The Best Man's Bride (16 page)

“So are you done being mad yet?” he asked.

“No,” she said, even though she could summon no more anger, not after what he’d told her. “I’m not through with you.”

“I hope not,” he murmured, his expression serious as he stared at her.

She drew in a shaky breath, forcing herself to remember all her reasons for seeking him out. Like his father had said, he needed to explain himself to her. But more than that, Colleen needed to explain herself to him. “You’re not going to stop me from volunteering at the hospital.”

He pushed his hand through his hair, tousling the golden strands. “I never meant to.”

“You know you left me no choice,” she pointed out. “If I showed up at the hospital, you’d think I was chasing you, trying to land a doctor.”

“I’m sorry I ever suggested that,” he said. “I know you’re not.”

“Then you’d be wrong again,” she told him. “I do want a doctor.”

His eyebrows rose above his pale eyes as surprise flashed across his face. “Colleen?”

“I want
you.
”

Colleen held her breath as she watched his face for any reaction to her admission. His jaw clenched, a muscle ticking in his cheek. Her skin heating with embarrassment, she backed toward the door, wanting to leave before she made an even bigger fool of herself.

But Nick followed, kicking aside a pile of boxes in order to close his hands over her shoulders and pull her to him.

“Nick?” she asked, her heart beating madly as she stared at his unreadable face.

“I want you, Colleen. How I want you!”

Want.
Not
love.

He swept her up in his arms, kicking more cartons aside as he carried her toward a bedroom. He hadn’t started packing there yet. No boxes littered the floor, so he moved quickly toward the bed and deposited her on the tangled sheets. When he followed her down, Colleen lifted her hands and pressed them against his chest, holding him back. “Want?”

“What?”

“You just
want
me? That’s all?” She had been a fool to think anything had changed, to think that
he
had changed just because
she
had.

“I let that be enough in the park, and I shouldn’t have.” Not that she regretted making love with him. She’d never known such pleasure. “I deserve more than desire.”

“Colleen…”

“I deserve love!” Her fire returned, coursing through her veins, so that she trembled with it. “For so many years, you didn’t even notice me.

“It’s not your fault,” she said, absolving him. “No one noticed me. I think I wanted it that way, so I made sure no one noticed or heard me.” She’d been like a hurt animal, hiding her pain and her vulnerability. “But I’m going to let my light shine now day and night,” she informed him.

“It always did.”

“I’m sick of being invisible,” she continued her rant, unwilling to let him interrupt or distract her. “I’m sick of worrying about what everyone else wants or needs. For the first time in eight years, I’m going to be selfish.”

“You said you only
wanted
me,” he reminded her, amusement lightening his voice.

She slammed her hand against his chest. “Because I love you!”

“Hitting me is probably not the best way to prove that,” he teased, catching and holding her hand, palm flat, against his hammering heart. “You told me that you didn’t love me. That day in the park, you assured me that I didn’t have to worry—that you hadn’t fallen for me.”

Her face heated with embarrassment again, and she dropped her gaze from his to the line of his jaw, to which golden stubble clung. He must have been so focused on packing that he hadn’t bothered shaving.

His finger slid under her chin, tipping it up. “Colleen?”

“I lied to you,” she admitted. She blew out a shaky breath. “Don’t feel bad. I lied to myself, too. I thought that I didn’t love you that much yet. That it wouldn’t hurt me if I lost you then. But if I lost you later…”

“It might destroy you?” he asked.

She should have known that he, of all people, would understand her fear. He’d watched how his older brother’s marriage breaking up had destroyed his idol, his hero.

“Like losing my father had destroyed my mother,” she explained.

“I met your mother at the wedding,” he reminded her. “And the next morning, when she told me I could find you in the park. She seems fine now.”

“She is,” Colleen verified. “She recovered. But I didn’t think I was as strong as my mother. I thought only strong people could survive loving and losing.”

He sighed. “And I thought that because of Bruce not
even
strong people could survive losing. So it was better not to love anyone. Ever.”

“I believed that, too,” she admitted. “I didn’t intend to ever risk loving anyone, either. But I do. I love you.” She trembled with fear, and not the fear of loving him. She’d realized, after he’d gone, that she was strong enough to deal with losing him. But she was afraid that he wouldn’t let himself love her back.

“And I want you to love me.”

“I do,” he said as solemnly as if he spoke vows.

