His Challenging Lover (17 page)

“Where are we going?” Cricket asked, taking Ryker’s hand but hesitant. He had one of those expressions on his face that told her he was up to no good.

“Do you trust me?”

She laughed and shook her head. “Not when you’re looking like that.”

His rumbling laughter made her feel all warm and gushy inside. “Well, you’re going to have to.”

She closed the door on her tiny house for the last time, looking at him carefully. “Why won’t you tell me what’s going on?” she demanded, pulling her scarf closer around her as the freezing wind whipped around the corner of her house. It had been three weeks since Kiera’s wedding and, as predicted, the weather had turned painfully cold, the usual for Chicago’s winters.

He shook his head. “You’re going to have to trust me.”

She laughed and let him tuck her into his car. “I would, if you would give me more information.”

He shrugged. “Let’s just say I’m taking things into my own hands,” he told her and slammed the door shut on her confused expression.

When he was seated next to her, she glared at him. “What are you doing, Ryker?” she demanded more forcefully.

He didn’t answer her and she started to become concerned when he drove to the airport. She almost groaned when she saw O’Hare in the distance. “Another job? But I thought I had a few weeks off after the last project,” she said. “I’m going to talk to Mitch. He told me he had nothing on the horizon for the next two weeks. I’ve been working non-stop trying to get things organized…”

“Relax,” Ryker said as he drove through the lanes, pulling up into the private parking area of the airport. “This trip is just for you and me.”

She liked the sound of that! “Well, if you insist.”

“I insist.”

She stepped out, slipping her hands into her gloves and pulling her hat down lower over her head. “This is miserable,” she grumbled.

“You’ve been taking too long to organize our wedding,” he told her as he led her out of the parking area and straight onto the tarmac where The Thorpe Group’s private jet was standing by.

Cricket sighed and hugged his arm. “I’m sorry. I know it’s taking too long. I just…”

He stopped and looked down at her. “You don’t want to get married in the winter,” he said, his eyes understanding.

She smiled, relieved that he understood. “Not really. I don’t like the cold and I was hoping for an outdoor wedding. I loved the way Kiera’s wedding felt and wanted the same thing.”

He smiled and winked down at her. “Come on,” he said and squeezed her fingers. “I have a trip to make. You have some time off so you’re coming with me. You’ll relax, I’ll get my mission accomplished and we’ll have some time together.”

Cricket didn’t hesitate. She followed him up the stairs and was relieved when they were able to sit down in the large, comfortable leather chairs. She picked up a magazine while Ryker conferred with the pilot. Ten minutes later, the jet was taxiing down the runway and Cricket fell asleep with her head snuggled against Ryker’s shoulder. She fell asleep listening to the soothing sounds of his deep voice next to her and loved it.

She had no idea what time it was when she felt his strong hand shake her shoulder slightly. “Cricket. It’s time,” he said.

She sat up slowly, looking around to get her bearings. “Goodness,” she gasped, releasing her tight hold on his arm as she woke up and took in her surroundings. “Where are we?” she asked.

“Grand Cayman,” he told her with a chuckle at her bewildered expression. “You need to change your clothes.”

She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “Why? Can’t I change at the hotel? Or wherever we’re staying?”

He shook his head. “Nope. There won’t be time.”

That was a strange thing to say. “Okay. But what’s going on?”

He took her hands and looked down into her eyes. “We’re getting married today, love,” he said firmly.

She blinked, still not accepting what he was telling her. “Why would we do that?”

He squeezed her fingers slightly. “Your dress is in the bedroom behind you,” he explained. “Your friends are already here and we’re getting married.”

She almost laughed at his expression. “What’s the temperature?” she asked, moving closer to him, snuggling up to his big, broad chest.

“It is a balmy eighty degrees.”

Her smile widened at the idea. “Mia, Autumn and Kiera are here already?”

“Yes.”

“And your brothers?”

“Yes. They all arrived yesterday.”

She laughed, delighted with the idea. “You’ve been a busy boy, haven’t you?”

He shrugged. “You’re not angry?”

She leaned in and hugged him. “On the contrary. I’m thrilled! I wish I’d thought of this.”

“Your parents are impatient to get the thing done with as well. Your mother was very helpful.”

Cricket laughed again. “She’s pretty good about planning parties. She loves to do it.”

“Well, I basically gave her cart blanche but with several stipulations. It had to be in a warm climate and I wanted it done this weekend.”

