I Won't!
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Gina Wilkins
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16,5K
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14
Prologue
CASE BRANNIGAN was getting married. There were a lot of people who would never have believed it. He was finding it rather hard to believe, himself.
The tropical scents and exotic sounds of Cancú, Mexico, drifted through the open windows on one side of the snug little vacation cottage, adding to the fantasy feel of the day. Case began to whistle as he worked on the knot of his tie. Damn, but he felt good.
The sounds of soft laughter and muted conversation grew slightly louder, then faded, telling him that at least two people—probably one of the many couples currently in residence at the resort—had passed close by his cabin. He had an uncharacteristically whimsical urge to run to the window and invite them to his wedding, which was to take place in a little over half an hour.
Though this was intended as a private wedding, with only the bridal couple, an officiant and a hired witness in attendance, Case suddenly found himself wishing for a more traditional ceremony. Candles and lace, flowers, family and friends. Tiny flower girls, ushers in penguin suits, guests in wedding finery, a tipsy uncle making bawdy toasts.
Tradition. Something Case had never had with his unusual upbringing. Something he’d always fiercely craved.
And now, with his thirty-fifth birthday looming close, he meant to make up for the lack. He was going to have a normal life. Wife, kids, a house and a yard. A dog. Maybe two. Sunday dinners, Little League, school plays, camping trips with the kids.
It would be a nice change to sleep in the woods without wondering who might be out there tracking him down.
Tie in place, he took a moment to check his appearance in the mirror. His habitually shaggy dark hair was neatly combed—unusual enough, in itself. His slightly squared jaw was clean-shaven, exposing the shallow cleft in his chin. His dark suit was freshly pressed, lint-free, his white shirt pristine. There were people who would have had a tough time recognizing him, he thought with a chuckle. People he hoped he never saw again.
Satisfied with his appearance, he turned toward the bed, where he’d laid the marriage license and the tiny box that held a small, plain gold band. He slipped both into the inside pocket of his jacket. He would buy a diamond to accompany the band as soon as he had a chance, he promised himself. Or would Maddie prefer an emerald, or maybe a ruby?
Having met her less than two weeks ago, there were still quite a few things he had yet to learn about her.
Two weeks. He laughed softly and shook his head. Who would have believed it?
He’d come to Cancú to rest and regroup, to make some heavy decisions about what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Weary and burned-out after years of government service, he had found himself craving something he couldn’t define, aching with a need that he hadn’t been able to understand. And then he’d met Maddie. Sweet Maddie Carmichael. And suddenly everything had become clear.
He now knew that what he’d needed had been a woman. A partner. A friend. Soft arms. Gentle smiles. A warm heart. All that sappy stuff he’d scorned so loudly in his reckless youth.
He’d known within hours that Maddie would be the perfect wife in the “Normal Life” he envisioned for himself. A small-town girl with deep roots to her community and her family. Pretty, in a wholesome, girl-next-door way. Sweet-natured, a bit naive, perhaps. She’d admitted that she enjoyed cooking—she even owned a family-style restaurant along with her father back home in Mississippi. She loved children. Her hobbies were needlework and watercolor painting.
He couldn’t have found a more perfect bride if he’d created her himself.
Case had approached his courtship of Maddie with the same intensity and single-minded determination that had made him so dangerous—and successful, in his career. He’d swept her off her feet, flattered her, wooed her, enticed her. Dazzled her with romance. Deliberately kept her so dazed and bemused that she—who admitted she was rarely impulsive—had agreed to marry a man who was little more than a stranger to her. He had promised her the moon—and he had every intention of trying to obtain it for her. It was the least she deserved for rescuing him from a life of bleak, bitter loneliness.
He doubted that anyone had ever pursued her with bolder tenacity. He knew he’d never invested this much effort into any other woman. To be painfully honest, he’d always considered himself rather awkward and uncomfortable around women, choosing to spend occasional time only with the ones who hadn’t made it necessary for him to pursue them.
But then, no other woman had ever mattered this much to him.
He patted his pocket, reassuring himself that the license and ring were in place. He looked into the mirror once more, noting that he still looked presentable. And then he glanced at his watch.
Half an hour to go. Half an hour of being single. Half an hour alone.
A quiver went through his flat stomach. Maybe a touch of nerves. Certainly a healthy shot of anticipation—after all, he hadn’t even made love to his pretty bride yet. He’d been determined to do this thing right—a traditional, if rather hasty, courtship, a traditional, and not-at-all hurried, wedding night. His pulse rate increased at the thought of that long night ahead.
A series of quick, sharp raps on the motel-room door made him look around in question. Who in the world...? Maddie was supposed to meet him at the judge’s office. He wasn’t expecting anyone else.
He crossed the room and opened the door. And then muttered a curse and tried to shut it again.
