by Maya Banks
Then slowly everyone’s gaze turned to him and it was then he realized it was his phone going off in his pocket.
“What the hell?” he muttered.
Cam snickered.
Devon yanked his phone out of his pocket to see Ashley’s name on the LCD. He nearly groaned aloud.
“Excuse me a moment,” he said as he rose. “I’ll take this outside.”
He hurried out the door, irritated by Cam’s look of amusement. He knew damn well who was calling Devon.
As soon as he was outside the conference room he punched the answer button and brought the phone to his ear. “Carter,” he said tersely.
Ashley wasn’t even remotely put off by his greeting. Or lack of one.
“Oh, hi, Dev! How’s your day going?”
“Uh, it’s good. Look, was there something you needed? I’m kind of in the middle of something here.”
“Oh, nothing important,” she said cheerfully. “I just wanted to call and tell you I love you.”
An uncomfortable knot formed in his stomach. What was he supposed to say to that? He cleared his throat. “Ash, did you change the ring tone on my phone?” “Oh, yeah. I did. I downloaded one so you’d know when I’m calling. Neat, huh?”
Devon closed his eyes. The cheerful cascade of noise that sounded like a cross between Tinker Bell sneezing fairy dust and a waltz at some damn princess ball would make him the laughingstock of the office in short order. Not to mention that Cam would never, ever let him live this down.
“Neat,” he lamely agreed. “Look, I’ll see you tonight, okay? We still on for dinner at nine?”
“Yes, that’s perfect. I’m at the shelter until eight so if it’s okay I’ll just meet you at the restaurant.”
He frowned. “Do you have a ride?”
“I’ll get a cab.”
He shook his head. “I’ll send a car for you. Stay put at the shelter until it arrives. I’ll arrange it for eight.” She sighed but didn’t argue further. “Have a good day, Dev. Can’t wait until tonight!”
“Thanks. You, too,” Devon said but she’d already hung up.
He stared at his phone for a long moment and then punched a series of buttons. How did you even change the ring tone? He’d never designated a special ring tone for a person. His phone rang, the contact showed up, and if he wanted to answer he did. If he didn’t, he let it go to voice mail. No way he wanted sparkly Tinker Bell music to play every time Ashley called him. What if she made a regular habit of it?
To his never-ending grief, she called him every single day. It baffled him that her timing was utterly impeccable. She always managed to catch him right in the middle of a meeting or when he was with a group of people.
After the second instance, he began silencing his phone and putting it on vibrate, but on two occasions, he simply forgot and his entire meeting was treated to Tinker Bell on crack.
After two weeks, he began to get amused, indulgent looks from some. Sympathy from others. Delighted grins from the women personnel. And Cam laughed his fool head off.
Ashley simply called whenever the mood struck, and unfortunately for him, he could never be sure when she would be moved to call him. Sometimes she wanted advice on wedding details. Like flowers. How the hell did he know what the difference between a tulip and a gardenia was? And invitations. Elopement to Vegas had never looked so enticing as it did right now.
Rafael and Ryan hadn’t gone through all of this for their weddings. They’d both had exceedingly simple affairs. Devon was in hell. A wedding that was being planned by the entire Copeland clan.
He was ready to throw his cell in the Hudson.
CHAPTER 6
“Dev?”
Devon stuck his head out of the bathroom then proceeded toward the bed, rubbing his hair with a towel. She was laying stomach down on the bed, feet dangling in the air as her jaw rested in her palm.
There was a slight frown marring her delicate features, which told him she was thinking about something. He almost didn’t want to ask because he’d quickly learned that Ashley’s thoughts ran the gamut.
He sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his hand over her back. “What’s up?”
She turned slightly so she could stare up at him. “Where are we going to live? I mean after we get married. We haven’t really talked about it.”
“I assumed we’d live here.”
Her lips turned down just a bit and her brow wrinkled. “Oh.”
“That doesn’t sound like a good ‘oh.’ Do you not like the apartment? It’s bigger than yours so I naturally thought it would accommodate us better.”
She scrambled up and sat cross-legged beside him. “I do like it. This is a great apartment. It’s a little manly-looking. More like a bachelor pad. It’s not really appropriate for children or pets.”
“Pets?” he croaked out. “Uh, Ash, I don’t know about pets.”
Her frown deepened, which he found distressing. Ashley rarely pouted about anything, which was good, because it was damn hard to resist her when she looked unhappy. Maybe it was because she was rarely ever anything but happy.
“I’ve always wanted a house in the country. A place for kids and pets to run and play. The city isn’t a good place to raise a family.”
“Lots of people raise families here,” Devon pointed out. “You were raised here.”
She shook her head. “Not always, no. We didn’t move to the city until I was ten. Before that we lived on this really great farm. Or at least it was a farm before my father bought it. It was such a beautiful place to live.”
The wistful note in her voice was a shot to the gut.
“It’s something we can discuss when the time comes,” Devon said by way of appeasement. “Right now, my focus is on making you my wife, having a week of uninterrupted time with you on our honeymoon and getting you permanently moved into my apartment.”
She smiled and leaned up to brush her lips across his jaw. “I love it when you talk like that.”
