Magical Weddings (107 page)

“Gone.”

Her heart jumped painfully. “Gone to the bathroom? Gone to the parking lot? What do you mean, gone? Why didn’t you wake me?”

“He met us at the door, told us not to wake you up. He said you hadn’t had much sleep…” London raised her eyebrows suggestively.

“Nothing happened. We slept on different couches, obviously.”

“Yeah.” London looked pretty disappointed. “Too bad it wasn’t me that got stuck on the island with him.”

Mal stomped on the image London and Bennett enjoying a quiet night in front of the fire.

“He gave us a list of where he wants the flowers taken. Assisted Living Centers, The Huntsman Center. And a few delivered to Jordan’s family. He wants the food taken to homeless shelters. Jeremy is going to handle the logistics.”

Mal nodded, trying not to make it obvious she waited to hear what message he’d left for her, if any.

“Is that it?” She looked around, wondering where to start. She panicked when Chandler walked by with a large sack of garbage. She ran over to where she’d last seen the napkin/marriage license. It was gone. There was no way she would start digging through the trash sacks, since she wasn’t about to confess everything that had gone on last night.

“Did you lose something?” London glanced around at the other tables even though she didn’t know what Mal had lost.

Did I lose something? Yeah. I lost something all right.
But she didn’t think it would do any good for London and the others to dig through the trash for her heart. After all, they wouldn’t find it—Bennett St. John had taken it with him.

“No. It’s okay. I had been making a list…for something to do, you know? I was pretty bored.”

London frowned at her in mock surprise. “I don’t even know how you and I are friends. If I’d have been on this island with that man, I sure as hell wouldn’t have been bored. And I wouldn’t have been cold, either.” She laughed. “I’d have had my tongue so far down his throat I could tell you what he’d had for breakf—” Her jaw dropped. “Mallory Mayhue! You didn’t!”

Mal shook her head, not understanding what London could have guessed from the blank look on her face. Of course, she’d also bitten her lips together when London had mentioned tongues. That had to be it.

London grabbed her arm and dragged her to the north wall of windows away from other bodies. “You tell me right now. I want to hear all of it. Then later, I want you to fill in all the little details.”

“We kissed, okay?” She sighed. “A lot.”

“And?”

Mal scrunched up her face. “And I may have called him a playboy.”

London grimaced. “Is that bad? I don’t know, is it bad?”

“He thought so. It offended him. He was trying pretty hard to convince me he liked me,
a lot
, and I didn’t believe it.” Tears jumped out of her eyes and splashed on her cheeks. “And he made it clear he doesn’t believe in second chances.”

“Oh, sweetie.” London reached up and wrapped her arms around her. “I’m so sorry.” She patted Mal on the back a few times, then dropped her arms. “But listen. Maybe he’ll change his mind. You never know. Did you apologize?”

“Yeah. Kind of.
I
kissed
him.
But it didn’t change anything. It was never the same.”

Two men picked up one of the couches and started moving it back where it was supposed to go. It made Mal remember her dream. Elizabeth and Bennett. She felt like he was on his way to meet his pretty wife, at that very moment, and the tears started falling again. Only they weren’t tears of self-pity. They were tears of
pissed-off.

“London, look. I need a favor, and I need you to not ask questions until I’m ready to explain.”

Her friend rubbed her hands together. She loved conspiracies, especially if she was in on one. “As long as you explain it to me eventually, I’m in.”

“Excellent.”

Bennett fidgeted in the back seat of the Rolls on the way to his London office. He was in no mood to spend time in the city. Yet another week was needed to recover from his trip to the States back in December, and he was in a foul mood to boot. If he didn’t watch his tongue, his people might think he’d turned into some sort of ogre. A right honorable ass hat.

He sighed. He kept picturing Mallory scooping debris off the floor with a pair of over-sized dust pans, her charming derriere greeting him when he made his way to the back of the shop. That lovely, filthy hand offered up to him in a friendly, honest welcome. That lovely, charming face that gave him the sharp jolt of adrenaline, signaling the missing piece to the puzzle had just been found.

