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Sage looked at Nick.
Once again he wore that poker face. But just for a second, she had seen that flash of disappointment in his eyes. The look he evidenced every time he hit a roadblock in his plans to expand Monroe’s Western Wear. It was the same look she’d had whenever her own dreams of having a baby incurred another snafu. The one her ex had worn whenever she talked about getting engaged, when Terrence was perfectly content with things the way they were. She was not going to be the reason for Nick’s unhappiness the way she had been with her ex’s.
“We’ll do it,” she said, forcing herself to match MR’s enthusiasm. She turned to Nick, took both his hands in hers and squeezed fiercely. “Just promise me one thing.” She looked deep into his eyes. “All of this won’t damage our friendship.” Because she didn’t think she could live without that.
“Come on now, darlin’.” He gave her a long, searing look, then wrapped an arm around her shoulders and leaned forward to buss the tip of her nose. “You and I both know I would never let that happen.”
She heaved a sigh of relief.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Everett Keller pause in bemusement. Like he couldn’t believe he had to stand around and witness this. MR had an intense, watchful expression on her face, too. Almost as if she were waiting for a time bomb to go off.
Sage hoped it wasn’t Nick.
Splaying both her hands across his broad chest, she relaxed into his easy embrace. Met his eyes. He seemed to be taking this all in stride. But was he really? She drew a deep breath, warned, “Preparing for a wedding, even in a normal amount of time, can be really stressful.”
She only had to recall Terrence’s reaction to their brief engagement to know that.
Nick nodded. Still appearing confident, unperturbed.
So, why, Sage wondered, was she suddenly completely on edge?
Again, MR observed the emotion simmering just beneath the surface and stepped in to assist. “That’s why Everett and I are here,” she soothed. “Not just to help but to make sure that absolutely everything goes according to plan. I promise you both...this is one wedding that will go off without a hitch.”
Chapter Three (#u3c786080-6487-5a08-8819-f4a84586c045)
Sage snuggled against Nick, luxuriating in the safe, warm feel of his big strong body. “It’s a good thing we’re not getting married today for real, otherwise seeing each other like this would be bad luck.”
“How can seeing each other ever be bad luck?” Nick regarded her with a devilish glint in his blue eyes.
Sage inhaled the unique masculine scent of him. On impulse, she kissed his cheek, found her way to his mouth. “You know what I mean.”
“I do.” He studied her as if he found her as endlessly fascinating as she found him. Stroking a lazy hand down her spine, he confessed huskily, “It’s been a crazy three days.”
“No kidding.” She sighed, her cheek brushing delectably against the sandpapery roughness of his morning beard. She so loved having him in her bed, even though his six-foot-four frame took up so much room they barely fit on the queen-sized mattress.
A problem that, now that she’d entered her second trimester, sometimes left her with a tiny backache. “So many decisions...”
He turned toward her so they had full body contact. Lower still, his hardness pressed against her. “So little time.”
A spark of arousal unfurled deep inside her. “We saved some headaches by delegating a lot of them out.”
MR had arranged for a justice of the peace friend to preside over the civil ceremony. She’d also provided the caterer, tent and chair setup crew—all within the budget Nick and Sage had set. Assembling the guest list and sending out last minute e-invites had gone to the sisters-in-law, Hope and Adelaide, and the seating chart delegated to Chance’s fiancée, Molly. Lucille had been in charge of the flowers and the menu for the reception. While Nick and Sage had selected the DJ and the songs.
This morning, she was going to have the final fitting for her dress—a gown from her cousin Jenna Lockhart’s bridal salon—at her mother’s ranch while Nick picked up his tuxedo. Her brother Wyatt’s wife, Adelaide, was her maid of honor. Nick’s brother, Gavin, was best man.
Nick reached for Sage playfully as the first light of dawn fell through the window blinds of her second-floor apartment. “I think we have time to make love one more time...” He kissed her shoulder.
Sage wished. She eased away and went to find a thick fluffy robe to ward off the chill of the late-January morning. “Actually, we don’t.” Computer tablet in hand, she climbed back into bed. “We haven’t written our vows yet.”
Reluctant, Nick scowled. “Sure you want to do that?” he asked, practical as ever. “Instead of going with the tried and true?”
The thought of promising to love him until death do them part seemed like tempting fate. Sage swallowed. “Given the fact that we’re not...” Her voice trailed off. She didn’t know how to finish without insulting him. Or the connection they shared, which she had to admit pretty much defied description.