She grinned, thinking of the conversation between this strong-willed man and her mother who always got her way. “I guess I’d better get changed then.”

She spun around on her heel, thrilled with the idea of getting married here on the island. When she stepped into the back room of the private plane, she saw her wedding dress already laid out along with the fabulous shoes she’d found last week. This couldn’t have worked out better if she’d done all of this herself. But truth be told, she’d been so exhausted trying to move out of her house, put it on the market and work at her new job. She’d been frustrated that she hadn’t made more progress on her wedding plans but knew that she’d been procrastinating because she’d wanted a summer wedding. Now she was going to get one!

When she stepped off of the plane, an official looking gentleman was standing at the bottom of the stairs right next to her father and mother. “Ready to get married?” he father asked, taking her into his arms and hugging her gently.

“Very ready,” she whispered excitedly.

Her mother laughed and hugged her as well. “I think you’re going to be pleasantly surprised.”

“Ryker said you’d organized all of this?” she prompted, trying to find out details.

But her mother knew exactly what Cricket was trying to do and she wasn’t going to wheedle any details. “I organized it all, but Ryker gave me very specific details about what he wanted. So don’t let him fool you. He is the mastermind of this fabulous gala. We just set the pieces in motion.”

And that was the only information she was going to get. They helped her into the waiting limousine and off they went. When she stepped out of the limousine on her father’s arm, she gasped in surprise. The sun was setting over the ocean and her friends were all standing in a casual grouping right in front of a filmy canopy that had been constructed next to the ocean. The pathway was littered with red roses and lit by candle filled lanterns. And at the end of the romantic pathway, Ryker stood in a white linen jacket and slacks with a white shirt. His three brothers stood next to him in similar suits. And Mia, Kiera and Autumn were also standing there waiting, in flowered sundresses with their hair pulled up off of their necks and held there with flowers. All of them had been in on the surprise, and Cricket wasn’t sure if she was going to burst into tears or laugh with delight. So she did both.

A quartet started to play music off to the side and Cricket’s father took one of her hands while her mother took the other. They’d never been a traditional family before and she didn’t want them to start now.

When Cricket stepped forward and took Ryker’s hand, she couldn’t stop the tears from falling. “This is beautiful,” she whispered up to his handsome face. “I couldn’t have planned anything so lovely myself.”

“It’s okay?” he asked gently, his strong hand cupping her face while his thumb rubbed the tears from her cheeks.

“It’s more than okay. It’s wonderful.”

They turned at that point, and fifteen minutes later, they were husband and wife. Ryker kissed her so gently, deepening the kiss as the waves crashed against the sand. It wasn’t until everyone laughed and Xander pounded Ryker on the shoulder that he finally lifted his head.

“Time to party,” Xander said and reached over, grabbing Autumn’s hand in his. “This way,” he told everyone.

They were led over to a wooden patio that was surrounded by lush, green plants and huge, colorful flowers. There was a tropical buffet set up with music and dancing. Ryker had reserved the entire restaurant just for them and they danced, laughed and ate decadent foods with an elaborate chocolate bar for dessert. The cake was all white with delicate butterflies set on the edge, looking like they were about to flutter away. It was so lovely, Cricket almost didn’t want to cut it but everyone encouraged her to go ahead and they feasted on lemon wedding cake.

When he took her hand to lead her out the door, he whispered, “I love you,” into her ear.

Cricket smiled up into those amazing blue eyes of his, still surprised by how much she loved this man. “I love you too,” she finally said, unable to hide the happiness since it was about to burst out of her at any moment. “You make me happier than I’ve ever been in my life.”

He kissed her gently as he led her down the hallway to the suite he’d reserved for their honeymoon. “Ah, a challenge! I accept,” he teased her.

Autumn zipped the strapless bodice up her side, then bit her lip in anticipation of sliding her feet into her jeweled shoes. She wasn’t sure, but she might actually love her silver shoes more than she loved her lace, tea length wedding gown.

The four of them were standing in the enormous suite Xander had reserved for them, ensuring that the Las Vegas hotel was everything Autumn had dreamed it might be. There was champagne chilling for the four of them along with delicacies to nibble on while they prepared for the final Thorpe wedding.

“Oh my,” Cricket whispered when Autumn took her wedding shoes out of the shoe box that had been lovingly protecting them for the past six weeks. “How many times have you tried these on?” she asked with reverence.

