Something Borrowed, Something Blue

by Lena Matthews

  “Apparently the trunk was accidentally sold in an estate sale. Meadow said she would have never knowingly given it up for anything in the world.” Brushing her hand against the soft fabric, Azure could see why. “She offered to reimburse me for the fee I paid Terrell as well as handle any shipping fees if I would send the dress back to her.”

  “I hope you told her what she could do with her money.”

  “Kind of.” Azure smiled sadly. “I told her I would send her back the dress and she wouldn’t have to pay anything.”

  “Send it back! Why would you do that?”

  “Because it’s the right thing to do.”

  “Azure, this makes no sense.” To her surprise, Gavin looked almost more upset than she was. “You love that dress and more importantly, you own it. It’s yours, so oh-fucking-well. You bought it fair and square. No court in the world would make you give it back.”

  “No one’s making me give it back, Gavin.”

  “Then why are you doing it?”

  Azure shrugged her shoulders, not sure how to explain to him that she just knew in her heart it was what she was supposed to do.

  “I think everything happens for a reason.”

  “Everything?”

  “Yes.” Azure walked back over to the couch, taking his hand in hers as she sat. “Everything. For instance, if Jessie had been home that day, you would have never knocked on my door and demi-pliéd your way into my home or my heart.”

  “I still don’t know what a demi-plié is.” Gavin lovingly stroked her hand with his fingers. “But I know that I thank my lucky stars every day you let me in to your home and into your heart.”

  “Like you would have taken no for an answer.”

  “If Operation Charmin hadn’t worked, I had a back-up plan.”

  “Stalker.” She laughed as she leaned forward to brush a quick kiss on his lips. “The dress is the same way though. Just think, if I hadn’t been perusing the store, I would have never had found the dress…”

  “Which just goes to show you it’s meant to be.”

  “It’s meant for me to return it. I love history, and only someone with a love of the past would have taken the time to get as much information on the dress as they could which led me to Meadow who had been looking for the dress herself. I think I was supposed to find the dress so I could return it to her family.”

  “Azure, you love that dress.”

  “That I do.” Azure glanced over at the dress. “But I need to do this.”

  “I don’t agree, but if this is what you really truly feel you need to do, then I’ll support your decision, begrudgingly.”

  “I appreciate it.” She smiled. “I have to say, I’m very surprised you’re this upset about it. I thought the dress being gone would make you feel better.”

  “Why in the world did you think that?”

  Isn’t it obvious? “I don’t know, out of sight out of mind.”

  “Don’t you know?” Gavin pulled Azure onto his lap. “I want you to have everything your heart desires.”

  “Gavin…” Azure was so touched by his words, for a moment she was speechless. When all else failed, she chose to say the one thing she’d been wanting to say for awhile. “I love you.”

  Gavin’s grip around her tightened as he pulled her in closer to him and kissed her. The fierceness with which he held her told her all the feelings he had in his heart. But surprisingly, he was able to say the words as well. “I love you, too.”

  A comfortable silence drifted around them and Azure eased down in his arms until her head was resting against his chest. He made her feel so cherished, so loved.

  “So when are you going to ship it to her?” Gavin asked.

  “Actually, I was thinking of doing it today.”

  “Today!”

  Azure sat up at his shocked tone. “Yes, why?”

  “It’s just too…” Gavin glanced over to the dress then back to Azure with a wicked gleam in his eyes. “I have an idea.”

  Azure warily asked, “What?”

  “Let’s make your dream dress a reality.”

  “What?”

  “Let’s get married. Right now.”

  “Married.” Startled, Azure moved out of his arms and stood. Was he crazy? “Are you joking?”

  “I’ve never been more serious in my life.”

  “But you don’t want to get married.”

  “I’m allowed to change my mind.”

  “I’m…” Flabbergasted, Azure began to pace. “I know you think you’re doing this because you think it’s what I want.”

  “Are you saying you don’t want to get married?”

  “No, I’m saying I don’t want to get married like this.”

  “Like what?” Gavin stood as well, a smile like none other she’d ever seen before on his face. “Like to the man you love, who loves you back.”

  “Just a few days ago we were talking about how you didn’t want to get married.”

  “The other day I faced a cold, hard truth.”

  “What was that?”

  “If I don’t wise up I might lose you to some guy who’s not nervous about getting married. You’re a beautiful, wonderful woman, who any man would give his right arm just to have you smile at him the way you smile at me. Terrell was ready to kill me two days ago, just because you kissed me.”

  “He was not.”

  “He was, but that’s not the point. I love you and I know I want to spend my life with you.”

  “I hear you, I really do. But I can’t say yes.”

  Gavin’s smile faded. “Why?”

  “Because right now, you’re doing this to make me feel better or because you don’t want to lose me. Neither is a reason to get married.”

  “How about because I love you?”

  “I love you too, but if we’re meant to be, Gavin, it’ll happen. With or without this dress.”

  Gavin pulled her into his arms. “Just so you know, I’m just as stubborn as you are. I won’t stop asking.”

  “You better not.”

