A Mail-Order Wish (Miners to Millionaires Book 2) Page 5

  And right now, his forever was waiting for him in his hotel room. Ronan swung onto his horse and raced back to town as fast as he dared, taking care not to risk injury to the magnificent animal beneath him.

  It was still midday, and the town was relatively quiet when he pulled up to the hotel. Nodding to the man at the front desk, he forced himself to pace his steps up the stairs to his room. His pulse thumped a little harder the closer he got to his destination, as he mulled over everything he’d say to convince her to become his wife.

  She deserved so much more than him. He’d lived his life in a way she’d never approve of, but he was too much of a selfish brute to let her go, now that he’d allowed himself permission to have her.

  He unlocked the door, stepped inside the silent room, and locked it again behind him.

  “Ronan?”

  Her soft voice shot straight through him. His. She was all his. “Yes, it’s me.”

  She walked out of his bedroom and he tried to not think of all the things he planned to do in there with her that very night. Because marrying her sometime before they left suddenly became today. Now. He didn’t want to wait even one more day to make her his. All she had to do was agree and they’d go straight to the church and get married. Then we’ll come back here and—

  “Ronan?”

  His head jerked toward her again, and it took him a moment to focus.

  “Are you all right?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “You just look a little”—she glanced around uneasily, as if sensing his inner-most private thoughts—“preoccupied.”

  His lips twitched. Absolutely he was preoccupied! She was about to become his wife and his lover. If that didn’t more than occupy his thoughts, then there was something seriously wrong with him.

  He stepped toward her and her eyes turned wary. “Olivia, there’s something I need your help with.”

  Her eyes widened. She had wanted to help him, after all. “Really? You’ve changed your mind?”

  “Yes.” He stopped a few inches away from her, wondering if she’d step back or avoid eye contact now that he’d entered her space. She did neither, and his blood turned hotter.

  “Well, good. Good! I’m glad you changed your mind.”

  “Me too.” She had no idea just how much. His conscience voiced complaints in regards to what he was about to do, but Ronan was quick to silence it. The decision had already been made. He wasn’t walking away from it. Olivia wet her lips, and his eyes locked on the movement, thinking of all the wicked things he wanted to do with her sweet mouth.

  “What do you need help with?”

  All sorts of possible answers rolled through his mind. While he couldn’t tell her everything, he decided to tell her as much of the truth as possible. Not that it made him any less of a cad. “There’s something I need to do. And recently, a complication arose. I can’t fix it on my own.”

  “But I can help?” Surprise tinged her voice, and she gazed up at him with hope in her eyes.

  He was going to hell. “Yes. In fact, you’re the only one who can help me.”

  “How?” she asked softly, her eyes dipping to his lips.

  He stifled a groan and forced himself to hold back from touching her long enough to convince her to agree to become his wife. If he kissed her now, it might drive her away. And he didn’t want to waste any time. “There’s something I’m trying to do. Something that’s really important. And I’ve run into a problem.”

  “Oh?” She shifted, still unsure what she could do to help.

  “I have to go to Georgia.” Her mouth fell open, but he continued without letting her speak. “But there’s a problem...I need a wife to go with me.”

  She gasped and he gripped her hand to keep her from turning away.

  “You can’t be serious! A wife? That can’t be true. Just to travel?”

  “It’s a little more complicated than that,” he hedged, quickly thinking of what he could tell her without flat out lying. “I am required to be married before an important transaction can proceed.”

  “What transaction?”

  “I can’t say. At least, not until after we’re married.” Even then he wouldn’t be telling her the whole truth in order to protect her and also so she couldn’t prevent it from happening. But if she didn’t agree with the plans he did share with her, at that point, it would be too late to stop him.

  “We are getting married?” Olivia asked, shaking her head in disbelief.

  He grasped her hand tighter. “I need a wife, Liv. It’s short notice, and certainly not what you deserve, but I don’t have time to court you properly.” She softened. “If we were still in Georgia, I’d take you flowers, shower you with attention at church picnics, and formally ask your father for permission to court you. After a while, I’d ask him if I could marry you. But there’s just no time. I need to get married immediately, and I want you for my wife.”

  Wary eyes met his. “Why me? There’s other women, even other mail-order brides.”

  He stroked her jaw with his thumb. “You know why. You can’t deny the spark between us. I don’t deserve it, and I deserve you even less, but it’s there. It’s intense.”

  Her breath caught as he rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip. “There’s more to marriage than attraction.” She shook her head as if to clear it and took a big step away from him, breaking contact. “There has to be in order for the relationship to last. I don’t know anything about you, Ronan. Not really.”

  “You know more about me than anyone else.” He was surprised by how true those words really were. And how they made him feel. No one knew as much about his past as she did. No one here knew he’d been in the war, no one here knew that his father had given him the gold buckle, or even that Ronan was from Georgia. Olivia knew he’d been a boy soldier, and while he hadn’t given her specifics, she knew enough about the war to realize what he’d seen and done.

  “Ask me anything.” he told her and stood straighter.

