by E A Price
A shiver went through her entire frame. Her head snapped up to find a pair of dazzling, and familiar, blue eyes gazing at her.
“You?” she breathed in shock.
It was him. The gorgeous guy from the bar. The guy from the card. Harlan freaking Connors!
“Me,” he murmured in amusement as he effortlessly slid into the chair beside her.
“What are you doing here?”
Was he there because of her? Was he stalking her? Had he sought her out because he felt the same strange connection she did to him? She felt weirdly giddy at the thought that he did. Though the stalking thing seemed most likely.
Harlan smiled easily at her as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “I’m a friend of the bride.”
“Oh.” That was pathetically depressing. “I’m the daughter of the groom.”
She imagined he wouldn’t want to talk to her at all after her dad dumped and divorced his friend.
“Really.” He took a sip of champagne, and her eyes followed the glass, watching as the champagne danced past his lips, finding it far too erotic for her liking. Had she mentioned she hadn’t had sex in over a year?
He gave her an almost curious look. “You never called.”
Temp looked down at her own glass of champagne so he couldn’t see her blush. “No.” But she had certainly been thinking about him. He’d probably sneer if he knew how many sexy thoughts she’d had about him.
“But you wanted to.”
The words drawled past his sensual lips, almost in a growl. His eyes twinkled, knowing he spoke the truth.
“I didn’t say that,” she said, though they both knew she had.
“What’s your name?”
“Tempest.”
“Tempest?” he purred.
At least he didn’t burst into laughter like most people. Maybe she wished he had. The effect of her name on his lips was far too exquisite. Her sex virtually hummed at his voice.
“My mother was kind of a hippy. I go by Temp.”
Harlan leaned a little closer. His warm, masculine scent caressed her senses. “I think I prefer Tempest. It suits you.”
Temp gulped. He was only inches from her. All she had to do was move forward and he could…
“Can I have your attention, everyone?”
She jumped as if scalded as her dad’s jubilant voice dominated the room. Harlan leaned back in his seat, though he didn’t take his eyes off Temp.
“I want to thank everyone for coming and…”
Her dad dove into a speech about how Candace was the love of his life and how he couldn’t wait for them to be married. He rattled off the speech with very little trouble. He should – he’d had enough practice making them.
Candace watched him with rapt expression. She was just as smitten with him as he was with her, or at least, how smitten he was for now. He would probably grow bored of her in a few months.
He made a ball and chain joke. Everyone laughed. Temp just rolled her eyes and looked away from him. If she watched and concentrated on him for much longer, she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t start shouting ‘boo.’
Temp inhaled sharply as she realized Harlan was still watching her. He looked mildly interested by her reaction to her dad’s speech, and she couldn’t help the heat that spread across her cheeks. She gave him a nervous, guilty smile that froze on her face when she heard the words ‘my best girl.’
Her dad was inviting Candace to come and make a speech. He called her his ‘best girl’ and Temp was too ill-prepared and annoyed not to show her hurt.
Harlan narrowed his eyes slightly. Temp shook her head and grabbed her purse. She made her escape, pushing through the crowd of people all listening to Candace.
The moment she made it to the door, she felt a hand on her elbow and spun to find Harlan there. Damn, he was fast and stealthy. He was quite a large man – well over six-foot tall. She had struggled to make her way through the throng. How on earth he managed, she had no idea.
“Are you okay?” he asked in his low, sexy voice.
“Fine,” she murmured staring into his eyes. Caught in his gaze, she almost could believe everything was fine.
“Going home already?”
She was actually. Either that or she was going to the office to work. “I umm…”
“Surely not, it is early,” he all but cooed.
“Well…”
“Hey!”
Temp jumped almost guiltily as Heather joined them, dragging a man with her. She gave Harlan an interested look and virtually waggled her eyebrows suggestively.
“Ooh, hello, I’m Heather.” She smirked at Harlan.
“Harlan,” he said, grinning at her.
“We were just going on to a bar,” said Heather. “You’re coming with us, right?”
“Well, actually…” started Temp.
“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” said Harlan enthusiastically.
“Well, I…”
Heather waved her free hand. “Sweetie, I heard his speech – you need a real drink.”
Temp looked at the encouraging faces, looked into those damn blues and that handsome face that was surely dangerous to women everywhere, and she rolled her eyes. “Ugh, fine, one drink – but only one.”
Nine
The day after St. Patrick’s Day
“This can’t be happening,” mumbled Temp staring at the marriage certificate. “This can’t be happening. How can this be happening?”
Harlan paced up and down. “I remember we went to a bar after the party, and then another bar, and then another…”
“Can you please put some clothes on?!”
Harlan glanced down and noticed he was indeed naked, and Temp’s face was slowly turning bright red. Given what they had been up to last night, he was surprised she could feel embarrassed about seeing him au natural. He was tempted to tease her but decided that wouldn’t go down very well. Instead, he pulled his trousers on.
“Better?”
Temp rolled her eyes. “Marginally. It doesn’t change this.” She waved the marriage certificate around. “I can’t believe anyone agreed to marry us considering how drunk we were.”
