Whatever crazy fantasy Amber had spun around Royce wasn’t real. She barely knew him. And he barely knew her. If relationships built on years didn’t last, there was no hope at all for one that was built on a mere week.
“Make it my business.”
“No.”
Jared went silent on the other end of the line for a few beats. “You ever think…”
Royce drummed his fingers on the desktop.
“That maybe she’s not…”
“Not what?” Did Jared have something intelligent to add here or not?
Jared drew a breath. “I mean, she might really be in love-”
“No!” Royce barked.
“Could happen.”
“No, it could not.”
“I’m a married man, Royce. And I’m telling you it could happen.”
“You’ve been married a week. Talk to me in twenty years.”
“You’re going to make a woman wait twenty years?”
Royce felt his frustration level rise. “I’m going to make a woman wait until she’s sure.”
“How’re you going to know that?”
“I’ll just know.”
“Like you do now?”
“What I know now is that she’s taken, and she’s confused, and she has obligations that have nothing to do with me.”
“She’s not Mom,” Jared said softly.
“Don’t even go there.”
“And you’re not Frank Stanton.”
“I’m hanging up now.”
“Mom and Dad’s relationship was demanding and complex. He worked too hard and she had stars in her eyes.”
“And you don’t think all marriages are demanding and complex?” That was what the long haul was all about. It meant sticking together through the rough times, knowing better times would come again. It didn’t mean bailing the second life got a little humdrum.
“Did it ever occur to you that Dad might have shared the blame?”
“He didn’t screw around on her,” Royce practically shouted.
“Yeah, but he wasn’t perfect. He had a temper. Hell, he shot a guy.”
“The son of a bitch deserved it. I’d have shot him, too.”
“You mean, if he slept with Amber?”
“Hell, yes.”
“Gotcha.”
Royce went silent, his jaw clamping down.
What had just happened? He was the illicit lover in this triangle, not the betrayed husband.
Jared’s voice turned jovial. “Okay, fixing this is going to be way easier than I thought.”
“Shut up.”
Jared chuckled, and Royce bit down harder on his outrage. His brother could be positively infuriating.
“Let’s move on to other problems,” he ground out. He wasn’t wrong, and Jared wasn’t right. And it was definitely time to end this discussion.
His brother’s tone changed. “What problems?”
“The China deal fell apart.”
“Yeah,” Jared sighed. “I was afraid of that.”
“We’re in a cash crunch because of it. I’ve got a guy taking a thorough look at our operations. I think we’re going to have to streamline.”
“He any good?”
“He came highly recommended.” Royce drew a breath. “And, Jared. I fired Barry Brewster over China.”
“Seriously?”
“He missed the deadline, blew the deal.” He’d also insulted Amber, but Royce wasn’t going anywhere near that conversation.
“There are a thousand ways to blow a deal with China.”
“Yeah, well, he’s gone.”
“Okay. Your call. You need me to come back early?”
“Let’s give it a few more days. There’s one more thing…” Royce stopped himself. “You know what? It can wait.”
If Jared learned about Norman Stanton and Stephanie, he’d be on the next plane back to the States.
But Royce had already made this month’s blackmail payment. Norman Stanton had no idea they were on to him, and there was nothing Jared could do in the short term but worry.
“You sure?” asked Jared.
“I’m sure.”
“And fix it with Amber, bro. She’s not Mom. You’re not Stanton. And everything’s a leap of faith.”
Amber and Katie stood side by side, gazing into the three-way mirror in Amber’s bedroom.
“You don’t think it would be too weird?” asked Katie as they admired their reflections in the sleek, sleeveless, pearl-adorned wedding gown and the dramatic oriental silk bridesmaid dress.
“Like I said before,” Amber replied. “Think of them as a set. You know I like this one better.” She turned and watched the orange, gold and midnight plum shimmer in the sunlight that streamed through her big windows.
“Did I miss something?” came a masculine voice from the doorway.
Amber and Katie whirled simultaneously to see all six foot two of Royce standing in the bedroom doorway. He was wearing a steel-gray business suit, a blue silk tie and a crisp white shirt. His face was freshly shaven, and his blue gaze hungry as he stared at her.
She swallowed the tears that were never far from the surface. His appearance was her dream come true. But she couldn’t let herself hope.
“Where did you come from?” asked Katie.
Instead of answering, he strolled into the bedroom, gaze fixed on Amber as he grew closer. “Someone named Rosa said you were trying on your wedding gown.”
Amber glanced down at the silk bridesmaid dress. “Something got lost in the translation.”
“I was going to rip it from your body.” The hunger in his eyes grew more intense.
Amber tipped her head, not sure what to think.
“I flew here at Mach 1,” he told her. “All the way over South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois, I told myself you belonged to Hargrove.”
“I don’t belong-”
“I told myself I’d reason with you, I’d make you understand you had an obligation to your fiancé, I’d explain again that nobody falls in love in a week, and what you thought you felt for me was an illusion.”
He took her hands.
Katie took a few steps toward the door. “Uh, I’m…just going to…” She slipped outside and shut the door behind her.
“At least that’s what I told myself,” said Royce. “And then Rosa told me you were trying on your wedding dress. And I knew I had to stop you. I knew there was no way I could let you marry someone else.”
“I’m not marrying-”
“I still find it impossible to believe a week is any kind of a foundation for a lifelong commitment. I looked up the mathematical odds on marital success. They’re not good.
“But I do know I want you. And I know I’ll shoot any guy who touches you. And I’m thinking maybe that’s a sign that there’s something to this.”
Amber fought the smile that tightened her lips.
As declarations of love went, this left a whole lot to be desired. But this was Royce, and she knew his demons, and she knew just how difficult it was for him to even contemplate the possibility of happily ever after.
“I love you, Royce.”
“You can’t know-”
She put her fingertips over his lips. “I do know. And, guess what? I know you love me, too. And I know you’re going to figure it out eventually. And if I have to wait a year, or ten or twenty, for you to decide we should stay together, that’s fine with me.”
His arm snaked around her waist, and he jerked her up tight against him. “I want to start staying together now.”
“No problem.” She smiled at him, trailing her palms over his chest, wrapping them loosely around his neck. “We’ll hang out together while you give this love thing some serious thought.”
He settled his other arm around her. “And by hanging out, I hope you mean living together, working together and sleeping together.”
“I do,” she told him.
“Good.” He gave a decisive nod. “Then I’m thinking we’d better be married while we’re hanging out. I don’t want anyone else to try to steal you. Your father’s already a little ticked off at my brother. And there’s the whole propriety thing.”
“You think it’s logical for us to be married while we figure out if we’re in love?”