Denim and Lace (23 page)

* * *

R
YKER
STUCK
HIS
hands deep inside his pockets, and his dark eyes settled firmly on Nell. “Well, I'll be damned,” he said absently. “And here I thought...all this time.”

“She has a picture of you in her desk,” Bess said, shocking him into staring at her. “And the first thing she did when I walked into the office was tell me you were definitely off-limits, because someday she was going to get you if it killed her.”

He smiled. He chuckled. He burst out laughing. “God, men are blind,” he said under his breath. “Bess, you can have anything you want short of the agency for a wedding present. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I hear my name being cursed silently.”

He strode off toward Nell, while Bess clung to Cade's hand and grinned with pure delight.

Nell looked up, and even at a distance Bess could see her face coloring. Ryker sat down slowly beside her, obviously having a hard time trying to make conversation. Nell looked equally flustered. But somehow Bess knew that it was going to work out.

“Cupid Samson,” Cade whispered in her ear. “Nice going.”

“I had no idea he was dying for the love of Nell,” she whispered back. “Isn't it romantic?!”

He pulled her close and searched her eyes. “I know something more romantic. Being married to you on Thursday.”

She sighed and nuzzled against him. He bent his head over hers and sighed. How amazing, she thought. For years he'd pushed her away at every opportunity, and now he couldn't seem to stay close enough. He was always holding her hand or keeping his arm around her, holding her as if he couldn't bear to lose contact. She felt that way, too, but it was new to find Cade staring at her with his desire plain in his eyes. He'd given her the impression that he hadn't liked her for years. But it was understandable, since she understood now how desperately he had wanted her. That pretended dislike had been his only defense. But he didn't need it anymore, and the sudden transition from enemy to lover sometimes made Bess's mind whirl. The closeness they were sharing was like nothing she'd dreamed of. Being away from Cade even overnight was excruciating now. She was counting the hours until they could be together all the time.

If only it would last, she thought as they moved to the long banquet table to fill their plates. It had to last!

Cade was hoping the same thing. At least now maybe he could stop worrying about Ryker. Nice to know that the other man was carrying a torch for someone besides Bess. He'd worried, because Ryker was successful and rich, and Gussie had built the man into a real threat. Sometimes he still felt keenly the differences between his way of life and Bess's, and in the back of his mind it bothered him that he might not be able to give her everything she wanted.

A tug on his jeans drew his attention, and looking down he came eye to eye with a small, dark, laughing boy holding out a cookie.

“For me?” Cade asked, smiling. He knelt by the child, his eyes warm and soft. He was always that way with children, Bess recalled, watching him with a kind of pain that ate at her. He had an instant rapport with the child, who put his arms around Cade's neck and allowed himself to be carried back to his searching parents without a hint of reluctance. Children gravitated toward Cade wherever he went. It used to fascinate Bess that even when he was his taciturn self, the children of his ranch workers hung around near him. They seemed to know that underneath that facade was a sensitive, loving man. Bess was only now finding out what kind of warmth his mask hid. But it hurt her terribly to see how much he loved children. She turned away and went back to the table to get some more food, which she didn't even taste, just to put the situation to the back of her mind.

She didn't see Nell and Mr. Ryker when she and Cade left to go back to the apartment. She hoped things would go as well for them as they had for Cade and herself.

“Tomorrow morning we get the ball rolling,” he mused as they were watching television after supper. “Three more days, and you're mine forever.”

“I'm yours forever right now, Mr. Hollister,” she said, lifting her soft lips to his.

“Come here.” He pulled her across his lap and held her, kissing her lightly from time to time, but nothing more intimate.

“He was cute, wasn't he? That little boy,” he sighed. His fingers touched her breasts lightly over the fabric, and his eyes narrowed. “Are you going to nurse our children?” he asked suddenly.

She felt sick. “If we have children,” she agreed.

He frowned. “I thought you weren't sure, about being pregnant.”

She swallowed and prayed silently for forgiveness. “I'm not,” she said, burying her face in his warm throat. “Not sure, I mean.”