  “There’s nothing I can ask that will give me enough insight to make a rational decision.”

  Ronan shrugged and stepped forward. “Then don’t be rational.” His easy demeanor fled as his eyes latched onto hers. “Be totally and completely irrational.”

  His gaze lingered on her lips, and he gave one last questioning look in her eyes. She knew what he was going to do, and she didn’t voice any protest.

  His arms encircled her, jerking her flush against his body. He groaned a second before his lips captured hers. He tried to be soft and gentle to coax her into accepting him, but the moment his lips touched hers, he lost all control. The strategist, who’d spent years plotting his enemy’s annihilation, fled. He wasn’t being calculating, he wasn’t being patient. He was being just plain greedy.

  Her hands flailed a moment, then latched tightly onto his shoulders, her fingers digging in to hold him rather than to push him away.

  Triumph surged as she opened her mouth to him, and Ronan tasted a sweetness he hadn’t experienced since he was a boy pilfering peaches from the orchard.

  She was what he craved, what he desired.

  As he tasted her over and over, coaxing sighs from her lips, he wanted this woman. It went so far beyond his personal revenge. Lawrence’s requirement had just provided a convenient excuse so he could have her. But if he were being honest with himself, he’d wanted something to happen, anything, that would allow Ronan to give himself permission to marry her.

  He slowed his kiss, the frenzy dying away the closer he got toward victory. She would be his. He would have the right and privilege to kiss her whenever he chose. This wasn’t just a first and only. He would kiss her daily—every moment, if it were possible.

  He drew away, his gaze floating over her cheekbones and closed eyes, before she finally fluttered them open. The desire he saw in the green depths took his breath away.

  She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Her eyes were the color of grass during the spring, her hair
sparkled like the sun, her figure rivaled any goddess he could think of, and her spirit and heart outshone any woman he’d ever known. She was a prize. A treasure.

  And he swore that once his revenge was exacted, he would spend the rest of his life making sure she got the world. She deserved no less. “Marry me.”

  When her eyes clouded with doubt, he took her lips again. It wasn’t right to overwhelm her with the physicality of their bond, but he’d already done despicable things. This was just one in a long line of things he’d go to hell for.

  He pulled away again. “Marry me. I need you, Liv.”

  She gasped at his words and her whole body softened.

  “I need you,” he stressed again, amazed at what those words did to her. He meant every word of them too. It was a truth he would happily shout from the rooftops. “I need you. Not just for this deal, but because I need you in my life.”

  “Why?” she asked softly, clearly wanting to believe him.

  He gathered her more firmly in his arms, pressing her head to his chest, praying he could provide the words she needed. He could only give her the truth now. “I need you because I’m worried if I don’t have you in my life, I’ll be lost.”

  She sobbed, and he swore. “Don’t cry. Please! I didn’t mean to upset you.” Well done. He’d said the most honest thing he’d said in his whole life, and instead of getting the reaction he’d hoped for, he’d made her cry.

  He rubbed his hands up and down her arms, making shushing noises and sounding like a complete idiot to himself, but he didn’t know what else to do to calm her down.

  She softly hiccuped, then took as deep a breath as she could. “I’m sorry”—sniff—“I’m not crying because I’m sad. Quite the opposite, in fact.”

  “What?”

  “I’m happy.” She attempted a smile like it would help convince him, but he only saw a red nose, watery eyes, and quirked lips.

  No matter how appealing she still looked, she didn’t look happy. Did women really cry when they were happy? He couldn’t remember if his mother had, it’d been too long and the tears he did remember were tears of grief.

  At his expression, she chuckled and he became even more confused. “Truly. I’ve just…I’ve just never been needed before.”

  He swallowed hard. He needed her. And while he wished he just needed her for herself, he needed to use her too. That didn’t sit well with him, but there wasn’t anything else he could do.

  Giving up his revenge against Lawrence was as impossible as halting his breath. His vengeance was a part of him. He’d never be free until it was over. “I do need you. It’s true.”

  She brushed a tear away and smiled up at him. “I can’t tell you how much that means to me. No matter what I did or tried, no one has ever said those words. No one has ever meant them.”

  He gripped her upper arms, wanting to will her to believe him. “I know you don’t know me well enough, but I do need you, and I really will try to make you happy.”

  “I believe you.”

  “I don’t have a lot to offer you. I don’t even have a ring.” And that ate at him. He wasn’t starting things off the way he would like, but he’d make it up to her. He swore he would.

  “I don’t need one this second. None of that matters to me.”

  He scented victory. “Will you marry me, Olivia?”

  She smiled. “Yes.”

  He kissed her a little too enthusiastically, relief pumping through him.

  She broke away, laughing. “I wasn’t expecting this.”

  How could you?

  She sighed happily. “I’ll talk to the others when I get back. We can probably throw something together so we don’t have to wait more than—”

  “Let’s get married today. Now.”

  Her mouth fell open, but he remained quiet, letting it sink in.

  “Today?”

  “Why wait? We’ve already made promises to wed, and we’ll be heading to Georgia shortly anyway. We’ll make a honeymoon of it.” He was going to burn in hell.

