Dream Wedding: Dream Bride | Dream Groom (36 page)

“Then why are you crying?”

She pulled one hand free and touched her face. It was wet. “I’m so happy.” Her head was spinning. “Is this really happening? Did you just propose to me?”

“Not exactly.”

Her heart plunged to her toes and then broke.

“No, don’t!” he said quickly. “I want to marry you. I want to elope with you tonight. But I know how important the family legend is with you. So I’m going to ask you to marry me, but I don’t want you to answer. Wear the nightgown tomorrow night, then answer me in the morning.”

“I don’t understand. What if I don’t…” She couldn’t finish the statement. But he knew what she was thinking.

“What if you don’t dream about me?” he asked. “If you dream about another man, I’ll win you from him because I know you’re my destiny. I’ll sweep you off your feet with passion and devotion until you can’t imagine being with anyone else. I’ll earn you, and once I have you, I’ll never let you go.”

“I want to marry you,” she said and kissed him.

“Tell me that again in forty-eight hours.”

* * *

C
ASSIE
’
S
FINGERS
TREMBLED
as she unfolded the nightgown, then slipped it over her head. She climbed into her bed and pulled the covers up to her chin.

Ryan sat down beside her and smiled. “Don’t look so scared. It’s going to be fine.”

“I know, it’s just so strange. All my life I’ve wanted the nightgown to be magic, and now I don’t.”

“You’re going to dream of me. I know it. And if you don’t, hey, I have a plan. Either way, I love you and want you in my life.”

“I love you, too,” she whispered back.

They talked for a few more minutes, then he left her alone. Cassie fingered the lace at her collar and cuffs, then turned on her side. The bed felt odd. She hadn’t slept in it since she and Ryan had become lovers.

She closed her eyes, then opened then. After twenty-five years, it was finally her turn to wear the family nightgown, and now that the moment was finally here, she was afraid to go to sleep.

“This is dumb,” she told herself aloud. “Ryan is a wonderful man. I love him. I want to marry him. I should just go accept his proposal.”

Except she’d tried that several times over the past couple of days and every time he told her to wait. He wanted her to have her night of magic.

She tried to relax. In an effort to distract herself, she thought about her wonderful party. All her friends had been there. Ryan had fit in with everyone. He’d made her feel so special.

Gradually, her eyes grew heavy. She fought against sleep because she was afraid, but at last it claimed her. She drifted for a while, then found herself standing on the porch of the Bradley house, staring at the wide lawn. A man appeared in the shadows. Her heart pounded in her chest. She was having a magic dream. The nightgown was about to reveal her destiny.

Even in her sleep, she found herself calling out for Ryan. She needed it to be him. She loved him.

The man continued to walk toward her. His figure was indistinct, then suddenly he was in front of her. All five feet four inches of him. She recognized the gray hair, the craggy face and the scowling expression. Old Man Withers, their caretaker for longer than she’d been alive, glared at her.

Cassie woke up with a start. She sat up and hugged her knees to her chest. She’d dreamed about Old Man Withers. What a joke. The nightgown wasn’t going to work for her.

“It’s better this way,” she whispered to herself. “I love Ryan.”

But the sadness inside her didn’t have anything to do with loving Ryan. It was about really belonging to the Bradley family. She was adopted. There wasn’t a legend for her.

Coldness swept through her and she shivered. She didn’t want to be alone so she got out of bed and walked down the hall. Ryan stirred as she opened his door. He raised himself on one elbow. “Good news?”

His eyes were sleepy, his hair mussed. She knew that under the blankets and sheet, he was naked and if she crawled in beside him and touched him, he would want her. He loved her and she loved him back. He’d changed in the time she’d known him. He was a wonderful father to Sasha and he would be an equally wonderful husband.

All her life she’d wanted to belong. She suddenly realized that being a part of something wasn’t about a place. It didn’t matter where she’d been born or who had given birth to her. Home was a state of mind. Home was where her heart was welcome. Home was with Ryan.

She smiled. “The best news,” she said and slipped in beside him.

He wrapped his arms around her. “I knew you’d dream about me. Now you
have
to marry me.” His voice was sleepy. “I was gonna win you no matter what, but this is better. Let’s get married soon.”

“I’d like that,” she said.

“Good.” He kissed her cheek.

He was, as she’d suspected, completely naked. And he was half-asleep. She really should let him get his rest. Except she found herself wanting him. Not because she’d lost her dream, but because she’d finally found where she belonged—where she’d always belonged. First with her adoptive parents and Chloe, and now with Ryan.

So even though his eyes were slowly closing, she rested her head on his shoulder, then slipped her hand down his body. He made a low sound of pleasure.

“You’re not going to let me get right back to sleep, are you?” he asked lazily as her hand closed over him. He was aroused in a matter of seconds.

“Pay no attention to what I’m doing,” she told him in a whisper. “I’m just trying to relax you.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s very relaxing.”

She continued to stroke him, moving up and down in that slow steady pace he enjoyed. Then, without warning, he rolled over, taking her with him, until she was on her back, staring up at him.

“I love you,” he said, his green eyes bright with a combined blaze of love and passion. “You are mine and I’m going to spend the rest of my life convincing you that you’ve made the right decision.”

“I already know,” she assured him.

“Do you? I think I should start making you sure right now.”