“Well, there's plenty of time,” he murmured. But he didn't mean it. He wanted a child with Bess. Now was the time, while they were both young enough to cope. Too, a child would cement their relationship, a child born of her love for him and his deep, hungry affection for her. It might make all the difference. His arm contracted. “Plenty of time,” he repeated.

But was there? Bess wondered miserably. She felt his lips on her forehead, but he didn't try to kiss her deeply again. He left early that night to go back to his hotel room, and he seemed preoccupied. Bess hoped that he hadn't intuitively picked up anything from her. She knew she'd frozen when he mentioned the little boy, and he seemed vaguely disturbed by her attitude. She did want children so badly, but how could she tell him the truth without losing him? It was selfish, she told herself, horribly selfish to put her happiness before his. But she was so much in love that she couldn't force herself to say a word.

Love had a lot to answer for in her life, she thought miserably. She'd given in to Cade once before they were married, something she'd sworn to herself that she could never do. She hadn't counted on how heady it was to indulge in all those fantasies she'd had about him. She hadn't been able to draw back any more than he had. Well, at least he hadn't been stringing her along just to get her into bed, she thought ruefully. He was an honorable man, and she knew instinctively that he'd never have let it go so far if he hadn't meant to marry her. She frowned, wondering at his continued persistence about children. Had he seduced her with the idea of getting her pregnant, to coax her into marriage? Or was it just his usual hunger for a child that he felt safe to indulge now? She remembered the way he'd been with that little boy and she felt uneasy. She was going to be cheating him when they married.

She only prayed that her love for him would be enough to make their marriage work.

They hadn't called Lariat to tell Elise and the boys about their wedding plans, and Bess hadn't called Gussie. They were going to wait until they got the license and phone everyone Tuesday night.

Bess did have regrets about not having a conventional wedding night, but Cade had suffered three years of abstinence and she couldn't blame him for wanting to go ahead and get married now. She felt the same way herself. The excitement kept her going as she tried to imagine what it was going to be like as Cade's wife.

* * *

M
ONDAY
MORNING
N
ELL
was quiet and introspective, hardly communicative. Julie and Bess couldn't worm a word out of her about what had happened at the company picnic. She flushed and found excuses to go to other parts of the building every time it was mentioned.

Bess finally hemmed her up just before lunch, locking the door to her own office and staring the older woman down.

“I can't stand it anymore. I have got to know what happened!” Bess exclaimed.

Nell blushed to the roots of her hair. “Nothing,” she muttered, her lower lip trembling and tears in her huge blue eyes. “He asked me how I was, then he mentioned that the weather sure looked fine. He looked at a bird, he lit a cigar and put it out and then he invited me to go for a walk with him.”

Bess was all eyes. “And...?”

Nell rested her chin in her hands on the desk, looking bewildered and unsettled. “He...sort of kissed me.”

“Sort of?”

Nell lifted her head. “Well, it was hard to tell,” she muttered. “He aimed and missed and then I tripped over his feet and...” She covered her face with her hands.

“And...?”

“Knocked him into the river,” she groaned. “I was too ashamed to stay and face the music. He climbed out all dripping, and I just panicked and ran. I know he'll never speak to me again. I was so embarrassed! All those years of hoping he'd say something to me, and he finally does and I try to drown him!”

Bess got up and hugged her. “Hasn't it occurred to you that he doesn't know much about women?” she asked gently. “That he's awkward and maybe a little ungraceful because he's feeling this way? He told me the night Mother and I had dinner with the Rykers that he's not much of a ladies' man.”

“And I knocked
him
into the river!” Nell was shaking. “Oh, what will I do?” She sat down heavily, her face in her hands. “I never dreamed...!”

“So I see. May I make a suggestion? Stop worrying and let things take care of themselves. Believe me—” she grinned “—if Mr. Ryker feels the way you do, a little thing like near-drowning isn't even going to slow him down. Just take into consideration that he's as backward as you are with the opposite sex and don't expect a playboy.”

