way to insure Mandy a good social standing, then that's what I'm going to do. I
don't want her sitting out parties, like I had to."
Laura had the grace to look guilty. "If that's all you want, I could help by
introducing—"
He shook his head emphatically. "My daughter needs a mother, Laura. I can't
continue to be both parents. I never made the honor roll, but I'm smart enough to
know that. She needs a woman's influence. And the older she gets, the more
important that becomes."
"You could hire somebody, as you did before."
He tossed off her feeble suggestion with a negligent wave of his hand. "That's no
good."
He peered at her closely. "Do you think you could grow to like her?"
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"Like Mandy? James, she's adorable. Of course I like her, and I'm sure in just a
while I'd love her to distraction. But there's much more involved here."
"Like what?"
She stared at him with exasperation. "Like, for instance, you and I have nothing in
common. Like you might fall in love with someone else. Like I might."
He frowned. "You aren't in love with anyone else, are you?"
"No." I'm in love with you, she thought. And it breaks my heart that you're
proposing marriage to me like a business transaction. "It just wouldn't work,
that's all."
"Isn't keeping Twenty-two Indigo Place worth a few sacrifices?"
Score one for you, she thought. But she wasn't ready yet to concede. "Asking me to
spend the rest of my life with you hardly qualifies as 'a few sacrifices.'"
He braced his hand on the wall behind her head and leaned forward. "Am I so
terrible?"
No. That was precisely the point. She wanted him to pledge undying love and
consuming lust, but he was talking about a live-in governess, a hostess with social
credentials. He wanted her to warm the community's attitude toward him and she
wanted to warm his bed. "Out of this marriage you would get a mother for Mandy
and the social endorsement of my family name."
"And you'd get to keep Indigo Place. A very fair bargain, I think. I'll throw in
enough money to pay off the rest of your father's debts."
"I'm not a whore you can buy, James Paden."
He looked genuinely remorseful. "I'm sorry. That was unforgivably tactless. I
didn't mean to imply that you are for sale. You see, Laura, I, as well as my
daughter, need your tutelage. I've done well in business. I learned to play hardball
with the big guys. I've cleaned up my language – most of the time – and my table
manners. But I'm still ignorant when it comes to social graces. Teach me."
"I can't think." Groaning, she pressed her temples with her fingertips. "This is so
—"
"Sudden? I know. At least to you it is. I've been thinking about it for days."
"Days! Why not give us a few weeks, months?"
"Can't afford the time," he said, shaking his head. "Mandy starts kindergarten in
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the fall. I want everything settled by then."
Laura looked forlorn. "I don't know why I'm even talking about this. It makes no
sense."
"It makes perfect sense. Say yes."
"We're practically strangers."
"We've known each other for years."
"But not with any degree of … of…"
"Intimacy." He verbalized the word she was having such difficulty with.
"Yes." She lowered her head until her chin was almost touching her chest. "Would
this be solely an 'arrangement' or would you expect me to be an actual wife to
you?" Her heart was hammering so hard it hurt her chest.
Placing his finger beneath her chin, he raised her head and tilted it back until she
had to look up at him. "Do you think I'd marry any woman without expecting her
to share my bed?"
Her lips were trembling so drastically she couldn't answer. She merely shook her
head. His eyes homed in on her damp, tremulous lips. "I can't wait to get you
beneath me in bed," he whispered roughly. "When I do, I'm gonna give you the
best time you ever had, Miss Laura." Softly, she gasped. "Say yes."
"I—"
He pressed a hot, fierce, brief kiss on her mouth, then withdrew. "I won't take no
for an answer. Say yes. "
He kissed her in earnest then, lightly grinding his lips against hers until they
parted. The deep, drugging kiss robbed her of her reasoning powers. She
submitted to the dictatorship of his mouth.
He practiced no restraint, but kissed her as though she were the last woman on
earth and he were under a deadline. He kissed her with primitive freedom, as if no
rules of any society applied. Her lips were throbbing when he finally released
them.
"Well?"
"Yes."
"Say it."
"Yes, I – I'll marry you, James."
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"You'll become a Paden?"
She nodded, her lips already eagerly reaching up for his and another kiss. She
wasn't disappointed. If his tongue was undisciplined before, it was savage now as
it plunged into her mouth. She melted against him, feeling boneless and malleable
and more womanly than ever in her life. His manliness demanded femininity
from her. He coaxed it from every pore.
