Marriage at the Cowboy's Command

by Ann Major

  No sooner had he gotten Daniel into bed than Luke knocked on Caitlyn’s bedroom door.

  She cracked the door half an inch. Her eyes were wet looking. Had she been crying? Because of him?

  “You can change your mind,” he said when she refused to meet his eyes.

  “No. I mean…yes,” she whispered in a tone that betrayed her utter misery. “Yes?”

  “Yes! I’ll marry you! Like I told both of you earlier!”

  “You remember what I said about you being good in bed? You know this will not be a marriage in name only?”

  “Yes, I understand what marriage means.”

  “Then you’ll share my bed? Willingly?”

  His heart sped up. After a long moment she nodded. “If you insist.”

  “I insist. So—prove it.”

  “Now?” She let out a breath.

  “Kiss me. Show me that you belong to me,” he said.

  “But we’re not married.”

  “After last night, does that matter?”

  She closed her eyes, curled her fingers tightly.

  Did she dread his touch? Maybe, but when he pushed the door wider and reached for her, she did not resist him.

  “Touch me,” he whispered, trying to hide his eagerness. He stepped further into her bedroom and shut the door. “Touch me everywhere.”

  When her chin notched up an inch, he thought she would defy him. But she didn’t.

  As her rough hands roamed gently over his body, his anger began to subside. In its place came that loathsome tenderness he’d felt last night, showing him how deeply he desired her good opinion. This was the girl who’d followed him around in his youth, the girl who’d given him her virginity, the girl he’d adored. When she was his wife, he would take care of her. If their marriage worked out, she would have to move her horse operation to the U.K. and visit Wild Horse Ranch only a few times a year, but he did not intend to let her work so brutally that she ruined her hands. He would buy her pretty things.

  But right now, he refused to think about the future or the power she held over him. Instead, he drew her to the bed and laid her beneath him. He would think about her warm hands undressing him, stroking and caressing and circling him. Then, much to his surprise and delight, she placed her wet mouth where her hands had been and sucked deeply.

  He groaned in ecstasy. Placing his hands in her hair, he spoke words he’d never intended to say, but because he felt so much for her, he could not stop himself.

  When he was close to the edge, he pulled her beneath him and plunged deeply inside her, claiming her as his own.

  When her arms tightened around him and she clung to him mindlessly, pleasure such as he had never known filled him. He swelled even bigger against her velvet warmth until he thought he’d die.

  He didn’t want her to feel this good; he didn’t want to desire her this much. But treacherous feelings mushroomed inside him. She was slick and hot and tight. With every stroke, his tumultuous, conflicted feelings grew until they all but overwhelmed him. Maybe he and Caitlyn could find a way to make their marriage work. “Caitlyn.”

  Tilting her head back, she stared into his eyes. Whatever she saw in their depths made her heart stampede. With a sigh, she fused her mouth to his and kissed him deeply. As he exploded inside her, he whispered her name over and over again.

  At least in the bedroom, if nowhere else, she was his.

  Caitlyn stared moodily out the window at the glittering Las Vegas strip. Vegas was the last place she’d ever thought she’d marry.

  After making love to her last night Luke had held her close and said they should get married in Vegas before going to London.

  “Why Vegas?” she’d whispered uneasily.

  “Because it’s fast and easy. Because we can obtain a license and marry the same day with very few questions asked. We have enough problems, don’t you think? The first one being you and Daniel moving away from your home on very short notice.”

  “And leaving my horses.”

  “Temporarily. We’ll figure out something. All the more reason why we don’t need the stress of planning a wedding.”

  “But none of our friends or family will be there to celebrate with us.”

  He’d shot her a quick, dark look, and she’d remembered he didn’t consider their marriage a celebration. For him, it was an obligation.

  “Okay, since you hate the idea of such a wedding, I’ll make all the arrangements,” he’d said. “We’ll have to delay our trip to London by a day or so.”

  “But how can I leave the ranch? It doesn’t run itself, you know. I have to pack.”

  “I hired Al Johnson and his team. They’ll be here first thing in the morning.”