He’d been quite speechless. The woman was everything Pemberly had promised. And then she’d called him Ass Hat. From that moment on, he’d wanted nothing more than to provoke her again. By the time he left, he knew the buttons to push to set her off, to shut her up, and to curl her toes. The next two weeks he’d learned everything he could about her, which wasn’t much, truth be told. But in spite of that, by the time of Pemberly’s wedding he was ready for a proposal of his own. The only thing holding him back was his desire to see Pem happy first.

He’d been a giddy young boy visiting jewelry stores when he had yet to ask his little florist out for a date.

The state of the lodge had brought him up short and his tightly strung nerves had begun to unravel. But she’d swiftly taken him in hand, demanded his trust, and had him escorted back to Pem’s side. He might have missed that precious morning with his sister watching her and Jordan posing for photographs with all the love in the world shining in their eyes.

Mallory had given him something priceless. And on the way back up the canyon, he’d wished he could get her alone, to show her how much she already meant to him. He resisted the temptation to take a ring along—she would have truly thought him a nutter if he’d have pulled a diamond out of his pocket.

Of course he’d obsessed. Of course he’d moved too quickly. But he’d only been asking for a return of the trust he’d given her. But she hadn’t been able to give it, and he’d returned home feeling like a nutter anyway.

“Mallory,” he whispered at the window. “How shall I ever recover?”

He arrived at his offices and went inside for the emergency meeting called by his team. He wondered what might be wrong, then wondered if he even cared.

“Marjory.” He greeted his secretary.

“My lord.” She stood and took his coat and scarf. “They’re waiting in the board room.”

“Very well. I’m going to pop down to Thomas’ office and for a quick hello. Then I’ll join them.” He left his office again and walked down the hall and around the corner. Thomas wasn’t in. Nor was his secretary, so he continued down that corridor to see if any of his other mates might be about. He was in no hurry to join the meeting that probably didn’t require his attendance, even though his man had assured him that it did.

He meandered down the far hall, intending to circle the twenty-first floor entirely before arriving back at his own offices. However, as he approached the west lobby, he caught sight of a familiar head of blond hair. It so shocked him, he stopped and retreated, fearing his heart might give out if he came face to face with Mallory’s business partner, London.

He took a deep breath or two, then inched forward, praying it was some other woman who had difficulty containing her hair in a simple black clip.

“Mal, you can do this,” the woman hissed.

Good heavens, it was her! And worse, she was speaking to Mallory! Mallory Mayhue was there, in London, in his office building! She had to have come to see him. Fate could not have conjured such a coincidence to torture him.

He strained to hear more of their conversation.

“Did you hear them? They called him
My Lord!
He’s a
lord,
London. We’re not dealing with a normal human being here. He’s probably required to marry a princess or something.”

He took offense to that. He was normal. He was human—which was the very source of his problem with Mallory. He’d handed his very human heart over to her and she’d handed it back, expecting him to place it back inside his chest and go on with his life as if nothing had ever happened. Damn her.

“You need to remember Elizabeth,” London said. “If you don’t go after him, he’ll be doomed to marry her. Forget he’s got some stupid title. He probably bought it on Lords-R-Us dot com. Now get back in there and fight for him. Or have you decided you don’t want him after all?”

“Of course I want him. I’m not leaving here until he forgives me and gives me a second chance. But what if he doesn’t want me? What if I’m wrong? What if I’m not the American girl he talked about? I mean, what if I’ve just convinced myself it was me he fell in love with? What if there really was someone else?”

“Bullshit. You’re stalling. Suck it up and get in there.”

“Come with me,” Mallory begged.

“No. We’ve already been through this. Go. Now.”

Bennett’s heart beat so hard he missed whatever else might have been said. He also missed the sound of footsteps coming toward him and nearly jumped out of his shoes when London stopped three feet from him, her mouth and eyes equally wide.

“Uh. Shit,” she said.

“Precisely,” he answered.

Her face turned instantly fierce. “Listen.”

He held up a hand. “Not a word, London. She’s all mine now.” And with that, he spun on his heel and headed back the way he’d come, hoping the short distance around the corridors would give him time to think of a plan. But the truth of his words was too distracting.

