“How do I look Dolly?”
“Like the kind of woman to finally win over Asher’s heart,” she said with a watery voice that made my own eyes start to well up.
“Oh Dolly that’s so sweet.” I blinked to keep from crying and ruining my makeup. “Thank you.”
But Dolly had already turned back to Maggie and pulled on her adorable red and white gingham dress. “Now this is a beauty,” she said holding up a smiling Maggie. “Alright now that you’re both ready it’s time to go downstairs.”
I blew out a breath and couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. I was so incredibly happy today because soon I would marry the man of my dreams. Meeting Asher had changed my life in so many ways and now we would complete our journey together. As one.
Asher
Damn she is so beautiful. That was the only thought in my head. Bob Lee and Colin played a country version of the wedding march as Clara made her way to where I stood under a gorgeous white gazebo. She once told me she’d always wanted a gorgeous white gazebo and I wanted to give it to her. The white dress she wore was sinful and beautiful, showing off her womanly curves and making my mouth water.
“Hey handsome,” she whispered when she reached me, running her fingertips over the stubble I’d left just for her. It was a heady thing when the woman you loved couldn’t get enough of you.
“You look beautiful babe.” I took her hands in mine and leaned in for a kiss that had the crowd whistling and clapping. “That dress is stunning.” I stole another kiss and she giggled.
Her smile dimmed just the littlest bit. “What about the boots?”
My lips curled into a smile. “You’ll wear the boots all night. Got it?”
Her green eyes went wide and she nodded. “Okay,” she answered breathlessly.
“Ahem,” the pastor said, looking impatient under the burning Texas sun. “Are we ready to begin?”
“Sure are,” Clara answered and squeezed my hand with a wink. “Let’s get married.”
The service was just as Clara had requested, fast and with as little fuss as possible. There were no speeches or verses read, just a quick vow and exchange of rings and I was sharing my first kiss with my wife.
“Surely we can do better than that,” she challenged against my lips, making the folks in the front row laugh.
“Hell yeah we can.” I smiled and tilted her back so she was at my mercy, sliding one hand through her hair while the other held her low on her back I kissed her until we were spinning out of control. Her tongue did wicked things to mine and I felt my body going tense. Everywhere. “Sweetheart we still have to walk up this aisle.”
She pressed against me wickedly and smiled. “I guess we better stick close then?” She took my hand and lead me up the aisle, staying close as promised so her dress mostly covered my body as well.
“I love you,” I told her when we made it inside the house, feeling happier than ever that she was mine and we’d decided to get married at home.
“I love you too Asher. Do you think we have time to go upstairs?”
I laughed and pulled her into my arms so our bodies were pressed tight. It turned me on knowing I’m the only lover she’s ever had, but seeing how much she wanted me was better than that.
“Since Dolly and Mom will have that photographer taking pictures of us until the end of time, probably not.”
She pouted adorably and stole another kiss. “I guess you’ll have to wait to see the lingerie I bought for tonight, then.”
I couldn’t help but groan. Since discovering how much I loved to see her in silky, lacy things, Clara had been on a mission to drive me crazy. “We have the rest of our lives.”
Her smile softened and she laid one hand over my heart. “We do.”
“There you love birds are! The photographer is waiting for you at the most perfect spot!” My mom Nina gushed as she walked in holding her first grandchild with whom she was completely smitten.
“There’s my sweet baby girl,” I cooed and took Maggie from her arms. My Maggie was the perfect blend of me and Clara. She had Clara’s fiery red hair and her spunk but she had my blue eyes and contemplative nature. She never rushed forward like most babies, she took in the situation before making a decision. Just like me.
Maggie smiled at the sound of my voice and curled into my neck where I could inhale her baby smell. She looked up at me, cooing and talking her baby nonsense that Clara insisted were real words.
“Yeah, I think your mama looks gorgeous today too,” I told her, loving the way she tilted her head to the side as though she understood.
“Oh hush up Asher,” Clara admonished and dropped a kiss on both of us before leaving with my mom.
I just smiled at my daughter and held her close, singing low and deep to her. “I love you baby girl.”
She cooed right back and in that moment, I understood exactly what Clara had been saying. Maggie didn’t know the words but she was responding to us in her own way.
Clara
“I should have known this dress wouldn’t make it the whole day.” I’d always been cursed when it came to wearing white. Either I spilled something, someone else did, or my energetic daughter decided barbecue sauce was a perfect substitute for finger paint.
“I’m kind of glad it didn’t. Now I don’t have to wait until tonight.” Asher sat on the edge of the bed in our room, watching me with a heated gaze as I shimmied out of my wedding dress.
“See something you like?” Now that I was sure of myself and our love I found myself feeling bolder with him. With my hands on my hips I let him look his fill, my body tightening in certain areas under the weight of his gaze.
“I don’t know, come closer so I can see better.”
I let him tug me closer until I stood between his legs. I ran my fingertips over his stubble covered jaw and felt myself grow wet with desire. His fingers traced the tops of my cleavage before his hands skimmed down my waist and settled on my hips.
