The Bride Said, I Did?

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  They made it sound so easy, so logical. If only it was! Dani bit down on her lower lip as anxiety and regret welled up in great powerful waves. “You think Beau and I have made a mistake, breaking up over this, don’t you?” she asked, studying their faces.

  Edie and Ellsworth exchanged a look laced with meaning. Then Edie turned back to Dani and spoke for them both. “We think a love as powerful as yours comes along very seldom in this life. If the two of you are wise, you’ll both put your pride aside and do everything you can to preserve it.”

  DANI PACED THE INTERIOR of her house after Edie and Ellsworth left. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew they were right. But was it too late? The premiere of Bravo Canyon was in a matter of hours. Beau was already ensconced in his Dallas hotel room. There was no guarantee he would even be willing to try to work things out, come to any sort of compromise. And yet, if she didn’t try, wasn’t she consigning them both to a life of heartache and misery? Never mind the baby they were expecting?

  Dani went to the phone and dialed Wade McCabe, an investor, and his wife, Josie, the wildcatter who had struck oil for him. “Guys,” Dani said as soon as she got them on the line, “I need a favor.”

  An hour and a half later Wade was landing his chopper on the rooftop of the Dallas hotel where Beau was staying.

  But to Dani’s surprise, instead of Edie and Ellsworth Getz—who’d been supposed to meet her on the rooftop and escort her down to see Beau—Beau himself was standing there waiting. Framed in the Texas sun, aviator sunglasses covering his eyes, wearing a white shirt, jeans and hat, he had never looked sexier. Or more unapproachable.

  “Good luck, honey,” Josie said.

  “Thanks,” Dani murmured as she gathered up her luggage and stepped out of the chopper. Judging by the wary expression on Beau’s face, it looked as if she was going to need it. Her heart pounding in her throat, she looped her garment bag over her shoulder and dashed across the rooftop to Beau’s side.

  The chopper lifted off with a great gust of wind. Dani waved once, then turned to Beau. There was so much to say. She didn’t know where to begin. So he did it for her.

  “I’m sorry,” he said huskily, taking her in his arms and hugging her. “I never should have let you go off alone last night…”

  Dani looked into his eyes as they slowly drew apart. “You’re not the only one responsible for making our relationship last, Beau. No matter how frightened I was, I never should have walked out on you…”

  But before she could say anything more, Beau whipped off his sunglasses and touched a finger to her lips. “Hear me out, Dani. For both our sakes, I need to say this.” His voice dropped a notch. “I know I accused you of being afraid to love me last night, but the truth is, you weren’t the only one who was having second thoughts about putting it all on the line. All my life I’ve believed everything was within reach. All I had to do was want it and work for it. Then you came along. Suddenly, nothing was easy or predictable. Right off the bat you had me pegged. I could tell you were attracted to me, but you wouldn’t do anything but flirt or feud with me. Then you married me. You made love with me. But you wouldn’t stay with me. Not all that willingly, anyway. After a while I began to wonder if what you’d said to me when we first met, about life not being this easy, wasn’t right, after all. I knew what had happened to your parents, how you and your sisters had all suffered as a result…the injustice of it all. And I began to wonder if maybe you and the baby weren’t the one thing in my life that would be taken away from me for no reason any of us can comprehend. Not because of death, but because of an inability to trust in the strength of our marriage, on both our parts. I knew you’d been through so much that you no longer had faith that life would bring you any lasting happiness. And the same went for our marriage. And I didn’t have confidence that you would be tenacious enough, or love me enough, to stay around and work through our problems. Instead, I expected you to bolt at the first signs of any real difficulty. So when trouble came, as it inevitably and routinely does in all marriages, I practically pushed you out the door. Instead of doing what I should have done, which was to move heaven and earth, make whatever sacrifice or compromise necessary, so you would stay.”

  “Oh, Beau…” Dani’s heart broke for him. She knew how it felt to be filled with hurt and uncertainty, to want to be happy, but fear you never will be.

  “And my mistakes didn’t stop there,” he continued gruffly, moving away from her and beginning to pace. He shook his head in mute regret. “I had no right to accuse you of trying to make fools of us both or ask you to pull your review of Bravo Canyon. In fact, the more I think about it—” Beau’s lips twisted ruefully “—the more I feel I should stay out of your work entirely. Because that really isn’t the function of a husband or a wife.”

