Gorgeous Grooms: Her Stand-In Groom / Her Wish-List Bridegroom / Ordinary Girl, Society Groom. Jackie Braun

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СКАЧАТЬ concession stand while he purchased the tickets, and met her there just in time to pay for the king-sized bucket of buttered popcorn, beverages and Milk Duds he’d asked her to purchase.

      The photograph caught her attention the moment he opened his wallet. It was of the two of them, standing side by side in the I Do Chapel. She’d forgotten about the pictures that had come with their deluxe wedding package. Apparently Stephen had not. He’d kept them, cut one down to fit the plastic protector in his wallet and carried it with him. She was ridiculously touched.

      “I didn’t know you had these.” She pointed to the photograph.

      He seemed uncomfortable when he replied, “Most married men carry pictures of their wives.”

      “So, it’s for effect?” she asked.

      He didn’t answer her question, instead he said, “You looked beautiful that day.” Dark eyes studied her for a moment. Then he handed her one of the drinks and a paper-covered straw. “You look beautiful every day.”

      Before she could respond, he hoisted the tub of popcorn into his arms and grabbed the other drink. “Don’t forget the Milk Duds.”

      “I can’t believe we’re doing this,” she whispered as they took their seats in the back of the theater.

      “You have to admit it beats another two hours of small talk with the movers and shakers of Greater Chicago.”

      She dipped her hand into the tub and feasted on a mouthful of popcorn. When she was done she said, “I won’t argue with a man when he’s right. Do you have the napkins?”

      “No, I thought you had them.”

      “Nope. Can I use your handkerchief, then.”

      “I have a better idea.” As Cary Grant flirted with Audrey Hepburn on the screen, Stephen lifted Catherine’s hand and one by one slowly licked the butter from her fingers.

      He wasn’t sure why’d he’d done it, although from the way she sucked in a breath and leaned toward him he didn’t think Catherine minded. He rubbed his own buttery hands on his tuxedo pants, unmindful of the obscene price he’d paid for them. Then there was only the small matter of setting aside the popcorn tub so that he could take her face in his hands, bring it forward for the kiss. She tasted salty and incredibly sweet.

      They were in the rear of a sparsely crowded theater, but they could have been front and center at a sold-out performance of a Broadway play and he doubted it would have kept him from trailing a hand down the slim column of her neck and then following it with his lips. He stopped at her collarbone and the cloth that covered it, and prayed for some sanity to return. He’d never wanted a woman the way he wanted Catherine.

      “Sorry. I got carried away.”

      “I’ll say,” she whispered back.

      But when he started to straighten she wound her arms around his neck. “Do you think you could get carried away again?”

      His smile came slowly, despite his charging heart. “I’ll see what I can do.”

      This time he was determined not to be deterred by clothing. He took Catherine’s sexy little sigh as consent. His fingers were just starting to dip beneath the fabric of the gown’s bodice when a beam of light all but blinded him. He kicked over the tub of popcorn in his haste to sit upright.

      “Sir.” It came out as squawk, so the teenager wielding the flashlight cleared his throat and tried again. “Sir, um, ma’am, we don’t, um, you know, allow that kind of stuff in here. If you, like, keep it up, I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

      When he was gone Catherine succumbed to a fit of laughter, and Stephen couldn’t help but think that many of their acquaintances would have found it hard to reconcile this irrepressible and incredibly responsive woman with the overly regimented and cool image she often projected.

      “Let’s get out of here,” he said.

      “But the movie’s not over. Don’t you want to find out how it ends?”

      He kissed her hard and let her go. “Oh, yeah. I want to find out how it ends.”

      They ran on the way back to his car, too.

      On the way home they held hands, and it struck Stephen as absurd that he was essentially dating his own wife and wondering with all the hopeful anticipation of a teenager if the evening would end as well as he was imagining. He parked the Jag in the garage, but they didn’t get out immediately. Both seemed to know that once they went inside everything would change.

      “We’re home,” Catherine said needlessly after the silence had dragged and the light on the automatic garage door opener had gone dim.

      “Yes.” He opened the car door and the interior light popped on, haloing them in soft gold. “Shall we go inside?”

      Catherine laid a hand on his arm. “Before we do, I need to know what’s going on between us.”

      “I think it’s this.”

      He leaned over and kissed her, and felt the jolt of that surprising attraction. His world had been careening and threatening to crash around him, but Catherine had saved him. And in the midst of chaos he’d found something special, something precious. He’d found…He rejected the thought before it was fully formed.

      But it was she who ended the kiss.

      “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

      He couldn’t help but smile. “We have more right than most. We are married.”

      “We’re not really married.” She straightened her clothing.

      “Oh?” He arched an eyebrow. “I have a piece of paper that says otherwise.”

      “You know what I mean, Stephen. This isn’t a love match.”

      “No, but I like you. I respect you. I think it’s fairly obvious I’m incredibly attracted to you.”

      “I settled for attraction once,” she whispered. “It’s not enough. I like and respect you as well. And that’s why I don’t want to complicate things between us. My God, aren’t they complicated enough?”

      Much as he hated to admit it, she was right, but he wondered how long what was growing between them could be denied.

      Once again he walked her to her bedroom door, leaving her there with Degas. The walk to his own room seemed as long and lonely as a walk to the gallows.

      The next couple of weeks went by in a blur. Catherine didn’t need to pretend to keep herself busy. Fall was always a hectic time for charities as they geared up for the holiday season, and long before she’d exchanged vows with Stephen she had committed to attend various events and fund-raisers.

      She’d figured her full schedule would allow her and Stephen to give one another a wide berth, perhaps put some of their awkwardness behind them. But, to her utter amazement, Stephen always insisted on coming with her. He was a perfect gentleman, a perfect escort, with his impeccable manners and gorgeous dark looks. And, even though things remained strained between СКАЧАТЬ