She was all his now.

****

Everyone stood as he entered the room.

“Gentlemen.” Bennett walked to the head of the table to take his usual seat.

“My lord,” they all replied, then sat after he did.

“Tell me. What is so urgent that you needed me in London before my holiday is over?”

Parker inclined his head. “Pardon me, sir, but I didn’t realize you were still on holiday.”

“I am.” He looked around the room. “Well?” The lot of them looked a bit too cheerful. They were all in on it then.

Parker cleared his throat, barely able to suppress his smile, but he was likely the best actor among them. They’d chosen well.

“My lord,” he said. “We’ve been sent a copy of a contract and the other party insists that it is your signature. We’ve had the signature analyzed and we’re afraid they do have a case against us.”

“Us?”

“Well, you, sir.” Parker inclined his head again, probably smirking while he did so.

“Let me see this copy. With what type of contract are we dealing?”

“Ah… That is to say… A marriage contract.” Parker passed a paper along and it finally made its way to the head of the table. On it, Bennett found a photocopy of the napkin Ferguson had insisted he and Mallory sign, the napkin he’d wished a hundred times he would have tucked into his pocket before he’d left the island. The fact that she’d saved it sent a little thrill through his chest.

She’d saved the napkin, and he’d saved the cake.

“Yes. This is my signature,” he said with a straight face. “Is it binding?”

Parker frowned. “The suing party insists that it is. We’re not sure what a judge will think.”

“Suing party? Does this suing party want money?”

Parker blinked rapidly, unprepared for the question. “Possibly, my lord. If you do not wish to honor the contract, we can try to settle with them.”

“No.” He folded his arms and stared Parker down.

The man raised his eyebrows, no longer tempted to smile. “No? No to the contract? Or no to the settlement?”

“I will not be blackmailed, Parker. I would rather call their bluff.”

Parker flushed red and began shuffling papers around on the table. “Call their bluff?”

“I assume the suing party is this Mallory Mayhue?”

“It is, sir.” Parker looked thoroughly embarrassed, possibly assuming Mallory had duped him into playing out a prank that was not so innocent as the woman might have suggested.

Finally, Bennett decided to let the young lawyer off the hook. “Is she here, Parker?”

The man sighed, relieved. “Yes, sir. She’s waiting in my office.”

“One of you go fetch her then.”

Parker jumped to his feet and left. A moment later, still flushed, he returned with Bennett’s blushing bride. He was grateful the rest of the gentlemen got to their feet so it wouldn’t be so his excitement wasn’t so obvious. He couldn’t have remained seated if he had been tied to the chair.

Mallory swallowed hard. “Hullo, Bennett.”

He gave her a cool smile. “Please. Sit.” Once she was settled, he forced his knees to bend, sat, and tilted his head to one side. “But don’t you mean, Ass Hat?”

She grinned. “If the shoe fits.”

He gave a brief laugh. “How are you, Miss Mayhue?” He swung his chair nervously back and forth, then stopped before he gave his own excitement away.

“I’m fine, thanks.” Her hands were shaking. She noticed it too and put them in her lap.

“And your business? Did you relocate?”

“Yes. As a matter of fact, we did. London decided she wasn’t ready to change careers.”

He couldn’t help but be disappointed. If Mallory was still in business, she would need to spend most of her time in Utah.

She shrugged again. “But since I didn’t feel the same way, I let her buy me out.”

He stood, no longer able to suppress the adrenaline prodding him to go to her, take her in his arms, and kiss the breath out of her. He walked to the windows, putting the entire table between them.

“Perhaps we should get down to business,” he said. “Since you no longer have a career in flowers, I suppose you thought you could get a living wage out of me, is that it? I suppose if I pay you enough, you will hand over the napkin and leave me in peace.” From the corner of his eye, he saw her already shaking her head.

“That’s not why I’m here.”

“Good. Because I’m calling your bluff. Go ahead and post this document on the internet. Send it to the papers. Create a scandal if you like. But believe me when I say, you’ll have to live with the consequences.”