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murmured, watching her pull the gown up again.
"You're pretty, too, so there,'' she teased.
"Are you coming out, or am I coming in?" Lillian was sounding militant.
Ward glowered at the door. "Can't I even have a minute to say good-night?"
"You've been saying good-night for thirty minutes already, and that's enough," she informed him. ''I'm
counting! One, two, three ... "
She was counting loudly. Ward sighed at Mari.
"Good night, baby," he said reluctantly.
She blew him a kiss. "Good night, my darling.
He took one last look and opened the door on " ... Fourteen!"
Mari laid back against the pillows, listening to the pleasant murmur of voices outside the door as she
stared at her ring.
"Congratulations and good night, dear!" Aunt Lillian called.
"Good night and thank you!" Mari called back.
"Oh, you're very welcome!" Ward piped in. . "Get out of here," Lillian muttered, pushing him down
the hall.
Alone in her room Mari was trying to convince herself that she wasn't dreaming. It was the hardest
thing she'd ever done. He was hers.
They were going to be married. They were going to live together and love each other and have
children together. She closed her eyes reluctantly, tingling all over with the first stirrings of
possession.
Chapter 12
The next morning Mari was sure it had all been a beautiful dream until she looked at the ring on her
finger. When she went down to breakfast, she found a new, different Ward waiting for her.
He went to her without hesitation, bending to brush a tender kiss against her smiling lips.
"It was real after all," he murmured, his green eyes approving her cool blue knit sundress. "I thought I
might have dreamed it!"
"So did I," she confessed. Her hands smoothed hesitantly over the hard, warm muscles of his chest. It
felt wonderful to be able to do that, to feel so much a part of him that it no longer was forbidden to
touch him, to look at him too long. "Are you really mine now?" she murmured aloud.
"Until I die," he promised, bringing her close against him. He sighed into her hair, rocking her against
the powerful muscles of his body. "I never thought this would happen. I didn't think I'd ever be able to
love or trust a woman again after Caroline. And then you came along, pushing me into indoor streams,
backing me into corners about my business sense, haunting me with your soft innocence. You got
under my skin that first night. I've spent the rest of the time trying to convince myself that I was still
free when I knew all along that I was hopelessly in love with you."
She burrowed closer, tingling all over at that sweet, possessive note in his deep voice. "I was so
miserable in Atlanta," she confessed. "I missed you every single day. I tried to get used to being
alone."
"I shouldn't have propositioned you," he said with a sigh, lifting his head to search her eyes with his.
"But I still thought I could stop short of a commitment. God knows how I'd have coped with the
conscience I didn't even have until you came along. Every time Ty Wade was mentioned, I got my
back up, thinking how he'd changed." He touched her face with wonder in his whole look: "And now I
know how and why, and I think he must have felt this way with his Erin when he realized what he felt
for her."
She sighed softly, loving him with her eyes. "I know I felt like part of me was missing when I left
here. It didn't get any better, either."
"Why do you think I came after you?" he murmured dryly. "I couldn't stand it here without you. Not
that I admitted that to myself in any great rush. Not until that rattler almost got you, and I had to face it.
If anything had happened to you, I wouldn't have wanted to live," he added on a deep, husky note that
tugged at her heart.
"I feel that way, too," she whispered, searching his eyes. "Can we really get married?"
"Yes," he whispered back, bending his head down.
"And live together and sleep together and raise a family together ... "
Her lips opened for him, welcoming and warm, just for a few seconds before Lillian came in with
breakfast and knowing grins. Ward glowered at her.
"All your fault," he told her.' "I could have gone on for years living like a timber wolf but for you."
"No need to thank me," she said with a big smile.
"You're welcome."
She vanished back, into the kitchen, laughing, as Ward led Mari to the table, shaking his head with an
exasperated chuckle.
The wedding was a week later, and old Mrs. Jessup and Belinda had come home just for the
occasion. They sat on either side of Lillian, who was beaming.
"Nice girl," Belinda whispered. "She'll make a new man of him."
"I think she has already." Old Mrs. Jessup grinned.
"Spirited little thing. I like her, too."
"I always did," Lillian said smugly. "Good thing I saw the shape he was getting in and brought her out
here. I knew they'd be good for each other."
"It isn't nice to gloat," Belinda reminded her. “Amen," Mrs. Jessup harrumphed. "Don't I seem to
remember that you introduced that Caroline creature to him in the first place?"
Lillian was horrified. "That wasn't me! That was Belinda!"
Mrs. Jessup's eyes widened as she glared past Lillian at the restless young woman on the other side.
"Did you?"
"It was an accident," Belinda muttered. "I meant to introduce her to Bob Whitman, to get even for
jilting me. Ward kind of got in the way. I never meant for her to go after my poor brother."
"It's all in the past now anyway," Lillian said, making peace. "He's got the right girl, now. Everything
will be fine."
"Yes." Old Mrs. Jessup sighed, glancing past Lillian again. "If only Belinda would settle down. She
goes from boyfriend to boyfriend, but she never seems to get serious."
Lillian pursed her lips, following the older woman's gaze to Belinda, who was sighing over Mari's
wedding gown as she walked down the aisle accompanied by the organ music. She'd have to see what
she could do ....
The wedding ceremony was short and beautiful.
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