Marriage Prey

by Annette Broadrick

  "A friend?"

  "A very close friend."

  She listened as he talked to his superior. When he hung up, he turned back to her, kissing and caressing her until she reached a fevered pitch before he took her once again.

  "I've missed you," he said, his rhythm slow and steady, "and I've missed making love to you like this."

  "This may not be the time to mention this," she said, meeting each thrust with her own.

  "What?"

  "I need to pick the proper time and place," she added, panting.

  "Tell me," he said.

  "Ask you," she corrected.

  "Whatever."

  "Steve, my only love, will you marry me?"

  He stared down at her, his rhythm forgotten. "What did you say?"

  "You said you would never ask me to marry you again. I understand and appreciate your point. But since we've made no effort to use any type of birth control, it seems to me that we need to consider the possible consequences. I know I'm being quite bold, but—"

  His mouth covered hers, and she lost her train of thought. Not that she was too worried. She might not get the desired answer right away, but if all else failed, she could put in a call to her brothers.

  They were excellent at ferreting out marriage prey.

  Epilogue

  October, Same Year

  Ray tapped Robin on the shoulder. When she turned around, he swept her into his arms and gave her a leisurely kiss.

  "You like to live dangerously?" Steve asked his friend. He was not smiling.

  Ray ignored him until he was finished. Then he slowly let go of her and smiled with angelic sweetness. "It's a long-held tradition that the best man always gets to kiss the bride, Steve." He winked at Robin. "I'm sure that your brand-new wife is well aware that I am the best man. You're the consolation prize. Just the breaks of the game, I'm afraid."

  Robin laughed as Steve slipped a proprietary arm around her waist and hugged her close to his side.

  '"All right. One kiss. Don't think you can get away with another one."

  The reception at the ranch was in full swing. Her dad had always been able to throw a festive party and this one was no exception. The place was crowded with all kinds of relatives and friends from both families.

  The California contingent had been coming in for the last week. Steve's mom and dad had come early so they could become acquainted with her family.

  Of course, she had already met them back in June during her vacation. She would always treasure the memories of that last week she'd spent with Steve.

  She had moved in with him for the remainder of her stay. He managed to get a couple more days off work so they were able to go to Santa Barbara for her to meet Tony and Susan. She'd immediately fallen in love with Steve's parents.

  Over dinner with them that evening, she'd regaled them with the story of Steve taking his sister out on a double date without bothering to mention their relationship.

  "Obviously he wanted to make me jealous," she concluded, as everyone at the table, including Steve, laughed at the story.

  “Did it work?'' he asked with a grin.

  She sobered. "Oh, yes. I had no idea what jealousy and possessiveness felt like until then. They aren't comfortable emotions at all!"

  Now everyone was gathered in one place, eating her dad's famous barbecue and all the trimmings. She was pleased to see their fathers visiting like old friends and their mothers working side by side to make certain there was plenty of food and drink set out for everyone, young and old.

  Her favorite memory of her vacation took place early the morning of the last day of her vacation. She'd been awakened by the sound of Steve's astonished laughter and cursing.

  When she opened her eyes she couldn't believe what she saw—her three brothers were standing shoulder to shoulder at the end of the bed, arms folded and looking very dangerous...until she looked at their faces. They were grinning from ear to ear at Steve's reaction to their unexpected presence.

  "I told them to fix that alarm so that nobody could bypass it!" he said.

  "Can't be done," one of them replied. She didn't remember who it was now.

  Steve said, with an attempt at irritation, but he was grinning, too, "If you don't mind, fellows. My fiancee and I are not dressed to be receiving company, just yet. So if you'll excuse us..."

  Jason nodded approvingly. “Your fiancee, is it? Well, that's more like it. When are you getting married?"

  "She only proposed a few nights ago. We haven't worked out the details as yet."

  "She proposed! You really are a stubborn ass, aren't you?" Jim said, shaking his head.

  "Nope. I learned it from you guys. Now get the hell out of here so we can get dressed."

  As it turned out, Robin flew back to Texas with her brothers that afternoon. They had learned that she and Steve had gotten back together from her dad. She had called him when she checked out of the hotel, in case they needed to reach her for any reason, and told him she would be staying with Steve.

  Steve and her brothers still chuckled over the stunt, and she supposed it was funny, but it did give her a start to find them in her bedroom.

  "No one knows where we're going for our honeymoon, I hope," she asked Steve now. "That is one place I don't want my brothers showing up."

  "As few people as possible. However, Carmela is already making plans to prepare our favorite meals for the next couple of weeks. Ed may have mentioned it to my dad, but I swore them to secrecy where your family was concerned. We don't want those macho maverick brothers of yours showing up again!"

  "Thank you for that."

  Cindi came up to her and hugged her. "You are a radiant bride, Robin. Thank you for including me in the wedding party."

  "Are you kidding?" Who else would I have for my maid of honor? You're my sister in every way but blood."

  Cindi grinned. "I'm so pleased you two found each other again. Who would have believed when I got engaged that you would be getting married before I do?"

  Roger had come with Cindi for the festivities. Robin was amused at how much Roger looked like Jason. He seemed to be a Very stable person and crazy about Cindi. It was too bad that Cindi would be living in Chicago while she and Steve were going to be in Los Angeles. She'd probably rack up a bunch of frequent flyer miles between the three areas of California, Illinois and Texas.

  "Robin?" her mother called. "It's time for you two to cut the cake."

  She looked at Steve. "Are you ready for this?"

  "Are you kidding? I've been waiting for you forever. Let's get this over with. There's a tropical island waiting for us."

  She kissed him and said, "It won't be long now. We've waited this long. Another few hours will fly by in no time."

  She hadn't packed much more for this visit to the island than she'd had with her last time. Clothes weren't really a necessity in that climate.

  She intended to keep Steve in his unadorned state as much as possible.

  "I'd like to propose a toast," her dad said a few minutes later, "to Mr. and Mrs. Steve Antonelli. May their life together be filled with as much joy, happiness and contentment as I have known with Robin's mom."

  Tony stood. “I second that toast. Steve and Robin, may you revel in the blessing of finding your true love, and may you experience the wonder of sharing your life with that person, as I have with Steve's mom." He picked up Susan's hand and kissed it.

  "With the examples set before us," Steve replied, "how can we miss?"