Here Comes Trouble (42 page)

"As soon as Jenny comes in the door, I'm outta
here," she promised and the front door opened and Jenny came in
looking frazzled. "Whoops, she's home, I'm on my way," she said and
blew kisses into the phone then hung up.

Terri ran through the house and brushed a kiss
on her friend's cheek, then put on her windbreaker and grabbed her
purse. "See ya, I have a hot date with my honey," she told her then
rattled off, "Caleb is already in dreamland, he's had his bath and
is good for the night."

"Thanks, Terri, I owe you," Jenny told her. "A
hot date, huh? You and Joel are pretty hot for each other these
days huh?"

"Sizzling..." Terri told exaggerating the S,
before giving her a finger wave as she ran out the door.

When she pulled up in front of the house,
Terri hopped out of the truck and ran for the door. It opened
before she even got there and Joel stood in the doorway looking
good enough to eat in a suit. She'd never seen him dressed up
before, even though she knew that had been his standard when he was
in law.

"Wow, you look good, sugar...somebody die?"
she asked with a grin.

"God, I hope not," he said and shook his
head.

When he opened his arms she ran into them and
threw hers around his neck. "Man, I missed you," she said right
before his mouth closed over hers and he lifted her against him
then closed the door. He pushed her against the wall and kissed her
senseless.

Excitement built inside of her and she rubbed
her hips against his, sending him the signal that she wanted his
surprise and she wanted it now. His hands skimmed up her sides to
her breasts and they tingled in anticipation.

"Touch me," she whispered as she pulled her
lips from his.

He groaned and closed his mouth over hers
again, but his hands didn't travel where she needed them. Finally,
Joel pulled back from her breathing hard, his face flushed and his
eyes glittering. "I have plans, baby, and you're shooting them all
to hell," he told her, then closed his mouth over hers again, as if
he couldn't resist one more taste.

"You know what they say about plans..." she
said and nipped his lower lip as her hand smoothed downward over
his stomach.

He stepped away from her and grabbed her hand,
"These plans weren't made to be broken, baby...c'mon let's go eat."
Joel dragged her toward the kitchen and her feet stumbled the last
few steps when she saw what he'd done. For her.

A dozen red roses were in the center of the
table in a crystal vase, fine china was set, and chafing dishes
held something that smelled delicious. Her stomach rumbled, because
she hadn't eaten since lunch, but she wanted the wonderful man
who'd done this for her more than she wanted food.

She yanked his arm then tiptoed to put her
lips to his trying to get him going again, but he wasn't having it.
"Dinner first, dessert later," he told her firmly then pulled out a
chair for her to sit down.

He had gone to all this trouble, so the least
she could do was go along with his plans. Terri sat down and he
helped her scoot up to the table, then he leaned over her to pour
her a glass of red wine. "You smell delicious," she told him
looking up at him batting her eyes.

"I got it from a restaurant in town that's a
favorite of mine," he told her formally.

"Are you listening, sugar?" she hooted then
popped a mushroom into her mouth.

"I'm sorry, did I miss something?" he asked
distractedly then walked around the table to sit down. He poured
himself a glass of wine then drank half of it.

"Joel, are you okay, honey?" He wasn't acting
right, and it started to worry her.

He was nervous, strung tight for some reason.
It was just dinner...even though it looked like a pretty fantastic
one. He'd gone to a lot of effort to put this together.

"Yeah, I'm fine, why do you ask?" he replied
and she noticed his hand shake when he picked up his glass to take
another swig of wine.

"Well, you're acting kind of...attorney like.
Is this what happens when you put on a suit? You leave your
personality in the closet because it won't fit inside with your
body?" she chuckled then teased, "If so, I'm gonna burn them all. I
want my sweet sexy cowboy back."

He put the fork he'd just picked up back down
on his plate then looked at her. Okay, here it comes, Terri thought
and braced herself. Whatever was bothering him, he was about to
tell her, or she hoped he was. Indecision pulled at his face and he
huffed a breath then refilled his wine glass and reached across the
table to refill hers too.

A bad feeling started as a bubble in her
stomach then spread throughout her body.

Terri sat down her fork and looked at him.
"Spill it," she said and wiped her mouth with her napkin then
shoved her chair back. "Just say it, Joel..." she told him and
emotion pushed up into her throat so her next words were strangled,
"If you want me to leave, I will." It would tear her heart out, but
she would do it. She couldn't think of anything else that would
make him a nervous wreck to tell her.

"
What?
!?" Joel stood and his chair fell
back on the floor then he was around the table before her next
breath. "Where the hell did you get that idea?" he shouted and she
noticed his breathing was unsteady. He wobbled on his feet and
grabbed her shoulders.

"God, please don't leave me, baby," he said
then fell to his knees and hugged her. It was like all the starch
in his backbone had disappeared.

She put her hands on the sides of his head and
asked in a trembling voice, "Okay, what the hell is wrong with you
then? Obviously there's something you want to tell me. You're so
edgy...I just thought..."
you were tired of me
. Terri
couldn't finish the sentence around the knot in her
throat.

"Don't think like that, I love you," he said
and leaned back to tell her. "Sit down, please." Terri stepped back
then reached behind her to grab the chair, before she collapsed
into it. Joel didn't get up, he stayed on his knees and scooted
closer.

His hand went into his pocket as he told her,
"In fact, I love you so much Terri Cassidy, I want you around
forever...I have something to ask you." Joel's hand emerged from
his pocket and he extended a little blue velvet box to her in the
center of his palm.

Terri gasped and her hand flew to her chest to
stop her heart from jumping out. "No, no...you didn't..." Terri
said in a panicked whisper fanning herself as heat shot up to her
head and made her dizzy.