  “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  Azure turned in his embrace so she could look at the dress. Suddenly, in the comfort of his arms, she wasn’t as upset as she had been earlier. She loved the dress, she would have loved to wear it in her own wedding, but she didn’t need it to make her wedding dream come true. “No, but I’m sure I have to. Besides you know the old saying, if you love something set it free…”

  The dress was wonderful, but the man holding her was even better. He was the thing real dreams were made of, and he was all hers.

  Epilogue

  “Are you ready for bed?”

  “Yes.” The jubilant voice of her four-year-old daughter, Rose, never failed to make Azure smile. Sitting down on the bed next to her wasn’t as easy as it used to be, but getting up was going to be a lot worse. It was a price she gladly paid to read to Rose before she went to sleep at night. Besides, Azure only had another three weeks with the extra weight of her unborn child in her womb to contend with anyway.

  Looking down into the angelic face of her daughter, who had her mother’s eyes but her father’s wicked smile, never failed to bring tears to Azure’s eyes. Like Gavin had promised her, he didn’t relent with his marriage proposals, and one day she surprised them both by saying yes. It was a decision she’d never regretted in the wonderful six years that they’d been husband and wife. Their love had blossomed much like their ever-growing family.

  “So, what do you want me to read to you tonight?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing?” Rose’s words surprised her. Their nightly ritual had begun before her daughter had been old enough to know what a book was. “You don’t want to hear a story tonight?”

  “No, I do, but I don’t want you to read me a story. I want you to tell me one.”

  The light dawned bright and clear. Azure knew exactly what Rose wanted. “About the wedding dress?”

  “Yes.”

  �
��Okay.” Azure settled back against the wall, getting herself ready for the tale Rose loved to hear. “Once upon a time, there was a magical dress. A wedding dress that had the amazing ability to bring love and happiness wherever it was.

  “The dress was so special it was passed down from generation to generation, so that love and good fortune would continue to blossom for the Chandler clan, until one day…”

  “The dress was sold by mistake.” Rose interrupted, knowing the story almost verbatim.

  “That’s right, but luckily the dress was discovered by a…”

  “A beautiful maiden, who was almost as lucky in love as the dress.” Azure and Rose both looked up to see Gavin standing in the doorway, reciting the story with them. He walked over and dropped a quick kiss upon Rose’s upturned lips. “Pardon me, Princess, for interrupting storytime, but it’s one of my favorites.”

  “It’s okay, Daddy, I like it too.”

  “So when the maiden…”

  “Beautiful maiden,” Rose corrected, earning a wink of approval from her father.

  “Excuse me, beautiful maiden found the dress, she knew instinctively there was more to the dress than met the eye. She took it back to her castle where a handsome prince was waiting for her, beseeching entrance to her kingdom.”

  “And the beautiful maiden felt so bad for the twitching prince, that she granted him entrance.” Rose looked to her father. “Daddy, why were you twitching?”

  “Umm…I was really happy to meet your mom.”

  “Yes.” Azure hid her laughter behind a cough. “The prince was so happy he even did a little dance.”

  “Azure…” Gavin growled.

  “Anyway. The magical dress sensed that the couple, who were vastly different but so obviously destined to belong to one another, needed its help. So it wielded its enchanted spell on the unsuspecting couple. Who, of course, fell head over heels in love with each other. The only thing was, the dress didn’t rightly belong to the maiden, and much to the prince’s dismay, the kindhearted…”

  “And beautiful,” Rose and Gavin echoed.

  “And beautiful maiden returned the magical dress to its rightful owners. As thanks, the gracious Lady Meadow granted the prince one wish, for the kind act his lady love had performed, and come the maiden’s wedding day, the magical dress was hanging in her closet for her to wear, just like she’d dreamed it would be.

  “Wearing the dress, the maiden strolled down the isle into the arms of her prince and the two were married, surrounded by love and magic. And they lived happily…”

  “Ever after,” Rose finished with a smile. “I love that story.”

  “I do too.” Gavin held out his hand to Azure and gently helped her to her feet. “Now it’s time for all little princesses to go to sleep. Night Rose.”

  “Night Daddy. Night Mommy.”

  Hand in hand, Azure and Gavin walked to the door, stopping only when Rose called out to them.

  “Yes?” Azure asked, hand on the light switch.

  “Do you think that one day I’ll get married in the same magical dress you were married in?”

  Azure smiled at her daughter. “If it’s true love, then I can pretty much guarantee it.”

  Lena Matthews

  Lena Matthews spends her days dreaming about handsome heroes and her nights with her own personal hero. Married to her college sweetheart, she is the proud mother of an extremely smart toddler, three evil dogs, and a mess of ants that she can't seem to get rid of.

  When not writing she can be found reading, watching movies, lifting up the cushions on the couch to look for batteries for the remote control and plotting different ways to bring Buffy back on the air.

  You can contact Lena through her website: www.lenamatthews.com

  Traveling west from Boston is the adventure of a lifetime for mail order bride, Matilda Cummings—until she learns her soon-to-be husband, Dawson Chandler, has no use for a wife.