  Dani’s heart pounded. Unable to help herself, she moved a step closer, so they were standing just inches apart. “Even if I can no longer treat you the same as everyone else in the business?” she asked slowly.

  Beau grinned—he obviously liked the sound of that—and then his eyes darkened. “I’ll be honest with you, Dani. It meant a lot to me that you were proud of my performance.” Abruptly he grew very still. “I don’t need your approval. But I want it.”

  “I want yours, too.” Tears of happiness and relief stung Dani’s eyes. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him sweetly. “More than anyone else’s in this world.”

  “You’ve got it,” Beau said thickly as he hugged her back. They kissed again, more passionately this time. “Because you’re the best critic in this country and everyone knows it. Your reviews are so insightful and fair they put everyone else’s to shame.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” Dani said, blushing, as she leaned back against the warm cradle of his arms to gaze into his face.

  “I would,” Beau said firmly as he stroked warm loving hands down her spine. “But it’s not your reviews that I’m interested in, Dani.” He paused to kiss her temple. He lifted a hand and drew it tenderly down the side of her face. “It’s you. And the baby.” Gently he touched her tummy. “And the life we can have together if we put everything else aside and just concentrate on making our marriage a real and lasting one.”

  Euphoric relief surged through Dani as she lifted his hand to her lips and kissed it. “I agree that’s what we should do,” she said seriously, knowing if they were going to be together again, they couldn’t be afraid to lay it all on the line and talk out their problems, even when it was uncomfortable to do so. “But I also think I need to set the record straight in a lot of ways, and that’s why I’m publishing this one last review of your work before I call it quits.”

  Beau gave her a steady assessing look as some of the light left his eyes. “What about the conflict of interest?”

  “I took care of that.” With a reassuring glance, Dani extricated herself from his arms. “But just to make sure it all meets with your approval before it actually hits the newspapers, why don’t you check out the amended version?” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a neatly folded copy, then watched in silence as Beau began to read what she had written.

  It isn’t often real life is imbued with movie magic, but that, dear readers, is exactly what’s been happening to me.

  I fell in love. I married. And I’m going to have a baby with the man I love more than life itself.

  What’s surprising about that? you’re probably asking yourselves. It happens every day.

  And you’re right. It does. Absolutely.

  Usually not with a man who has been doing nothing but flirting and feuding with you for the past two years, but that is exactly what happened.

  I finally made peace with Beau Chamberlain, America’s big-screen hero and movie star extraordinaire. And once the two of us finally buried the hatchet, it didn’t take us long to realize there was still considerable energy between us. Of a completely different, very romantic, kind.

  For that reason, I almost passed on review
ing Bravo Canyon.

  And then I decided I didn’t want to leave it like that.

  So, before I exempt myself from ever reviewing one of Beau Chamberlain’s movies again (in the interest of marital harmony), here is what I think, what I really think, of Bravo Canyon…

  Beau scanned the unremittingly favorable review, which he had already read back in Laramie, then looked at her in wonderment. “You didn’t have to do this,” he said huskily. “Bring our personal situation into your column. I know how much you’ve always prided yourself on keeping your work completely separate from your private life, that you’ve built your reputation on not doing favors for family and friends.”

  “I know I didn’t have to do it,” Dani agreed, her heart soaring at the new peace and understanding between them. “But I wanted everyone to know how I feel about you. I wanted them to know that my feelings, my commitment to you, are so deep and abiding they aren’t ever going to disappear.”

  Touched by the public display of her affection, knowing how much it had cost her, Beau smiled. “I reckon you’ve done that, seeing as how your column runs in dozens of newspapers across the country.” He folded the review, put it in his pocket and took her back into his arms. He ran his fingers through her hair and looked deep into her eyes. “Soon everyone will know how much I love you, too.”

  Dani grinned. “And how exactly are you planning to do that?” she asked.

  “By holding your hand and kissing you every chance I get, starting with tonight’s premiere of Bravo Canyon,” Beau promised, sweeping a hand down her spine.

  “Speaking of which,” Dani said between more kisses, her enthusiasm for Beau’s latest project undaunted, “Bravo Canyon is going to be the big hit of the summer. In fact, I’ll be surprised if anything surpasses it this year.”

  Beau kissed his way down her neck and brushed aside talk of his latest movie. “I don’t care about that.”