"Wow, not one no, but two..." Joel said and
his shoulders slumped then he sucked in a deep breath and held onto
the table to stand.

"No, no, no!" she screeched and nothing else
would come out of her mouth. Terri swallowed a couple of times and
took three short gasping breaths. "Wait!" she yelled when he turned
away from her.

She ran up to him and pointed at the box then
nodded, because her voice simply would not cooperate. Opening the
box, she took out the beautiful ring and tears started down her
face when she slipped it on her finger. Terri pointed to herself,
then made a heart in the air, before putting her finger over his
lips and leaning into his chest.

EPILOGUE

Terri couldn't believe she was getting married
again. It had taken almost six years, but she felt like she'd taken
her time to find the man who could make her happy for the rest of
her life. He was good, kind and had a heart of gold. She knew
without a doubt that he loved her, and without a doubt that she
loved him with all her heart.

It didn't hurt that he was the hottest
attorney turned rancher in Texas, a deluxe hot fudge sundae she
couldn't wait to gorge on tonight.

"Stop daydreaming and put on the damned dress
already," Jenny told her and huffed out a frustrated breath.
"You're gonna be late for your own wedding!"

"I can't help it if my husband-to-be has me
all starry eyed," Terri told her and somehow the grin on her face
managed to get bigger. Her cheeks hurt she'd been smiling so much
today.

"You should have taken the edge off last
night, instead of torturing yourself for a week!" Jenny said with a
chuckle, then gathered up Terri's gorgeous ivory satin dress, so it
made a circle that she could dive into.

"I read online that it would heighten the
pleasure for tonight. It made sense," Terri told her
defensively.

"I don't want to hear this about my brother,"
Shauna, Joel's vibrant sister and her soon to be sister-in-law,
told her then made a fake gagging noise. "Just get dressed, so we
can get this show on the road and you both can do whatever you want
after
you say I do. We don't need the gory
details."

Terri was happy that Shauna had colored over
the purple streaks in her silky brown hair for the ceremony. She'd
been a little worried that they would clash with the cotton candy
pink gowns they were wearing, but she hadn't said anything because
she didn't want to hurt Shauna's feelings. Shauna had figured it
out all on her own, just like she'd figure out her life, if her
family left her alone to do it. Joel's sister was still trying to
find herself, even though she was twenty-eight.

Shauna had a good heart too, she loved her
family and they loved her to pieces. Terri couldn't help but wonder
though if as the baby of the family, the reason Shauna hadn't found
herself yet was because she was always under her big brothers'
thumbs.

With a little more time, and a lot less
coddling and brotherly advice, Terri knew Shauna would find her
way. She'd already settled on a major in college now, so all of
them were relieved. She was graduating in two semesters.

Jenny cleared her throat and wiggled the dress
toward Terri. The lace bustier was scratching her skin and cutting
off her circulation, and Terri couldn't wait to get out of it after
the wedding. Tugging it higher, she stepped toward her friend and
pointed her hands. "Okay, I know the routine from the fitting lady.
Dive in, right?"

"Yep, and watch your hair, we don't have time
for the hair lady to redo it."

"Yes ma'am," Terri said with another grin then
dove in, wiggling to shift it lower when her head was through the
opening.

Once it settled around her hips, Shauna and
Jenny helped smooth it to the floor then Jenny zipped her up and
attached the train. The hair lady had already woven the flowers and
rhinestones into her hair, and Terri had decided against a
veil.

"Jewelry," Jenny said and ran to the vanity
then came back and helped her put on the dainty diamond necklace
that Joel had given her for a wedding gift. The man had gone
overboard and gotten her earrings too. Curly had given her a lacy
blue handkerchief she said was from her own wedding, so it was both
old and blue. Her maid of honor and best friend had loaned her a
gorgeous pearl bracelet that Chase had given her on their wedding
day.

Terri was all set now to marry the man of her
dreams...if she could manage to get up on Diamond in this dress,
and stay on her sidesaddle until she got to the pavilion. She and
Rocky had been working on it, but Terri still wasn't sold on the
idea.

Curly had insisted because Diamond was a white
horse, well gray in horse speak, that riding her up to the pavilion
would be beautiful, and would be a good plug for the ranch to boot.
Joel was supposed to meet her there on Ace, dismount then lift her
down off of Diamond, before they walked together up to the
altar.

In a perfect world, that would all go off
without a hitch. In her world, she was damned worried, because it
was hard enough riding astride on a horse, sidesaddle was proving
to be a challenge. She didn't have much choice though, if she
didn't want to flash the crowd. Her dress was tight and fitted,
there was no way she could ride astride without hiking it up to her
waist. Terri had tried.

Rocky was meeting them outside of the spa with
the horse, and was going to help her get on board.

The door opened and her sister Lauren came
inside with her arms loaded down with four bouquets. How her sister
wound up tall and blonde, Terri would never know. Her mother was
short and brunette like Terri, but Lauren had grown into her long
legs around sixteen and was runway model tall, lithe and gorgeous,
not curvy and vertically challenged like herself.

"Here are the flowers," Lauren said sounding
frazzled as she passed out the bouquets. Everyone in the room
seemed frazzled, except for Terri. Nothing could dampen her mood
today. She was marrying Joel and would be walking down the aisle
with her head in a cloud like it had been for days. Every minute of
the trouble they'd been through since she'd met him had been worth
it to get to this day.

If none of the trials they'd been through had
happened, they probably wouldn't be here today. She thanked God for
every one of the tests they'd had, because she and Joel had both
had learned lessons and grown. Now they could love each other right
for the rest of their lives realizing if they could make it through
all that, they could make it through anything.

"Let's go get married," Terri said in a
breathy whisper, with her heart fluttering in her chest.