  Something Old, Something New

  (c)2006 Maggie Casper

  Available now from Samhain Publishing

  Switching places with her twin sister to become a mail order bride seemed like the thing to do, until feisty Matilda Cummings reaches the wilds of Dodge City and finds out her soon-to-be husband hadn’t seen fit to meet her train, sending his brother instead.

  Dawson Chandler wants more than anything to strangle his younger brother when he learns he’s unwittingly signed a binding marriage contract. He’s got no use for a wife, especially the tiny, prissy looking woman whose picture haunts him. A lady, polished and shined, has no business living on the Rocking C Ranch, nor with a man like himself.

  Afraid of hurting a delicate woman with his rough and tumble ways, Dawson never plans to marry. After all, why should he shackle himself to a lady when he prefers the experience of a seasoned whore in the bedroom? Much to his dismay, he finds his little lady is nothing like he’d imagines. Soon, Dawson and Matilda find themselves struggling through not only their physical but emotional relationships in search of love. Will they find it?

  Book One in the Wedding Dress series

  Enjoy this excerpt:

  Warm heavy breathing against her temple woke Matilda out of a dead sleep. Her eyes popped open of their own accord, taking in the prickly square chin belonging to a man, a man who surely should not be in her bed.

  Before her brain engaged enough to stop the action, Matilda opened her mouth to scream. A large hand clamped firmly across her lips stopped the sound before it escaped. “Scream and everyone within earshot will be barging through the door.”

  His voice was rusty with sleep, rumbling up from deep in his chest. Dawson. Matilda breathed a sigh of relief, her mind finally grasping where she was and what was happening.

  She mumbled incoherently behind the hand he still held across her mouth. He needed to move, to release her. Dawson’s manly scent, the feel of him against her side, big and strong, was doing some serious damage to not only her nerves but her libido as well.

  His closeness made her want to rub her body against his like a bitch in heat. He was far too potent to be so close this early in the morning. When he changed positions, moving until he lay atop of her, one leg thrown over her and his hard length against her thigh, Matilda thought she might spontaneously combust.

  His gaze was heavy lidded, traveling over her face in a thorough inspection. “I’ll let you go if you promise not to scream.”

  Matilda nodded and was at once released. “Thank you.”

  Dawson’s lips curved. “Ever the polite one.” After a quick kiss to the tip of her nose, he levered himself off her until he sat on the side of the bed. “Time to go back to your room.”

  Matilda’s gaze darted to the window at his words. She breathed a sigh of relief at the darkness beyond the glass. Without a word, she crawled from the bed, cursing the unladylike position the movement placed her in. Matilda was nearly to the door before Dawson called her back.

  “We’ll be married today.” His brows creased and a strange look crossed his face. “Have you a special dress to wear?”

  He didn’t sound overly enthused by the prospect of marrying her. Matilda tried not to let the knowledge upset her. She would be a good wife and hope that over time, Dawson could form some sort of affection toward her.

  “Yes, my mother insisted. It was the one thing she wasn’t willing to compromise on.”

  Dawson stood. After wrapping the sheet around his hips, he walked across the room toward her.

  “Good. Very good. I’ve got some things to do this morning but I’ll be back for the noontime meal so there will be plenty of time to clean up before the ceremony.”

  He seemed uncomfortable about something, unused to explaining himself or his whereabouts more than likely. Matilda stared up into his face for a brief moment. It was impossible to ignore the need she had to show him things would be okay.

  Allowing herself no second thoughts, she stretched up on tiptoe to kiss his jaw. With his great height and evident
unwillingness to lower his face for her kiss, Matilda was left no other choice of where to place her lips.

  Had she been too forward or done something to anger him? Damn, being a lady all the time sure was proving to be too much to work through on a daily basis.

  She opened the door and quietly fled into the darkened hallway. Too tired to go back to sleep once in her own room, Matilda opened the trunk containing some of her belongings. Among the things still in the trunk was the wedding dress her mother had had commissioned for her.

  She could hardly wait to wear it and yet it seemed almost out of place in the high prairie grasses of the public land strip, a place the Chandler family had called home for many years.

  From what she’d heard, the area had no one to enforce the law. Some even referred to the public land strip as No Man’s Land since it had been turned over by the state of Texas but was yet to be surveyed and allotted in a land run by the United States. And being so close to Indian Territory, Matilda wasn't quite sure just how many folks would choose the land as their home when and if it ever was split into parcels.

  Jess had mentioned how Dawson’s grandfather had settled the land long before the Comanche were sent to live on reservations, a time when war between the whites and Indians was prevalent. Matilda shuddered just thinking about the hardships both the whites and the Indians suffered through during that time.

  No longer wanting to dwell on the bad, Matilda took her wedding dress from the bottom of the trunk, unwrapping it from the fine linen sheets it had been wrapped in.

  The deep plum color of the dress did wonderful things for her pale complexion her mother had said. Matilda was just glad the one piece dress, with its fitted bodice, buttoned up the front so she wouldn’t have to be too much of a bother come time to dress.