Wilde Heart (Wilde Women Book 2) (58 page)

Roman barked a laugh, smacked Liam on the back, and nodded to her dad. Then, with a mock long-suffering sigh, he grinned at her and said, “Shit. Another thing to add to my job description. Now I have to deliver Princess Snarks-a-Lot to the altar before the damn stick shows a plus sign.”

Rhiann groaned at the jest. Her dad high fived Roman and Liam. He stood there grinning like an idiot without the slightest hint of a scowl to mar his handsome face.

Cloud nine? Round trip, please!

“I
F YOU SO MUCH AS move a muscle, I’m going to put you over my knee. Understood?”

Rhiann tried to look fierce and put out, but all her facial expressions these days seemed to be the same. Beaming smiles.

After a week in the hospital during which her overly protective man had the poor medical team assigned to her care run every test known to mankind, she’d finally been released.

She’d cried like a baby after discovering that several inches of her scalp had been shaved where stitches were needed to close the gash caused when her head had smacked into the wall.

“My hair!” she wailed as if it actually mattered. And that was nothing compared to her reaction when, after badgering a nurse non-stop, she’d been allowed to look in the mirror.

One entire side of her face was swollen beyond recognition and what had started as a black eye was now a purpley, yellow bruise that spread almost to her ear and down her cheek.

When Liam had found her in tears over the way she looked, he told her in no uncertain terms that she should immediately shut up because to him, she was simply the most beautiful thing in the universe.

That he said so with a stern scowl on his handsome face as he stood there in all his three-piece suited glory was the best thing that had happened to her in forever.

No expense had been spared or comfort overlooked when he’d had them flown home on a private flight that took luxury to an eleven.

There’d been no discussion whatsoever about how things were going to go once they returned to New York and while, ordinarily, she’d be pretty bent out of shape about Mr. High and Mighty taking complete control of her life, she was inwardly over the moon with his domineering, take charge ways.

On the short flight home, with Roman occupied with some fascinating new app he’d downloaded to his phone, Liam had tucked a soft cashmere throw around her legs . . . apparently, she was an invalid . . . and then took hold of her hand like he was never going to surrender it.

“How do you feel? Can I get you anything? Are you comfortable? Need more air?”

She had to smile at his Nurse Nancy approach.

Lifting the fingers he held, she stroked his hand across her cheek and smiled lovingly into his beautiful blue-grey eyes.

“I have everything I need right here,” she’d told him.

He hesitated. She supposed he’d always do that, but at least the hesitant pauses were getting shorter and shorter.

Reaching into the inside pocket of his jacket, he withdrew a small box with a satin ribbon topped with a crushed bow that he placed in her hands so solemnly that she had a pause of her own.

“What’s this?” she asked.

Smirking, he chuckled softly. “I believe we call this a present. Open it.”

With slightly trembling fingers, she pulled the ribbon off and looked him in the eyes. “What did you do, Ashforth?” she teased.

Another smirk. Oh, goody!

“Missed Valentine’s Day.” He shrugged with a surprisingly self-deprecating tone.

Valentine’s Day? She hadn’t given it a thought. Never did. There’d never been any need. But now? Oh, dear Lord. He’d given her a sweetheart gift.

Beaming at him, she slowly lifted the lid, wanting to prolong the exquisite anticipation and bask a little longer in the love shining from his eyes.

Separating the folds of tissue paper, she found a simple chain on which hung a delicate heart studded with three tiny green gems.

Gasping, she picked up the chain watching the gleaming silver heart dangle and sway.

“Liam! It’s beautiful.”

He reached for her neck and began to unhook the other silver heart he’d given her. The one that spoke to their younger selves when they’d been flush with the glow of first love.

“No!” she protested, but he just pushed her hands away and removed the old necklace. “But I love that heart,” she pouted.

He took it and put it in his suit jacket, putting his hand over his heart for emphasis once it was safe in his pocket.

“This one,” he told her, “we’ll give to our first daughter.”

Rhiann choked back a startled gasp—her eyes brimming with sudden tears.

As he hung the new chain on her neck, the lovely heart with the emerald stones hung just above her cleavage, and he touched it gently as it lay on her skin.

“The three stones are for us. You, me, and Mr. Macho over there,” he motioned with his head. “So, we’ll never forget how close we all came to . . .” His voice, which sounded strangled and overwrought with emotion, deserted him.

“Oh, baby,” she murmured.

