreek, or I’ll blow your head off.”
Billy froze. “What the hell’s the matter with you?”
“Put your hands up. You’re under arrest.”
“Arrest? For what?”
“Kidnapping.”
It took a full second for the charge to register. Kidnapping? Then he realized what must have happened and groaned. “Look, Officer, I can explain everything.”
“You have the right to remain silent,” the officer began.
Billy’s lips pressed flat. He had married Cherry Whitelaw in the hope of solving his problems. Instead he had jumped right out of the frying pan into the fire.
CHAPTER FOUR
CHERRY STARED at the back door of Billy’s house—now her home, too—trying to work up the courage to go inside, wondering, absurdly, if she should knock first.
She turned and stole a glance at Billy’s rugged profile as he drove away, pondering what it was about him she had found so beguiling. He had rescued her, listened to her troubles, and shared his in return. She had felt his desperation and responded to it. Now he was her husband. She twisted the cheap gold ring that confirmed it wasn’t all a dream, that she was, indeed, Mrs. Billy Stonecreek.
Good grief. What had she done?
Cherry had gone off half-cocked in the past, but the enormity of this escapade was finally sinking in. Surely it would have been better to face Zach and Rebecca and explain the truth of what had happened at the dance. How was she going to justify this latest lapse of common sense?
She felt a surge of anger at Billy for abandoning her at the door. It wouldn’t have taken long to introduce her to Mrs. Motherwell and explain the situation. So why hadn’t he done it?
Maybe because he’s having the same second thoughts as you are. Maybe in the cold light of day he’s thinking he made a bad bargain. Maybe he’s trying to figure out a way right now to get out of it.
If the back door hadn’t opened at that precise moment, Cherry would have turned and headed for Hawk’s Pride.
But it did. And Cherry found herself face-to-face with Penelope Trask.
“I saw you standing out here,” Mrs. Trask said. “Is there something I can do for you?”
“I, uh… Is Mrs. Motherwell here?”
“She packed her bags and left this morning.”
Cherry stood with her jaw agape, speechless for perhaps the first time in her life. Had Mrs. Trask already managed to gain legal custody of Billy’s children? Had their marriage been for naught? She wished Billy were here.
“Don’t I know you? Aren’t you one of those Whitelaw Bra—” Mrs. Trask cut herself off.
Cherry knew what she had been about to say. The eight adopted Whitelaw kids were known around this part of Texas as the Whitelaw Brats, just like Zach and his siblings before them, and Grandpa Garth and his siblings before that. Cherry had done her share to help earn the nickname. She was proud to be one of them.
She met the older woman’s disdainful look with defiance. “Yes, I’m a Whitelaw Brat. You have a problem with that?”
“None at all. But if you’re looking for your missing sister, she isn’t here. I have no idea what my no-account excuse for a son-in-law has done with her.” She started to close the door in Cherry’s face.
Cherry stuck her foot in the door. “Wait! What are you talking about?”
A flare of recognition lit Mrs. Trask’s eyes. “Oh, my God. You’re the girl, aren’t you? The one Billy kidnapped.” She stuck her head out the screen door and looked around. “Where is he? I have a few things to say to him.”
“Kidnapped?” Cherry gasped. “I wasn’t kidnapped!”
“Your parents reported you missing late last night.”
“Why would they think I was with Billy?”
“Your date wrapped his car around a telephone pole, and when he kept mumbling your name the police called your parents, thinking maybe you’d been thrown from the car. At the hospital, the boy told your father that he’d left you at the stock pond with Billy, after my son-in-law ran him off with his fists.
“Your father couldn’t find you at the stock pond, and when he came looking for you here in a rage, Mrs. Motherwell called me. Your father seemed bent on strangling someone before the night was out.”
Probably me, Cherry thought morosely.
“Of course I came right over,” Mrs. Trask said. “All I could tell your father was that I wouldn’t put it past my reckless son-in-law to kidnap an innocent young woman.”
“Mrs. Trask, I wasn’t kidnapped.”
“I suggest you go home and tell that to your father. He told the police Billy must have kidnapped you, because you’d never go off on your own like that.” Mrs. Trask smirked. “Of course, that was before he found out you’d been expelled from school earlier in the evening.”
Cherry groaned.
“You’re in an awful lot of trouble, young lady. Where have you been? And where’s Billy?”
Cherry put a hand to her throbbing temple. Zach and Rebecca must be frantic with worry. And disappointed beyond belief. She didn’t want to think about how angry they were going to be when they heard what she had done.
“May I please use your phone?” It was her phone now, so she shouldn’t have to ask. Except, this didn’t seem the right moment to announce that she and Billy had run off to Las Vegas to get married.
Mrs. Trask hesitated, then pushed the screen door open wide. “Come on in, if you must.”
As soon as Cherry’s eyes adjusted to the dim light in the kitchen, she saw Raejean and Annie standing together near the table.