He lowered his head and kissed her. His tongue swept against the seam of her lips before slipping inside to tease and torment her in the most perfect way. They’d learned so much about each other’s bodies in the past several weeks. They’d learned about the pleasures they most enjoyed together. He knew how to touch her to make her sigh, to make her catch her breath, to make her aroused. She knew how to bring him to his point of release in a matter of seconds. There were still wondrous discoveries, but already they were finding their favorite ways to make love.

He sat up and pushed down the covers, then pulled her into a sitting position and tugged off the nightgown. With her body bare to his gaze, she relaxed back onto the bed, drawing him with her. He kissed her deeply, then broke that kiss to touch his mouth to her forehead, her eyelids, her cheeks and her nose. He left a damp trail down her neck, then loved her breasts with mouth and tongue and teeth until she was shaking beneath him.

“I want you,” he breathed against her heating skin. “I want to be with you and in you. I want to make love with you so much that we really become halves of the same whole. I want to be deep inside you—and I want you to have our children. I will always love you, Cassie. No matter what. Forever. I promise.”

She felt the wetness of her happy tears as they trailed down her temples and into her hair. She felt her body ready for him.

“I want you, too,” she whispered. “I want your babies and your arms around me at night.”

She had more to say, but he was moving lower, kissing her belly, then kneeling between her legs so that he could give her the most intimate kiss of all. He parted the soft folds of her feminine place and touched his lips to her center-most place. Pleasure shot through her. Pleasure heightened by the realization that Ryan loved her as much as she loved him, and that they’d committed to each other. No matter what, they would always be together.

Then she was unable to think at all. She could only feel the sweep of his tongue against her and the pressure of the finger he’d slipped inside her. He moved in a matching rhythm designed to take her to the edge of madness and beyond. She parted her knees more to allow him to get closer, then dug her heels into the bed. As she neared her release, she half sat up to watch as well as feel his magic. She stroked his head with her fingers, giving a quiet moan as the pleasure intensified.

Then she was lost in the perfection of the moment, caught up in a storm that rearranged the universe, then delivered her safely to her lover’s arms. Ryan caught her as she fell and entered her while she was still quivering. Long, deep incredible thrusts filled her woman’s place and took her back up on that wonderful journey.

They opened their eyes at the same moment and stared at each other. She could not say who held the other tightest. They were so joined that she could feel his own need as well as her own—she knew the exact moment when he would find his release.

Her body shattered with his. They loved and gasped together as if they’d been born to be lovers. Perhaps they had been, she thought drowsily.

When their bodies had calmed, Ryan kissed her gently, helped her pull on her nightgown, then settled her next to him in their wide bed.

“I love you,” he murmured, already half-asleep.

“I love you, too,” she told him.

She fingered the lace on the nightgown and knew that despite the legend, she’d found her home and her destiny. She and Ryan were going to do well together.

Contentment filled her, warming her from the inside out. She found herself dozing off, safe in the comfort of his arms.

The dream returned. Cassie stood on the porch of the Bradley house, staring at a man walking out of the shadows. Old Man Withers appeared in front of her and glared.

“Not me, you ninny,” he growled and stepped aside. “Him!”

She hadn’t seen the second man before, but there he was, moving into the sunlight. “Ryan!”

In her sleep, Cassie smiled and reached for her husband-to-be. In his sleep, he pulled her close. In the morning she would tell him the truth about the dream, and that would only make him love her more.

EPILOGUE

C
ASSIE
HELD
HER
breath until Sasha made it all the way down the aisle. The little girl had managed to sprinkle rose petals
and
walk on the white runner. The fact that she’d wandered a little from side to side didn’t really matter.

The organ music swelled. Chloe sniffed. “It’s not enough that I’m nine months pregnant,” she said. “Now I’m going to cry and my face will swell up enough to match my stomach.” She gave Cassie a watery smile. “At least everyone will be looking at you instead of me, so it doesn’t matter.”

“You look wonderful. Radiant, in fact.”

“So do you. I’m glad you’re marrying him.”

“Me, too. Now walk down that aisle so I can follow you and get married.”

Chloe made her way toward the front of the church. Her peach dress swayed with every step. Cassie waited for the music to change to the wedding march, and then it was her turn.

She still had trouble believing this had happened to her. She and Ryan had pulled together a wedding in less than a month. Fate had been on her side. Her local church miraculously had a free Saturday and could recommend a caterer who was also available. Her wedding gown had been hanging in a display window, and had fit perfectly, without a single alteration. The weather was flawless, the pews filled with family and friends. She had the oddest feeling that someone was looking out for her and Ryan.

She looked up and saw Ryan waiting for her. He was so handsome in his tux. For reasons she still didn’t understand, he loved her and wanted to be with her. She knew that she loved him with all her heart. They were going to have a wonderful life together.

She was still several feet away when she heard a familiar little voice demanding, “Unk Ryan.”

He walked across the aisle and picked up Sasha. They were both waiting when Cassie reached the altar.

“She wants to be with us when we’re married,” Ryan said. “Do you mind?”

The toddler rested on her uncle’s hip. Sasha grinned and leaned forward for a kiss. Cassie obliged her. “I don’t mind,” she said. “It’s exactly right.”

Ryan took her hand in his and the three of them faced the minister, where they were joined together as a family.

Somewhere, in a place some on earth might not quite understand, an old gypsy woman smiled down at the couple destined for a life of happiness.

The legend of the nightgown had once again come true.

* * * * *

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