Tears of relief, of joy, sprang to her eyes. “Nick…”

“I have loved you since the moment I first saw you—in the church. It was love at first sight.”

His words dimmed her happiness. “But you saw me before that. That wasn’t the—”

“It was the first time
I
saw you, Colleen. And I fell for you right there, before I even knew your name. It was kismet, destiny, something that when other people talked about it, I thought they were fools.” His chest rumbled beneath her palms as he laughed.

She blinked back tears, in disbelief that he returned her feelings. “You really love me?”

“Why do you think I’m moving to
Cloverville?
” he asked.

“I love you and I want to be close to you.”

“I didn’t know.” And she hadn’t dared to hope that he returned her feelings.

“I had my life all figured out,” he said, his voice heavy with irony. “But you messed up everything.”

“I messed up your life?”

Nick regretted saying that, along with all the other stupid things he’d said to her. “No. You
gave
me a life. And I want to share it with you. I was going to do this right and ask Clayton for your hand in marriage.”

“Like Josh did?” she asked. “Maybe it’s best we don’t follow the same traditions he and Molly followed.”

“You’re right,” he agreed. Ordinarily, he wouldn’t be superstitious, but Colleen’s happiness was too important to risk. He had hoped she’d been lying that day when she’d claimed she hadn’t loved him. But even if she didn’t love him yet, he’d intended to make her fall for him—as deeply as he’d fallen for her.

“Let’s not get married in the church,” he suggested, wincing as he remembered the open window in the bride’s dressing room.

“Abby and Clayton already have it booked,” she said. “For their wedding.”

He grinned. “I guess she accepted his apology then.”

“And his proposal. And my mother’s old engagement ring. Dad gave it to Clayton before he died, to give to his bride. I think he’d hoped Clayton would give it to Abby someday and officially make her a McClintock.”

He offered a proposal of his own, “Let’s get married in the park.”

“I haven’t said yes yet,” she pointed out. Her voice turning haughty like the first time she’d ever spoken to him, and she added, “In fact, you haven’t even asked me the question yet.”

A grin pulled at his lips. She made him so damned happy—happier than he’d ever thought a man could be. “I thought we weren’t following tradition.”

“You’re right. Let me ask you.” She squirmed out from beneath his body, rolled off the bed and knelt beside where he lay. “Will you marry me, Nick Jameson?”

“Yes, I will marry you, Colleen McClintock,” he agreed, and pulled her up onto the bed with him and into his arms. “I wasn’t wrong about everything. I knew that the longer I knew you, the more I would love you.”

“That’s why you left.”

“But I couldn’t stay away. I had to see you.” He smoothed his fingers across her cheek. “I had to touch you.” He leaned closer, pressing his mouth against hers, taking her lips in a deep, hungry kiss. “I had to kiss you.”

Breathing hard, she reminded him, “You’re forgetting one thing.”

“This?” he asked as he undid the buttons on her blouse and pulled it from her shoulders, leaving her bare from the waist up but for a thin cotton bra.

She shook her head, locks of dark hair slipping free of the knot at the back of her neck. He had dreamed of her thick, dark hair spread across his pillows. He had dreamed of her in his bed.

He unhooked the metal thing at her waist. Then he slid his palms over her narrow hips, pushing down the skirt. He cupped her buttocks, lifting her hips against his eager body. “This?”

She shook her head again.

“My clothes?” he asked. With reluctance, he lifted himself off her just long enough to toss his shirt aside and shuck his jeans and briefs. Skin slid over skin, limbs tangling, as he rejoined her. “Colleen…”

“No,” she said even as she wrapped her arms around him and lifted her legs to cradle his hips. “You’re forgetting that I was the one to come to you.”

Even as passion consumed him, heating his skin and fraying his nerves so that he shook with need for her, he laughed. “You beat me this once.”

“Twice,” she insisted, her breath catching as he undid her bra and tore her panties aside, giving him access with his hands, with his lips. “I saw you first.”

And she’d known that first time, no matter what the rumors about his lack of a heart, that he was the man for her. His fingers caressed her breasts, teasing her nipples as he moved his mouth across her belly, then lower, bringing her to a shattering release. She lay spent, her fingers knotted in his rumpled sheets.

“And I beat you again,” she said, still catching her breath.

Laughter rumbled in his chest as he pulled her close, then thrust inside her. His teeth clenched together for self-control, he moved slowly, murmuring, “As long as I have you in my life, Colleen, I can’t lose.”