He studied her, as determined to understand her as she was him. “In love?”
Sage caught his hand in hers, and pressed it against the center of her chest. “Maybe not in the traditional way, but I do love you, Nick. As a friend. A best friend.”
His expression was as veiled as hers was open. “I adore you, too,” he said softly.
She sensed there was more. Unsure, however, as to whether or not she wanted to hear it, she murmured, “Okay, then, that’s what we need to say.” She settled a pillow across her lap, to use as a desk. Opened up the leather computer tablet case, turned on the attached mini keyboard and logged on.
While she got comfortable, Nick folded his arms behind his head. He lounged against the pillows, his gaze drifting over her lazily. “There’s no way I can memorize anything this late in the game. I mean, I’m the kid who always flunked the English class assignments where we had to get up and recite a poem.”
Although she was wearing an old-fashioned button-front nightshirt that concealed her baby bump, he was clad only in his boxer briefs. Hence, with the sheet draped low across his abdomen, she had a very nice view of his broad, masculine chest.
Too nice, if she were to remain on task.
“Public speaking pressure?” she teased, turning her gaze away from the sinewy muscle and crisp dark hair that arrowed across his pecs, and narrowed, on the way to the goody trail...
“Procrastinating, and making up excuses, are we?” she taunted.
“Mmm-hmm.”
“Not going to cut it, cowboy,” she retorted sternly. “We have to get this done. Right now.”
His sensual lips compressed as he ran a hand through the tousled layers of his dark hair. “Maybe you should tell me yours.”
“I would. Except I haven’t written mine yet, either.”
His low laughter filled the bedroom. He rubbed a hand beneath the sexy-rough stubble on his jaw. “Aha.”
“But I will now.” Cuddled up in bed, beside him, sitting against the headboard.
He rested his chin on her shoulder. “This should be interesting.”
“I take thee, Nick, for my parent-in-arms?”
He shook his head. “Sounds like we’re forming a club.”
Sage used the mini keyboard to type in some more. “May the joy that brought us together hold us in good stead through the days ahead.”
Nick wrinkled his brow, sexy as ever. “That’s going to have people scratching their heads and saying huh.”
Sage opened a new document window on the screen. “Okay, Smarty-pants. You try.”
He thought a moment. “I don’t know what I did to get you to look my way,” he drawled finally, “but I’m sure grateful you did.”
Sage snickered. “Aren’t those song lyrics?”
He grinned back, allowing, “Maybe.”
Only able to imagine the grief she’d get from her brothers if they went that route, Sage decreed, “I think we should be a little more original.”
Nick’s brow rose in annoyance. “Then we should have started this weeks ago.”
“Okay,” Sage said hastily. “There’s no need to get testy. How about I say, ‘There are no words to describe how I feel about you. I just know this feels right, and I want to be with you,’ or something like that.”
Nick tilted his head. “Pretty good. Vague. But truthful.”
Sage grinned, glad an argument—which would have been their first—had been averted. “Now all we have to do is add to it. Refine it a little. And then come up with something equally reassuring for you to say, too.”
* * *
NICK WASN’T SURE who Sage was trying to pacify with this whole writing-their-own-vows stuff, but if it made her feel better, then he was all for it. The hectic nature of the last three days had been hard on her. She looked weary. And that couldn’t be good for her or the baby.
So when she declared them done, a short while later, hit the print command and then ran over to her printer to pull out two sheets of paper, one for her and one for him, he celebrated by kissing her again.
One thing led to another.
The next thing they knew she really was late, and so was he. They split up, heading their separate ways. He did not see her again until she walked down the aisle on her eldest brother Garrett’s arm.
As she glided toward him, looking like a princess out of some Disney movie, his heart caught in his chest. She was so damn gorgeous in that ball gown–style wedding dress. So sweet and innocent and glowing. He felt like the luckiest man in the world. And would have even if she hadn’t been carrying his child and on the verge of giving him the family of his own he had always wanted.
“Who giveth the bride away?” the JP asked.
Garrett lifted Sage’s veil, kissed her cheek and answered, “Her family and I do.”
Sage’s lower lip quivered.
In that second, Nick realized what a disservice he had done. This was hard enough without his deceased parents and her late father here to see this. But to secretly be doing it all for a business deal... He swore silently to himself as he took her hand, vowing he would make it up to her. Some way. Somehow.
