It was heaven. It was transformational. It was exactly right.
When they returned, Ellis used the barn’s landline to call Amanda so she could usher Beth back to the house while Ellis put Brooke away. Then the girl would change and attend the wedding.
“Wow,” Amanda said. “You’re glowing!”
“Yeah.” Beth was slightly breathless and couldn’t stop grinning. “It was perfect. I love that horse. Now I’m ready.” She held out her hands. “Look.”
They were still as stones.
Amanda said, “And your hair—I won’t tell Harris, but it looks even better tousled.”
Beth laughed. “I don’t think it moved. I was afraid it would fly off in a big chunk.”
“That would be hard to explain to Finn.”
“But he’d marry me anyway.”
“Yes. Yes, he would. When it comes to you, that man is totes toast, as Solstice would say.”
Beth and Finn got hitched without a hitch. After he kissed her to seal the deal, he pulled away and looked at her, a question in his blue, blue eyes. She merely smiled at him.
When the ceremony ended, and the seventy or so guests applauded their approval of the new marrieds, Finn said, “We’ll be right back, folks. Help yourselves to some refreshments.” Then he used his cane to part the crowd, pulling Beth by the hand until he got to her room. He tugged her inside and closed the door.
He took her in his arms. Finn, her husband. Finn, resplendent in a morning suit. Finn’s completely masculine face, with its crooked nose, gave formal attire a hint of danger. It was irresistibly sexy. Without giving her a chance to think, he cupped the back of her head and engulfed her mouth in a searing, dominating kiss. She kissed him right back, this husband of hers, and she knew if they didn’t stop, they’d soon be on that bed.
Which wasn’t such a bad idea.
“Honey,” she said.
“What?” he growled.
“We should probably get back out there.”
“I don’t think they’ll miss us for a few minutes. They’re not going anywhere.” He went to pick her up, then said, “Damn this leg! I can’t . . .”
“S’okay,” she said, as she flounced onto her bed. He grinned and eased on top of her, then covered her mouth with his, consuming her. He looked down at her, questioning.
“Please,” she said. “I’d like my husband to make love to me.”
He grinned—a hot, wicked smile—and he pushed the skirt of her dress up and they made love.
After, they sat next to each other on the bed. Beth used a small mirror to reapply her lipstick so Harris wouldn’t have a stroke.
Finn said, “When I kissed you in there, did I smell . . . horses?”
Beth looked at him, and one corner of her mouth kicked up. “Yep.” She showed him the green grass stain on the side of her shoe, and a small tan mark on her dress from the saddle. “I rode Brooke right before our wedding. Ellis has pictures.”
Finn threw his head back and roared. Beth laughed at his reaction. After what felt like a year, he took both of her hands in his. He pierced her with his blazing blue gaze, shook his head, and said, “That’s my Bethany. God, but I love you.”
“And I love you,” she said. “Now let’s get this marriage on the road.”
She stood, helped him up, and they rejoined the party.
Beth—fittingly—began the rest of her life with Finn under the watchful eyes of her best friends and within whinnying distance of her beloved horse.
Speaking of Brooke, Beth also didn’t show for the rest of that year or the beginning of the next—unless you counted her baby bump.
Acknowledgments
I have a multitude of people to thank because I am one lucky writer.
Thank you to the team at Simon & Schuster/Pocket Star for all their help and expertise. Melissa Gramstad, Marla Daniels, Ela Schwartz, the cover art department, and everyone else who has helped this book become a reality. And a gigantic thanks to Abby Zidle, for her patience, humor, and kindness as she Sherpa’d me through the treacherous second novel, broken jaw and all.
Thanks to Emily Sylvan Kim, for her expert agenting and especially for the timely pep talks.
I’ve had a couple broken bones, but I needed help with Finn’s injury. Thank you to Nicole Gearing for sharing her (unfortunate) firsthand experience with broken bones. And to Reed Ayers, for sharing both his firsthand and professional experience with broken legs.
A long-distance thank-you to Helen Julianov, for sharing her Willow Tree Equestrian mobile boutique with my poster and postcards.
A whinny of thanks to Hilary Collins and Reed (again) for taking care of the real-life Brooke and making sure she had enough treats when her owner was writing and didn’t make it to the barn.
My boundless gratitude to authors Tracy Brogan, Terri Osburn, Susan Boyer, Heather Ashby, Talia Quinn, and all the rest of the fabulous Firebirds for your ever-present support, shoulders to cry on, and ready wit. And to Joanne Kennedy for the encouraging emails precisely when I needed them.
Thank you to my readers. Writing a book for yourself is all well and good, but to have others read it—that’s the dream. I wouldn’t be here without you.
And finally, an eternal thank-you, Tom Auclair, for weeding the garden and walking the dog when I had to write. And for everything else.
About the Author
Colette Auclair has been a copywriter for more than twenty years. She’s ridden and shown horses since she was ten and owns a lovely twenty-year-old Thoroughbred mare. She is curently working on the next novel in the Aspen Valley series.
FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR: authors.simonandschuster.com/Colette-Auclair
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Colette Auclair
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First Pocket Star Books ebook edition August 2014
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Interior
design by Leydiana Rodríguez-Ovalles
Cover design by Janet Perr
ISBN 978-1-4767-4581-7
Jumped Page 26