by Lily LaVae
Billy growled behind her. “So much for keeping the contract private.”
She flinched. If the agency found out about her loose lips, Billy could be forced to pay a hefty fine … or she could if he didn’t marry her.
“And do you still want to marry him, miss?” The stranger laid a protective hand on her shoulder, so strange coming from someone she didn’t know, especially since he had come with Billy.
“I have no choice. I have nothing to go home to.” She sniffled, and the stranger handed her a tissue from his pocket.
“You believe her? I can’t believe this.” He turned away from them, massaging his temple under his hat, and she could swear she heard Carter laughing behind him.
“I do,” the man stood between them, protecting her. “Everyone within a mile saw the look on your face when she came off that plane. Let’s go to yours and have a chat.” He put one arm around her and waited for Billy to lead.
She would probably pay dearly for what she’d forced upon him, but nothing was worse than her fate if she didn’t.
3
The degree of fear on her face burned an imprint in William’s mind, even hotter than his anger. What had the bridal agency threatened her with? If his satisfaction was guaranteed, what of hers? Or was she only worried about her father and what would result if she didn’t succeed in whatever scheme they’d concocted.
There was always the possibility she was lying, that this wasn’t a surprise to her at all. But how could Mr. LaMont have known about the Diamond Bridal Agency and known he would use it? William would have to call the agency and let them know their security wasn’t what they thought. If Gen or her father had thought they could tempt him from his purpose, they would be sorely mistaken. He wasn’t a man to be trifled with.
Carter walked a step behind him. “What will you do?” The hint of mocking laughter in his voice made William clench his teeth to contain what was only barely suppressed anger.
How he hated to be the butt of a joke. He’d pushed himself to be the best at everything, just so he could be the last man laughing. Now, this annoyance was trying to get the better of him.
“I’ll marry her, just as she wants. Then her father will pay for his deception. When we arrive in Dallas, I’ll take care of it.”
“What I can’t figure, is why she’d want to follow through with marrying you? I understand taking away your chance at a bride. That’s annoying and expensive, since you’d have to start all over, but what’s in it for Gen?”
Carter made a good argument. What was in it for her? As his wife, she would stand to inherit a lot, but he’d have to die first and change his will, which wasn’t likely. With everything her father had done, he hadn’t focused any of his attention on William, just the land. Nothing had been threatening. Not to mention, Gen would have to put up with a lot as his bride, and that seemed more than a father should be willing to force his daughter to do.
“Maybe her father thinks he can get my land if something unfortunate happens to me.” Saying it aloud made it sound more possible, though still not plausible.
Gen and the pastor waited beside his private jet. She stood with her mouth hanging open slightly, marveling at it. Her wide-eyed gaze hit him in the gut. He could get adoration from almost anyone, and it wasn’t anywhere close to what he wanted from her. He shut off his feelings. He couldn’t think of Gen as his wife, she would only have that title for a few hours until he could dump her back with her father. That hit the hardest, that someone who had been so close would hit him below the belt. Gen had always been better than that.
“I don’t think we’ll have further need of your help, sir.” He nodded to the pastor he’d brought with for the occasion, knowing he had to rush right back out of town to save his ranch as soon as his bride arrived.
Gen crossed her arms over ample breasts and stared at him, he’d almost forgotten she was so luscious. At least he knew one thing for certain, Gen had enough there to fill his hand and then some. Too bad he would never get that chance.
An officer came out of the car rental building nearby and he stared at the strange crew. Gen stepped forward.
“Officer. I’d like to press charges. This man sent for me, signed a contract that said he’d marry me, and is now sending me away.”
The officer glanced around the group and frowned, confusion evident in his raised eyebrows. “Sounds to me like you need a lawyer, not an officer, miss.” He slid out from the group and headed for his patrol car.
“He manhandled me off the plane!” she yelled, stopping the officer in his tracks.
William flinched, he had been a little rougher than normal, but not enough to press charges. “If it matters, I did no such thing, not that you want to hear the truth.” He crossed his arms and leaned on his hip, waiting to see what she would do next. He hadn’t seen feisty Gen in a long time. And she deserved it for messing with his plans. She’d been fun to watch when they were younger, now … he’d have to wait and see.
Gen huffed and hissed then unbuttoned her coat, sliding the arm out of the sleeve and examining where he’d grabbed her. Light poured over her soft skin.
Oh, no darling. that will be tonight. His pants grew tight around his thighs at the thought.
Carter stepped forward. “Let’s just get this mess over with.” He tugged her jacket back around her shoulders.
“I never agreed to wed anyone.” William wouldn’t let today be the day he let someone pull the wool over his eyes. Especially not Genevieve LaMont. She may have applied under a different name, but LaMont was her real name. If that had been on the letter, he’d have stopped her from coming before she’d even gotten on the plane.
She turned her deep blue eyes on him with something akin to pleading. Now, there was a look he was used to. She stepped closer to him and dipped her chin. Suddenly he couldn’t think straight, her golden hair was bright in the harsh sunlight of the tarmac, gold and softly curled.