“You wore garters for me. And stockings.” Asher’s hands smoothed over my legs and I knew I’d chosen right for our first night as husband and wife.
“I did,” I gasped when his fingers brushed against my swollen, sensitive core. “I’m glad you like it.”
“I love it almost as much as I love you,” he growled and let one finger slip inside my body. “And I love these panties. Easy access,” he whispered in my ear and I shivered.
“Now you see why I was hoping to sneak away.” Even shopping online I was embarrassed to order crotchless panties, but Asher’s reaction made it all worth it.
“Come here,” he commanded and lifted me so I took his place on the bed. Then his mouth was on me and I couldn’t think of anything but the pleasure he constantly brought me. Our sexual relationship had been a revelation to me. I didn’t have to be shy, and Asher was up for trying anything I thought we might like.
“Asher,” I moaned to let him know I was close and he plunged two fingers deep inside me while he sucked on my clit and I fell apart. “Please,” I panted because the more I had of him the more I craved.
“Anything for you, Clara. I thought you knew.” He winked and slid inside me, pumping hard and fast until we were both little more than a pile of sweat slicked bodies.
“Alright,” I began breathlessly, “I’m willing to concede that barbecue on the dress worked out pretty dang good.”
Asher laughed and pressed a kiss to my neck. “Barbecue sauce could be interesting,” he moaned against the sensitive skin behind my ear.
“I’ll stick with the caramel sauce. It’s tastes good and when combined with you I can’t help but lick it all.” I laughed when he groaned because I knew he was remembering that night I used an entire bottle of caramel sauce on his body.
“Best. Night. Ever.” Asher stood and I watched his movements, wishing he was wearing fewer clothes. “Come on, we still have to cut the cake.”
“You do that and I’m gonna take a bath.”
He closed his eye
s and groaned. “Don’t,” he warned.
“Fine,” I pouted though I really didn’t mean it. I was feeling way too good to worry about anything besides when I could get my husband alone again. I grabbed a yellow dress dotted with Texas bluebells and slid it over my head. “All good?”
Asher smiled. “You’re beautiful Clara. I don’t know what I did to deserve the love of a woman like you, but I’m so damn glad you love me back.”
He was the sweetest man I ever met and he was all mine. “I do love you Asher and now you’re mine forever.”
“I think I’ve been yours since the day we met.”
We laughed because he couldn’t stand me then and we both know it. “Maybe it was when you ate my food for the first time.”
“You do have great buns.”
“Ha ha,” I faked laughed with his double entendre. “You only married me for my cooking skills.”
His smile dropped. “Don’t be ridiculous.” Asher grabbed me around the waist and pressed a kiss to my cleavage. “I married you for your body.”
I could only laugh again. He made me feel beautiful every. “I’m sure.”
“I did and I’m willing to prove it to you again if you need me to. Cake can wait.”
I stepped back with a horrified look on my face. “Did you just say cake can wait?”
“I did.”
I shook my head in resignation but inside I was dying of laughter. “Who did I just marry?” I grabbed his hand and pulled him down the stairs and through the kitchen where Dolly, Nina, the entire town of Rogue and everyone else we knew waited for us. “Cake can wait!” I mumbled and shook my head again.
“There you are,” Dolly scolded while Nina stood beside her shaking her head.
“You have the rest of your lives to do that, cut the cake.” Nina Hawthorne was strong-willed and bossy, and I loved her to pieces. I was lucky to get a mother-in-law I loved after hearing a few horror stories from my new friends in town.
Asher stepped forward and grabbed my hand. “Apparently cutting the cake can not wait,” he winked at me as he spoke to the crowd. “Thank you all for coming out to celebrate me getting this amazing woman to marry me. I’m a lucky man and I know that, it’s the only logical reason we have many dang cakes on this table.” Everyone laughed because it was a ridiculous display of cakes but the caterer brought two large sheet cakes plus the wedding cake while every woman in Rogue had also brought her specialty cake. “Clara, I hope we spend the rest of our lives eating cake and celebrating our love and accomplishments every single day.”
I couldn’t help the tears that fell at his heartfelt words. “You’re my cake Asher.”
His gaze darkened and he leaned in for a fiery kiss that probably melted some of the frosting on the table. “When you say things like that to me babe, you have to know what it does.”
I smiled. Of course I knew. “I’ll make it up to you later. With chocolate frosting.” I winked and he groaned. “Now let’s give these people what they want!” The crowd clapped and the cowboys whistled and hollered in appreciation of our display.
Asher cut a square of cake and we split it in half, holding it up to feed one another. “I can’t smash this in your face Clara.” He could be so sweet at times it melted my heart.
“Me either,” I told him and grabbed his wrist. Instead of eating the cake, I licked the remnants from his fingers.
“Your turn,” I told him, ignoring his warning as I smoothed a streak of frosting across my neck. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back while his tongue slicked across my neck, and it quickly turned into a kiss. A suck.
A quiver shot through my body as desire overcame me. I leaned against the table until I felt something cool against my butt. “Oh no,” I fake pouted, “I got frosting on my dress.”
