Two Nights with His Bride (8 page)

“I know. But we’ve been friends for a long time,
and I told them so many stories when we first met that I can’t keep track of them all.” She dropped her gaze to the steam coming off the mug. “I don’t think I outright lied to them. I just…”

“Practiced being an actress before you landed any parts?”

She blinked. “How did you know?”

“It’s what I always felt like you were doing as a kid. Putting on different personas to see how they fit. I thought
you’d make a great actress before I ever knew you wanted to be one.”

“I think I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“How else would I mean it?”

“Like I was a little liar.”

His lips quirked. “I never thought that, but maybe I should ask. Did you ever lie to me?”

She thought back to all those rides home he’d given her from school, all the tense conversations when her teenage hormones had run rampant
and the only way she’d known of keeping them bottled was to snap at him. Tease him. Try to push his patience to the brink. “I guess it depends on your definition of lying. There were things I never told you.”

He shifted, and she felt his gaze warming her cheek, but she kept her eyes down. “Such as?”

“Nothing major.” It wouldn’t be right to tell him now about how she’d looked up to his big, bad
self for years before that horrible day when she’d decided to show him. He’d been an angry kid, battling his way through the life his parents’ mistakes had created for him. She, for the most part, had been a people pleaser, desperate not to rock any boats because her parents had so many troubles that the slightest imbalance would’ve tipped them all over into an abyss. Wyatt had been the only one
she was comfortable letting her frustrations loose around, the only one strong enough to withstand them. She’d admired the force of his personality, wishing she could harness its energy for herself.

But the one time she’d pretended to have more confidence than she really had, she’d ended up putting the moves on him and been rejected hard. It had taken her a long time to trust her instincts about
men after the double whammy of Brady and Wyatt, and she still second-guessed herself. That was one thing she looked forward to about marriage—finally being fully confident that the man she loved loved her back just as much.

“You’ve done well for yourself, too, Wyatt. You’ve created a life out of the things you’re passionate about, and not everyone is strong enough to do that.”

“You are.”

“I
didn’t have any other options,” she found herself admitting.

“Career-wise?”

His question poked at something tender inside her. Most people who knew her background would’ve assumed she was talking about career choices, since she hadn’t been college-bound and hadn’t shown much aptitude at anything other than acting. Journalists sometimes asked what she would’ve done if she hadn’t become an actor.
Gone to cosmetology school
, she answered, which always made them laugh for some reason, but it was the truth. She would’ve followed in her mom’s footsteps, partly because she loved doing hair and makeup and helping women transform themselves, but also because it was the only thing she knew.

But Wyatt clearly didn’t assume she was just talking about her career options—and he was right. Acting
had been her escape route, a way of transporting herself into a more livable life. Pretending she was someone smarter, stronger, braver had saved her time and time again. It had taught her how to ignore reality, a coping mechanism that had stopped her own reality from overwhelming her. “I…I guess I don’t just mean career-wise.”

He took a sip of coffee, his shoulder brushing hers as he raised
and lowered the mug to his lips. She kept her gaze trained on the dirt between her feet and cursed herself for all the feelings she shouldn’t be feeling.
They’re just memories of feelings I used to have
, she tried to tell herself.

“Nancy?” a deep, familiar voice asked from the edge of the clearing.

She gasped, her head jerking toward where her fiancé stood with his hands in his pockets and a
bewildered expression as he glanced from her to the man next to her.

“Jared!”

‡

“Husbands are like fires. They go out when unattended.”

—Zsa Zsa Gabor

“W
hat are you
doing here?” she asked.

He threw her an accusing, wide-eyed look, and guilt rushed through her before she realized she had done nothing to feel guilty for. Okay, she’d been sitting next to Wyatt and silently reminiscing about old feelings,
but she hadn’t done anything improper.

She pushed herself off the ground and skirted the fire, but the hardening of his mouth told her she was in trouble. He could be sensitive sometimes. It made him a fantastic actor, a man whose talent she’d always admired. But sometimes he heard things in her voice that she hadn’t meant to communicate. Maybe she’d said the wrong thing or hadn’t put enough
enthusiasm into her greeting. Hadn’t leapt over the fire to throw herself into his arms.

After a decade in Hollywood, she was no stranger to artists and their tantrums. Heck, she’d had them herself. It was just tricky to handle those turbulent emotions with someone she loved.

As soon as she was close, he slid his arm around her waist and tugged her to him hard enough to take her breath away.
“Don’t you mean, ‘What a wonderful surprise!’?”

“Of course.” She gave him a big smile, because of
course
she hadn’t meant to sound like she was unhappy to see him. “It
is
a surprise.”

“Clearly.” He glanced over her shoulder, then slid his palms to her cheeks and held her head for a deep, long kiss. Those weird feelings bubbled low in her gut again. Shame mixed with pride. She’d felt so proud
to be with him and eager to show him off to the town that had seen her during the most humbling, helpless, hungry years of her life. But as he pushed his tongue between her lips, a long-buried memory surfaced from deep in the recesses of her mind, bringing back the shame. Wyatt’s voice rang in her head.
Nice of him to use your mouth the way a dog uses a tree.

