Part 20 (2/2)

The man would have a fight on his hands if he had. When Reed jabbed at the doorbell, Rosita answered. She shook her head and said, ”You're just in time.”

Not sure what that meant, Reed hurried to the great room. Mallory was standing by the armoire, looking terribly upset. But it wasn't Winston Bentley standing in the room. It was a tall, husky, gray-haired man, whose voice was raised in anger. ”You will come home with me, Mallory. You've obviously spent the night here. You're not even living with Reed Fortune. I'm going to have this marriage annulled.”

It didn't take a master investigator to figure out that this was Mallory's stepfather. Reed wasn't letting the man take Mallory anywhere. In a voice not as loud but just as firm Reed broke in, ”There's not a judge anywhere who will annul our marriage. Mallory and I are husband and wife in every sense of the word. And I will never let her go...unless she wants to go.”

Mallory's gaze collided with Reed's. It was a few very long moments until she asked, ”Are you saying that because you want to protect me or because you really care about me?”

”I've been so stupid, Mallory,” he answered, knowing he had to bare his heart or lose her. ”I've been kidding myself, pretending all I want is to protect you and to keep you safe, when what I really want is to be married to you. My engagement was-” He shook his head, knowing he had to explain there were no feelings left for Stephanie. ”It was a rite of pa.s.sage. Something I felt I should do. I didn't know what true love was until I found you. I love you, Mallory. I want you to come to Australia with me. I want you to make a life with me. Will you?”

Mallory looked as stunned as George Pennington Smythe looked baffled. But she recovered sooner than her stepfather, and she ran toward Reed, flinging her arms around his neck. ”I'll go anywhere with you. I love you. I've loved you since...since that night in Reno. I don't want Winston's house. He was going to put my name on the t.i.tle. I tore up the contracts, but I kept the brochure to call the agent to make sure she knew the truth. And I intended to frame George's check, not cash it. I wanted to keep it as a symbol of my independence.”

He should have known Mallory's explanations would have to do with her independence. ”What about your independence?” he asked, not wanting her to give up anything, knowing she'd always want to do some things on her own, just to prove she could.

Her voice became tender. ”I can be independent, but I can be a partner, too. I can let myself need you because I know in some ways you need me. I want to share the rest of my life with you, Reed.”

He hauled her up against him then, and kissed her with the fervor of his desire and the depth of his love. Nothing was ever going to come between them again.

Making sure he wasn't dreaming, wanting to be certain Mallory's answer was real, he pulled away and gazed into her eyes. There were tears there, tears of joy, and he knew he held everything he had ever wanted in this life in his arms.

Barely aware of what was going on around him, he saw Matilda and Lily come in from the courtyard. Lily patted George's arm and suggested, ”Why don't you come have breakfast with us and get to know your son-in-law? If you don't want to lose Mallory, you'd better start listening to her and her wishes.”

The pause only underscored Lily's words.

Finally George Pennington Smythe said, ”He does seem like the type of man who will protect Mallory through h.e.l.l or high water. I don't believe that there's any way her mother and I can convince her otherwise.”

As Brody and Griff came into the great room from the hall, Reed bent his head to Mallory for another kiss, not caring if the whole world watched.

Epilogue.

In the midst of lists, pictures of wedding cakes and travel brochures, Mallory sat cross-legged on the bed in the cabin, waiting for Reed. She had something special to tell him. She'd thought of going up to the barn, but she wanted to tell him here, where they could be alone. So she'd busied herself all day with wedding preparations.

Lily and Ryan insisted on giving them a real wedding. Reed's parents were going to fly over for the occasion. Mallory was looking forward to meeting Fiona and Teddy Fortune in person, though they'd spoken on the phone at more length since she and Reed were now truly together. After their wedding reception, she and Reed were to honeymoon in Australia, and then return to the Double Crown for a while so she could spend more time with Dawson before she started her new life in Australia with her husband.

Checking the clock, she thought she really should get supper started, but before she could move, Reed came through the door with a small package in his hand. He grinned when he saw her, and her heart leaped just looking at him. If the past three weeks were any indication, the rest of their lives was going to be one uninterrupted honeymoon.

”Hi,” she said softly.

”Hi, yourself,” he returned with that look in his eyes that told her supper was going to be postponed. But as he came toward the bed, he held out a six-inch-long box wrapped with silver paper, adorned with a white bow.

”What is this?” she asked.

”It's a wedding present. I had it delivered to Ryan and Lily's so I could wrap it for you.”

He always took such tender care of her and cherished her.

”Open it,” he ordered.

She took off the bow and placed it on the picture of the wedding cake she liked. Then she tore off the paper and found a blue velvet box. Opening it, she gasped when she saw the necklace and earrings. Opals and diamonds against black velvet reminded her of all the stars in the sky, and the nights she and Reed had spent sleeping under them. ”Oh, Reed. They're beautiful.”

”I knew exactly what I wanted. I called the jeweler in Sydney and he sent them.”

”Thank you so much. I want to keep them and wear them on our wedding day for the first time.”

”Whatever you want.” He gave her a long kiss, then raised his head. His voice was husky when he said, ”I got a call from George today. He's pleased you asked him to walk you down the aisle.”

Before her stepfather had returned to San Francisco, he'd read the information that Reed had gathered on Winston Bentley and finally understood the type of man Winston was. Since then, George had cut off all of his business dealings with him and was taking steps to see that the man was prosecuted for his tactics. But Mallory didn't want to think about her stepfather now. Something else much more important was on her mind.

”I have a present for you, too,” she said.

”Oh?” Reed raised one brow.

”You were gone this morning before I woke up, so I couldn't tell you. After we made love last night, I had a very special dream. I was standing in a room painted all white, with silver bells hanging from the ceiling. There were chairs with pink velvet seats and a justice of the peace with wire-rimmed gla.s.ses perched on the tip of his nose. His wife was dressed in lavender, and she was our witness.”

Reed's expression had changed, and there was emotion in his eyes.

Mallory went on. ”I remember our wedding ceremony, Reed. I remember you telling me that you'd honor and love me and cherish me forever. And I remember telling you the same. My heart knew all along that I belong with you, and now that we're going to profess our love in front of the whole world, my memory's caught up with my heart.”

Taking the opal necklace and earrings from her hands, he carefully laid the box on the nightstand. Then he pushed lists, brochures and pictures to the floor as he lay beside her and enfolded her in his arms. ”I love you,” he said, gazing into her eyes, making sure she knew exactly what he felt and how much her love meant to him.

”I love you, too,” she returned, eager to marry him again, eager to start on the road to their future.

Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Karen Rose Smith for her contribution to THE FORTUNES OF TEXAS series.

MARRY IN HASTE...

ISBN: 978-1-4268-7336-2.

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