Asher’s gaze darkened and his lips twitched at my horrible acting. “I’m sorry sweetheart, I guess this means we have to get you changed again.”
I smiled. “You’re the best husband a girl could have.”
“You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
We made our way back to the house, to the bedroom where we couldn’t seem to get enough of each other.
I knew that years, decades from now when this house is full of love, and laughter and children, when our hair was grey, we would still be sneaking off to be alone.
Together.
Royal Deal
Chapter One
The heat slams into me as I step down off the plane onto the private tarmac; oppressive and heavy. A far cry from the cool, crisp temperatures of the air-conditioned cabin of the corporate jet, the Washington humidity is relentless. Beads of sweat immediately form on the nape of my neck, causing my hair to curl. Desperate to escape the brutal heat of the July sun, I hastily made my way to the waiting limo.
Sliding to the far side of the vehicle, I breathe a sigh of relief at once again being in the comforts of air conditioning. Pulling out my compact, I tried to comb my fingers through my hair willing it to straighten back out. With a sigh, I clamp the compact shut; resigned to the fact that the time spent meticulously straightening my naturally wavy locks, had been in vain. Thankfully, my father had deemed it pertinent that we arrive in D.C. a day early to prepare for the upcoming contract negotiations. I would have time tomorrow morning to re-tame the wild tendrils.
The car door opened once more, letting in another blast of heat as my father and his Vice President of Defense Operations, Alistair Todwick, joined me. As the CEO of Aughton Securities and a royal descendent, Michael Sheffield was an imposing figure. A career military man, he spent a decade in the Royal Welsh Regiment before building his defense firm from the ground up. He carried himself with a certain poise. His dark eyes; keen with intelligence and scrutiny, could command your attention from across the room.
Where my father was tall, dark, and formidable; Alistair Todwick was his polar opposite. With fair skin, blue eyes and light hair, Alistair literally paled in comparison to my father. Despite being of royal blood, my father came from humble beginnings. His great-grandmother had been the Countess of Essex and sixth in line to the throne, but she had fallen in love with a commoner. Bucking tradition, she had opted to marry her sheep farmer.
Giving up the life of luxury that the palace provided, she and her husband tended the sheep, worked the farm, and raised their family away from the spotlight. It was the kind of romance that fairy tales were made of. They ended up having five children and 14 great-grandchildren, one of those being my father.
As a sheep farmer’s son, my father had worked his way through college mucking stalls, and working the family farm before setting out to build his dream. Aughton Securities was one of the most prominent defense firms in the U.K. and he also held a position as a member of the Welsh Parliament. He carried himself with an innate hardness and determination.
Whereas Alistair’s family had money, tons of it, and he grew up the pampered prep-school boy with a silver spoon. Attending Eton and later Cambridge, Alistair was brilliant, but he was weak and soft, and carried himself with an air of entitlement. I didn’t understand what my father saw in him, but father continued to praise his work and requested that he accompany us on this trip.
Alistair made every effort to look like the devoted employee in my father’s presence, but behind his back, he scoffed at having to take orders from a ‘hired hand.’ Alistair couldn’t get past the scandal of my father’s great-grandmother not marrying royalty. He could only dream of having the lineage that my father had. He felt that the success of the company was due to his endeavors and efforts rather than my father’s hard work. He also took his sense of entitlement too far, making inappropriate comments and requests to his staff, particularly to the females. He had very strong opinions about a woman’s place; their time better spent on their backs than in the office. Having been on the receiving end of his unwanted advances, I couldn’t stand to be in the same car with him let alone be spending an entire weekend working with him. He made my skin crawl.
I was proud of my lineage, but I didn’t want any favors. Technically, my father was the Viscount of Essex, which made me the Baroness of Essex but I never used the title. I wanted to earn my way, rather than have it be handed it to me because of a title. I started as a legal intern in the corporate office at Aughton Securities as I studied contract law at Oxford. Graduating in the top ten of my class, I was offered lucrative partnerships in prestigious law firms across the U.K. and abroad. Instead, I chose to stay and accept a junior associate position in my father’s company.
I still remember the gleam of pride in his eye when I formally announced that I would be following in his footsteps at the company. He had never once engaged me as to what path I should choose upon graduation. I was his only child, his baby, yet he stepped back and let me decide for myself. I respected him so much more for that. In the end, it was an easy decision for me. I wanted to continue the legacy of what he had built. But, I was determined to make a name for myself on my own merit, out from under the shadow of my father.
Over the years, I had worked my way up from junior associate to partner, and now to Chief Legal Counsel. Alistair resented my rise in the company, especially now that my title and position was above his own. Deciding that the only way to gain true control of the company was to be Michael’s son-in-law, Alistair launched a ridiculous campaign to court me. Recognizing him for the lecherous snake that he was, I quite publicly stymied his advances. Letting it be known in no uncertain terms that I was not, nor would I ever be, interested in any kind of involvement with him.
Fake Fiancé Next Door_A Small Town Romance Page 28