While keeping her mouth a willing participant in a thoroughly carnal kiss, he
finished unbuttoning her blouse. Reaching beneath it in back, he unfastened her
bra. He slid his hands around her sides and under the loosened garment until he
cupped her full, warm breasts.
"God, I've been dying to do this," he said in her ear with a growl. His open mouth
inched down her neck while his hands familiarized themselves with her breasts.
"You've been driving me crazy. Crazy." He moaned as his fingertips feathered over
the dainty tips.
Laura made a whimpering sound of longing and shame when her nipples
tightened against the delicious pressure he applied. Her femininity felt warm and
full and moist. For the first time in her life she wanted a man to fill her.
"That's right, baby. Hum for me now. Because when I get inside you, our bodies
are going to sing. That's a promise." James dipped his knees slightly and nuzzled
her breasts with his open mouth. His hands caressed the backs of her thighs,
parting them marginally, so that when he straightened up, his manhood was
wedged in the soft, yielding notch.
"James!" Laura was thrilled, but alarmed, at the stunning contact.
His fervency mellowed immediately to tenderness. He soothed her comfortingly.
"Shh, shh." He ran his hands through her hair and pressed his lips against her
cheek, breathing heavily, until both had regained their equilibrium. "Don't worry.
I don't want our first time to be in a barn. I want a bed. A wedding bed. With you
in it." He put space between them and gently pulled her blouse together over her
breasts. "I had a wife, but that was onl
y a legal term." He framed her face with his
palms and gazed down at her. "You'll be my bride."
* * *
Once the wheels were set in motion, there was no stopping James, who had the
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momentum of a steamroller. Apparently he had given their marriage even more
thought than he had confessed to. Otherwise the arrangements wouldn't have
clicked off with the rhythm of a ticker tape.
He called Laura later that same afternoon to inform her that the wedding would
take place on Saturday in the courthouse. That gave her less than a week to
prepare herself.
Early the next morning a familiar pickup truck clattered to a halt in the curved
driveway in front of the house. Even before her husband, Bo, had a chance to
assist her, Gladys got out and puffed up the steps of the front porch to embrace
Laura, who had watched their unannounced arrival with open-mouthed
amazement.
"Oh, I'm so glad to see you." she cried. "But what are you doing here so early in
the morning?"
"Coming back to work, that's what," Gladys said.
"Coming back—"
"Mr. Paden hired us back, and not a minute too soon, I reckon," Gladys said with
affected querulousness. "No telling what my kitchen looks like." She pulled an
apron from her enormous handbag and tied it around her thick waist.
"Bo, are you gonna stand there grinning like a 'possum all day or are you gonna
move our stuff back into the quarters and start getting this yard in shape? Lordy,
Lordy, look at that flower bed.
"Let's go inside, lamb." She placed a possessive arm around Laura's shoulders.
"Get out of this heat. I'll fix you some breakfast. You're skinnier than a willow
sapling. I'll bet you haven't eaten a decent meal since your Gladys left."
With customary bossiness Gladys reestablished herself as housekeeper. When she
happened to glimpse tears in Laura's eyes, she expressed immediate concern and
took the younger woman in her smothering embrace. "No, nothing's wrong,"
Laura assured her. "It's just that I'm so glad to have you and Bo back."
"There, there, lamb, now, hush your crying. We're gonna take care of you, just like
we promised your daddy. And I've got a new baby to spoil in that Mandy Paden.
She reminds me of you when you were that age."
Having the Burtons back relieved Laura of the responsibility of running the
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household. The negative effect was that it gave her more time to ruminate about
her pending marriage to James Paden.
During the ensuing days it became official. She was actually going to marry him.
Laura had hoped there would be no more than a discreet mention of their
forthcoming marriage on the society page. As it turned out, the newspaper ran a
full-scale article about them. She was portrayed as no less than the glamorous
reigning belle of Gregory society, while James was depicted as a returning
conquering hero.
He laughed over the effusive story, recalling the time someone had written an
editorial about the "vandalism" in the high school. "It was when me and some of
my buddies drunkenly decided that the Confederate cannon in front of the
courthouse would look better painted pink."
"You actually did that?" Laura exclaimed, laughing in recollection of the civic
outrage the incident had prompted. They were sitting on the porch of Indigo Place
in the wicker glider. Mandy was with Gladys in the kitchen, "helping" her bake tea
cakes. "You were alleged to have done it, but I thought that might just be gossip."
"We used washable paint." He sounded repentant, but then winked in a way that
made Laura think he'd do the prank again, given half a chance.