He raised a brow as she drew back. “Like what?”
“Like you can’t wait for us to be together.”
She snuggled against him and wrapped her arms around his waist. And again he was assailed by an unfamiliar nagging sensation in his chest. It wasn’t comfortable. He wasn’t sure he liked it even as he didn’t want it to go away.
“It won’t be long now,” he said. And then some strange urge to continue on and at least make a token effort to lift her spirits pushed stubbornly at him. He stroked a hand over her silky hair and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “We can always revisit the issue of where to live later. Right now, though, I want our concentration to be on each other.”
She squeezed him tighter and then pulled away as she’d done before to stare up at him, her blue eyes shining. “Can we talk about one other thing?”
“Of course.”
“When you say you want our concentration to be on each other, does that mean you’d prefer to wait to start a family? We’ve talked casually about children. I’ve made it no secret that I’d love to become pregnant right away but you haven’t said what you want in that regard.” A sudden picture of her swollen with his child and her radiant, beautiful smile flashed through his mind. It shocked him just how gratifying the image was. He was assailed by a surge of longing and possessiveness that baffled him.
He’d always viewed marriage, a wife and eventual children with clinical detachment. Almost as if they were components of a to-do list. And maybe they had been. Right underneath his goals of business success.
Now that he was suddenly faced with all of the above, he had a hard time thinking rationally about what he wanted. It was a very damn good question.
At some point he’d stopped looking at marriage to Ashley as the chore it had begun as. He’d resigned himself to the inevitability and honestly, he could do so much worse. She was intelligent, good to her core, sweet, affectionate and tenderhearted. She’d make a perfect mother. Much better than his own had ever been.
But would he make a good father?
“Dev?”
He glanced down to see her staring at him with worry in her eyes. It was instinctual to want to immediately soothe the concern away. He kissed her brow. “I was just thinking.”
“If it’s too soon to be having this conversation, I’m sorry. Daddy always says I get too far ahead of myself. I just can’t help it. I get excited about something and I just want to reach out and grab it.”
He couldn’t help but smile. It was such an apt description of her. She embraced life wholeheartedly. And she didn’t seem to much care if she stumbled along the way. He wondered if anything ever got her down at all. People like her were a puzzle to him. He didn’t understand them. Couldn’t relate to them.
He pulled her onto his lap until she was astride him. “What I think is that you’ll be a perfect mother. I was just imagining you pregnant with my child and decided I quite liked the image. I also had the thought that I’ve never used protection, which is hugely irresponsible of me even given the fact that we both have clean histories and are safe, which makes me wonder if subconsciously I was hoping to get you pregnant all along.”
She sighed and went soft, melting into his chest as she leaned toward him. “I was hoping you’d say that. I mean about wanting children. It’s not that I have to have them right away. A small part of me realizes it would probably be better to wait but I’ve always wanted a large family and I don’t want to be old when they’re graduating high school.”
“You realize we’ve done nothing to prevent pregnancy so far,” he said in a low voice.
“Do you mind?” she asked anxiously. “I mean would you be upset if I was actually pregnant before we got married?”
He chuckled. “It would be the height of hypocrisy for me to be upset over something I could have very well prevented.”
“I just want to be sure. I don’t want us to have a bad start. I want everything to be…perfect.”
He touched her nose and then traced a path underneath her eye and down the side of her face. “Do you suspect that you’re already pregnant, Ash? Is that why you’re bringing this up tonight? I don’t want you to be afraid to tell me anything. I’d never be angry with you for something that is equally my responsibility, if not more so. You were an innocent when I made love to you. Birth control absolutely should have been my responsibility.”
She shook her head. “No. I mean I don’t know. I don’t think so anyway.”
He rested his forehead on hers and thought for a moment that they already acted like a married couple who were at ease in their relationship. Strangely, he trusted Ashley and felt comfortable with her. There was a sense of rightness that he couldn’t deny. Maybe William Copeland had known what he was doing after all.
“Well, if you are, then fantastic. Really. I want you to tell me if you even suspect you could be. And if you aren’t? We’ll work on remedying that. Deal?”
She grinned and a delicate blush stained her soft cheeks. “Deal.”
“Now what do you say we go to bed so you can have your evil way with me?”
Her cheeks grew even redder and he smiled at the shy way she ducked her head.
He leaned in to nibble at her ear and then he whispered so the words blew gently over her skin. “I’ll do my very best to make you pregnant.”
To his surprise, she shoved him forward. He landed on his back on the mattress with her looming over him, a mischievous grin dimpling her cheeks. Then her expression grew more serious and her eyes darkened. “I love you so much, Devon. I’m the luckiest woman on earth. I can’t wait until we’re married and I’m officially yours.”
As she lowered her mouth to his, he was gripped by the feeling that she was completely and utterly wrong. It wasn’t she who was the lucky one.
CHAPTER 7
“Ashley, if you don’t sit still we’re never going to get your hair and makeup right,” Pippa said in exasperation.
“I still think she should have just called in a stylist,” Sylvia said as she eyed the progress Tabitha was making on Ashley’s hair.