Harlan closed his eyes. He had drunk an awful lot last night. He hadn’t intended to, but part way through the night he got a message from his brother telling him that Corinne and her alpha wanted to have a meeting with him and Branch regarding their mating agreement, and, well… drinking seemed like the obvious step.
“I remember we started daring one another to do things and there was this priest at the bar…”
“Oh, why didn’t Heather stop me?!”
They lost her friend at about bar number two. She left with her new boyfriend, leaving Harlan to entertain Temp, and entertaining she had been. They played pool, darts – until she was so drunk that the darts started flying in all directions, they sang songs and played drinking games until finally, they started playing truth or dare. Since neither of them wanted to tell any truths, they always said dare. So, Temp stole a guy’s hat. Harlan took off his shirt and danced on a table. Temp peed in the men’s bathroom. Harlan made a prank call. Until finally, one of them dared the other to get married. They spotted a priest and badgered him until he agreed to marry them, and… here they are!
“Perhaps we can get it annulled?” suggested Temp with a certain amount of hope that he was choosing not to take personally.
“Maybe,” he agreed doubtfully.
Temp wrinkled her forehead. “You don’t think so?”
“It seems doubtful given that we consummated the relationship.”
Bits and pieces were coming back to him from the previous night, and yeah, they definitely had sex – more than once. A part of him felt a little shame that she had been drunk, but then, so had he, and well, from the returning flashes of memory, they had both certainly enjoyed it.
He looked over at her long, lithe form. His eyes traveled up her slim, toned legs, took in the flare of her hips, then the swell of her breasts
… yeah, he had enjoyed himself, more than he had in a long time.
Harlan stared at the cheap wedding ring on his finger. It was just plastic covered in gold paint. He seemed to recall they won these from a claw game. Took twenty-seven attempts until he finally gave in and just thumped the machine, but he finally got them. He remembered the look of happiness on her beautiful face as he slid the ring on her finger. Remembered the feeling of pride and contentment inside himself. Remembered the way his inner reindeer chuffed.
Temp saw him looking at his ring and stared at her’s for a few beats. She rubbed her temples. “How could I have been so foolish?”
It occurred to him that he wasn’t panicking quite as much as he should. He should be freaking out like she was, but he wasn’t. He told himself it was no big deal – it could be easily sorted, if not with an annulment then with a divorce.
His phone started ringing, and he picked it up to find Branch’s name on the caller ID. Perhaps he was ringing again about the meeting Corinne, and her alpha wanted.
A frisson of unease slithered through him, and he cast a suspicious glance over at Temp. How much did she know about him? Did she know his family was rich? Was this all an act to try and get money from him? His instincts said no, but thanks to his past experience, he knew he didn’t have the best judgment where women were concerned. But, he just didn’t think she was the predatory type.
Plus, he knew more about Tempest than he wished to admit to her thanks to Mal’s snooping. For one thing, he knew she was definitely Mira’s sister – he was ignoring that for the moment, no need to get bogged down in imagining the ways Branch might yell or try to kill him for dallying with his precious girlfriend’s sister. He knew she was single, and ran a charity called Snow Bunnies. He also knew she was going to be at the engagement party the previous evening. That actually was a coincidence – Candace really was his uncle’s sister-in-law – he didn’t just crash the party. But on finding out that she would be there, he definitely knew he had to go and seek her out.
Temp got to her feet and gave him a no-nonsense look. “Okay, what happened, happened.”
“Yes, it did,” he murmured, his eyes once again drawn to those lovely legs.
“We shouldn’t waste any more time crying over it.”
“Absolutely not.”
Who was crying? He was surprisingly relaxed about the whole thing. He knew from his partying years there were much worse situations to wake up to following a bender.
“But we do need to sort this out, I mean,” she gave him an uncomfortable look, “we are basically strangers.”
Harlan could argue that after last night, he perhaps knew her more intimately than he did anyone else in his life, but that maybe wasn’t what she wanted to hear.
“I’ll speak to a lawyer to see what our options are,” he said softly.
Temp nodded. “Good, that’s good,” she murmured almost absently.
She looked at him, let out a burst of laughter, and then clamped her hand over her mouth. He smiled at her.
“I’m sorry,” she chuckled, “this is just so surreal. I mean we’re married! I just met you, and we’re married!”
Harlan laughed. “Yeah.” This was a new one for him. He’d been thinking of this woman nearly non-stop for the last few days, and yep, now he was married to her! Not that they would be staying married, but still… he wasn’t sure of his point.
“Umm, I have to get to work, but here’s my card with my number on it – why don’t you call me when you have some news from your lawyer.”
“I will,” he promised.
She held out a card, and he clasped it between his fingers. Their eyes locked for a few seconds and with a shrug, she let go of it.
Temp swallowed and moved backward slightly clumsily. “I ah, I have to get to work.”
“Yes, you said that,” he murmured.
“Right, umm…”
A dull flush crept over her lovely skin, and he could scent the stirrings of her arousal. He was pleased to find that she was as attracted to him as he was to her. Well, they were married…
“I’m going to shower, please just let yourself out. I’ll talk to you soon.”
Before he could respond, she darted into the bathroom, and he heard the dull click of a lock being turned.
