Amber tipped her head, not sure what to think.
“I flew here at Mach 1,” he told her. “All the way over South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois, I told myself you belonged to Hargrove.”
“I don’t belong-”
“I told myself I’d reason with you, I’d make you understand you had an obligation to your fiance, I’d explain again that nobody falls in love in a week, and what you thought you felt for me was an illusion.”
He took her hands.
Katie took a few steps toward the door. “Uh, I’m…just going to…” She slipped outside and shut the door behind her.
“At least that’s what I told myself,” said Royce. “And then Rosa told me you were trying on your wedding dress. And I knew I had to stop you. I knew there was no way I could let you marry someone else.”
“I’m not marrying-”
“I still find it impossible to believe a week is any kind of a foundation for a lifelong commitment. I looked up the mathematical odds on marital success. They’re not good.
“But I do know I want you. And I know I’ll shoot any guy who touches you. And I’m thinking maybe that’s a sign that there’s something to this.”
Amber fought the smile that tightened her lips.
As declarations of love went, this left a whole lot to be desired. But this was Royce, and she knew his demons, and she knew just how difficult it was for him to even contemplate the possibility of happily ever after.
“I love you, Royce.”
“You can’t know-”
She put her fingertips over his lips. “I do know. And, guess what? I know you love me, too. And I know you’re going to figure it out eventually. And if I have to wait a year, or ten or twenty, for you to decide we should stay together, that’s fine with me.”
His arm snaked around her waist, and he jerked her up tight against him. “I want to start staying together now.”
“No problem.” She smiled at him, trailing her palms over his chest, wrapping them loosely around his neck. “We’ll hang out together while you give this love thing some serious thought.”
He settled his other arm around her. “And by hanging out, I hope you mean living together, working together and sleeping together.”
“I do,” she told him.
“Good.” He gave a decisive nod. “Then I’m thinking we’d better be married while we’re hanging out. I don’t want anyone else to try to steal you. Your father’s already a little ticked off at my brother. And there’s the whole propriety thing.”
“You think it’s logical for us to be married while we figure out if we’re in love?”
“Completely logical,” he said. “Especially if we want a few kids. You’re not getting any younger-”
“Hey!” She smacked him on the shoulder.
“And who knows how long it’ll take for us to be sure.”
“Maybe twenty years?” she asked.
“Maybe even fifty.” His expression sobered. His gaze caressed her as he slowly dipped his head. Then his warm, soft lips came down ever so gently onto hers, sealing their bargain.
“What do you say, Amber?” he whispered against her mouth. “Will you spend the next fifty or so years married to me, just in case I love you?”
She nodded, coming up on her bare toes to kiss him again, longer this time, more soundly.
“Yes, I will,” she whispered. “Just in case.”
His arms engulfed her, and he lifted her completely off the floor. His mouth slanted and his kiss deepened, and she clung to him, heart bursting with joy.
When he finally set her down, slowly sliding her along his body, his grin widened. “Well, what do you know.”
“What?”
“I think it might be happening already.”
She couldn’t help but smile in return. “Imagine that.”
He nodded. “And it’s really easy. You know, I think I’m going to be very good at this.”
“There’s not a doubt in my mind.”
His blue eyes stared down into hers. “I love you, Amber.”
“I know you do, Royce.”
“Forever.”
“Absolutely.”
“Who knew.”
“I did.”
“You did at that.” And he bent to kiss her one more time.
Eleven
Royce couldn’t think of a single thing he liked better than the sight of Amber at Hargrove’s wedding-wearing the bridesmaid’s dress. Katie had been radiant on her walk down the aisle. She’d beamed at Hargrove during the first dance, then laughed with him when they cut the cake. Royce caught the garter again, and this time he knew it was fate.
“She looked spectacular,” said Amber as they walked, hand in hand, beneath the lighted tress of the waterfront patio. The reception was in full swing inside the restaurant, notables from both the business and political worlds dancing it up at the black-tie event.
“Your life’s not going to be anything like hers,” Royce observed, thinking about the reporters hovering in the parking lot.
“No, it’s not.” Amber grinned, turning to the rail to stare out across the sparkling water. She took a sip of the bubbly liquid in her champagne flute.
Royce moved up behind her, tracing a fingertip along her bare shoulder. “Any regrets?”
“Yes,” she sighed, and he felt a moment’s pause.
But she covered his hand with her own, holding his touch against her skin. “I regret saying no to you in the hotel room earlier.”
A surge of masculine pride swelled within him, and he leaned down to kiss her shoulder. “I told you so.”
“You did.”
“Weddings have a way of making women feel all romantic and mushy.”
“It’s true.” She nodded, taking another drink.
“And all those romantic and mushy feelings have a way of turning to-”
“Lust?”
“Which could have been pre-empted,” he whispered in her ear. “If you’d only let-”
Royce immediately stepped back from Amber.
“Seems like I’m always finding you off in a corner with this Ryder fellow at wedding receptions.”
“He does have a way of finding me,” Amber joked, turning to face her father.
Royce was still a bit jumpy around the man. The two-carat solitaire on Amber’s finger had mitigated some of the antagonism, but Royce wasn’t sure David had forgiven him for breaking things off with Amber. He also wasn’t sure that a jet pilot was an acceptable substitute for a senator as a son-in-law.
“You look amazing,” David told his daughter, kissing her gently on the forehead.
“And you look handsome as always,” Amber returned.
Royce held out his hand to shake, refusing to let David see anything but confidence. “Good to see you again, sir.”