  “You were that sure I’d say yes.”

  “Yes was your best option.”

  So here she was in Vegas, alone in one of the fanciest hotels on the strip, waiting for Luke and Daniel to return from buying a wedding license. Making use of her time, she’d dressed in a stunning off-the-shoulder black dress that Luke had bought for her. As gorgeous and practical as the dress was, she couldn’t help remembering the white gown she’d worn when she’d married Robert. Because of her mother, her first wedding had been completely traditional.

  Eyeing the bottle of champagne Luke had placed on ice for later, she paced restlessly.

  Where was he? Was he losing his nerve?

  Finally, when another half hour passed and he still didn’t arrive, she went over to the chilled bottle and popped the cork.

  Why wait when she needed to fortify herself for a ceremony that would probably be in some tawdry Vegas chapel?

  Pouring herself a glass, she lifted it and made a silent toast to love and luck. Then she sipped slowly. Maybe, by some miracle, things would work out and they’d be happy. She imagined Luke coming home and sharing his day, preparing an evening meal together, making love. They’d do things with Daniel, have friends over like a normal couple. Maybe they’d go to parties, and to children’s birthday parties, and take family vacations. She hoped so.

  Somehow it was easier to imagine him working all hours while she struggled with loneliness and homesickness. Luke would prefer his glittering crowd to a simple evening with her and Daniel.

  As the bubbly liquid slid down her throat, she stalked the lavish penthouse suite, stopping to stare out the tall windows, where the sight of the gaudy city slammed her again. This city with its glittering lights and glittering women was all about easy money and easy virtue, not true love. What chance did their marriage have?

  Suddenly Caitlyn heard a key and then the door opened. Luke was back with Daniel, who bounded inside shouting her name. No sooner had her little boy hugged her than he pushed free of her clinging arms, anxious to show her a new toy Luke had bought him at the children’s museum.

  “Look. It’s a propeller on a stick. If you twirl the stick in your hands, it flies. See!”

  Indeed it did, skittering into a chandelier and then plummeting. For the next five minutes, the three of them chased the thing about, finding it under a red velvet couch, behind a gold curtain and on the pink marble counter of the bar. Then Luke, who was elegantly clad in a dark suit, clapped his hands and put a stop to the mayhem.

  “Enough. I’ve got the limo waiting. It’s time to get this show on the road. We leave for London very early tomorrow morning.”

  Daniel, who was wearing a new suit Luke had bought for him, puffed out his chest importantly and grinned from ear to ear. “Luke says I can be his best man! And ring bearer! He says I’m everything!”

  Over their son’s black head, Luke’s gaze locked with hers. She willed him to smile or say even one kind word that would give her a ray of hope.

  He said, “You wanted family to play an important role at our wedding.”

  She smiled wistfully, liking that he’d listened, that he’d remembered. “Come here, best man, so your mother can tuck your shirttail back in your pants.”

  Luke laughed.

  Thei
r wedding was small. Two chapel employees served as the only witnesses in a gold-tinted sanctuary adorned with too many angels and artificial flowers. The reverend said his words in a mechanical rush.

  Despite the champagne, Caitlyn felt tense and shaky. Beside her, Luke seemed aloof and cold. Daniel, however, appeared to be bursting with joy and pride. He clutched the wedding band, twisting it round and round his finger as he bounced from one foot to the other.

  When the moment for the ring came, Daniel became so excited he dropped it and had to crawl under two pews to get it. When he emerged, his shirttails hung loose and his hair was rumpled. Luke knelt down to take the ring from Daniel.

  “Do you want to help me slide it on your mom’s finger?” he asked.

  Beaming with pride and pleasure, Daniel nodded. Then their two hands, Luke’s so much darker and larger, slid the gleaming band of diamonds on to her slim finger. Before she had time to get used to the first ring, Luke slid on an immense solitaire engagement ring.

  “You didn’t have to,” she began. “It’s too much.”

  The man officiating said in a deep, glum tone, “You may kiss the bride.”