Harlan twisted the card in his fingers. “Yes, soon.”
Ten
Temp hurried over to where Mira and Branch were sitting. She was late for dinner. Though given the way they were giggling and canoodling, perhaps they weren’t sad about that.
The two of them had just returned from a weekend away and Mira called, insisting Temp join them for dinner. She tried to say no, tried to protest that she had too much work to do, but Mira insisted and wheedled and guilted her into coming, and truthfully, perhaps Temp did just want a little distraction. Honestly, all she could think about was the fact that she was married to Mr. Perfect! Married!
She had wanted to talk it over with Heather – to see if Heather could shed any light on how she could have let things go so far – but Heather had taken an early flight to Paris. No, she wasn’t eloping, she actually had to go there for business, and unlike Temp she never suffered from anything as mundane as a hangover.
Parts of the night were a blur, but she definitely remembered a few things. Like what happened after they made it back to her apartment. Her body heated at just the memory. Sure it had been a while since she was with a guy, but she couldn’t remember it ever being that good. Just the memory of his hands on her, the way he trailed his fingers down her stomach, how he delved inside her sex, stroking her, teasing her… Temp shook her head. She needed to think of something very unsexy and fast – the last thing she wanted was Branch smelling her arousal.
Yeah, it had taken her a few days to grasp it, but Mira had told her that Branch, as well as being the CEO of a multi-million dollar company, also happened to be a reindeer shifter. Seriously! He turned into a massive freaking reindeer whenever he wanted. She had been shocked at first, but honestly when she thought about it, it really didn’t make any difference to her. It was a little odd and surprising, but Branch was still Branch. However, it meant that he had a monstrously good sense of smell and could tell when she was aroused.
Okay, so, unsexy thoughts, peanut butter sandwiches, peanut butter, Harlan covered in peanut butter… crud.
“Hey!” she cried, to cover her embarrassment.
Mira stopped smooching and grinned at her. “Hi.”
Branch rumbled his own hello, though he didn’t look best pleased to be interrupted mid-kiss.
“How was your weekend?” asked Temp, trying to distract them from the fact that she was all of a twitter thinking about her husband. Her husband!
Mira blushed and smiled at Branch who looked disgustingly smug. “It was wonderful,” she said. “I have so many photos.”
“Mmmm.”
Since Branch bought her a camera, Mira had been snapping away non-stop, and she took about six photos when one would do. When she said she would show you her latest photos, you should clear your schedule for a couple of days – because that’s how long it would take to get through all of them.
“Did you have a nice weekend?” asked Mira.
“Ah…”
“Did you do anything exciting?”
Temp considered whether getting drunk, married and sexed stupid by the most gorgeous man in the world could be considered exciting. Perhaps it may be a little too exciting.
“Not really. Sorry I’m late, have you already ordered?” said Temp picking up the menu eagerly.
“No, not yet.”
She was almost salivating over their tiramisu. She loved dining at this restaurant though rarely did. Temp had been very fortunate in that she grew up with a trust fund and money was never an issue for her. She chose to use the majority of the money for her charity, and always felt guilty splurging on a restaurant like this when a five-dollar sandwich would feed her equally well. But if Branch was paying, s
he was going to have three courses and two desserts.
Plus, she was saving money for her baby. Though, that should probably be on hold while she sorted out her marriage. Oh, every time she thought about it her insides squeezed. On the one hand, Harlan gave her some very nice, warm feelings. But on the other, she’d acted like a complete lunatic. She’d treated the whole concept of marriage with even less respect than her dad did. She’d always thought if ever there was a chance she would get married, that it would be with someone special, and it would be a true bond. Not just some drunken mistake.
Branch looked at his watch and grunted impatiently. His dark eyes flickered to the door.
“Are we waiting for someone else?” asked Temp.
“Yes,” said Mira, “Branch’s brother.”
“Typical of him to be late,” grumbled Branch.
Mira patted his arm. “Harlan will be here soon.”
“Harlan?” breathed Temp. She wrenched her attention away from the appetizers menu to look at them. “Did you say Harlan?”
“She did indeed.”
Temp’s jaw dropped open as Mr. Perfect – her husband – loomed over her, bathing her in the sunshine radiating off his happy expression.
“I’m Harlan Connors,” he drawled. “Pleased to meet you.”
*
Temp spent her entire entrée trying to get his attention, trying to tell him that she needed to speak to him in private, but either he hadn’t noticed her purposeful looks or he was pointedly ignoring her. He had to be ignoring her, because he didn’t even react to her kicks. She accidentally got Branch once and he was not happy. It completely put her off her food.
“Are you okay?” asked Mira concernedly as the waiter took away her nearly full plate.
“Fine,” responded Temp brightly – she was considering murdering the man, who happened to be her husband, sitting next to her, but other than that she was just dandy.
“So come on,” said Temp, “tell us your news.”
“What news?” asked Mira far too innocently.
“Tell us the reason you asked us to dinner.” As if she couldn’t guess what it was already.
Branch and Mira clasped hands and in unison – because that’s what disgustingly happy couples did – they said, “We’re engaged.”