The distinguished-looking sixtysomething justice of the peace welcomed everyone to their nuptials. He spoke briefly about the grave responsibility entailed in entering into a marriage.
A speech that only made Nick feel all the guiltier.
“And now we will turn it over to Nick and Sage, who have written their own vows. Sage, would you like to go first?”
She nodded, hands trembling as she unfolded the page. Looking down, she began reading nervously, “Nick. There are no watercress...”
A few smothered chuckles.
The justice of the peace gave everyone a sharp look.
Aware of the solemnity of the occasion, everyone fell silent once again.
Sage shook her head, her brow pleating worrisomely as she squinted. “Sorry. There are no words that would adequately describe how I feel about you, Nick.” She looked up with a smile, then read confidently from the paper in her hand, “So, I’m just going to say, I think yeast...”
Another undercurrent of nervous giggles.
Sage blushed.
Nick slid a hand beneath her forearm to steady her, aware she wouldn’t be the first bride to wilt from a combination of nerves, and in their case, guilt. Resolved to help her through this, he encouraged under his breath, “Just calm down. You got this.”
Sage nodded. Jerking in a deep breath, tried again. “I think you are the most wonderful mango...” She looked up, clearly mortified. “I mean, man I’ve ever known. And...” She swiftly scanned the page, looking even more distressed. “I think I’m going to just say I’m really happy to be marrying you today. And stop right there.”
Radiating embarrassment, she gestured at him. “On to you.”
Nick had never known Sage to fall apart like this. But given how quickly everything had happened, he figured she was entitled to suffer the same kind of public speaking phobia that had haunted him as a kid, and cut her speech short.
With a grin, he removed the paper from the inner pocket of his tuxedo jacket and unfolded it. Still holding her eyes, wordlessly promising that he would make this okay for both of them with the best recitation he had ever given in his life, he looked down at his vows. And began. “Sage. You are the most brioche...” He stopped and shook his head while trying to quickly remember what should have been there.
If this is what “his bride” had been dealing with, no wonder she’d panicked!
Ignoring the faint titters in their audience, he tried again. “The most um...most...beautiful woman I’ve ever met, inside and out.”
Whew! High five on that one!
“And if there is one thing today is going to show us,” he continued determinedly, glad to be back on track, “it’s that we will otters have each other.”
Otters?
What the hell?
And then, amid the muffled rumble of new laughter, he realized what had happened. There was no need to go on reading from the pages Sage had printed out for them. Not unless they wanted this to turn into even more of a comedy skit.
He turned to face their guests and held up the page for everyone to see. “So much for writing our vows on an electronic device with autocorrect,” he announced, grinning from ear to ear. “Seriously, folks—” getting into the spirit of the hilarity he crumpled it up dramatically, and tossed it to one of his sisters in the front row “—proofread!”
With a mischievous grin, Sage crumpled up her vows, and tossed ’em to family, too.
Taking both his bride’s hands in his he made an executive decision and decided, “We’re just going to have to do this on the fly.”
Ignoring her prior worry about the results of any extemporaneous speech, he paused and looked deep into her eyes, then said what had been on his mind since the day they’d decided to risk this.
“I used to think that life had to be lived in stages. If I was going to have a family, I needed to find someone compatible and get married right out of college.” He paused ruefully, to let his prior idiocy sink in. “A plan that did not work for so many reasons...”
He hadn’t been anywhere mature enough. Hadn’t known the first thing about love. Might still not...at least when it came to the traditional variety.
Aware the world had shrunk to just the two of them, he looked deep into her eyes and continued, “And then, and only then, would I focus on my career goals. Secure the future. And when that was all set, then I could have kids.”
Understanding lit her eyes. She’d had similar expectations. It was one of the things that had drawn them together.
“But despite my ambition, it didn’t work out that way. And I began to think that my work dreams and goals were all I was going to have.” His throat tightened unexpectedly. He forced himself to go on hoarsely. “Then I met you, Sage, and I realized things didn’t have to happen in any specific time frame or in any particular order. We could be friends. And then more than friends. And now parents-to-be of the no doubt most amazing child who will ever be born in Laramie County!”
Laughter rippled through the attendees as the world around them crowded in once again.
Happiness roaring through him with the force of a white-water river, he squeezed her hands and said, “In the seven months we’ve known each other, you’ve brought so much happiness to my life, I can imagine just how fantastic the rest of our time together will be. And darlin’, I can’t wait to experience it all with you,” he finished soberly, a lump rising in his throat.
* * *
