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“A hundred grand?” I swallowed hard.
“Can I watch?” Rory asked.
“Absolutely not. You will stay with Isabelle the entire time. Both of you. I mean it.” He sounded worried.
“Is there something you aren’t telling us?”
“No. It’s just, I don’t trust the man. He would sell his own mother, given the chance.”
“What about the spy?” Bridgette asked.
“We will get that information after we pay him and before he’s arrested. The man is not a complete imbecile.” Patrick said, as though even saying that irritated him.
I leaned into Patrick. “And you think this will work?”
“I have no doubt.”
I was glad someone didn’t.
“DARLING, YOU’VE BEEN QUIET.” PATRICKstroked my hair as we lay next to each other on the couch.
I stared at the oddly, but beautifully decorated tree, the only light source in the dead of night. So many thoughts swirling in my head.
“Do you not want to marry me next week?” he hesitated to ask.
I turned toward him, nuzzling into his bare chest, breathing in his cinnamon-and-cedar scent, reveling in the comfort of his arms encircled around me. “It’s not that. I want to be your wife, but I don’t do things on a whim. I’m a planner and a realist. We haven’t even known each other for two months of our lives. This is insane.”
Patrick ran his hand down my back. “If you want, we don’t have to sign the wedding license after the ceremony. We could always get married later.” He sounded disappointed.
I lifted my head to meet his gaze. “I won’t pretend marry you. That’s one thing I will never fake.”
“Do you want to call off the whole plan? I don’t want to force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“Patrick, you’re not forcing me to do anything. It’s just, I don’t want to intrude on my sister’s day. To top it off, I don’t have flowers, and we never sent out invitations. And I want the kids to be a part of the ceremony, and my sister to be my maid of honor, but we don’t have time to get the proper attire for that. I don’t need a big to-do like I had the last time. Honestly, I would prefer something small and elegant just for close family and friends.” I sounded whiny, or was that overwhelmed?
Patrick ran a finger down my cheek. “Are those all your concerns? Please be honest with me.”
“I think that about covers it.” I smiled.
“Darling, if you truly have no qualms about marrying me next week, I promise you the wedding of your dreams. The flowers, the dresses, the cake, anyone you want in attendance. I will make it happen.”
“In just a few days? That would take more than a Christmas miracle.” I was skeptical. “And you know we can’t leave on a honeymoon right away. I need to be here while Charlotte is gone on hers.”
A devilish grin appeared on his face. “I’ve already thought of that. My house is mostly livable, but more importantly, the water has been turned back on and I have it on good authority the hot tub will be in working condition.”
“Is that so?” I stuttered, thinking of all the things we could do in the warm water. But ... “What about Rory and Bridgette? We can’t leave them alone on Christmas.” Drake and Charlotte weren’t even leaving until the day after Christmas to make sure they were here with Jameson. Though they would be kicking Patrick’s parents out of the honeymoon suite so they could spend their wedding night there. Thankfully, we had one extra room for them to stay in once all our guests checked out.
“And we won’t. We will spend our wedding night at my place, where I can finally make love to you into the early hours of the morning. Once I’ve thoroughly ravished you, we will come back before they wake up on Christmas morning.”
Oh my. I felt as if I were being roasted like a marshmallow and getting all hot and gooey inside. “When you sayravish, what does that entail?”
He groaned before recounting lowly into my ear all the details. Oh, it was going to be a very merry Christmas. Like, glory hallelujah, all the angels would be heralding the good news. Well, angels probably wouldn’t want to attend the blessed event. It would probably be more like we were going on Santa’s naughty list. The coal in my stocking was going to be so worth it. “I would be amenable to that,” I stumbled to say.
Patrick chuckled deeply, knowing he had me in the palm of his capable hands. “Does this mean we are getting married next week?” Hope laced every word.
“This is crazy. You know that, right?”
“No. Letting you go twenty years ago, that was crazy. This is the sanest decision of my life.”
