“I see,” the attorney said, his eyes growing round. He cleared his throat nervously and sat down behind his desk.
Jack turned his eyes back to Beth. “Shall we?” he said, motioning with his head toward the rest room door.
“Jack...” Beth replied hesitantly, as he walked forward and took her by the arm. “What’s this all about?”
“We’ll talk,” he said. “In private.”
Beth had to practically run to keep up with his quick pace. She looked back at the attorney and tried to smile as though there was nothing out of the ordinary going on. But she could tell by the look on the man’s face that he was completely flabbergasted. She could only imagine that not too many of his clients—if any, at all—had ever asked to use his private rest room as their conference chamber.
And then she thought of some of the other faux pas she and Jack had pulled together over the years and grimaced. Leave it to them to find a way to make a spectacle of themselves, even when filing for a divorce they both wanted.
Beth was astounded by Jack’s aggressive, if not oppressive, behavior. She was having enough trouble trying to keep her own emotions out of the way of what she was doing. Was it really necessary for him to come along like this and drag her off to some closet-size men’s room to tell her what was on his mind when she already knew it was his freedom he was after?
They were at the rest room door within seconds. Jack stepped inside first, pulling Beth right along behind him. Then Jack shut the door and placed his hands on his hips.
“What? What is it?” she asked, gazing up at him in confusion. After all, she was doing this for him—for them—for their friendship. Why, she wondered, was he looking at her as if she had just slapped him across the face?
“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked, his eyes boring heatedly into hers.
“W-what do you mean, what am I doing?” Beth stammered, her pulses racing to an all-time high. “I-I’m starting our divorce proceedings. Don’t you want me to?”
Jack unconsciously ran his fingers through his hair. “Well, yes, of course, I do, only—”
Suddenly he realized what he was saying—what he had always said over the years in order to make it sound as though he was in complete agreement with anything she had to say concerning their friendship—and stopped himself point-blank. Taking her by the shoulders, he gazed deep into her eyes. “No, Beth. Frankly, I don’t want you to start the divorce proceedings.”
“Well, actually,” she said, swallowing back the sudden lump in her throat, “I thought of putting it off for a while, too, but then I decided that wouldn’t be fair to you.”
“To me?” Jack said incredulously.
Holding back a sudden rush of tears, Beth nodded. Because in that moment she made a startling discovery about herself. Somehow, at some point in all of this, she crossed the line she’d drawn to protect herself—to protect her friendship with Jack—and now she was in love with him. It was a terrifying realization, and it left her trembling inside. “You held up your end of our bargain, Jack, so now I need to hold up mine. You deserve to have your freedom back, and I’m just trying to give it to you.”
“You’re doing this for me?” Jack asked, drawing his eyebrows together in disbelief.
“And for our friendship. I need you so much, Jack. You were right, you know,” she said, her eyes now filling with tears in spite of herself. “You are my Knight in Shining Armor in all the ways that really count. But regardless of my feelings, I can’t suffocate your needs. I know you don’t want to be married and have a child. And I know if I tried to force that on you now, it would ruin everything for us. I need you in my life too much for that.”
Jack sucked in a deep breath. Suddenly he saw the whole picture, and his heartbeat kicked into high gear. For heaven’s sake, Beth was in love with him, too. There shouldn’t have been any problem between them. Only there was, thanks to Beth’s diehard feelings about their remaining just good friends. How could he convince her that her dream of marriage and children had somehow become his dream, too? But he couldn’t do it here, not in this attorney’s office. He had to get her somewhere to himself. Somewhere he could remind her of just how good they were together. And not just as friends, but as lovers, too.
“Come on,” he said a second later, taking her hand into his. “We have some serious communicating to do. But what I have in mind can’t be done here.”
“Where are we going?” she asked in bewilderment.
“Home,” he replied, his eyes penetrating hers.
Fresh tears gathered in Beth’s eyes. “Oh, Jack,” she cried, “I’m so sorry I did this to us. We were perfectly happy when we were just friends. But then I had to go and mess everything up by asking you to be the father of my child. Now everything is ruined, and it’s all my fault.”