  Still holding Daniel’s hand, Luke turned to her and lifted her chin with a fingertip. His nearness made her catch her breath. Pulling her against his long body, his lips brushed hers briefly, yet so tenderly her heart sped up. Strange, how even the lightest of kisses was charged with heat. For one sparkling second, she thought that maybe someday all her dreams would come true.

  After that gently searing kiss, Luke squeezed his thumb against her palm and smiled down at her, a warm smile that told her he remembered all their other kisses. Then he let her go and leaned down, his attention on Daniel.

  “You can open your eyes now,” he said to their son, who’d been hiding his eyes while they’d kissed.

  “Is it over? Are we married now?” Daniel asked.

  “Yes,” Luke said, his eyes burning her. “Yes. We’re married.”

  Ten

  Marriage to a billionaire.

  From the moment their jet set down at Heathrow, Caitlyn’s life changed so suddenly and irrevocably, she felt thrown off balance. At their hangar, two stretch limos awaited them, one to take her and Daniel to their flat and the other to take Luke to his office.

  Even though she talked to Al Johnson or one of his men on a daily basis, she missed the ranch and her horses unbearably. Technically the ranch was still hers, and Luke had promised they could move the horses to the U.K. when their lives settled down in London. Still, she felt like she’d lost a big part of herself.

  Their first week together passed in a breathless blur. She was dazed from jet lag, and Luke was swamped by the ongoing crisis at Kommstarr and the resulting media frenzy. At least that was his excuse for spending so little time with her and Daniel.

  The phone rang all the time. Luke was constantly defending himself in interviews and convening with his PR people. She saw his face splashed across the scandal sheets and television more than she saw it at home. Somehow he found the time to hire a tutor for Daniel so that their son could keep up with his studies until he was enrolled in a new school.

  During that stressful time when they were both getting their bearings, Hassan arrived in London to welcome her. He called, issuing an invitation for dinner at his suite in two nights’ time.

  “I have nothing to wear,” Caitlyn said to Luke the morning before they were to meet Hassan. She’d learned at their first party how inadequate her wardrobe was for her glamorous new life. The paparazzi had taken several unflattering photos and made the most of their coup. One headline read The Billionaire Marries Cinderella.

  “I’ll have my secretary recommend a personal shopper,” Luke said.

  “I don’t like feeling so helpless.”

  “You’ll soon learn all that is required. If I did it, you can. Give yourself time. Meanwhile, don’t forget to enjoy London with Daniel while you do. I want you both to be happy. As soon as we select a school and get him registered, he’ll be in classes all day.” Having said that, he’d dressed quickly and left for work even earlier than usual.

  Her new personal shopper, a Mrs. Grayson, called her an hour later to set up an appointment for that afternoon. When Caitlyn hung up, the rest of the day loomed before her, empty and devoid of any responsibilities. She’d always worked. So much freedom wasn’t easy. With a butler, a housekeeper, a tutor and maids, with only the long-distance management of her ranch and horse operation to occupy her once Daniel was in school, how would she make herself useful?

  Maybe Caitlyn would have found London more enjoyable if she’d been a normal bride on her honeymoon. Or even if she’d been a normal tourist who knew that after her vacation she’d be returning to Texas.

  She tried to make the best of it. She took Daniel on long, lovely walks through the city.

  They saw world-class museums; the city’s public parks filled with nannies, children, skaters, walkers, bikers and all sorts of people sitting on benches reading or eating their lunches. But what she liked best was riding with Daniel in Hyde Park.

  Daniel, however, proved to have a small boy’s taste for the macabre, preferring the torture chambers of the ghoulish London Dungeon. Its squealing caged rats and dripping water beneath the rumbling trains thrilled him. He was almost equally mesmerized by the Egyptian mummies in the British Museum.

  Such delights aside, the more familiar she became with Luke’s lavish, over-the-top lifestyle, the more difficult it was for her to pretend she could ever fit into it. His A-list friends included celebrities, lords and their ladies, his superwealthy business associates and their bejeweled wives.

