More of Me (11 page)

Not the most romantic way to end a proposal.

When he did finally pull back, he wiped away that lone tear and sat back in his seat. “I hate that it took me so long to give this to you,” he said, motioning toward the ring. “I wanted to be back here days ago. I'm sorry I didn't do something more romantic or take you out someplace. It's just that…I knew from the first moment I saw you again that I wanted you back in my life forever. And once you said you loved me too, I was anxious to start working on our own forever.”

“Mmm…” she purred, alternating between looking at the man she loved and the sparkling diamond on her finger. “I like the sound of that.”

“How is it going to be planning your own wedding?” he teased. “I'm sure you have a lot of great ideas.”

Casey reached over and grabbed a strawberry and seemed to contemplate his words. “Actually,” she said with a smile, “I was thinking Vegas.”

“What? You mean like a Vegas theme?”

She shook her head. “No, I'm talking let's get on a plane and fly to Vegas and get married in a little chapel and book the gaudiest penthouse suite and have our honeymoon there.”

The look on Ryder's face was priceless. “Case, you can't be serious. Weddings are your business. I thought for sure that you'd want something big and beautiful like you did for Mac and Gina.”

Sighing, she leaned back further in her chair. “Too much work, and besides, we don't have that kind of time.”

Now his expression was one of pure confusion. “Time? Why don't we have time? I figured we'd do something here on the beach, and my schedule is extremely flexible. Don't you have any weeks free? Are you booked up this far in advance?”

She giggled and reached for another succulent strawberry, covered it with cream, and held it up for Ryder to taste. He moved her hand away and she rolled her eyes. “I have plenty of weekends free, and though our calendar is looking very promising for the upcoming year, that's not what I'm talking about.”

“I'm at a loss here; you're going to have to spell it out for me because I don't understand why you would seriously opt for a cheesy Vegas wedding with an Elvis impersonator rather than something more elegant like what you create for a living.”

“I never said Elvis impersonator.”

Now he rolled his eyes. “It's kind of implied, Casey. So come on. What gives?”

With a huff, she sat up straight in her chair and put the strawberry down and took both of Ryder's hands in hers while staring him in the eyes. “We don't have a lot of time because I have no intention of wearing a maternity wedding gown. I'd like to have wedding pictures while I'm still rocking a slim figure, if it's all right with you.”

“Maternity gown…slim…wait. What?” He stood up so fast that his chair fell backward. “Are you telling me that you're…that we're…”

“Having a baby?” she finished for him. Ryder nodded mutely, his eyes wide and a little dazed. “Yes, that is exactly what I'm telling you.”

* * *

There were dozens of reactions Casey had prepared herself for. As Ryder righted his chair and walked into the house, she realized that this reaction wasn't one of them. Standing, she followed him into the house and found him in the bedroom packing a suitcase. Suddenly her dinner began to rise in her throat at the same rate panic was rising within her. Was he leaving her? Was it all too much? Had he not been serious about wanting to spend forever with her?

“Ryder?” she asked, her voice laced with uncertainty. “What are you doing?”

He stopped suddenly, seemingly shocked that Casey was in the room with him. “We're going to Vegas. Now.” Then he was back in action as he whipped out one drawer after another and tossed piles of clothes into the large open case on the bed. He only stopped when he heard Casey's hysterical laughter. “What? What's so funny?”

“You!” she said before doubling over with more laughter.

“Why? You said you wanted to get married in Vegas, so we're getting married in Vegas.”

“I didn't mean tonight, Ryder!” she cried, straightening herself up and walking over to sit on the bed beside the suitcase. “I love that you are ready to jump on a plane at a moment's notice, but don't you think we should talk about this?”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Ryder took a deep breath and then focused on Casey. “What is there to talk about? We're having a baby; we need to get married. Now.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” she said, holding out a hand to stop him. “We don't
need
to get married. I thought we already
wanted
to get married.”

Ryder sat down beside her and stared at her in wonder. “We're really having a baby?”

“Honestly and truly,” she said, unable to suppress a grin at his awed tone.

“Why didn't you tell me sooner?”

“You were supposed to be home days ago. I had it all planned out that I was going to make you a romantic dinner and tell you. But you got delayed and then you showed up here tonight and stole my thunder.”

He leaned in and rested his forehead against hers. “Forgive me?”

“Absolutely,” she sighed and kissed him gently on the lips. “I love you, Ryder.”

“I love you too, Case. I can't believe this is all happening.”

“My head is spinning a little,” she admitted and then regretted her words when Ryder jumped to his feet.

“Are you okay? Do I need to call a doctor? I can't believe I almost gave you wine with dinner!” He began pacing the bedroom in search of some unknown object.

