The Bride Said, I Did?

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  Beau swore and mopped his face with the end of his towel. Who wasn’t out to destroy Bravo Canyon, the best movie he’d made in years? he wondered futilely.

  Sharon sat down on a stool, hiking the skirt of her revealing sundress well above her knees. “Everyone in Hollywood is buzzing, you know, wondering what in blue blazes you’re doing in this one-horse town.” Sharon leaned forward, giving him a generous view of her cleavage. “Never mind considering opening a satellite office of your production company here. Or is that just a ploy—” she paused and searched his face “—to get the Lady with the Poison Pen on your side?”

  Aware he had never been more turned off by his vindictive ex-wife, Beau drank greedily from the bottle, then asked impatiently, “What do you want?” Whatever the hell it was, he wanted Sharon to get it over with and get out of here.

  “I am here merely to remind you that the clock is ticking. And we still haven’t found a solution to our little dilemma.”

  Beau wondered if Sharon’s deal for her tell-all book had fallen through, or was about to, due to the defamation and libel threats issued from his own lawyers to hers. He regarded her grimly. “I’m not giving you any more money, so you can forget that.”

  “There are other options.” Sharon gave him a sultry look as she played with the pendant nestling between her breasts.

  “Such as?”

  Sharon slid off the stool and grabbed his sweaty T-shirt with both hands. “How about a reconciliation between the two of us, or at least the hint of one, just in time for the premiere of Bravo Canyon?”

  Beau pried her fingers from his shirt and turned away from her. Undeterred, Sharon continued, “Imagine what a buzz it would cause if I were to show up at the premiere, on your arm, the two of us looking happy as could be.”

  Beau stared at her. Were there any limits to how far she’d go? It did not appear so. “You’ve got to be joking.” The only person he was taking to his premiere was Dani.

  “It wouldn’t have to be a permanent thing,” Sharon suggested sexily, batting her eyelashes at him. “Just long enough to raise speculation about us again.”

  “And help you peddle your tell-all book of lies? No thanks. You try to sell it and I mean it, I’ll sue. That simple. You’ll have an army of lawyers on you before you can spit.”

  Briefly, fear flickered in her eyes. A second later determination returned, icier than ever. “I need work,” Sharon said flatly. And she was willing to do anything to get it.

  “You have an agent. And a publicist.” Beau took Sharon’s arm and guided her toward the closest exit, the back door. “Use them,” Beau counseled sternly.

  “I have,” Sharon replied emotionally as she wriggled free of his grip. “But since we split, I can’t even get arrested.”

  Beau did a double take. “And you’re blaming that on me?”

  Sharon scowled. “You’re a powerful man in the business, Beau.” She reached into the leather carryall draped over her shoulder and pulled out a dog-eared copy of a script. “I want the part of Maizie. One phone call from you is all it will take.”

  Beau snorted in derision. His ex must have lost her mind.

  “I’m running out of patience, Beau,” Sharon threatened. She closed the distance between them, not stopping until they were nose to nose. “You can make this happen for me.”

  Beau knew he could if he wanted.

  “If you do it, the tell-all will be forgotten. Like that.” Sharon snapped her fingers.

  Beau clenched his jaw and hung on to his skyrocketing temper with effort. “You’re wasting your time.” He had given her a generous settlement at the time of the divorce for two reasons. He had wanted out as quickly and quietly as possible. And he’d felt guilty for ever marrying her when it was clear in retrospect that their relationship had been based on infatuation, not love.

  “Am I?” Sharon lifted one exquisitely plucked brow. “I don’t think so.”

  Beau swore softly as a muscle ticked convulsively in his jaw. Sharon had made a fool of him once. He wasn’t about to let that happen again. “Do yourself a favor and get the hell out of Dodge.”

  “Don’t you mean Laramie?” Dani interrupted dryly from the entrance to the kitchen, Billy right beside her.

  THE MOMENT SHARON was out the door, Dani turned to Beau. “She’s blackmailing you, isn’t she?”

  “I can handle her.” Beau was only sorry anything had spoiled what should have been a delightful morning with his new wife.