  Luke had even instructed her to leave the flat by a back exit and to wear sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat to help elude the paparazzi.

  Initially, she’d protested. She didn’t want to hide or to have Luke’s security team accompanying her throughout the city. But Luke had made her understand that his wealth made them targets.

  “If the paparazzi discover you, it’s best to say nothing,” he warned. “Not always easy. But just remember they try to use your words to hang you.”

  And then there were Luke’s offices, vast and sophisticated. He didn’t drive much, but his cars were numerous and luxurious. He preferred being whisked about by his chauffeurs or helicopter pilots so he could work and return phone calls. At night she and Luke were expected to attend glamorous fundraisers and business functions. But even when they were home, his penthouse flat on the Thames with its minimalist décor and view of Chelsea Harbour was not the kind of home where she and Daniel could kick back and relax. The flat brimmed with museum-quality art, and she had to watch Daniel every second for fear his curiosity would get the best of him.

  She longed for trees and birds. For the vast stillness and silence of the ranch. For unobstructed views and opulent sunsets. For privacy, a commodity she’d never realized she cherished.

  She thought constantly of her big darlings back home, but all too often, her daily phone calls to Al and her vet only increased her anxiety. Yesterday, the driver who’d come to pick up three two-year-olds being shipped to California had demanded that accession numbers be written on the health certificates. She’d tried to help Al locate the certificates in her disorderly files to no avail.

  Then he’d put her in a real panic when he’d told her that Angel, who’d been vaccinated against strep equi, had an abscess and was being quarantined and tested for the dreaded strangles bacteria.

  Terrified, she’d called her vet.

  “Don’t you worry,” Dr. Morrow had assured her. “We’re just taking precautions. I’m ninety-nine percent sure she doesn’t have it.”

  If only she weren’t so far away, she’d thought. “Only ninety-nine percent? Not worry? The horse business has not been a gentle teacher.”

  “It never is, my dear. But you enjoy your honeymoon and your handsome husband.”

  If only she were a normal bride and life with her handsome husband
was that simple.

  Much to her surprise, Hassan was not alone when they were ushered into his immense suite at The Savoy. Its green marble floors, walnut wainscoting and twelve-foot ceilings were complemented by plush white couches lit softly by lamps with pale, rosy shades. Hassan sat on one of the couches with a stunning couple. The man, who was tall and dark, had eyes only for his wife. She, a slim brunette in a floating white muslin dress, wore a white gardenia in her hair. They sat so near each other, they looked like teenage lovers.

  When Hassan stood up, his dark face alight with pleasure, he embraced Caitlyn and told her she looked beautiful in her sparkling red dress.

  “It is so good that you are now my honorary daughter.”

  She nodded as he knelt to engulf Daniel’s hand in his much larger ones.

  Hassan arose after a lengthy private conversation with Daniel about something the child was holding. “I must congratulate you, my son,” he said to Luke. “Your wife is even more beautiful than I remembered, and Daniel is everything a man could wish for in a son. I should know.”

  “I owe you,” Luke said. “For giving me my son.”

  “I never thought that in this life I could repay my debt to you.”

  “But you did.”

  “When I saw him at Keeneland I knew,” Hassan said.

  As the men shook hands, Daniel set a pair of plastic dragons on his plate and beamed at everybody. Caitlyn, who had specifically told him to leave the dragons in the limousine, ignored this infraction.

  “Do you like London, my little friend?” Hassan asked Daniel.

  “My favorite is the dungeon! It’s really creepy!”

  Hassan laughed. “And that’s a recommendation?”

  “He’s five, so yes.” Caitlyn smiled.

  “And you? How do you like London, Caitlyn?”

  “Who could not enjoy such a city? But it is very different from the life I’m used to.”

  “In a good way, I’m sure.”

  “Yes, but I miss the ranch.”

  “Of course you do, but you will have a long, happy life in which you will visit the ranch often.” Hassan turned to Luke. “I am pleased with your solution,” he said. “Very pleased. I’m just sorry you have to be distracted by business problems when you should be enjoying your beautiful bride.”