The minister finally cleared his throat, and Eli took his time before releasing her mouth. “If you’ll please turn to face your family and friends... May I present Mr. and Mrs. Eli Hartman Clayton! You may congratulate them in the foyer.”
The length of their kiss had brought heat rushing to her cheeks and Brianna knew her face looked flushed as she smiled at her aunt and Eli’s mother. It appeared that the whole congregation was smiling back. Eli gripped her waist. “I wish we could skip the reception,” he whispered.
She noticed his brothers grinning as if they knew exactly what he’d just said.
“If we don’t make an appearance, we’ll miss seeing Libby,” Brianna said.
“I spent all morning with her, but I wouldn’t keep her from seeing you in that exquisite wedding dress. She’ll think you’re a princess come to life. My princess bride. I thank God for you, Brianna,” he said, his voice shaking, before they worked their way down the aisle to the foyer.
Later at the hotel, Alberta walked Libby over to the head table. She wore a little yellow dress trimmed in eyelet and a yellow bow in her hair. Brianna saw her coming and turned to greet her.
Eli’s little girl stared at her for the longest time. “Don’t you know me? Maybe this will help.” She carefully removed her veil and Eli took it from her. That did the trick.
“Bree!”
“Yes, darling. Come here.” She pulled her on her lap. Libby reached out to touch her pearl earrings. “You like those?”
Libby kissed her and they hugged before Eli plucked his daughter away and handed her back to his mother. Libby didn’t like that and started to protest.
“It’s time for us to go, Brianna.”
Her heart thudded because she’d seen the burning look of desire in his eyes.
“I’m ready.”
* * *
ELI LED HER out of the room and they left the hotel through a side exit near their new truck. He helped her inside and drove them to a motel on the outskirts of town where there were individual chalet-style cabins nestled in the woods. He’d stopped by ahead of time to pick up the key and had dropped off food and snacks for them as well as their luggage.
Tomorrow they’d take a short trip to Helena for a few days, but tonight they weren’t going anywhere. The fifty-degree temperature had melted the snow, making it easy to get around.
“I’ve been waiting for this for so long,” he said as he helped her out of the truck. Then he scooped her up in his arms and carried her over the threshold of their cabin. Once the door was closed, he found her mouth and kissed her long after he’d put her down on the bed.
“We need to get you out of this divine wedding dress, but I don’t want you to move.”
“How about I just turn on my side and you can undo the buttons without either of us having to get up?”
“But I need to get up, if you follow my meaning.”
“If you’re talking about protection, I don’t want to use any, but it’s up to you. The last thing I want is for you to feel rushed into anything.”
He kissed her neck. “Brianna...” She saw his tie and suit jacket fly through the air. That gave her his answer.
Somehow he managed to undo her dress. Before she knew it, they were entwined on the bed and her cowboy husband was loving her with a hunger she hadn’t even imagined in her dreams. It was after midnight when he allowed her to breathe for a minute. “It’s shocking how much I love you...how much I love making love with you, Eli.”
“This is only the beginning, sweetheart. We’ve got the rest of our lives.”
“The minister said this was a glorious day, but he didn’t know how glorious.”
He kissed a special spot. “So you like being married to me already.”
“What if we’d never met?” she cried softly. “I can’t imagine...”
“You don’t have to, because we did meet, thanks to Roce. One of these days we’ll do something nice for him, but right now all I want to do is make love to you for the rest of the night. You’re the most gorgeous sight I have ever seen.”
“You’re my whole life, Eli. I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to be your wife. You just don’t know how happy I am. When I was in California I was so worried that something might go wrong. I don’t know how I would have handled it if you’d decided to put off our marriage until Tessa was ready to deal with it.”
He rolled her over on top of him. “Brianna—let’s never talk about it again. She belongs in my past.”
“I know.”
“I’m going to work on making sure that you do. Give me your mouth again. It’s life to me, don’t you know that?”