  “Sure you do. We both do. But,” she cautioned soberly, luxuriating in the cozy feel of his arms around her, “the difference is, we both know now that our work isn’t the only thing. The most important thing is us. Our marriage. Our baby. Our family.” Tears of joy misted her eyes as she stood on tiptoe and kissed him once more. “I don’t ever want to be without you again.”

  “I don’t ever want to be without you, either,” Beau replied, pulling her even closer, letting her know with the tenderness of his touch that they had their whole lives ahead of them, and this time, nothing would force them apart. Not their pride. Not their work. From now on, they would weather things together, as husband and wife, mom and dad.

  Dani looked into his eyes and saw all the love she could possibly have wished for. “So it’s settled?” she asked huskily. “We’ll put on our wedding rings and tell the world what an incredibly wild and wonderful thing we’ve gone and done?”

  “You bet we’ll tell ’em,” Beau declared. As prepared as ever, he grinned and pulled the velvet ring box out of his pocket. “I’ve got them right here.” He flipped the box open.

  As Dani slid the wedding band on Beau’s finger, she realized that only a few days had passed, but in those days, her life had changed remarkably. At long last, all her dreams were coming true. She was no longer afraid of the future. There were no guarantees, of course, but with Beau’s love and their rock-solid commitment to each other, she knew that she, Beau and the baby could weather anything.

  Her future with Beau beckoning like a bright rainbow, Dani was unable to contain her euphoria as Beau slid her engagement and wedding rings on once again. “Oh, Beau, I owe you so much,” Dani murmured happily as she went back into the warm inviting circle of his arms.

  “And how’s that?” Beau drawled as he indulged in a long steamy kiss that left them both feeling glowing and alive.

  Eager to share her revelation, she whispered softly, “Because you’ve made me realize I can have my happily-ever-after—with you.”

  “And I’m having mine,” Beau whispered back, all the love he felt for her reflected in his eyes, “with you.”

  SEVERAL HOURS LATER Meg, Jenna, and Kelsey gathered around the TV in Meg’s living room. Impatiently they waited for the late edition of the evening news and a glimpse of Dani and Beau at the star-studded Dallas premiere of Bravo Canyon.

  “Think they made up?” Kelsey asked, as they passed around the popcorn bowl.

  “As crazy in love with each other as the two of them are?” Meg quirked a brow and shook her head at the silliness of the question. “Of course.”

  “Think they’re going to stay married?” Kelsey persisted. “Or even tell anyone they are married?”

  “We’re about to find out.” Jenna pointed excitedly at the TV screen.

  The news anchor said, “Sorry to disappoint all you ladies, but one of the biggest movie stars in this country announced his marriage tonight. And he did it right here in Texas. That’s right. Beau Chamberlain, star of the new movie Bravo Canyon, is married. And to none other than film critic Dani Lockhart.”

  The three other Lockhart sisters grinned.

  “Look! They’re even wearing wedding rings now!” Kelsey said exuberantly.

  “This is so great,” Jenna said, beaming at the happy looks on Beau and Dani’s faces.

  “Not to mention romantic,” Kelsey said on a wistful sigh as the telephone rang. Meg got up to answer the phone.

  She said hello, then listened. “Hi, Lilah. John.” She covered the mouthpiece. “It’s the McCabes. They’re on speakerphone,” she said.

  “Uh-oh,” Kelsey murmured. If anyone in Laramie felt a parental responsibility to the girls, it was John and Lilah McCabe.

  “Yes. We saw it. We knew about it.” Meg blushed fiercely as she listened to John and Lilah. “I don’t know. We’ll have to get back to you on that,” she said finally, then hung up, still blushing.

  “What did they say?” Jenna asked, still studying the TV and the way Dani looked in the evening dress she had given her. A better commercial for one of her designs couldn’t have been made. The photos of Dani and Beau would be printed in tomorrow’s papers. Everyone would want to know where Dani had gotten her dress.

  “They wanted to tell us they’re expecting all four of us to get married and settle down just like their sons did,” Meg reported, as the TV reporter also made mention of the baby Beau and Dani were expecting.

  “So?” Kelsey challenged, for a moment looking as wild and untamable as the horses she liked to ride.

  “So,” Meg said, looking steadily at her sisters, “they want to know which one of us is next.”

  ISBN: 978-1-4603-6752-0

  THE BRIDE SAID “I DID?”

  Copyright © 2000 by Cathy Gillen Thacker.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

  This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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  * Brides, Babies & Blizzards

  ** The McCabes of Texas

  † The Lockharts of Texas