The Willows (20 page)

Somewhere outside her fantasy she could
hear Reverend Jones muttering, and she was heavily aware of her
daddy prodding her to say “I do,” but for the most part, she
remained lost in Michael’s eyes. Words like honor, love, and
cherish, echoed in her mind like some ancient, sacred chants,
copying the promise is saw in his eyes. This man wanted her – she
could feel it in his tightening grasp – and the thought set her on
fire.

Just when she thought she could bear it
no more, that she would surely perish if he did not seem do
something, she heard the words, “… Now kiss the bride.”

Part of her mind thought “bride?” By
her brain longer ruled her actions. Her body did, and every inch of
her leaned closer to the man now claiming her lips. Cradling her
head in his hands as if she were some precious, fragile creature,
he slowly deepened the kiss, bit by delicious bit, urging her lips
apart. Gwen clung to him, overwhelmed, a willing slave to the
thousand new sensations pulsating through her body. Hands sliding
down her back, Michael clasped her against his rock hard form,
telling her with his body that he would never let her go. His kiss
claimed her, left his mark on her forever.

Magic,
she thought dreamily.

But then someone coughed, and Michael
abruptly broke away. Stood there for a moment, staring at her and
breathing heavily, before putting a short safe distance between
them.

Gwen it was so dazed, she could not
think straight win her daddy jammed the pen in her hands and
demanded she “sign this.” Since the only papers she could recall
had been the list of rules, she obeyed the voice she had been
reared to obey, though in all honesty, she could think of no reason
the list would require her signature. Swaying a bit as she wrote,
she feared she might have had one sip too many of her father’s
bourbon.

When daddy next handed the list to
Michael, she fought to bring her thoughts into focus. She should
not have been drinking in the hot sun, she thought any panic; her
mind was fair swimming with confusion.

“
There,” that he said
suddenly to Michael. “I think we can now safely considered the
score settled.”

Settled? Looking from one man to the
other, Gwen felt an ugly taste invade her mouth. The bourbon no
longer gloat insider; it threatened to come up
uninvited.

“
Take care of her, Michael.
I’m going back to the house now.” He belched again, this time not
bothering to cover his mouth. “Homer, come here and help me. All of
a sudden, I am not feeling all too well.”

This time, Gwen’s no was a great deal
more loud, but daddy paid no attention. Stemming down the steps
beside Homer, he nearly crashed with his patiently suspicious
brother, now returning to the platform.

“
What is going on, John?”
Uncle barked out, nodding to Gwen and Michael. “What have you
done?”

“
Something I should have
done long ago.” Father gave him a slow, idiotic grin. “Too late,
brother. It’s signed and delivered.”

Her uncle’s gaze narrowed on Mr. Jones,
still holding the paper. “That license was not for Michael…. It’s
dammit, John this can’t be legal.”

License? With mounting for, Gwen
watched the Reverend perplexed expression give way to a slow,
dawning smile. “You’re right, I forgot the most important part,”
Mr. Jones said, turning to beam at them.

“
I now pronounce you man and
wife.”

Chapter 9

Jervis could have happily murdered his brother.
Damn John and his alcoholic meddling. From his smug, no doubt
thought he had saved the day, but in truth, once again, the drunken
fool and messed up everything.

It was all Jervis could do not to
scream out his bust ration. All his carefully laid plans, gone in a
flash, and all because of a mere drunken fool.

You should not have gone to Lance–you
could see that now–for the only damage done here had been to the
man’s pride, and Lord knew, Edith fussing had more than made up for
it. Service might better have employed his time keeping watch over
his brother and niece. How could this silly girl have married the
wrong man?

His gaze slid to Gwen. Taking in her
obvious anger and bewilderment, he smiled. Ah, could it be that she
was not altogether happy with this new arrangement? If so, thought
with rising opinion, he must find some way to make her unhappy or
yet.

Might yet be away to recoup this
loss.

***

And Gwen were unhappy, her anger, for
the moment, was directed at herself. It bothered her, how easily
she had responded to Michael. Worse, she knew how easily she might
be induced to do it again.

She was intensely aware of him standing
stiff and proud at her side; Lord help her, the throbbing had yet
to subside. How could one man, with a single gaze, turn her so weak
and senseless? How could that one man now be her
husband?

“
Lance applied for that
license,” uncle repeated, climbing the steps toward Mr. Jones.
“Here, let me look at it. I can’t see how this marriage can be
legal..”

Michael stepped between them and neatly
snatch the license away.

“
I don’t understand.” Mr.
Jones looked from one to other, blinking rapidly. “I was told to
marry Gwen to the winner as soon as possible. As far as I knew, we
had all the necessary paperwork. Ask for Mr. McCloud.”

He nodded at where John had been
standing, but he had already gone tottering off to the house with
Homer.

“
I assure you, it is legal,”
Michael said to all goal as he folded the license and slipped it in
his shirt pocket. “Or it will be, the moment I file it with the
parish records.”

Scowling, uncle came over to stand
beside Gwen. “I knew you were low, Michael, but I never thought you
would due to blackmail. Do you honestly think you can use my niece
as a hostage to get what you want from me? That I would actually
pay you not file that license?”

“
I won’t grace that with an
answer.” Shaking his head in disgust, Michael held out a hand for
Gwen. “Let us go, my lady. I think I’ve had enough drama for one
day.”

Gwen eyed both men with mounting
horror. Was that all she was to them? Some pond they could use to
settle their differences?

“
You stay right here with
us, Gwen.” Uncle grabbed her arm about her shoulders. “There is no
call for you to be going off anywhere with this–this–“

Rafe’s features hardened. “I believe
the word you are looking for is husband.”