If she didn’t then, he managed to convince her so thoroughly that by late morning she truly felt they had become one flesh. She’d never really understood the term until now.
“Brianna? Do you think you want to drive to Helena today?” he whispered against her neck.
“You want the truth?”
He kissed the corners of her mouth. “Always.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere. I don’t want to move from this bed.”
He groaned. “How did I get so lucky to have you for my wife?”
“Let’s just stay here until we have to go home.”
“Mrs. Clayton, have you no shame?” he teased, nibbling on her lower lip.
“None. That’s what you’ve done to me.”
“I’m afraid I might have done something else to you.”
“There’s nothing I’d love more, but are you now wishing we’d used protection?”
“Of course not. I want a baby with you and hopefully more down the road. We haven’t talked about it a lot, but I think it’s important we give Libby a brother or sister soon. She’s so used to being the center of attention that it will be good for her to be surrounded by siblings and have to learn to share.”
“I agree. It’s not only important, but siblings can be best friends. I’ll always be thankful I grew up with a brother.”
“You and me both.”
She ran a finger over his compelling mouth. “If I do get pregnant right away, are you going to worry I might suffer postpartum depression after the delivery?”
“Not really. What happened to Tessa is quite rare. I refuse to let fear dominate our lives. I believe in us and our love.”
Her eyes glazed over. “You’re very brave. It’s the quality that made you such a good bull rider. There isn’t anything you can’t do, is there? I love you so much.”
“You’re the one who’s brave. Not every woman would have taken me on. Not every woman would have sacrificed her own needs and urged me to fight for my happiness and Libby’s. Yet you hung in there.”
“That’s because you told me we have to operate on faith that everything is going to be all right. We’re in this forever.”
“Forever. I love you. Come here to me, sweetheart.”
* * * * *
EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT
Sheikh Ibrahim al-Ansari must find a bride, and quickly… Thankfully he has the perfect convenient princess in mind—his new assistant, Ruby Dance!
Read on for a sneak preview of
THE SHEIKH’S CONVENIENT PRINCESS
by
Liz Fielding
‘Can I ask if you are in any kind of relationship?’ he persisted.
‘Relationship?’
‘You are on your own—you have no ties?’
He was beginning to spook her and must have realised it because he said, ‘I have a proposition for you, Ruby, but if you have personal commitments…’ He shook his head as if he wasn’t sure what he was doing.
‘If you’re going to offer me a package too good to refuse after a couple of hours I should warn you that it took Jude Radcliffe the best part of a year to get to that point and I still turned him d
own.’
‘I don’t have the luxury of time,’ he said, ‘and the position I’m offering is made for a temp.’
‘I’m listening.’
‘Since you have done your research, you know that I was disinherited five years ago.’
She nodded. She thought it rather harsh for a one-off incident but the media loved the fall of a hero and had gone into a bit of a feeding frenzy.
‘This morning I received a summons from my father to present myself at his birthday majlis.’
‘You can go home?’
‘If only it were that simple. A situation exists which means that I can only return to Umm al Basr if I’m accompanied by a wife.’
She ignored the slight sinking feeling in her stomach. Obviously a multimillionaire who looked like the statue of a Greek god—albeit one who’d suffered a bit of wear and tear—would have someone ready and willing to step up to the plate.
‘That’s rather short notice. Obviously, I’ll do whatever I can to arrange things, but I don’t know a lot about the law in—’
‘The marriage can take place tomorrow. My question is, under the terms of your open-ended brief encompassing “whatever is necessary”, are you prepared to take on the role?’
Don’t miss
THE SHEIKH’S CONVENIENT PRINCESS
By Liz Fielding
Available February 2017
www.millsandboon.co.uk
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Copyright ©2016 Mills & Boon
ISBN: 978-1-474-05917-6
A VALENTINE FOR THE COWBOY
© 2017 Rebecca Winters
Published in Great Britain 2017
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
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A Valentine for the Cowboy Page 17