“It’s not ruined, Beth,” he said, suddenly taking her by the shoulders. “We’re in love, for crying out loud. It’s not the end of the world. It can be just the beginning for us. I’m telling you, baby, we’re good together. We’re good friends...and we’re good at being lovers, too. Most couples I know would give anything to have what we do. We can make it, Beth, you and me. But you have to give us that chance.”
“You love me?”
“Of course,” he replied. “Can’t you see that?”
By now hot, burning tears were rolling down Beth’s face. “It’s not that I want to end all this, because deep down inside, I know I don’t. But I’m afraid that if I don’t, in the end I’ll lose you altogether. And that would be terrible, Jack.”
Jack gently wiped at her tears with the tips of his fingers. Then he lifted her face and made her look at him. “Beth, honey, don’t you see? You don’t ever have to worry about that. Look, we’ve been through a lot together already, and you haven’t lost me yet. I’m not going anywhere. Not without my best friend at my side. Give us a chance, Beth. There aren’t any guarantees in life, but I can tell you this much. These last two weeks have been a real eye-opener for me. I want the baby we’ve made together, and I want you. I promise, I will spend the rest of my days loving you, loving our baby, every bit as much as I do right now. But you’ve got to trust me on this one, Beth. That’s all I can say.”
It was enough, considering the source was Jack. He was, after all, her most trustworthy friend. She believed in him as she believed in no other.
Making a sudden decision, one she had once fought so hard for so long against, Beth took a deep, decisive breath. “I’ve fallen madly, head over heels in love with you, Jack,” she said, her eyes growing big and round and somewhat frightened of what she was saying. And yet she had to say it, because it was true. “So deeply, in fact, that sometimes it almost scares me.”
He pulled her into his arms and crushed her against his chest. “I know,” he said gruffly. “Sometimes the way I feel about you scares me, too.”
She pulled back suddenly and gazed at him. “But what if we blow it like my parents did and ruin everything?” she asked.
“But what if we don’t?” he said, gazing deep into her eyes. “The way I see it, we’ve already been in love for a long time now, and we haven’t blown it yet. Besides, this is not your parents’ life, Beth. It’s yours. It’s up to you to live it like you want.”
Jack was right, and she knew it. When it came to knowing what was best for her, he was always right. He was as dependable as the rising sun.
She looked up and their eyes met. And then she knew for sure. He was, in fact, her rising sun.
He was her everything.
She smiled at him with complete trust.
He grinned back.
Then he opened the door to the rest room and they stepped out. Their attorney was waiting. Sitting up straight in his chair, he cleared his throat. “Well then,” he said, “now that you’ve had your little talk, shall we proceed with the divorce?”
“Well, actually,” Jack said, scooping up Beth’s purse from the chair where she’d left it, “my wife and I have t
alked it over, and we’ve decided that a divorce is not the answer for us, after all. Thanks for your time, though. You’ve been a tremendous help in all of this.”
The entire time that Jack had been talking, he was edging Beth toward the doorway leading outside. Within moments they had made their escape. The attorney said nothing while they did. He simply watched and smiled.
Jack and Beth drove their vehicles straight to her house. Only it was their house now. In the near future, Jack knew that his wife would be selling his condo for him.
And this time when Jack and Beth fell into each other’s arms and made mad passionate love, they knew in their hearts that whatever it was they had going for them, it was something that was going to last forever.
“I’m so in love with you, Jack,” Beth said at last, after her desire for him was sated once more. She snuggled in as close to him as possible.
“Trust me, Beth,” he replied. “You have my heart...my soul...my complete devotion. You are the very air I breathe. For as long as I live, I promise I’ll be here for you.”
And Beth knew without a doubt that he would be.
He was, after all, her most devoted, her most trustworthy friend in the whole wide world.
He always had been.
He always would be.
At long last, her dreams were coming true.
And the best part of it all was, the fact that she and Jack had been such good friends first, before the loving, and were still such good friends now, after the loving, made her feel secure in her marriage in a way she had once thought impossible.
She was, indeed, completely happy.
She was, in fact, a woman in love.
ISBN: 9781472069795
SHOTGUN GROOM
© Barbara Lantier Veillon 2013
First Published in Great Britain in 2013
Harlequin (UK) Limited
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