A Thrill to Remember (18 page)

Forever.

MEGGIE AND CALEB WERE married exactly one year to the day after the masked costume ball where suave Don Juan first clamped eyes on his mysterious Klondike Kate. The ceremony took place in the Tongass National Forest on the front porch of the skaters’ cabin. The guest list included the entire town of Bear Creek, Meggie’s friends from Seattle and the Metropolitan editorial staff, who’d insisted on paying for their reception as the last bachelor joined his buddies in wedded bliss.

From where she sat in the audience, Kay shifted baby Ella on her lap, leaned against Quinn’s big, comforting chest and whispered, “I told you they were meant for each other.”

He laughed softly. “Who am I to argue with an intuitive woman? You convinced me that I was perfect for you and you were right on the money.”

“And don’t you ever forget it.” Kay regarded him with loving eyes.

“As if I ever could.” He draped his arm across his wife’s shoulder and pulled her and the baby closer to him.

Quinn gazed over the crowd and met the eyes of his buddy Mack, who was one of Caleb’s groomsmen. Mack grinned and mouthed, “Look what you started with that advertisement” and nodded at his wife, Cammie Jo, who was positioned at the makeshift alter. Cammie Jo wore a chic maternity bridesmaid’s dress and an expression of pure joy.

Sadie, Meggie’s matron of honor, stood beside Cammie Jo. Sadie studied the blushing bride with a hitch of happiness in her throat. Meggie looked completely adorable in her white wedding gown and that red-feathered mask substituting for a veil. And Caleb was pretty darned handsome in his Don Juan outfit. Although, in Sadie’s estimation, no one was as handsome as her husband, Jake.

Sadie snagged Jake’s gaze. As Caleb’s best man, he was positioned across from her. Sadie tipped the corners of her mouth up in a Mona Lisa smile. Jake winked. Just wait until she told him about the outcome of her recent doctor’s visit. It looked as if Bear Creek was in for a real population boom, courtesy of those lusty ex-bachelors.

Sadie’s attention was drawn back to the ceremony when Caleb started reciting in a deep, poetic voice the wedding vows he’d written himself.

“Darling, you are my sun, my moon, my stars, my everything. My heart lights up when you walk into a room. You’ve helped me to change, to grow, to become a better man. I promise to spend the rest of my life showing you exactly how much I love you.” With shaky fingers Caleb took off Meggie’s red-feathered mask and gazed into the sweet face he knew as intimately as his own. “The removal of our masks symbolizes that we lay bare our souls to each other and place our faith in the greatest power of all—real and unconditional love.”

The audience sighed in unison.

Tears rolled down Meggie’s cheek as she gazed deeply into his eyes. Caleb’s heart thumped with emotion. To think this wondrous day had come at last.

Sadie handed Meggie a handkerchief and she dabbed the tears away before raising her hand to remove his mask.

“I lay bare my soul to you, Caleb Joshua Greenleaf. From this day forward we are one. I, Megan Marie Scofield, take the…”

As she continued, Caleb was aware of nothing except his beloved bride and their bright future together. Not the crowd, nor the minister, not the majestic mountains surrounding them. He was the luckiest man on earth to have captured the heart of the woman he’d loved for half his life, and he knew it.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the minister announced.

Caleb’s lips took possession of Meggie’s in a kiss so powerful her body hummed with its impact. The crowd cheered when he deepened the kiss.

After a long, rapturous minute, he dragged his mouth from hers, pressed his lips to her ear and whispered, “You know we have an hour before the reception starts, Mrs. Greenleaf.”

“What are you suggesting, Mr. Greenleaf?” she whispered back, tantalized by his bold innuendo right here in front of everyone.

When she had set her course for adventure that fateful night she’d followed Don Juan into the woods, she had never guessed she would get everything she’d bargained for and then some. Her body tingled with anticipation for what lay ahead.

Caleb took her hand and led her down the path strewn with rose petals. A saddled horse awaited as their getaway ride. The guests got to their feet and blew bubbles as they walked past.

“A game?” he whispered.

“What kind of game?” she murmured, all the while smiling at the crowd. “Master and slave? Doctor and nurse? The Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood?”

“You know my favorite.”

“Mountain man and city girl?”

“You got it,” he growled.

“In the park ranger’s cabin?”

“I was thinking on horseback.” He stopped beside the waiting steed.

“Caleb!” She spoke too loudly, then glanced over her shoulder to find that everyone was still watching. She ducked her head and lowered her voice. “Is that even possible?”

“Never know until you try.”

His strong hands spanned her waist and he lifted her onto the saddle. The crowd cheered and applauded. Caleb climbed up behind her. He gathered the reins and urged the horse into a trot.

They quickly disappeared into the forest. His back was flush against hers, and even through the lacy material of her wedding dress, she could feel the evidence of his desire pressing hard against her fanny.

He slowed the horse to a walk and wrapped his arms around her. Meggie leaned her head into the curve of his neck and sighed deeply. Her mind expanded with the erotic logistics of making love in the saddle.

Caleb growled low in his throat. “You are the sexiest woman in the world. Do you have any idea what you do to me?”

“Mmm.” She turned her head and flicked out her tongue, licking a hot, wet trail along his jaw as she slipped her hands behind her back and undid the string ties on his leather pants.

“What…what are you doing?” he asked in a gravelly voice.

“Following up on your fantasy. If we’re clever we might not even have to take our clothes off. Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention I’m not wearing any underwear.”

His chuckle was low and seductive. “Neither am I, babe. Neither am I.”

“I love playing games with you.”

“There’s no one else on the face of the earth I want to play games with.”

Her nimble fingers separated the leather material at his fly, and Caleb’s now-exposed rock-hard shaft burgeoned in her hand, letting her know just how much he wanted her.

“Ah, woman, see what your naughty games do to me?”

Meggie trembled with excitement as the man she loved slid his hands beneath her dress, cupped her bare bottom in his palms and lifted her off the saddle.

As he eased her down over his erection, Meggie hissed in her breath and whispered, “Let the games begin.”