A slender, coral-tipped hand shoved from the other side. “I’ve got to talk to you,” the tall, stunning redhead in the hallway insisted in a husky voice Case knew all too well.
“Go away, Jade. I’m busy.”
“Come on, let me in. This is important.”
“I’m getting married in half an hour, damn it.”
Jade’s emerald eyes were filled with sympathy. He’d never seen her look at him quite that way before. He didn’t like seeing the emotion there now. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to postpone that,” she said quietly.
Case shook his head, though a sick feeling of foreboding was spreading through him. “No way.”
Jade reached inside the jacket of her beautifully tailored dark green suit. “I have something here I think will convince you,” she said in a carefully uninflected voice that made Case go very still.
Oh, damn, Maddie. I’m so sorry.
* * *
FOR AT LEAST the tenth time in less than twenty minutes, Maddie checked the time on her watch, aware that she was being surreptitiously—and sympathetically—watched from across the small office by the justice of the peace and his wife. Case was late, over twenty minutes late. The ceremony should have been over by now. They should already be married.
So where was he?
“Would you like to call the resort again, Miss Carmichael?” the middle-aged officiant asked in slightly accented English.
Maddie managed a smile and shook her head. She’d already called Case’s rooms twice. There’d been no answer either time. “I’m sure he’s on his way,” she said with a confidence that was rapidly fading. “He’s obviously been detained. By traffic, perhaps.”
Señor and Señora Ruiz nodded agreeably, though Maddie could see the doubt mirrored in their dark eyes. They thought she’d been stood up, she realized.
Oh, God—what if they were right?
She twisted her fingers in front of her, her fair-complexioned cheeks warming with an embarrassed flush. What was she doing here? she asked herself in a sudden surge of panic. How had she allowed herself to get into this painfully awkward situation? She’d only come to Cancú on a vacation—a vacation she’d won through a supermarket sweepstakes, for crying out loud!
She’d left Mississippi in the hope of getting some rest, maybe finding a bit of excitement to inject in her otherwise routine life. She hadn’t expected to find herself involved in a vacation romance—and she certainly hadn’t planned on marrying a man she’d met by accident on a sandy beach! Less than two weeks ago, for heaven’s sake. But she was here now, fully prepared to carry through with the impulsive promise she’d given.
Where the hell was Case?
She smoothed her damp palms down the side of her floating white eyelet sundress—the only garment she’d brought along that had looked in the least bridal. And then she brushed a strand of mousy brown hair away from the sidepiece of her glasses. Case would be here, she reassured herself, remembering the intense look in his unusual gray eyes as he’d begged her to marry him. He couldn’t have looked at her that way if he hadn’t meant it—could he?
A tentative knock on the door made Maddie catch her breath and whirl toward the sound. Case?
The shy-looking young woman who entered the office was someone Maddie recognized. “Carmelita?” she asked in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
Carmelita was an employee at the resort where Maddie and Case had been staying. Maddie had found herself drawn to the woman’s sweet smile and open manner, and had begun to consider Carmelita a friend—one she’d needed badly as she’d tumbled into love with a stranger. Needing to talk to another woman, she’d confided her confusion and bedazzlement to Carmelita, who was young enough and romantic enough to be fascinated by the whirlwind courtship taking place in front of her. She had even given Maddie a lace-trimmed handkerchief to carry during the wedding ceremony—for luck, she’d said shyly.
Carmelita wasn’t smiling now. Her huge black eyes were liquid with sympathy. “I have a note for you,” she said simply, holding out her hand.
Maddie stared at the folded square of white paper with a sick feeling deep inside her. Somehow, she already knew what it said. “He isn’t coming, is he?” she whispered.
Carmelita shook her head. “He had to leave. Read the note.”
Something in the way Carmelita was looking at her made Maddie tense. “When did he leave?”
“Not long ago. They—he seemed to be in a great hurry,” the young woman answered carefully, quickly rephrasing the sentence.
But Maddie had caught the stammered word. “They?” she repeated. “He didn’t leave alone?”
Torn by loyalty and compassion, Carmelita shook her head. “No. There was a woman.”
“A woman?” Maddie pressed a hand to her aching stomach.
“Sí. She was tall, very pretty and she had red hair. Perhaps it was his sister,” Carmelita suggested helpfully, unaware that Case had told Maddie several times that he had no family, no one at all. “Perhaps there was an emergency at his home, yes? Read the note, Maddie,” she repeated, holding it out insistently.
Maddie’s hand was shaking when she finally made herself take the note. She opened it carefully, as though afraid it would explode in her face.
Maddie, I’m sorry. Something urgent has come up, and I have to leave. The wedding must be postponed. Go home, and wait for me. I’ll call you as soon as I can. Case
Something died inside Maddie. And something else was born in its place, conceived in pain and grief and blazing hot temper.
Sweet Maddie Carmichael would never be quite the same.