  Billy piped up with, “You shouldn’t have to handle her alone.” He looked ready to join the posse on Beau’s behalf. “Not when you’ve got Dani and me on your side.”

  Beau smiled at Billy. Dani had been right—he had initially misjudged him. He was a pretty good kid. “What do you mean?” Beau asked.

  Billy scowled. “Sharon Davis talked to you that way just because she thinks no one else will be able to see or hear her do it,” he said.

  “But Billy and I have an idea how to change all that,” Dani added, grinning mischievously.

  Beau gazed at Dani. She had never looked more beautiful or feisty than she did at that moment. It occurred to him that she was protecting him every bit as fiercely as he had protected her. He liked it. “What are you suggesting?”

  “That we do what people do in the movies,” Billy said.

  Dani nodded. “And bring the truth to light.”

  Minutes later Beau set the phone back in the receiver. “It’s all set. I’m meeting her late this evening.”

  “That should give us plenty of time, don’t you think?” Billy looked at Dani hopefully. Dani nodded.

  “Meanwhile,” Beau said to Billy, “have you made any decisions about your future?”

  Billy nodded. “I talked to my folks. We decided that it makes the most sense for me to spend a year living at home and working out of your offices here. That way I can save as much money as possible and learn as much as possible about the film business before I start college. And they can watch over me and see that I don’t turn nutty on them—you know, pierce my tongue or something like that—just ’cause I’m now working in the film business. They hate my goatee enough as it is.”

  Beau knew there was an easy solution to that—shave. But Billy would have to come to that realization on his own. “Please don’t pierce anything,” Beau said earnestly. He angled a thumb at his chest. “I’d be blamed.”

  “I know.” Billy chuckled, then promised, “I won’t. So, anyway, back to business. With my mom and dad’s blessing, I accept your offer of a one-year internship first, and the four-year scholarship after that.”

  Pleased, Beau shook hands with him. “I’ll have the production-company attorneys express-mail the papers to you and notify USC right away.”

  “Thanks.” Billy looked at his watch. “Well, if we’re gonna do that tonight, I better get moving on the setup.”

  “Call if you run into any trouble,” Beau said.

  “Yes, sir.” Billy gave a sharp two-fingered salute, then grinned and slipped out the door.

  Beau turned to Dani. He wanted nothing more than to take her to bed and keep her there, make hot passionate love to her all day. But her totally businesslike demeanor said she had other plans. “What’s on the agenda today?” he asked as he headed upstairs to shower.

  Dani followed him into the bedroom, where he’d hung his clothes. “I have to watch and review your new film.”

  Beau tensed. There had been so much going on he had almost—but not quite—forgotten about that.

  “I think I should watch Bravo Canyon alone,” Dani said. It would be easier to concentrate, get her review written and sent in.

  Beau shrugged off his sweaty T-shirt and running shorts and dropped them in the laundry hamper. “I’ve got to meet with my agent and publicist, anyway, at the temporary office space I rented on Main Street.” Beau reached for his razor and shaving cream.

  “I’ll see you later, then?” Dani said, already backing away.

  Bea
u nodded. “I’ll go as soon as I get cleaned up, then be back in a few hours.”

  EDIE AND ELLSWORTH GETZ were waiting for him. The trio settled down in the sparsely furnished office while he passed out the cups of lemonade he’d picked up from Isabel Buchanon’s bakery.

  Edie handed him a printed schedule of events. “You leave the day after tomorrow for the two-day publicity blitz. It’s going to be in Dallas, since that’s also where the premiere is going to be held.”

  Beau knew all that. They had gone over it several times in the past few weeks, either by phone or fax. He scanned the pages impatiently, then listened absently as Edie filled him in on the post-premiere-party details, as well. Noticing his lack of attentiveness, Edie frowned. “You might demonstrate a tad more excitement,” she said.

  Ellsworth looked concerned, too. “If you can’t sell your own movie, no one can.” He paused, abruptly becoming more personal. “I know how much this movie means to you. The considerable risk you took in accepting a part that—on the surface, anyway—is not the least bit sympathetic.”