"You're a bad boy."
"I certainly am." He drew her close for a sexy kiss. "And I'm going to make you
bad too," he promised with an affectionate snarl.
That was what she was afraid of. Since she had accepted his proposal, he never let
pass an opportunity to kiss or caress her. Each of those kisses left her tingling
with desire. And while she liked the sensation, she was afraid of it.
Publicly the town was taking the prodigal to its bosom, but Laura wasn't fooled by
this seeming change of heart. In the minds of Gregorians, James would always be
that wild Paden kid. Now that she was going to be that wild Paden kid's wife, she
was the object of sidelong glances of speculation, the kind the girls who went to
the drive-in movie with him used to get.
Laura held her head up proudly, and coolly acknowledged congratulations on her
marriage. Inside a mischievous imp was wanting to say, "Yes, his kisses are all
they're purported to be and more. You should be so lucky."
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If the social mavens in town were curious about the relationship between the
bride and groom, they were positively rabid with jealousy over the marquis
diamond that weighed down Laura's left hand with six and a half carats.
"But, James, this is— I can't— Why…" When he slipped the ring on her third
finger all she could do was sputter.
"It reminded me of you," he said, staring into her eyes. "It's cool and smooth on
"But it's so … big." The last word was spoken in a weak voice. He was nibbling
around her ear.
"Baby, I can't wait to fan your fire."
Her arms folded loosely around his neck and she gave herself up to his
tempestuous kiss. "Where are we going to sleep?" He mumbled the question
against her lips when he pulled away slightly.
"When?" she inquired groggily, half thinking he was wanting to haul her off to bed
right then.
He chuckled. "When we get married."
"Oh!" Blushing hotly, she pushed away from him and made an ineffectual effort to
straighten her hair. "I don't know what I was thinking."
"Bet I do." Wearing a lazy smile, he strummed the backs of his knuckles over her
breasts. "And I like the idea. A lot. But I want to wait until Saturday night. I want
to savor the thought of you. Besides, I'm afraid Gladys would whip me if I made a
wrong move toward her lamb."
Laura shivered with the sensations his caressing fingers elicited, but forced her
mind to focus on the question he had broached. "Mandy will take over my
bedroom, won't she?"
"I think that's a fair guess. She calls it the Princess Room," he said with a grin he
reserved for his daughter. "Anyway, it's too small for both of us, don't you think?"
"I suppose so. And there's a fireplace in the master suite. That might be nice on
cold winter nights."
"For atmosphere. We won't need it for heat."
"No, the house has year-round air conditioning."
"That wasn't what I was talking about either." His arms went around her and
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pulled her against him as he bent his head low for another lengthy kiss.
Laura tried not to think about that kiss the next day as she began, with Gladys's
help, preparing the master suite for a newly married couple to inhabit. Since her
mother's death, the bedroom and adjoining dressing area and bath had taken on
the ambiance of a bachelor's quarters. Randolph Nolan had left his stamp on the
rooms.
Without robbing her old bedroom of any of its "princess" charm, Laura moved
some of her personal belongings into the master suite. She installed new linens on
the bed and towels in the bathroom. She and Gladys were pleased with the results.
The suite now had a softer look and feel. The word "romantic" came to Laura's
mind, but she shoved it aside.
The day before the wedding, James and Mandy officially moved in, bringing very
little with them except their clothes, books, records, and Mandy's toys. He had
sold all their furniture with the house in Atlanta.
By nightfall, everyone was agreeably tired. Mandy complained of having to spend
another night in the hotel, but James promised that it would be the last one. His
good-night kiss left Laura breathless and weak-kneed.
"Later," he said gruffly when he finally released her.
The bride had very little to do the following morning except to dread the hours
before the ceremony and to "make yourself beautiful," as Gladys said.
In fact, had it not been for Gladys's solid presence at her side at the top of the
stairs, issuing encouragement, she might not have walked down them to meet
James when he arrived to drive her downtown.
"What have I done?" she kept asking herself.
But when she entered the judge's chambers with him and they began to recite
their vows, she knew why she had accepted his proposal. She loved him. She
wanted to live with him. That she would live with him in Indigo Place was an
added bonus, an almost insignificant bonus, she realized as she turned toward
him at the conclusion of the short ceremony.
"Hello, baby," he whispered. His clothing was correct, his behavior above
reproach. But underneath the decorum befitting the solemn occasion, she saw the
man, wild and undisciplined and dangerous, an enticing temptation to "nice girls"
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