Forever Wishes (Montana Brides Book 4) (29 page)

He saw a flash of blue out of the corner of his eye and glanced up. Emily had dodged another couple and was dancing straight toward them. If he didn’t move fast two other people would end up being part of his life, whether he wanted them there or not. He made a sharp right hand turn.
 

Erin looked at him with a frown on her face.

“Emily was about to land on top of us.”

She grinned. “Poor Martin.”

“Don’t be too worried about him. He looks as though he’s resigned himself to bossy women.” He’d expected Martin to be scowling at the redhead leading him astray. But the smile on his face told a different story completely.

At the twist of a switch the music changed from soft and romantic to sixties pop. First Emily and now the DJ. The whole world was against keeping him close to Erin tonight.

She stood in the circle of his arms, laughing at the groan rumbling through his chest. “I take it you’re not up to a bit of rock n’ roll, oh ancient one?”

He grinned at the wicked look in her eyes. “Viva Las Vegas, baby.”

The only thing Erin had dreaded the whole night was about to happen. And if she knew Nicky half as well as she thought she did, it would smack her straight in the face.
 

Throwing a bridal bouquet to the single females in the room seemed like such a moronic thing to do in the twenty-first century. Anyone who seriously believed catching a wayward bunch of flowers would lead them to the altar had to be seriously delusional, or seriously desperate.
 

She was neither. She had Jake. Erin didn’t need an altar. And she most definitely didn’t need to be standing in the middle of a room surrounded by women that were half her age and twice as excited. Spotting Emily off to one side, she thanked God for small mercies.

If she sidestepped Mary-Beth, there’d be a clear path to the back of the pack. That would get her away from the hordes of eager females only too happy to catch the damn bouquet. She turned to make her escape.
 

Mary-Beth grabbed her arm. “You can’t move. I promised Nicky.”

“What do you mean?” Erin tugged a little harder, but Mary-Beth’s grip tightened. Nicky started moving to the front of the stage.
 

“She knew you’d try for a quick getaway. I’ve got first dibs on her Gucci handbag when she’s finished with it if I keep you in the middle of the floor.”

Erin glared at Mary-Beth. Sold down the river for a piece of expensive Italian leather. What next?
 

She knew what was going to happen next, and she wasn’t happy. Sucking in a deep breath, she thought the best way to deal with Nicky’s sly, underhand tactics, was to confront it head on. And duck at the crucial moment. There must be some hapless, besotted female in the general vicinity only too eager to catch the flying torpedo in Nicky’s hands.
 

A sense of impending doom settled on her shoulders. With an evil glare that would have felled a less determined bride, Erin looked at Nicky just before she turned to launch the dratted bouquet.
 

“Damn,” she muttered, as the bouquet fell with unbelievable accuracy toward her head. Ducking at the last possible moment, she smelt victory. Her jubilation was short lived. She stared in horror as the bouquet bounced off someone standing behind her, landing in a prickly lump on her head.
 

She looked bemusedly up at the angelic expressions on the girls surrounding her. Comprehension slowly dawned. “Not all of you? She couldn’t possibly have bribed everyone?”
 

They stared back with happy smiles. Dropping her head into her hands, she realized Nicky had fallen down the slippery slopes of corruption. She’d cornered her in an archaic ritual that was totally wasted on her.
 

Erin groaned as the masses moved aside to let a smiling Nicky through. “Gotcha, girlfriend.”

She clambered to her feet, and a loud cheer went up around the room. “Nicky Delaney, remind me to never underestimate you again.” A quick smile touched Erin’s face as she hugged her best friend.

Nicky whispered in her ear, “I thought it might give Jake something to think about.”

“Nice try, but it’s not going to happen.”

“We’ll see.”
 

Oh, Lord. Nicky had her sights set firmly on making sure Erin continued the wedding tradition. The sooner Sam and Nicky left for their honeymoon, the better her life would be.

Jake watched the bouquet throwing with dread, but not for the same reason as Erin. He’d spotted her being corralled like a wild filly into center stage. Someone had bigger plans in mind than a random toss of the wedding bouquet. The group of women surrounding Erin were way too excited about catching a bunch of flowers.
 

Erin admitted defeat gracefully, acknowledging the whistles and claps from the wedding guests with a wave of her hand. Before he had time to blink, she jumped to her feet and headed straight toward him, the flowers clutched tightly in her hand.
 

“Quick, follow me.” Not waiting for a reply, she grabbed his hand, pulling him toward the kitchen. She didn’t bat an eyelid at the garter ritual getting underway behind them.
 

He couldn’t help the laughter in his voice, as she frog-marched them through the kitchen doors. “I know Nicky intended you to be the next bride, but this is ridiculous.”
 

She turned to stare at him in confusion.

With a dramatic hand to his brow he moaned, “It’s far too quick. I need time to get used to the idea that you want my delectable body for life.”

She swatted his delectable head with the wedding bouquet.
 

“Ow, woman. You should play tennis with that smash. You’d scare your opponents witless.”

“Witless. Don’t talk to me about witless. I must be the most witless person I know at the moment. How could I have gotten hoodwinked so easily by a pregnant, hormonal bride on her wedding day?”

He smiled at the steam threatening to escape from her now not so carefully arranged hair-do. Picking a stray leaf from her head, he said, “It’s okay. You handled yourself with dignity. The salute at the end was positively inspired.”
 