  Edie put in with a publicist’s single-minded concern, “Not to mention you almost blew everything with that very dramatic set-to with Shane McCabe a few weeks ago.”

  Beau shrugged, having no regrets about the ploy that had served to help Greta and Shane realize how they really felt about each other. “It all worked out in the end, and I got a little free publicity for the movie, to boot.”

  “True. But now the tabloids have gotten wind of Sharon’s tell-all project, as well as your relationship with Dani Lockhart. They’re going to publish stories alleging that this is only the second in a round of publicity stunts. They’re going to wrongly hint that you’re only shacking up with her to elicit a good review from her, thereby insuring a big opening weekend for the new movie.”

  Beau grimaced. He should have seen this coming. Would have if he hadn’t been so enamored of Dani and wrapped up in the love they’d discovered. He looked at Edie and Ellsworth. “We aren’t shacking up.” Furthermore, anyone who knew him would know he would never use a woman that way.

  “Temporarily residing beneath the same roof, then,” Ellsworth said impatiently. “It will all look the same in the National Inquisitor.”

  “Which reminds me.” Edie referred to her notes. “Personalities! magazine called this morning wanting to know if the scoop on the street is true. Are you living with the Lady with the Poison Pen?” She shook her head. “I put them off, said I’d have to check with you, but they won’t wait long before sending someone out to see for themselves if we don’t get back to them. So,” Edie concluded abruptly, looking more like family than business associate, “you want to tell us what is going on with you and Dani Lockhart?”

  Beau took a long swallow of lemonade while he considered how best to protect Dani from any scandal or heartache. She was just beginning to believe in happily-ever-afters. He didn’t want anything spoiling that now.

  “It’s personal.”

  “That may be,” Edie said, her pen and paper at the ready for drafting a press release. “But we have to tell them something if you don’t want whatever is going on between you two to become hopelessly intertwined with the scandal brewing with Sharon and or to overshadow the debut of your new movie.”

  “On the other hand, if you were to announce you’d made peace with Dani Lockhart after your longstanding feud with her, and were having some sort of romance with her, that would knock Sharon’s bogus charges of past infidelities off the radar screen, at least in terms of publicity value,” Ellsworth predicted.

  “A new romance beats an old one any time. The more sensational or surprising, the better. And a romance with Dani Lockhart is certainly that,” Edie remarked sagely. “So. What do you want me to say?”

  “Nothing yet,” Beau replied. He had to talk to Dani first. But if he had his way, they’d be announcing their marriage pronto.

  WHEN BEAU WALKED IN, Billy was still toiling away, cataloging the massive collection of videos. Dani was nowhere in sight. “Where is she?”

  “Still watching the movie. She hasn’t come out of there since you left.” Billy nodded at the closed library doors.

  Beau was nervous about Dani’s response to the movie. He’d put his heart and soul into it. If she didn’t like the film, it would be a very personal, very hard hit. One best handled alone between Dani and himself. “Listen, you’ve been working hard,” Beau told Billy. “Why don’t you take the afternoon off? We’ll meet you at the place where the sting will take place.”

  “Are you sure? ’Cause I’ve got over five hundred of these left to go. And Dani wanted them done as soon as possible so she can get started on her book.”

  Beau put his hand on Billy’s shoulder, gave him a man-to-man look. “Dani and I need some time alone.”

  Flushing, Billy grinned. “Why didn’t you say so?” That quickly, he was already shutting down the computer, getting up and out of his chair.

  “Do us a favor?” Beau tossed him a notepad, pen and roll of tape. “Put up a Do Not Disturb sign next to the doorbell on your way out.”

  Billy gave him a thumbs-up. “No problem.”

  As soon as Billy left, Beau rapped on the library door. No answer. Sure the movie had to have been over for at least thirty minutes, if not more, he walked in. Dani was curled up on the sofa in front of the projection screen, crying softly. Embarrassed, she wiped the tears from her eyes. Beau’s heart took a nose-dive. “That bad, huh?”