Tears stung her eyes, and she tried
to push Jared back without making it too obvious she was in distress. The only thing worse than Jared’s wounded pride would be Wyatt inserting himself into their relationship in ways she would never welcome. When she got enough space to breathe her own breath instead of Jared’s, she dug her nails into his chest. His grip relaxed, and he gave her a slow grin and a hard pat on the ass. “I knew you’d
be happy to see me.”

“Yeah.” What the hell had just happened? He’d never treated her that way before. Except… Well, maybe there had been one or two times when his jealousy had turned to passionate aggression. She hadn’t minded it before.

Much.

But in front of Wyatt, a man who’d seen her treated poorly and held a mirror up in front of her so she couldn’t ignore it, this kiss was humiliating.
Worse, she had a feeling that was how Jared intended it.

She stepped away from his embrace, but he kept his hand on the small of her back. “Let me introduce you to an old friend.” Jared stiffened beside her, and she rushed to explain. “An old
family
friend, from the ranch. Not…not my
personal
friend.”

She bit down on her tongue before she could make things worse, but Wyatt’s brows had already
drawn so low over his narrowed eyes that she started second-guessing herself all over. Why had she felt the need to babble all that?

Jared kept his arm firmly around her as he gave Wyatt his blindingly white smile and shook hands. “Nice to meet you, buddy. I’m Jared.”

She’d always liked how he introduced himself to people as if they might be the one person on Earth who didn’t know who he was.

“Wyatt.” Nothing more. No
Nice to meet you
. No
Can I get your autograph?

Nothing.

And that made Nancy’s nervous babble all the worse. “Wyatt’s family used to own my parents’ ranch. We…we practically grew up together.”

“No kidding. Well, then, it’s an honor to meet you. Any friend of Nancy’s is a friend of mine.”

Wyatt didn’t say anything, and dread crept up Nancy’s spine. Why couldn’t he just
pretend to be civil, even if he wasn’t feeling it?
Look, Jared manages it. It’s not hard.

But no. The man didn’t understand politeness. He said what he thought and thought what he said. He never tried softening the blow of his opinion, either. And that thought brought back so many excruciating memories that her face felt like it was on fire.

“Is that coffee I smell?”

Nancy perked up. Finally
something for her to do! “Sure is. Would you like a cup?”

“Love one. And some breakfast. I landed in Bozeman before sunrise, so I’m running on caffeine. How about making me some eggs and bacon, Bunny?”

“Um…” She glanced at Wyatt. “I don’t know what food there is. Wyatt’s in charge of all that.”

“Oh, so he’s more than a stripper?”

Nancy’s blood turned to ice, freezing and shooting pinpricks
of pain through her. A stripper? She didn’t know which man to avoid looking at harder.

“I’m not a stripper. I’m a guide.”

“Hey, no need to explain.” Jared held his hands up and laughed. “It’s a bachelorette party. I mean, just because my bachelor party was dudes-only doesn’t mean I don’t know what goes on. And I have no problem with it…usually. But, you know, when tabloid reporters start calling
my mom and ask questions about my fiancée’s wild weekend with strippers in the woods, it becomes a problem for me.”

“Tabloids? What are you talking about?”

“The photo.”

She shook her head, so baffled she didn’t know what to say.

Jared sighed. “You don’t know the photo I mean?”

“No. What photo?” And then it hit her. “Oh my God. Polly wasn’t supposed to tweet it.”

His brows shot up. “You disapproved
of the photo?”

“Yes. I mean, no. It wasn’t a bad photo.”

His arm tightened around her waist. “Except that it showed you with your arms around a half-naked man who wasn’t me. That’s why I’m here. I’m worried about you, Bunny. You always make sensible decisions, so I’m wondering whether your so-called friends have coerced you into something you’re not comfortable with.”

He raised his brows in
expectation, as if to say,
I’m feeding you the right answer and you just have to repeat after me so I can issue the press release.

Whether it was her natural perversity or a complete lack of knowing what was good for her, she lied a little to defend her friends. “They haven’t coerced me into anything. This trip was a surprise, but as soon as they told me why they’d chosen rafting and camping,
I thought it was a fantastic idea. Perfectly perfect and exactly what I wanted to do.”

Ask me why. Go on and show me you want to know.

“Okay, but they still surprised you. You showed up and had no idea there would be a man on the trip, right?”

She bit the inside of her lip to keep from snapping at him. Losing her temper would just make things worse, especially with an audience. Later they could
discuss this issue like reasonable adults who loved each other and wanted the best for each other. But for now… Sometimes ignoring his comments was the best tactic. “Coffee?”

He grinned and patted her butt. “You’re adorable. Better make it a double. I’ll need a lot of energy to keep up with you girls on the raft today.”

She stilled. For some reason it hadn’t occurred to her that he expected
to join them, but of course he wouldn’t have come all this way just to turn around and go home. She focused on pouring the coffee into a mug and tried to sound casual as she asked, “So how
did
you know where to find us?”

“Not too difficult. Polly Puffy-Brain—”

“Please don’t call her that.”

He laughed. “Oh, come on. She’s hardly a candidate for Mensa. Case in point, she has GPS set up on her
phone, and it embeds the location in photos. She should probably change that. Lot of creepy men out there who could use the information inappropriately.”

“You don’t say,” Wyatt muttered.

“Here’s your coffee.” Nancy thrust the mug at Jared and fought to keep her smile happy, not panicked.

*