“What a morning,” Nell whispered huskily. “I hope I last through the afternoon.”

“Me, too. Cade is out getting a marriage license.” She grinned. “I can hardly wait until Thursday. You and Julie have to come.” She pursed her lips. “And Mr. Ryker. I can't not invite him.”

Nell colored prettily. “That would be...nice.”

“Just what I thought. Please, for heaven's sake, don't get him between you and the water this time,” she pleaded.

Nell's face burned bright, but she laughed. “If I get another chance, you'd better believe I won't mess it up. He liked me.” She went out, shaking her head. “He really liked me. He thought I was engag—oof!”

She walked right into Cade, who caught her before she fell.

“Thank God there aren't any bodies of water in here,” she said absently, giving him a pleasantly blank look as she went out.

Cade opened his mouth to question Bess, but she just shook her head. “Never mind,” she told him. “It's better not to ask. Did you apply for the license?”

“I did,” he murmured smugly. “Now we get blood tests. I've found a place that can do them in twenty-four hours. Let's go.”

“All right!” She grabbed her purse and his hand and followed him out. Everything, she thought, was falling into place gloriously!

They were married Thursday afternoon on the Paseo del Rio, on a boat, with a minister officiating and all the members of their respective families and friends gathered on the riverbank, along with some photographers and local reporters from the print and broadcast media. It was something of an event even for festive San Antonio, and Cade's recent wins at the rodeo made him more newsworthy than ever.

Bess hadn't considered that anyone might connect her with her father. But just as the ceremony began, one of the reporters barged through the crowd and asked her how it felt to be marrying the man her father had almost ruined financially with that crooked investment scheme.

Bess never got a chance to answer. While she stood there trembling in Señora Lopez's beautiful white wedding gown, Cade's big fist shot out, and the reporter went into the river.

Jordan Ryker caught Nell's little hand in his and pulled her back protectively, smiling down at her. “At least it wasn't me this time,” he murmured wryly, and looked delighted when she flushed and turned her face against his jacket.

“You snake in the grass.” Gussie came out of the crowd like a gray-suited avenging angel. The reporter tried to climb back out of the river, and she helped him right back in, to the amusement of the crowd. “This is a wedding, not a news event. You stay there until it's over!”

The other reporters only grinned as the minister performed the ceremony. Cade slid the small white-gold band onto Bess's third finger, next to the small silver engagement ring. His dark eyes met hers as the minister had them recite the rest of the wedding service, and then he bent to lift her mantilla and kiss her for the first time as her husband.

Tears rolled down Bess's flushed cheeks. She looked up at him with her whole heart in her face.

“I love you,” she whispered so that only he could hear.

He didn't return the words, but his eyes were very soft. He smiled at her, but before he could speak, even if he'd meant to, they were suddenly surrounded by well-wishers.

Bess had hoped that he might give the words back, if only for the sake of her pride. She didn't know how Cade really felt about her. She knew that he wanted her and that he liked her. He'd said often enough in the past that
love
wasn't a word he knew. But Bess was going to teach it to him, somehow.

Cade looked down at her with a new kind of possessiveness. His wife, he thought proudly. She looked happy, but the reporter had managed to put a blight on the ceremony. He wished he'd hit the man harder. It only emphasized the life she'd led before and what she was going to have to endure as his wife. He hoped that she could cope with the lack of luxuries at Lariat and get used to having his family around all the time. Now that they'd made it all legal, there were a lot of problems cropping up that he hadn't foreseen. Now that he had her, he was wondering if her love was going to be strong enough to endure the hardships of his lifestyle. She couldn't know that it had been a terrible strain on Lariat's budget to have even this small wedding. The minister, the mariachis and the owner of the boat had to be paid. There had been the ring and the license—things she would have taken for granted. But Cade had lost plenty of money through that investment disaster. The rodeo money he'd won was a help, but it didn't get them far out of debt. He sighed. Bess could never be told just how badly off they were. She'd offer those damned pearls again, and he couldn't take them from her. He'd told her they should go to their children, and he meant it. He'd support her properly, somehow.