  Dani reached for the tissue box. Pulled one out. Blew her nose, then launched herself into his arms for a congratulatory hug. “Don’t be silly,” she murmured affectionately. “Bravo Canyon is going to be a huge hit for you.”

  Beau wondered if Dani still felt there was too much fantasy in the movies he made, then decided against asking her opinion. There was no sense in letting their work cause problems between them. What did it matter how she viewed the film professionally? It was her devotion as his wife, her love and understanding that he wanted and needed. He held her close and kissed her passionately.

  “So how did your meeting with Edie and Ellsworth go?” Dani asked long minutes later, when they finally drew apart and had gone into the kitchen to get something to drink.

  Beau watched her pour them both some milk. Frowning, he took the glass she handed him. “That’s what we need to talk about.” As much as he was loath to tell her, he knew he had to. “The tabloids are on to us. We’re going to have to publicly announce our marriage or face all sorts of wild speculation.”

  Dani took a stool next to his. “What do you want to do?”

  Beau drummed his fingers on the butcher-block surface of the work island. “Part of me wants to keep our marriage quiet forever. Just enjoy being married without dealing with all the media hoopla the announcement of our marriage will create. But I also know it would be easier on you and your sisters if we just took the bull by the horns and told it all now. That we were married in Mexico in a small private ceremony several weeks ago and are now expecting a baby.”

  Dani drew a tremulous breath and set her glass down on the work island. “If we announce it, Beau, there’s no going back.” She looked at him, worried her happiness was going to be taken from her as swiftly and unexpectedly as before.

  Beau covered her hand with his, letting her know with the steady warmth of his touch he had no such qualms. “I know.”

  As she looked into his eyes, Dani began to relax and was able to concentrate on things that were a little less grave. “We don’t even have wedding rings, Beau!”

  Beau glanced at his watch. “We can fix that this afternoon.”

  “We’re supposed to meet Billy.”

  “Not until seven. We’ve got plenty of time to do this before that if we want. Say yes, Dani.” Beau leaned forward and gently kissed her lips. “Say yes, Dani,” he whispered persuasively, “and make this marriage of ours a real and lasting one in every respect.”

  Dani hesitated once again, uncertainty we
lling up inside her.

  Determinedly she pushed it away. Love like this came along once in a lifetime. She’d be a fool to let it go. Even if it was all happening a little too quickly for comfort. “Yes,” Dani whispered, kissing him back, putting everything she felt, everything she hoped for, in the sweet caress. “Yes…yes…yes…”

  AS BEAU HAD PREDICTED, buying rings went off without a hitch. And he and Dani arrived at his newly leased office on Main Street a good hour before Sharon arrived. Billy had set up earlier, just as Beau had directed, and had phoned to let them know he, too, was on his way.

  Meanwhile, Dani thought, she and Beau had a few moments alone to continue the discussion they’d started on the way home from their secret meeting with a prominent Dallas jeweler at a midpoint between Dallas and Laramie. “You’re sure you want to announce our marriage at the premiere of your new movie?” she said nervously. She knew she was in love with Beau, and he with her. That as lovers and friends they were great. But as for marriage…somehow that still seemed like an enormous step, one with long-term implications, and deep down Dani wasn’t sure she was ready for all that pressure. Since her parents’ deaths, she’d had trouble trusting in the future. Marriage to Beau required a lot of trust in not just today and tomorrow and next year, but the far-distant future. Dani had trouble believing that future could be happy and trouble-free when she knew darn well that all her happiness could easily end the very next day. She’d had the rug pulled out from under her once. She didn’t want it pulled out from under her again.

  As long as their impetuous union had been a well-kept family secret, of course, their marriage hadn’t been that difficult to deal with. Maybe, Dani thought, because she’d sort of had one foot out the door, so to speak, knowing they could easily change their minds and end it all at any time with no one having been the wiser about how foolishly romantic and naive they had been. But if they announced it…went public…well, there would be no turning back, no renegotiating the terms of their relationship, for either of them. The pressure would be on to make this work for the long haul. And it was a pressure that Beau, unlike her, did not seem to be feeling at all.