“William, please. I’m not here at my father’s command. I stopped doing as he said years ago. I promise you. I wouldn’t do that to you. Just do this for me and I’ll stay out of your way. I’ll be the obedient little wife you requested, just please … don’t send me back.”
Her full breasts heaved up and down and were now very visible through the white shirt and skimpy bra she wore under her suit as she tried to control tears that looked all too real this time. If her father had sent her to trap him, she was doing an excellent job.
“You just came from Texas. What is there that’s so bad you would force my hand? You won’t appreciate this if you continue.” His control over the situation was slipping by the second, and he hated it. William Orion was always in control.
“I didn’t just come from Texas. You read the letter, didn’t they tell you where my flight was coming from? I came from Mission Creek, Kansas. I left my father’s house months ago. Please, please don’t make me go back. I had no idea it was your ad I was answering.” She clung to the front of his shirt and her voice rose louder, drawing attention. “They didn’t give me your name. You must believe me.” She was certainly good at making him a spectacle, and he wanted to step away. If it had been anyone but Gen, he would have.
“Control yourself, Genevieve.”
His harsh voice cut her off and she backed away, closing her jacket once more.
“I will be no part of this. Your father has been a thorn in my side for months, and this is far too convenient. You must see that.”
Her eyes narrowed to slits of fire. Now there was the Gen he remembered. “No, all I see is a bossy jackass. I’m not going back to Texas. Not now or ever.” She turned to run but before she could set foot to pavement, he grabbed her arm and dragged her back to him, against him, and something hot sparked between them. Something that melded both past and present.
The officer stepped forward and shoved between them, pulling them apart, then backed away. “Now, listen here. Either you pay to send her back, or you let her go.”
William
stared into her intense blue eyes for a moment. He’d find out what Gen was up to and he’d make certain all his assets were secure before he did anything. Since Gen wasn’t on his will, she would get nothing if anything happened to him. But he would also be taking her home and dumping her back with her father where she belonged.
“No need for a shotgun wedding, officer. I plan to do both.”
Gen’s eyes widened as he read the realization in her eyes, and the satisfaction of being at the top of the situation surged within him. Once wed, she would have to follow him wherever he directed, and that meant to Texas. She was trapped.
4
Gen allowed herself to be led up to the door of another jet, though this one was bigger. It would take her right back home, exactly the place she wanted to avoid. Her stomach clenched and she stopped, ready to run away. The bridal agency couldn’t do a thing if they couldn’t find her. She’d hidden before, only from her father, so she could do it again. Carter followed her up the stairs and she froze. Both his hands gripped the railing as he came up. She wasn’t getting around him without throwing herself over the edge. A quick glance over the rail, and she gripped it tighter herself.
“Come on, Gen. You’re made of stronger stuff than that.” His gaze met hers and, though he’d aged so much since she’d last seen him, it was suddenly like no time had passed at all.
“He’s so angry, Carter. Honestly, I didn’t know I was signing on to marry him. This wasn’t a scheme. I never planned to see him again.”
He gently turned her back around and nudged her back up the stairs. “You signed on to be a bride, no matter what. I bet you never thought that no matter what would mean so much.” He chuckled.
“When it’s your life we’re joking about, then we can laugh.” She stepped onto Billy’s jet and, unlike the other, this one had a warm cream interior with shiny wood accents. The seats were cream leather, arranged in two separate seating groups. More forward, there was a table with seating and a flat screen television hung on the wall. The aft seating was set up to allow for passengers to converse with one another. Behind the seats was a common area that looked like built-in couches. They backed up to a gleaming wood wall with a closed door. The whole craft was frigid with the AC running, and all the window openings were drawn shut to keep the warmth of the sun out.
Billy and the man who’d suggested they talk were already seated at the table and chatting. The man glanced up and smiled.
“I’m Pastor Gustafson. Mr. Orion invited me to perform your marriage, since he’s in quite a hurry to take care of some business. The pilot and Mr. Pierce will act as witnesses.”
This was happening. Really happening. She would get married and be back in Texas in under a few hours. The one place she’d never wanted to go again. How could Billy have stayed away so long and now, the moment he married her, want to go back?
“This doesn’t have to be all that formal. It isn’t like you’re following convention in any other sense.” The pastor glanced at William but said nothing further. William was stiff, a roiling storm just waiting to explode. All hard muscle and even harder anger.
Carter knocked on a narrow door at the front of the jet and, a moment later, a man in a blue uniform appeared. He was professional and chilly, avoiding eye contact with her. He sat in a seat, waiting, as if he knew exactly what was expected of him, without question.
Pastor Gustafson slid a document her way. “Do you, Genevieve Horner—”
William interrupted, reaching for the paper and pulling a pen from his suit pocket. “Her name isn’t Horner, and I’m not letting her out of this on technicality. She wanted in, she’s in. Her name is Genevieve Maria LaMont.” He scratched out her name with a harsh swipe of the pen and wrote in LaMont above her alias.
