Diana Palmer Christmas Collection: The Rancher / Christmas Cowboy / A Man of Means / True Blue / Carrera's Bride / Will of Steel / Winter Roses

“You did? What did he have to say?”

He traced her nose. “We have to have a marriage license first.”

Her heart jumped. They’d been kissing and petting for quite a long time, and he’d insinuated, but he’d never actually asked.

“I thought we might get one with flowers and stuff. You know. So it would look nice framed on the wall.”

“Framed.”

He nodded. His eyes were steady on her face. “Madeline Edith Lane, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” he asked softly.

She fought tears. “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes!”

He brushed the tears away, his eyes so dark they seemed black. “I’ll love you all my life,” he whispered. “I’ll love you until the sun burns out.”

“I’ll love you longer,” she whispered back, and it was all there, in her eyes and his.

He smiled slowly. “And we’ll have beautiful kids,” he said softly. He pushed back her hair. “Absolutely beautiful. Like you.”

Now she was really bawling.

He pulled her gently into his arms and across his lap, and rocked her and kissed away the tears.

Sadie came walking in with coffee and stopped dead. “Oh, goodness, what’s wrong?”

“I told her we were going to have beautiful kids,” he said with a chuckle. “She’s very emotional.”

“Beautiful kids? You’re going to get married?” Sadie exclaimed.

“Yes.” Maddie smiled.

“Whoopee!”

“Oh, dear!” Maddie exclaimed.

Sadie looked down at the remains of the glass coffeepot and two ceramic mugs. “Oh, dear,” she echoed.

Cort just laughed. But then, like the gentleman he was, he went to help Sadie clean up the mess.

They were married at Christmas. Maddie was able to wear an exquisite designer gown that Odalie had insisted on buying for her, as her “something new.” It was an A-line gown of white satin with cap sleeves and a lacy bodice that went up to encase her throat like a high-necked Victorian dress.

There was a train, also of delicate white lace, and a fingertip veil with lace and appliquéd roses. She wore lace gloves and carried a bouquet of white roses. There was a single red rose in the center of the bouquet. One red rose for true love, Cort had insisted, and white ones for purity because in a modern age of easy virtue, Maddie was a throwback to Victorian times. She went to her marriage a virgin, and never apologized once for not following the crowd.

She walked down the aisle on the arm of Cole Everett, who had volunteered to give her away. Odalie was her maid of honor. Heather Everett and Shelby Brannt were her matrons of honor. Four local girls she’d known all her life were bridesmaids, and John Everett was Cort’s best man.

At an altar with pots of white and red roses they were married in the local Methodist church, where all three families were members. The minister had preached the funeral of most of their deceased kin. He was elderly and kind, and beloved of the community.

When he pronounced Cort and Maddie man and wife, Cort lifted the veil, ignoring the flash from the professional photographer’s camera, and closed in to kiss his new bride.

Nobody heard him when he bent, very low, and whispered, “First base.”

Nobody heard the soft, mischievous laughter the comment provoked from the bride. There was a huge reception. John Everett stopped by the table where Cort and Maddie were cutting the wedding cake.

“So, tell me, Cort,” John said when the photographer finished shooting the cake-eating segment, “if I’m really the best man, why are you married to my girl?”

“Now, a remark like that could get you punched,” Cort teased, catching the other man around the neck, “even at a wedding.”

John chuckled, embracing him in a bear hug. “I was just kidding. No doubt in my mind from the beginning where her heart was.” He indicated a beaming Maddie.

Cort glanced at her and smiled. “What an idiot I was,” he said, shaking his head. “I almost lost her.”

“Crazy, the way things turn out,” John mused, his eyes on Odalie as she paused to speak to Maddie. “My sister, Attila the Hun, is ending up as Maddie’s best friend. Go figure.”

“I wouldn’t have believed it myself. Odalie’s quite a girl.”

John smiled. “I thought it would be you and Odalie, eventually.”

Cort shook his head. “We’re too different. Neither of us would fit in the other’s world. It took me a long time to realize that. But I saw my future in Maddie’s eyes. I always will. I hope Odalie finds someone who can make her half as happy as I am today. She deserves it.”

John nodded. “I’m very proud of her. She’s matured a lot in the past few months.” He turned back to Cort. “Christmas is next week. You guys coming home for it or not?”

“Oh, we have to…my folks would kill us, to say nothing of Sadie.” He indicated the older woman in her pretty blue dress talking to some other people. “Maddie’s like the daughter she never had. They can’t have Christmas without us,” he stated. “We’re just going down to Panama City for a couple of days. Maybe later I can take Maddie to Europe and show her the sights. Right now, even a short plane trip is going to make her uncomfortable, much less a long one to somewhere exotic.”

“I don’t think Maddie will mind where you go, as long as she’s with you,” John said. “I wish you all the best. You know that.”

“Thanks, bro.”

“And when you come home, maybe we can crack open some new video games, now that my sister won’t complain about my having you over,” he added with a sigh.

Cort just grinned.

The hotel was right on the beach. It was cold in Panama City, but not so cold that they couldn’t sit on the patio beyond the glass sliding doors and look at the cold moonlight on the ocean.

Predictably, they’d barely made it into the hotel room when all the months of pent-up anguished desire were taken off the bridle for the first time.

He tried to be gentle, he really did, but his body was shivering with need long before he could do what he wanted to do: to show his love for Maddie.

Not that she noticed. She was with him every step of the way, even when the first encounter stung and made her cry out.

“This is part of it,” he gritted, trying to slow down. “I’m so sorry!”

“Don’t…sweat it,” she panted, moving up to meet the furious downward motion of his hips. “You can hang out…the bedsheet in the morning…to prove I was a virgin…!”

“Wha-a-at?” he yelped, and burst out laughing even as his body shuddered with the beginning of ecstasy.

“First…base,” she choked out, and bit him.

It was the most glorious high he’d ever experienced. He groaned and groaned as his body shuddered over hers. The pleasure was exquisite. He felt it in every cell of his body, with every beat of his heart. He could hear his own heartbeat, the passion was so violent.