“Tabitha is a stylist, silly,” Ashley said. “She’s the best and who doesn’t want the best on their wedding day? And who knows more about makeup than Carly?”
Pippa snorted. “That’s so true. I’m convinced cosmetic companies should just pay her to endorse their products.” “Close your eyes, Ash,” Carly said. “Time for mascara. Just a bit, though. Don’t want you looking clumpy on the big day.”
Ashley frowned. “Definitely not clumpy.”
“Darling, are you almost done?” Ashley’s mother sang out from the doorway. “You’re on in ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes?” Tabitha shrieked. “No way. Can you stall them, Mrs. C.?”
“I’m not going to be late to my own wedding,” Ashley said firmly. “Just hurry faster, Tab. My hair will be fine. Just put the veil over the knot.”
“Just put the veil over the knot,” Tabitha grumbled. “As if it’s that easy.”
Sylvia rolled her eyes, pushed between Tabitha and Ashley and quickly affixed the veil to the elegant chignon. “There, Ashley. You look beautiful.”
“Lip gloss and we’re done,” Carly announced. “Make a kissy face.”
Ashley smacked her lips and a moment later, Carly pulled away to allow Ashley to see herself in the mirror.
“Oh, you guys,” she whispered.
Her best friends beamed back at her in the mirror.
“You look beautiful,” Pippa said, her eyes bright with tears. “The most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen.”
“Absolutely you do,” Tabitha said.
The four women crowded in to hug her.
“Girls, time for you to go. Your escorts are waiting. We don’t want to make the bride late,” Ashley’s mother called.
Her friends scrambled toward the door, bouquets in hand.
“Your father is coming to get you now,” her mother said as she walked over. She paused when she got to Ashley and then smiled, tears glittering in her eyes. “My baby, all grown up. You look so beautiful. I’m so proud of you.”
“Don’t make me cry, Mom. You know I have no willpower.”
Her mom laughed and reached for her hands. She squeezed them and then helped her to her feet.
“Let me fix your gown. Your father will be pacing outside the door. You know how he hates to be late for anything.”
She fussed with Ashley’s dress and then there was a knock on the dressing room door.
“That will be him now. Are you ready, darling?”
Sudden nerves gripped Ashley and her palms went sweaty. But she nodded. Oh, God, this was really it. She was about to walk down the aisle and become Mrs. Devon Carter.
She threw her arms around her mom and hugged her tight. “Love you, Mom.”
Her mother squeezed her back. “Love you, too, baby. Now let’s go before your father wears a hole in the floor.”
She went ahead of Ashley to open the door and sure enough, her father was outside checking his watch. He looked up when he heard them and his expression softened. A glimmer of emotion welled in his eyes and he held out his hand to take hers.
“I can’t believe you’re getting married,” he said in a tight voice. “It seems like only yesterday you were learning to walk and talk. You look beautiful, Ash. Devon is a lucky man.”
She leaned up to kiss his wrinkled cheek. “Thank you, Daddy. You look pretty spiffy yourself.”
The wedding coordinator hurried up to them and motioned with rapid flying hands. She shooed them toward the entrance to the aisle and then spent a few seconds arranging the train of her dress.
Ashley’s mom was escorted down the aisle and seated, which only left Ashley to be walked down the aisle with her father.
The music began, the doors swung open and every eye in the church turned to watch as Ashley took her first step.
Her bouquet shook in her hands and she prayed her knees would hold up. The dress suddenly seemed to weigh a ton a
nd despite the cold outside, the church felt like a sauna.
But then she caught sight of Tabitha, Carly, Sylvia and Pippa all standing at the front of the church, their smiles wide and encouraging. Pippa winked and held a thumbs-up then pointed toward Devon and made a motion like she was fanning herself.
And finally her gaze locked on to Devon and she forgot about everyone else. Forgot about her nervousness, her sudden doubt. Nothing but the fact that he awaited her at the front of the church and that from now on, she’d belong to him.
It gave her a warm, mushy feeling from head to toe.
And then her dad was handing her over to Devon. Devon smiled reassuringly down at her as they took the step toward the priest and the ceremony began.
It pained her to later admit that she didn’t remember most of the ceremony. What she did remember was Devon’s eyes and the warmth that enveloped her standing next to him as she pledged her love, loyalty and devotion. And the kiss he gave her after they were pronounced husband and wife scorched her to her toes.
Suddenly they were walking back down the aisle, this time together, as a married couple. They ducked into an alcove to await the others and Devon pulled her close into his side.
“You look absolutely stunning.”
He kissed her again. This time slower. More intense. Long and lingering. He took his time exploring her mouth, and when he pulled away, she swayed and caught his arm to steady herself.
Around her, the noise of well-wishers grew and she realized that guests were coming out of the church.
“Darling, they need you back inside the church for pictures,” her mother called as she hurried towards Ashley and Devon. “All your attendants are already gathered. The others are going ahead to the reception. The car is waiting to take you and Devon after you’re finished with all the photos.”
Devon looked less than happy at the idea of posing for so many photographs but he gave a resigned sigh and took Ashley’s hand to lead her back into the sanctuary.