The pastor glanced at her for a moment, then eyed Billy’s changes to the form. There was no ceremony, no vows or I do’s, but what did she expect? Flowers? A doting husband? She’d signed a contract to be a wife. That should’ve told her what to expect.
“Do you?” The pastor handed her the pen.
Gen signed her name. “Sure.” She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, hoping to dispel the awful dread in her stomach.
The pastor handed the pen to Billy. “Do you?”
He ignored the one he was handed and used his own. In quick, slashing marks, signed his name. The deed was done. She was wed. Congratulations, her own voice snickered in her head. You’ve gone from the frying pan, into the fire.
5
Gen hadn’t looked at him once since the pastor had left and the pilot had returned to his cockpit. She’d stomped over to a seat farthest from him, buckled herself in, opened the shade to stare outside, and proceeded to ignore them. While he’d wanted, and had been willing, to pay for a bride, he couldn’t shake the feeling in his gut that he was being an ass.
Carter raised an eyebrow and glanced over to Gen, then stared at him. “You going to talk to her, or let her figure this all out on her own?”
“When I deposit her back with her father, our marriage will be one of the shortest in history. A few hours, tops. I should see if it’s some kind of world record.” He refused to look at Carter and see the mirth in his eyes. Half of his anger grew from his feeling like an ass, the other was in feeling like he’d surely been duped. There was no such thing as chance.
Carter sat back in his seat and leaned his head against it. “You assume you’ll be able to find someone to end it that quickly. You should’ve just taken the license from the pastor and told him you’d file it yourself, then trashed it. Gen would’ve been none the wiser and you would’ve been off the hook. You forget. This isn’t New York or California. This is Texas, remember?”
How could he forget? He’d grown up in the land of big dreams, big guns, and bigger families. But in Dallas, it shouldn’t be hard to find a lawyer to take care of his problem, and Gen would thank him someday. She’d always been a tom-boy, riding horses and staying around home. She didn’t party or go to prom. She’d been an only child and her father had doted on her, or it seemed like he did. So why was she so hell-bent on staying away now? And why marriage when she’d always avoided men? It had made him the happiest boy on earth then but didn’t explain now.
“For what it’s worth, I think you’re wrong.” Carter didn’t look at him. He never did when he questioned William’s authority, which wasn’t often.
“That so? Why?”
“Because if she was here to ruin something for you, she would’ve tried to hide who she was. She didn’t. Didn’t change her hair, didn’t do anything. You knew who she was the moment she stepped off that plane. And, while any bride would be scared as hell to get married to the likes of you, she wasn’t scared of you, she was scared of going back home. Something’s not right.”
He let his gaze wander back to Gen, the blonde who had always irritated him in all the right ways. She was such a pest when they were growing up, following him around. Then, when he’d discovered girls and Carter’s sister wouldn’t leave him alone, Gen had faded to the background. She’d called him an ass and, after graduation, he hadn’t seen her again. Not that he saw much of anyone from home, except Carter.
She sat, legs crossed, waiting for takeoff. He’d accepted the fact that he wouldn’t have a loving bride months ago. He didn’t have the time, or the inclination, to date. Women who only wanted him for his money were plentiful, but boring. While all of his investments were sound as far as he was concerned, there was always a chance he could wind up down on his luck. The gold-digger wife would then leave. A bride from the agency would more likely remain at his side until he could start over. Maybe. He wasn’t at all certain Gen would stay. She’d been pretty insistent at, what he’d thought was their final meeting, that she wanted nothing to do with him anymore.
He stood and moved to the chair next to hers. Her leg tensed as he sat down, and she moved both of her feet to the floor. He’d love to personally thank whoever designed those shoes, because they did amazi
ng things to Gen’s legs.
“Care to tell me why it is that you want to avoid Texas?”
She bit her plush, shiny lip and pretended like she hadn’t heard him.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t tell my pilot to land at the ranch and haul you right next door to your father. Toss your pretty little ass right back at him. I’m tired of this Gen. This has to stop and that’s exactly what I’m going to do when I’m home. Stop this.”
She shook her head slightly, just enough for her blond curls to shimmy. “Why does it matter what I tell you? You won’t believe me anyway. I’ve been telling the truth for the last hour, but it hasn’t done a damn thing. You’ve made your decision, but it’s me that’ll have to live with the consequences.”
He wanted to listen to her, but she certainly made it difficult. She’d never been a liar, but there was no way he could see this for anything but a set up. “What would you have me do, Gen? I may have what seems like an unlimited supply of cash, but this arrangement wasn’t something the average man could afford. Tell me. Convince me that your father didn’t do this. I don’t want to have to do this again.”
Her blue eyes hit him, honest and wide. “Then why will you? Are you really so worried about what I’ll do?”
“Yes. As my wife, you might be privy to information. Information that would help your father to take what’s mine.” He wanted to control his anger, but even talking about what this marriage could cost him made him furious.
“The moment he sees me with you, he may not want anything else from you.” She shivered almost imperceptibly.