Touching the delicate jewelry, she glanced at Roman and then back to the face of the only man she’d ever loved. Would ever love.

“Take me home, big guy.”

And he did.

“What do you mean, she’s taken off again? To go where?
Sheesus!
Can’t that girl stay in one place?”

“I do
not
know what’s going on with her,” Brynn muttered with a pithy snort. “Everything was fine. I mean, you saw her. Things were going great and then, I don’t know. With the wedding and everything, I guess I missed a change in her vibe. If there even was one.”

“
Hmmph,
” Rhiann grunted.

She was video chatting with her sister—something that was fast becoming a favorite activity. With Brynn starting to nest as she and Jax prepared to become parents, the two sisters stayed in almost constant touch.

“Now that you mention it, she did seem a little strange at the rehearsal dinner.”

Brynn barked out a good-natured laugh. “Strange? Yeah, that’s one way of putting it. But you know Charlie, and calling her
strange
seems like a damn understatement.”

“True, that,” Rhi snickered. “So, where’d she go? And do Mom and Dad have anything to do with this?”

“Well, here’s the thing. They thought she was going to go hang with them after we got back from the honeymoon. It was great of her to hold things together here, with Amy, while we were gone and everyone assumed she’d hightail it back to Happy Valley soon as she could.”

“And that’s not what happened?”

Brynn snorted. “No. Hardly. We were barely unpacked when she up and announced she was outta here. And you’ll never friggin’ believe where she went.”

“Oh, Lord. Not back to Italy, I hope.”

“I wouldn’t have been all that surprised if that
was
what she did, but you know Charlize. Always full of surprises. Nope. No passport needed this time. Without so much as a backward glance, she packed up her shit and moved, lock, stock, and a barrel full of Tuscan pottery into Nana’s.”

“Wha
aaat?
She’s in Philadelphia? With Nana? Why? What. The. Hell?”

“Right? Jax is just as mystified. She’d been getting along so well with him and his whole crew. Did I tell you they’ve converted the garage into an office and workspace for the business? Well, anyway—things were going great and then all of a sudden she was like . . .
later.
”

Rhiann didn’t know what to make of this news. Charlie? In Philadelphia? With Nana? Talk about wild cards.

“Hey, not to change the subject or anything but speaking of your Butt Whacker and his crew . . . that brother of his is yummy and then some, huh?”

“Caleb? Oh, my god, yes! And Jax is like, literally over the moon that he’s going to stay and be part of the business. Guy’s got mad design skills and an eye for anything even remotely different or unique.”

“Different or unique, you say? You mean like our Charlize? You don’t think he had anything to do with her taking off like that, do you?”

The two sisters sat in pensive silence for a bit.

“Oh. My. God,” Brynn finally muttered. “Now that you put it that way, Caleb
has
been like a bear since she left. Always growling and stomping around here like he’s thinking about punching someone.”

“Really? Do you think . . .”

“Nah. Come on. They barely know each other.”

“You two girls finished gossiping yet?” Rhiann heard Jax tease from somewhere off camera.

“Baby, get over here,” Brynn demanded. “Rhi and I were just talking about Charlie and that whole running off to Philly thing. You don’t think all that had anything to do with your brother, did it?”

“Uh.”

Why do men always fall back on a stupefied
uh
when they found themselves in the crosshairs?

“Jackson Merrill! What the hell,” Brynn cried. “They don’t even know each other.”

“Yeah,” Jax muttered. “About that . . .”

THE END

for now

As always, my deepest thanks and gratitude go to
Jenny Sims
.
If I could fangirl an editor- she’d be beating me back with a stick

Ella Fox

There aren’t enough words to cover how big an impact she has on everything I write

Sommer Stein
–
Cover Designer

Thank you for bringing the Wilde Women series to life with your beautiful cover designs

Stacey Blake
—
Formatter

What you do makes me smile!

The way you format my stories is like having the best pair of shoes imaginable for a favorite outfit!

Shauna Miller
—
Personal Assistant

BFF and the only other person I know who, like me, has for twenty odd years had the same hairstyle.

Suzanne Halliday
writes what she knows and what she loves—sexy adult contemporary romance with strong men and spirited women. Her love of creating short stories for friends and family has developed into a passion for writing romantic fiction with a sensual edge. She finds the world of digital, self-publishing to be the perfect platform for sharing her stories and also for what she enjoys most of all—reading. When she’s not on a deadline you’ll find her loading up on books to devour.