“Ryder, I'm fine. I just meant that my head is spinning because everything is happening so fast.”

“Oh,” he said, relief washing over him. “Okay.” Sitting back down beside her on the bed, he reached out tentatively and placed his large hand over her flat belly. “I still can't believe it.”

“Me either.”

“So what do you want to do now?”

Casey rested her hand over his. “Right now, I want you to put all of these clothes back in their drawers and I want to crawl into bed with you. I did not enjoy sleeping alone all the time you were away.”

He chuckled, then put the clothes away and placed the suitcase back in the closet. Casey stripped down to her panties and was reaching for a nightie when he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He placed a gentle kiss on her neck.

“And after that?”

Turning her head, Casey looked at Ryder with confusion. “After what?”

“After we crawl into bed, then what?”

She gave him a sexy smile and said, “I think I'd like a little more of what we started earlier.”

“Such a dirty mind,” he said and playfully swatted her bottom. “What about Vegas?”

“Seriously, Ryder,” she said with a huff as she stepped out of his arms. “Do we have to decide this right now?”

“The idea of a long engagement was not appealing to me at all, if you want to know the truth. It doesn't have to be Vegas; we can go anywhere you want and we can be married by next weekend. I don't want to wait to make you my wife, Casey.”

She wanted to be annoyed because he was rushing her, but at the same time, she loved him too much. “How about this? It's Sunday night. You just got home from California. We can call our families tomorrow and tell them we're getting married and make arrangements for them to meet us in Vegas on Friday. What do you say?”

“I say that you are the perfect woman for me, and I am thankful every day that you came back into my life.”

She smiled serenely at him. “Thanks for jogging over that morning.”

“Thanks for not throwing something heavy at me.”

She giggled and took Ryder by the hand and led him over to their bed. “Thank you for coming back for me.”

Ryder kissed her then and with that, there were no more words, only sighs and caresses. As he lowered Casey to the bed, he said one final prayer of thanks for all he had been blessed with.

Order Samantha Chase's fourth book
in the Montgomery Brothers series

Return to You

On sale March 2015

Read on for a peek at an all-new Montgomery Brothers romance from Samantha Chase

There's nothing like a good challenge to put a little pep in your step and to get the heart pumping. In the last several years, William Montgomery had put a lot of pep in his step, and his heart had never felt better. Who knew matchmaking could be so rewarding? Getting his three sons married to their perfect matches had certainly been a challenge, but it was nothing compared to the one before him right now.

“Are we sure about this?” he asked cautiously as he scanned the file he held in his hands. William absolutely adored his role as the family matchmaker, but this particular situation was a little more sensitive. One look at his nephew, and he saw that it wasn't being taken lightly on his end either.

Ryder Montgomery nodded. “Believe me, it wasn't easy to get even that much information out of him. Luckily, James gets chatty after a couple shots of tequila.”

William chuckled and flipped through more pages. “It seems to me like you're onto something here, but I want to be sure before we move forward. Have you talked to any of your other siblings? Anyone willing to give us a hand with this?”

“Actually, there's someone here I think can help.” Ryder stood and walked to his uncle's office door and opened it. “Her name came up in the conversation at the wedding, and it didn't take much to track her down.” He motioned to someone in the reception area and then stepped aside. “Uncle William, this is Jen Lawson.”

William stood and welcomed their visitor with a smile. “Thank you for being willing to meet with us. Please, have a seat.”

“I have to admit that I feel a little overwhelmed by all of this,” Jen said as she sat down. “When your nephew contacted me, I thought he was crazy.”

Another small chuckle escaped before William could help it. He looked over at Ryder and smiled. “Well, we Montgomerys tend to be a little unorthodox at times.” His expression turned serious as he leaned forward on his desk. “My family means the world to me. In a million years, I never would have imagined Ryder coming to me with such a request. As of late, most of my nieces and nephews seem to run in the opposite direction when they see me coming. I'm sure he's mentioned my recent hobby…”

“You mean the whole matchmaking thing?” she said with a saucy grin.

William looked at the woman and smiled broadly before turning to his nephew. “I like her,” he said. “I think she's going to be an asset to this whole thing.”

“What exactly are you planning?” she asked.

“It's been a little over ten years,” William began, “and this conversation Ryder had at my son Mac's wedding was the first time James even mentioned what happened back then. He's distanced himself from his family and is leading a very solitary life. I can't bear to see it, and I think it's gone on long enough.”