Autumn laughed and slid her toe into the slender strap that would hold her toes in place. “Every time Xander isn’t at home with me,” she said, her eyes closing with delight. She opened them up and snapped the chain around her ankle which would hold the shoe on her foot.

“So not very often,” Kiera teased.

Autumn nodded her head. “Not often enough but I’d rather have him home with me than trying on these shoes.”

“They’re magnificent,” Mia sighed. “But I don’t know how you wear heels that high all the time.”

Autumn laughed, having heard that often. “I love them. They make me feel stronger. And I need that when Xander’s around.”

Kiera’s eyes widened at her friend’s statement. “Still? I thought you wore them before because he intimidated you.”

She nodded her head as she adjusted the delicate chain on the second foot. “I used to wear them because of him. Goodness, he used to irritate me!” she laughed again. “Now I just wear them because he always makes me feel weak in the knees. These help me stand up to him.”

Kiera rolled her eyes. “Like you do that very often.”

Autumn grinned. “So he’s a pussy cat now.”

Cricket adjusted the pin in Autumn’s hair slightly then stepped back. “I think it’s time you married this pussy cat of yours.”

Autumn stood up and surveyed her appearance in the mirror. “I would have to agree with you,” she said with excitement shooting through her whole body.

“Are you ready?” Kiera asked.

The four women stood together, all smiling, all beautiful and three of them newly married. “Would you have believed that all of us would be married six months ago?” Autumn asked, truly amazed by the changes in the past few months.

“Never,” Mia laughed. “Of course, I didn’t think I would have been arrested either.”

The four of them laughed because she’d met her husband the morning she’d been arrested for murdering her previous fiancé, who hadn’t been murdered at all. He was, in fact, serving time in prison with his current fiancée for fraud and embezzlement.

“This is a truly astonishing moment,” Cricket said, taking the hands of Kiera and Autumn. Autumn then grasped Mia’s hand and the four of them stood in front of the large mirror, three of them in colorful bridesmaid’s dresses and one in white lace wedding finery.

“Let’s get this show on the road,” Autumn whispered. “Otherwise, I’m likely to break into tears.”

“That would be bad.”

The four of them were about to move, but Autumn stopped them. “Wait,” she called out and all four women stopped and stared. “I just wanted to say thank you to all of you. Mia and I might have known each other for years, but it feels like the four of us have been sisters forever. I couldn’t have gotten through those miserable months without the support of you three. And I’m deeply touched that I was able to stand with each of you as you married the men you love. But more, I’m honored that you are here with me today, ready to witness my own wedding to Xander.”

Mia, Kiera and Cricket all wiped their tears from their eyes quickly then laughed nervously before they melted into a group hug. “You guys are the best,” Kiera said fervently.

“Come on, ladies,” a deep voice said from the doorway of their suite. “You’re going to be late and you know how irritated Xander gets when someone is late.”

Autumn stood up and rolled her eyes. “He can just be irritated,” she said to Axel who stood in the doorway trying to usher everyone out to the ceremony. But she also hurried out of the room, not looking back for anything. This was her day. It felt like she’d waited so long for this moment to arrive and everything was so much more wonderful than she could have imagined.

Having gone through formal weddings with Mia and Kiera, then a beach wedding with Cricket, Autumn and Xander had agreed that the only way to get married was to do it in style. So they had flown everyone out to Las Vegas for an extravagant wedding at The Bellagio Hotel.

The wedding coordinator was standing outside their door, eager to escort them to the wedding area. When Autumn stepped into the Terrazza do Songo, she couldn’t contain her gasp of surprise. It was like they were standing in the middle of a quaint, Italian village with flowers cascading everywhere. And as they looked out over the edge of the patio, the famous Bellagio fountains were dancing to an old Elvis song. She smiled at all the over-the-top details that Xander had arranged, feeling deeply touched.

The music started, swelling to a fabulous crescendo when Autumn stepped out. She walked down the short aisle, her eyes never leaving the tall, handsome man waiting for her at the end. When she stood beside him, she felt like she was floating on a cloud of happiness. And that was before he looked down at her shoes, then poked his own foot out. When she saw what he was silently pointing to, she burst out laughing.

Xander was wearing blue suede shoes!

“I love you, crazy man!” she whispered and leaned forward to kiss him even before the ceremony started.

“I love you to. And I love your shoes!”

It was nice to be marrying a man who knew how to make a woman feel special, she thought. Then they turned to the officiator, smiling as they listened to the beginning of the ceremony.