She lifted her hips, meeting each thrust, their bodies in perfect sync. She dug her nails into his shoulders, scraped them down his back to his buttocks. Pleasure crashed through her again, wave after wave. “Nick!”

With a guttural cry, he joined her. Then he rolled them, so that she lay atop him, her body limp. His heart beat hard beneath her cheek. His hands, shaking slightly, ran down her back. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. And I love being able to tell you that I do.”

Instead of keeping it to herself—or from herself, as she had for so long.

“No more secrets?”

She shook her head. “No more secrets.” She sighed, not wanting reality to intrude on their happiness. “That’s not going to be a problem.”

“But?” They were so attuned that he’d obviously heard the word in her voice.

“We have another problem.”

His body tensed beneath hers. “What?”

“My sister. She means to me what Bruce meant to you. She’s not just my sister. She’s my friend. Are you ever going to be able to forgive her for leaving Josh at the altar?” She braced her palms against his chest, so she could lever up and see his eyes.

“She hurt Josh.” He sighed. “Probably his pride more than his heart. I don’t think he loves her.”

“And I don’t think she loves him,” Colleen shared. “That’s why she took off.”

“Then why did she agree to marry him in the first place?” he asked, his voice rough with frustration.

“People, even people we love and admire, don’t always make the wisest choices,” she reminded him gently. “I really want you and Molly to get along, to become friends. You’re so much alike. Molly decided to be a doctor when our dad died, for the same reasons you did.”

“Because I wasn’t able to save Bruce…”

“Or your mother. And you wanted to save other people.”

Nick’s heart expanded, swelling with love for her. No one, not even Josh, had ever understood him like she did. “For you, I’ll forget about Molly leaving Josh at the altar. I’ll be her friend.” He tangled his fingers in her hair, pushing a lock behind her ear. “For you, I’m even moving to Cloverville.”

She glanced around his bedroom, at the shuttered windows, the exposed brick and wood beams in the coffered ceiling. “I can’t believe you’d give up this place. You haven’t sold it yet?”

He shook his head. “I have an appointment with a Realtor, though.”

“Cancel it,” she advised him. “Let’s keep it.”

“You don’t want to live in Cloverville?”

“I don’t care where we are, as long as we’re together,” she said, settling her head back against his chest.

“But I already bought a house—which I probably shouldn’t have done before asking you,” he realized. “I acted like an arrogant ass again, huh? Making decisions that’ll affect both of us.”

“Your dad warned me,” she said, her voice soft with affection. “That you’re a handful. But don’t worry, I can handle you.”

She was younger and less experienced, but Nick had no doubt she could hold her own against him. She already held his heart. “Yes, you can.” The way she’d slammed into his house tonight, and into his heart when he first noticed her, he had no doubt she could handle him very well.

“I might even come to work for you, if you ask me nicely,” she said.

“At the office?” he asked, stunned that she’d offer. He knew how much family meant to her.

She nodded. “I can manage it. Clayton doesn’t need me. I’d already thought about quitting the insurance office to work for Abby.”

“She has a temporary employment agency?” he verified, remembering Clayton mentioning it as the man had been unable to talk about, to think about, anything but Abby Hamilton. Nick understood that kind of fascination with a woman. Would Clayton accept Nick as a suitable husband for his little sister? Nick might have to prove himself to the other man, to prove how much he loved Colleen and would never hurt her.

Colleen nodded. “But I’d rather work for you.”

“
With
me,” he corrected her, happiness splitting his face into a wide grin. He couldn’t imagine anything he’d enjoy more than spending all his time with Colleen at his side.

“With you,” she agreed with a happy sigh, her breath warming his skin.

He fought the distraction of her naked body pressed against his and reached for the drawer of the bedside table. Pulling out a small velvet box, he playfully mused, “Since we’re skipping tradition, I don’t suppose you’d be interested in this.”

Colleen lifted her chin from his shoulder. “You bought me a ring?”

“I told you I planned on doing this right.”

“Are we doing it wrong now?” she asked, brushing her hair against his chest as she moved over his body. She rubbed against him, reawakening his desire for her. He would never be able to get enough of her, no matter how much time, how many years or lifetimes, they were together.

“I don’t think we could ever do it wrong,” Nick maintained.

She reached for the box, but he pulled it back, teasing her.

“Since we’ve decided not to follow tradition…”

She caught his wrist and pulled his hand toward her. “Show me the ring.”