Ryder pulled up a chair and finally sat back down. “He's my brother, but to be honest, I had no idea exactly what had happened. We were close growing up, but once we hit our teens…well, things changed. Back then, he was rebellious. He and my dad fought all the time and were always at each other's throats. Then he finally left and went to live with some distant relatives of my mother's. I'm ashamed to admit this, but I was too self-absorbed to pay much attention to what was going on. Apparently my parents had some kind of inkling of what had happened at the time, but they kept his secret for him. None of us had a clue.”

Jen looked between the two of them and leaned back in her seat. “I still can't believe that James is from such an affluent family.” She shook her head in disbelief. “I mean, back then, when we all knew him, he was working as a landscaper, had no car, and seemed to be dirt poor. I think that speaks highly of his character—especially knowing what I know now—but why would someone purposely make their life more difficult when they didn't have to?”

“I think he found having the Montgomery name to be more of a burden than a blessing,” Ryder said. “It's opened a lot of doors for us, but my brother wanted to get by on his own merits and not because of his name. On top of that, my father was grooming all of us for corporate careers. That was never James's style. I think he felt that he had to take drastic measures to be who he wanted to be.”

“That's one of the drawbacks of being from a big family,” William said with a sigh. “There's a lot of pressure on the Montgomery men to continue the family traditions in the business. James wanted to make his own way. As long as he lived at home, that wasn't possible. My brother Robert was not pleased that James moved so far away—in spite of their differences. Unfortunately, he had no choice but to let him make his own mistakes.”

“I still can't believe all he went through,” Ryder said. “I don't know if there was anything I could've done at the time, but I hate the thought of him going through it all alone.”

“It was worse to be there living it with them, with Selena and James,” she said sadly. “I never felt so helpless in my life.”

All three grew silent for a long moment before William straightened in his chair. “And that's why we're doing what we're doing. Enough time has passed. This situation should never have gotten to this point, and I think between the three of us, we can rectify it.” He stared intently at the woman before him. “I need to know that you are fully committed to this. You are going to be the most directly involved, and you're going to need to keep your story straight in order for it all to work out.”

She gave a small smile. “Actually, your timing couldn't be better. When I get back home, it seems I will have a legit reason to get in touch with James. Selena is going to be the problem.”

William wanted to probe into the woman's predicament, but right now his nephew's future and happiness were on the line. “Do you keep in touch with her? With Selena?”

She nodded. “We talk at least once a week, but she hasn't come home in…well…” She shrugged her shoulders and looked at the two Montgomery men. “A long time.”

Clapping his hands together, William said, with a wicked grin, “Well, then, it's about time Miss Selena Ainsley received an offer to come home that's too good to refuse.” Standing, he reached over his desk to shake her delicate hand. “Ryder will fill you in on all the details, and if there's anything else you need from me, please feel free to contact me. Anytime. Day or night.” Reaching down, he found a business card and then wrote on the back of it. “That's my personal phone number on the back. I expect to hear from you periodically to keep me up to date.”

“I wish I had your confidence, sir,” Jen said hesitantly as she took the card from him. “I'm afraid too much time has gone by, that maybe it won't all work out.”

“I have an excellent track record, my dear. My sons were all stubborn and convinced they didn't need any help with their lives, and now? They're all married with children on the way. Which reminds me.” He turned to Ryder and grinned. “How is Casey doing?”

Ryder smiled at the mention of his wife. “She's finally done with the morning sickness and is getting her energy back. I have to remind her to take it easy most days. All in all, we are both beyond excited for this baby's arrival.” He turned to the woman. “And don't let my uncle fool you; he'll try to take credit for my marriage too, but I was already on a mission to win Casey back.”

“You can tell yourself that all you want, Ryder, but you and I both know that if it hadn't been for me, there wouldn't have been a wedding for you to work with Casey on.”

Ryder rolled his eyes and couldn't help but smile at his uncle. “I was already in the area and had no idea about the wedding when I walked over to Casey's beach house. Sorry, old man, but this match is firmly on me.”

William winked at his female guest. “I'm four for four, no matter what my nephew says.”

She chuckled. “With a track record like that, I don't think James and Selena stand a chance.”

“Atta girl!” William bellowed with characteristic gusto. “I knew we'd win you over. I look forward to hearing from you in the very near future.” And with that, he excused himself and fairly skipped out of his office.

William smiled and nodded to his assistant Rose on his way out. “If you need me, you can reach me on my cell. I think I'm going to take my lovely wife out for a celebratory lunch.”

Rose was used to her boss's cheery moods and his multiple excuses for celebrating. “What are we celebrating today, sir?”

“Another successful match.”

Yes, there was nothing like a challenge to put a little pep in your step, and if this challenge turned out the way he thought it would, William Montgomery's feet weren't going to touch the ground for a long time.