She growled low in her throat. “I need cake.”

He hoped it was for eating and not squashing in his face.

The catering staff had outdone themselves. The last of the leftovers were being packed away and the kitchen looked spotless. Erin headed toward a woman wearing a white apron. A smile of understanding crossed the waitresses face. She handed Erin a paper napkin full of cake.
 

He could only imagine the sights these staff must have witnessed. A ravenous bridesmaid on the prowl for food was probably the least of their worries.

“So, Erin. Why did we make a hasty retreat?” He bit into the slice of wedding cake she passed to him. It tasted pretty good for illegal contraband.

“Not why. Who. I have an awful suspicion that Nicky rigged the garter ceremony, too. Sam would have pinged you with it if I hadn’t whisked you away.”

With a steady gaze, he looked at her. “So?”

She waved the bouquet in the air. “So? Don’t you get it? With me holding the flowers and you the garter, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a priest lined up in the corridor to officiate at another wedding ceremony tonight.”

Licking the last piece of icing off his fingers, he casually asked, “And what would be wrong with that?”

Erin frowned, her green eyes flashing fire in the fluorescent overhead lights. She knocked the side of her head with the bouquet. “I must be hallucinating.” She opened her mouth to say something, waited a few seconds, then closed it.
 

He leaned his hip against a stainless steel counter as she continued to scowl at him.

“Am I hearing this correctly?” she asked. “Jake Reynolds, confirmed bachelor, is admitting that marriage wouldn’t be such a bad idea?”
 

He shrugged his shoulders. “Could be.”

She sniffed the air. “What did they put in the cake? Moonshine? It would have to be pretty noxious to muddle your brain this quickly.”

He looked around at the few remaining catering staff. They were staring with avid interest at the nutty bridesmaid and her partner in crime scoffing wedding cake in the kitchen.
 

He waved the last slice of cake in the air. “It’s good.” With a wink to their audience, he poked the cake into Erin’s open mouth, pulling her through the back door and around to the front of the building.

He smiled as she spluttered over chocolate cake and vanilla frosting. Stopping under a coach light in the tree lined driveway, he wondered if he was as crazy as the moths beating themselves against the glass above them. Their desperate attempt to get to the light might be almost as hopeless his plans for the rest of the night. The rest of his life.
   

Erin rubbed her hands along her arms. “What are we doing out here?”

Draping his jacket over her shoulders, he started pacing backward and forward. A sane man might run a mile about now, but there was nothing sane about his pounding heart or the sweat running between his shoulder blades.

“You’re making me nervous, Jake. If this is going to be another anti-commitment speech I might as well throw the wedding bouquet at you now.”
 

Standing still, he cleared his throat. Pushing clammy hands inside the pockets of his pants, he said, “It’s not an anti-commitment speech.”
 

She breathed a sigh that sounded remarkably like relief.
 

He didn’t think he’d been
that
bad at showing her how he felt. If she didn’t have a clue why he’d dragged her out here, he could be in trouble. “I wanted to thank you for giving me another chance at friendship. I’m sorry for acting like a fool back at camp. I’ve come to the conclusion I’ve been acting like a complete idiot for most of my life.”

He looked quickly down at her. She’d put her arms inside the sleeves of his jacket, clutching the wedding bouquet in one hand. He almost hoped she’d disagree with him, tell him he’d acted like a reasonable adult. But dreams were free. She didn’t look as though she’d be letting him off the hook that easily.

“I resented Scott because it meant having to share mom and dad’s love with someone who needed extra care. I walked out on them when they needed me the most. And I used my guilt as an excuse for not committing to any permanent relationship.”

Rubbing his hands down the side of his pants he stood in front of her, gently holding one of her cold hands in his.

Taking a deep breath, he said, “I never wanted to have a wife and family, because I didn’t think I’d be able to last the distance. I didn’t have the best of intentions when I brought up the baby contract idea. I thought if you were prepared to give me a year of your life, I could persuade you that we didn’t need children to be happy. But if that didn’t work, I was determined to follow through on my promise to you.”
 

Erin stood silently in the cold night air as he struggled to give voice to the emotion building inside of him. Her eyes misted over. Jake could see the pulse at the base of her throat, beating hard and fast. His gaze locked with hers and a fine tremor passed between their hands.

“When you wanted to end the contract, I thought you wanted to end us. That’s when I knew you meant a lot more to me than what I’d been telling myself. You’ve helped me believe that two people can have a relationship that’s strong enough to last through all the rough patches, and generous enough to share all the good times.”
 

He let go of Erin’s hand and reached for the edge of his jacket. She frowned, watching him unzip an inside pocket. “This isn’t quite the way I imagined it, but what the heck. You’ve got to cut me some slack. I’ve never done this before, and God help me, I never intend to again.”
 

Her eyes opened wide as he pulled a little white box out in front of her. He smiled at the shocked expression on her face. “You’re turning blue, Erin. Breathe.”

She took a deep breath as Jake got down on one knee. She took another one as her knees wobbled, dangerously close to collapsing. His blue gaze pierced Erin’s soul. The goofing around had disappeared, along with the smiles and the quick wit. Jake was one hundred per cent intense male, ready to make the biggest proposal of his life.