  She lit up at the thought. “Could we visit my family?”

  “After my business is concluded, I don’t see why not.”

  “Is there anyone you’d like to visit? Someone from your home town?”

  Some of the pleasure from the moment died inside him. “There’s no one to see.”

  “Oh. I’m so sorry, Ronan. I didn’t know.”

  Of course she didn’t. She was right that they didn’t know each other, and while his instinct was to push her away, to not share anything with anyone, he couldn’t do that anymore. He would try to be a good husband. And if he were going to do that, he had to be as open as he could.

  She deserved that.

  “It’s all right. I’m glad you know now.”

  She nodded, not sure what else to say.

  “Hey.” He reached out and tilted her chin up so she’d look at him again. “It’s just one of the many things we’ll come to know about each other. Some things will be good; some will be bad. That’s marriage.”

  He leaned down slowly to kiss her and she met him halfway, pleasing him more than he could say.

  “Let’s get married today,” he said again. “We have the rest of our lives to get to know each other.”

  She took a deep breath before slipping her hand into his, the action squeezing his heart. “All right.”

  They were a unit now. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the soft skin. “Would you like to change into anything else for the ceremony?”

  She looked down at the pale-yellow dress. “Nothing that is more suitable than this. It doesn’t feel right to wear the dress I’d planned to wear with Ivan.”

  He understood that. Although it was just a garment, it was the commitment behind it.

  “Besides,” she continued, “I’m worried that if I go home, someone will try to change my mind, and I really don’t want that to happen. I want to marry you.”

  He squeezed her hand. “Let’s head to the church then.”

  Chapter 7

  The moment Olivia said “I do” her good sense kicked in. She’d married a man she didn’t know. A man that worked for her.

  Ronan.

  What did she know about him? Not much. He’d been in the war, he had no family, was from Georgia, and needed her help.

  And that’s what had gotten her. He’d needed her help. But honestly, she’d known even less about Ivan. At least she’d seen Ronan in person, had talked to him on numerous occasions. She may not know what his favorite meal was or how he liked his coffee, but she would learn those things.

  Besides, it was too late anyway. She was legally and lawfully wedded to him

  Butterflies danced in her belly as she signed her name in the register and glanced up at her husband.

  Husband.

  She belonged with this man now. She’d never truly belonged with anyone before. She loved her family, but she’d always felt apart for some reason. But she’d never be apart from Ronan.

  She would be there for him, help him through his struggles.

  She couldn’t wait.

  Smiling brightly at him, she took his arm as they walked from the church.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  “Yes, actually.” She laughed at the normalcy of the moment. “That seems so strange. We just got married. I feel like there should be some change within me, but I feel exactly the same. Hungry even.”

  His lips quirked and she couldn’t wait to kiss him again.

  “You’re still human, aren’t you?”

  “Of course!” She laughed. Her wedding might not have happened how she’d always thought it would, surrounded by friends and family, but this was still the happiest day of her life. “It’s just so normal, like any other day.”

  A shadow crossed his eyes and she was sorry she’d put it there.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a big wedding.”

  She hadn’t meant to make him feel guilty. “I don’t regret our
choice. I understand that things needed to happen quickly for us to go to Georgia. Besides, eloping is supposed to be romantic.”

  He held open the door to the hotel. “I hope you still think so after we’ve eaten today’s special for our wedding feast.”

  She laughed. “Whatever it is, we should eat it every year on our anniversary.”

  He pulled her close and whispered hotly in her ear. “Bite your tongue. I’ve had mayonnaise sandwiches here…nothing else between the bread.”

  A thrill shot up her spine when his lips brushed against her neck. Heavens! He made her feel wicked just speaking about sandwiches. She cleared her throat as she inched away from him, hoping the distance would clear her thoughts. “Well, I think it’ll be fun. Whatever we eat now, we should have at least once for our anniversary.”

  He grimaced. “Just remember, you chose that.”

  “It can’t be that bad.”

  He nodded toward a chalkboard as they neared the hotel restaurant. “Go on then. What’s for lunch?”

  She shook her head, not believing a word he said. “Skunk and cow tongue stew…” She couldn’t bring herself to finish the rest of the menu. Ronan was laughing too hard anyway.

  Her round eyes found his. “This has to be a joke.”

  “I can guarantee, it’s no joke.”

  She swallowed hard, imagining skunk meat curdling in her stomach. “Do they have other options?” she asked hopefully.

  He took her hand in his. “I know just the thing.”

  Ronan order thinly sliced beef with fresh rolls and cheese before giving his new bride his full attention. “It isn’t much—”

  “I’ll take anything over skunk stew.” She forced a shiver.

  He hadn’t realized it before, but sitting here with her, at their wedding feast, he felt lighter than he ever had.

  He reached out his hand across the table and took hers, locking fingers. She blushed, and he could only smile at the modest reaction. She’d no doubt turn beet red when they spent time in the marriage bed. “Thank you for today.”

  “You don’t need to thank me. I’m happy to be your wife.”