Lorraine Heath Read Online Free PDF Page B

expect you to be here.”
    “Why ever not?”
    Cordelia felt the warmth suffuse her face. She couldn’t very well explain that she hadn’t expected Dallas to welcome the woman who had abandoned him back into his house nor had she imagined that the woman would remain friends with a man who had been such a poor husband. “I just … well, this arrangement just came about so quickly I didn’t expect anyone to be here.”
    Amelia smiled warmly. “Between all the ranch hands and the people from town, we have quite a gathering. Dallas believes in doing everything in a grand fashion.”
    Cordelia felt as though a swarm of bees had suddenly invaded her stomach. She had hoped for a small, quiet ceremony, but it appeared her future husband was a man of bold preferences.
    She glanced toward Dallas. He wore impatience as easily as she wore her gloves.
    Boyd was explaining to Reverend Tucker that he needed his signature to serve as a witness. Reverend Tucker didn’t seem inclined to want to give it.
    “Goddammit! Just sign the paper,” Dallas said, irritation heavily laced through his voice.
    Reverend Tucker tightened his jaw and slowly nodded. “If this is what you want.” He dipped the pen into the inkwell. “Revenge is mine sayeth the Lord.” With a piercing blue gaze, he glared at Boyd. “Keep that in mind.”
    Signing the document had been a damn stupid thing to do, Dallas decided in retrospect as Reverend Tucker performed the ceremony. Boyd McQueen had given him an honorable way to get out of marrying his sister, and Dallas had been too stubborn to take it.
    For her sake, he wished he hadn’t insisted she come to his office, wished he’d left her outside so she wouldn’t have had to witness all that had transpired. Her hand rested on his arm as they stood before the preacher with everyone they knew standing behind them, and he could feel that she was shaking worse than she had been earlier when he’d first met her.
    He’d told Reverend Tucker to use words that had to do with trust, honor, and respect and steer clear of love. He didn’t want to make the woman aware of what she wasn’t getting.
    Reverend Tucker finished his opening remarks. “Would you two face each other and join hands?” he asked quietly.
    As Dallas took Cordelia’s hands, her trembling increased until he thought it rivaled the shaking of the ground during a stampede.
    “Do you, Cordelia Jane McQueen, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, for better or worse, through sickness and through health, to honor and to cherish from this day forward?”
    A hush settled around them. Dallas resisted the urge to peer beneath the veil and assure his bride that everything would be all right. Why was she wearing a veil anyway? Dallas never closed a business deal without looking a man straight in the eye. A marriage was just as important. It seemed to him that this moment was the one time when a woman shouldn’t be shielding her gaze from a man.
    The silence became suffocating. Dallas was grateful that Reverend Tucker spoke low enough that only those standing nearby could hear. He was even more grateful that only family stood nearby.
    Reverend Tucker leaned forward slightly. “If you’re inclined to marry Dallas, simply say, ‘I do.’ ”
    “She does,” Boyd said.
    “Goddamm it, McQueen, let her say it,” Dallas snarled.
    “What the hell difference does it make?” Boyd asked.
    “Years from now, it might make a difference to her.”
    Reverend Tucker cleared his throat. “Could we possibly refrain from using the Lord’s name in vain during the ceremony?”
    Dallas felt the heat rise in his face. “Sorry, Reverend. Why don’t you leave out that part about cherish?”
    “That doesn’t leave much,” Reverend Tucker said. “Leaves enough.”
    “Very well. Do you, Cordelia Jane McQueen, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to honor from this day forward?”
    She held her silence, and Dallas damned his impaient nature.