“Please, give me my key. I’ll see you tomorrow morning when you pick me up to go to Pigeon Forge,” she responded, holding out her hand.
To her surprise, he shook his head and wrapped his arms around her waist to draw her to him. “I can’t let you think that I was ignoring you.” He smiled as he ran his index finger over the scooped neckline of her dress. “Or that I didn’t notice how sexy you look in this little black number.”
Haley felt as if her heart bounced down to the pit of her stomach, then rebounded to lodge in her throat. His strong arms holding her securely to his tall, solid frame and the intention in his dark blue gaze sent a shiver of sheer delight through her. How many times in the past several years had she imagined him looking at her that way? Or what it would feel like to be in his arms and have him kiss her?
But when he lowered his head to cover her mouth with his, reality far exceeded any of her fantasies. Light and tender, his firm lips moved over hers with such care it robbed her of breath and sent a delicious warmth flowing in her body.
Tingles of excitement rushed through her when he used his tongue to coax her mouth to open for him. Haley couldn’t have denied him access to her inner recesses if her life depended on it. She wanted to experience every nuance of Luke’s kiss, wanted to taste him and have him taste her in return.
As his tongue mated with hers, her knees gave way and she raised her arms to his shoulders to keep from falling. Never had a kiss left her feeling as if every bone in her body had been turned to soft, malleable putty.
But all too soon Luke eased the pressure of his mouth on hers and nibbled tiny kisses from her lips to her ear, then down to the hollow below. “I’ll be by around seven in the morning to get you,” he whispered, sending a wave of heat coursing through her.
“Th-that’s awfully early,” she noted, distracted by his warm breath feathering over her suddenly sensitive skin.
“I want to get the wedding out of the way before I meet with the Laurel employees,” he stated, releasing her to step back.
Being doused with a bucket of ice water couldn’t have been more effective in ending the sensual feelings he’d created within her. Of course he’d think of their wedding as an inconvenience to be dispensed with as quickly as possible in order to get back to business as usual.
“Don’t bother,” she said, plucking her key from his fingers. “I’ll meet you at the airfield.”
Walking into her apartment and closing the door before he could argue the point further, Haley barely suppressed the urge to scream. She hadn’t expected him to feel the same about their wedding as she did. After all, she might love him, but he barely knew she existed beyond the office. Yet, it certainly would have been nice for him to view the ceremony as more than just fulfilling one of the details of their agreement.
She shook her head as she entered her bedroom to change into her nightgown. Her father’s housekeeper used to warn her to be careful what she wished for because she just might get it.
Haley had never understood what the woman meant more than she did at that very moment. Tomorrow she would have everything she’d wished for. She would become Luke Garnier’s wife—albeit temporarily—and quite possibly within the next year, the mother of his child.
So why wasn’t she happier about it? And why did she feel like she was embarking on a journey that could very well end up destroying her?
The following morning, barely an hour after they were picked up by a limousine at the Knoxville airport, Haley walked down the aisle of a little log wedding chapel in Pigeon Forge toward Luke and the rotund minister waiting to unite them in holy matrimony. Dressed in a black pin-striped suit, pearl gray shirt and burgundy tie, Luke looked as handsome and confident as she had ever remembered seeing him. And within a few short minutes, they would be husband and wife.
Unbelievable.
After all these years, the man of her dreams had finally seen her as more than his glorified secretary. The only problem was, when he finally did take a second glance in her direction, all he’d been able to see was a fertile egg and an incubator.
When she reached the end of the aisle and stopped beside Luke, the grandfatherly minister smiled. “Please turn to face one another and join hands.”
Haley was sure she stopped breathing when Luke captured her hands in his and smiled down at her. His encouraging expression and the feel of his solid palms against hers sent tingles rippling up her spine and reminded her that later on that evening, she’d feel those same strong hands elsewhere on her body, exploring, caressing, teasing.
“Are you ready to put the final touch on this deal?” he asked, completely unaware of the direction her thoughts had taken her.
“I…um, suppose I am,” she murmured, not at all surprised that he refused to acknowledge their marriage as anything more than one of his business agreements.
“Good. The meeting with the Laurel people is due to start in…” he glanced at his watch “…a little less than forty-five minutes.”
“Of course.” She glared at him and before she could stop herself, added, “I couldn’t possibly expect you to keep them waiting for something as trivial as your own wedding.”
Frowning, Luke looked at her like she’d sprouted another head. “You knew that I’d scheduled the meeting for today.”
Didn’t he realize that no matter the reason for a marriage, a woman’s wedding day was special to her? That having the groom rush off to a business meeting immediately following the ceremony wasn’t exactly the stuff a woman’s dreams were made of?
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, resigned that he would never understand.
His smile faded and clearing his throat, the minister interrupted their verbal sparring to ask “Are y’all real sure you folks want to go through with this wedding?”
“Yes,” Luke declared, his tone leaving no doubt he meant it.
When the man turned his attention her way, she glanced up at Luke. Even though she was keenly disappointed over his insensitivity, the time for backing out of this fiasco had come and gone. She’d given her word and that was something she tried never to go back on. Besides, she wanted a baby—his baby—more than she’d ever wanted anything and she wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity for the child she wanted to be that of the man of her dreams.
“Yes, I want to marry him,” she admitted, surprised by the surety in her own voice.
“All right, I guess if you’re both agreeable, we’ll get started then,” the minister indicated, sounding more than a little doubtful as he opened his book of wedding vows. “We are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in the bonds of—”
Staring at Luke, she heard very little of the blessedly brief ceremony and was surprised when the minister asked, “Do you have a wedding ring for your bride, son?”
Luke frowned. “No.”
“It’s really not that important anyway,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t reflect her disillusionment.
She didn’t know if Luke had forgotten about a ring for her or if he purposely hadn’t bought one. But either way, it was one more detail about her wedding day that she’d just as soon forget.
The man raised one bushy gray eyebrow, then shaking his head turned to the groom. “Luke, do you take Haley to be your lawful wedded wife, to have and to hold, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”
There wasn’t even the slightest hesitation in his