Uncle snorted.” He cannot expect anyone
to take this mockery seriously. You might grease enough palms to
get that license filed, Michael, but no marriage binding if either
party has been tricked into it.”

“
Tricked? I thought the
whole purpose of this exercise was to force your niece into
marriage. Don’t renege now, just because the man you backed up did
not win your competition.”

“
On the contrary” Lance
stomped up to the grandstand steps, Edith standing behind him. “I
demand this man should be disqualified, according to the rules that
is the punishment for cheating.”

Michael looked at Lance as if he had
crawled out from under a stone. “You, Lance, have the gall to
accuse me?”

“
Tell them,” Lance said,
dramatically pointing to Edith. “Tell them what happened to my
cinch.”

Edith looked on easy, as if she wished
to be anywhere else. “Someone, seems to have cut it halfway through
it.”

There was a collective gasp as all eyes
meant to Michael. No one called for an investigation, for no one
doubted guilt. He was still the outsider, Gwen realized, and they
were still closing ranks against him.

Looking at him, she cannot help but be
impressed by his poise. Another man might have bent under such
public scrutiny, but Michael stood against them strong and defiant.
“I did not cheat,” he told Lance quickly.. “Whatever you and your
inquisition might decide, Lance, we know I did not need
to.”

Lance demanded further. “You cut that
cinch,” he yelled, pointing a finger at Michael’s chest, dusty and
bruised and puffed up like an angry hen, he did not look like much
of a rescuer. It made her feel intensely disloyal, but Gwen
realized Michael seemed far more the hero.

“
Furthermore,” Lance said,
“cannot expect to believe anything a murder might say.”

There was a second on the easy stirring
among them. Gwen, suddenly cold inside, now looked at Michael with
dismay.

He shook his head. “So cheating was not
crime enough? Tell me, Lance, who is it I’m accused of
murdering?”

“
Jacques Morteau. Ah, see,
you cannot deny it. I’m told that after your duel with him, you
took to hiding in the swamps. Indeed, I’ve heard there is an
outstanding warrant for your arrest.”

Michael eyed him scornfully. “You are
good at making rumors, Lance. Too bad you are not as skilled on a
horse. Let’s go, my lady. I don’t have the stomach for much more of
this.”

Lance moved beside her, blocking her
way. “We think too highly of Gwen to let her go anywhere with a
common criminal.”

“
First you call me a common
farmer, then a common criminal, why not add a common husband to the
list? Move out of the way, Lance. It is time I was taking my new
wife home.”

“
He is right,” Edith said
behind him. “Gwen did marry the man. We all heard Reverend Jones
pronounce the man and wife.”

Uncle frowned at his daughter. “This is
not of your affair. You go on up to the house and see your uncle
John.”

“
But–“

“
Do as your father asks,”
Lance added. “You go on and let your menfolk take care of things.”
In the face of his smile, Edith’s defiance deflated. She went off
happily. Watching her trudge to the house, Gwen wished she could
share her cousin’s faith in her men, but as far as she could see,
they did not seem to be handling things all that well.

“
I must warn you,” uncle
spouted at Michael. “We are quite prepared to challenge this
marriage in the courts. It cannot be legally binding if our Gwen
did not enter it of her own free will.”

“
Good point.” Michael fix
her with his gaze, bringing back a swirl of memories, the sweet
aching magic, to Lance’s accusations. “You tell me,” he probed. “Is
this marriage legally binding? Or does your word still mean nothing
at all?”

Gwen felt myriad emotions, from longing
to guilt. Her mind swam with confusion. “I thought it was just for
show. Lance said the ceremony was just another way to entertain the
crowd.”

“
There, Michael, are you
satisfied? Clearly, my niece had no idea what you were leading her
into. I think we will find there is not a judge in Louisiana, who
will declare this marriage legal.”

Michael continued to stare into her
eyes. “It’s not up to the courts to decide, Is it? It’s your
choice, my lady.”

For a breathless moments, it was as if
a door had opened, and Gwen had only to step over the threshold to
enter a magical new world. Her hand moved up, but before she could
offer its, Lance grabbed her arm and held it against his
side.

“
Your audacity, sir, is
matched only by your conceit,” he told Michael. “Do you honestly
believe Gwen would jeopardize the lifetime of dreams and hopes we
have shared, to go off with some fortune hunter? I ask you, what
would she want with the stranger, when she can stay here safe and
sound, protected by her own kind.”

Each word Lance spoke seemed like the
bites of a lash, stinging her with the truth. He was right; what
did she truly know about the mysterious Michael? Uncle accused him
of blackmail, of using her as a hostage to extract money. And if,
as Lance claimed, he had once murdered a man, was it so far-fetched
to assume he would sheet to win, when marrying her meant gaining
the Willows? She must face the facts. For all she knew about the
man, Michael could be cable of most anything, and she has yet to
prove she could keep her wits when she was around him.

“
Will you lead the tame,
predictable life here,” Michael pressed, holding her gaze, “or will
you take a chance with me?

Magic? Or security? Wasn’t that her
ultimate choice?

Feeling Lance’s hands, so cold and
clammy as if clasped her own, she tried not to think of his kiss in
the stable. It was time to be sensible, to think rationally. She
cannot abandon her childhood aspirations, are about to love Lance
forever. Lance was the known and familiar; didn’t logic demands
that he be the one in whom she trusted her future?

After all, being loved and protected
was all she had ever wanted.

As if she had voiced the decision
allowed, Michael’s expression went suddenly cold. Just before he
closed himself off, Gwen caught a glimpse of the boy he’d once
been, saw his yearning and hurt and eventual
disappointment.

Something twisted inside her as he
strained his shoulders and pointedly looked away.

Releasing her hands, Lance planted both
feet and folded his arms over his chest. “I think you should go
now, Michael. You have upset the lady more than enough
today.”