In Bed With...Collection

‘Is that a problem?’

‘A quick trip to the courthouse. No problem at all.’

‘Then let’s do it.’

As simple as that! Except Bryce was acutely aware of the complex undercurrents to this apparent simplicity. As he linked Sunny’s arm around his and steered her out of the hotel to the waiting limousine, he asked himself if it was wise to take advantage of a decision she may well think better of, given a few hours’ distance from Marsden’s backlash.

Which reminded him that Marsden had to be dealt with before he caused more damage. He’d call Sherman as soon as he had a free minute. His crafty lawyer could speak to Marsden in L.A., pound home enough unpleasant legalities to demonstrate that silence held the greater good.

‘Mr. Templar and Miss York,’ the chauffeur greeted them affably, holding the passenger door open. ‘Lovely day for a trip to the Grand Canyon.’

Bryce paused, hit by an unaccustomed sense of wrongness. It was a rare moment of indecision for him, yet this choice did involve Sunny very intimately and he did not want her to be unhappy as his wife. He lightly squeezed the hand resting passively on his arm, drawing her gaze to his and watching intently for any hesitation on her part.

‘Are you sure about marrying me, Sunny?’

‘Yes, I’m sure,’ she stated decisively.

‘You don’t want to go to the Grand Canyon and take some time to think it over?’

‘No.’ Her chin was set in determination. ‘I want to marry you today.’ Her eyes sparked into vehement life. ‘If it’s right for you, it’s right for me!’

It snapped Bryce straight into positive action. He turned to the chauffeur. ‘Use your car phone to cancel the tour and take us straight to the courthouse.’

‘Yes, sir.’

Bryce handed Sunny into the limousine and followed to settle beside her.

‘The courthouse,’ the chauffeur repeated, grinning happily at the change of plan as he closed the door.

It has to be right, Bryce fiercely told himself, taking Sunny’s hand and lacing their fingers in a grip of togetherness.

I’ll make it right.

CHAPTER NINE (#ud535c0fb-8216-5cc4-a273-7d8e9771b73f)

SUNNY was amazed how easy it was to get a wedding licence. All she had to do was produce her passport, fill out a form and sign her name. No wonder Las Vegas was called the marriage capital of the world, she wryly reflected. Here it was a totally hassle-free procedure—no other certificates required, absolute minimal red tape, no enforced waiting time.

Her mind quickly flitted over that last consideration. Waiting was not good in this case. Bryce’s father wanted to see him married. Not that Will Templar would actually be at the ceremony, but the fait accompli would ease his mind and hopefully be beneficial to his heart condition. And then…no waiting any longer to have a baby. No more waiting at all.

As they emerged from the courthouse, the licence safely tucked in Sunny’s handbag, Bryce took out his cell phone and made a call, asking to speak to a wedding consultant. Sunny frowned at him, not wanting any delay, not wanting some hypocritical fuss, either. This was a straight-out marriage of convenience, not a love affair to be celebrated in the traditional way.

‘Don’t we just go to one of the wedding chapels?’ she said bruskly, much preferring to get it over and done with.

He shook his head, determination flashing from his eyes as he answered, ‘We do it right. Down to every detail.’

Sunny listened incredulously as he spoke to the consultant, listing off the kind of detail she would have thought important…if she’d gone ahead and married Derek. But that would have taken months of planning and scheduling and decision-making—chapel, flowers, kind of ceremony, photographer. Bryce was taking it upon himself to organise the whole wedding deal in a matter of minutes, without even consulting her!

Sunny burned with resentment. Wasn’t her consent enough for him? Why did he have to make a production out of a wedding based on mutual purpose?

Having completed the call to his satisfaction, he put the phone away, tucked her arm around his and grinned, clearly delighted with his planning. ‘Next stop,’ he said, hurrying her towards the waiting limousine.

‘What stop?’ she demanded to know, beginning to feel truculent.

He addressed the chauffeur who was once again holding the door open for them. ‘The Top of the Town Bridal Boutique.’

‘A bridal boutique!’ Sunny gasped.

Bryce bundled her into the limousine, still grinning from ear to ear. ‘Going to get you the wedding dress of your dreams.’

‘It’s not necessary,’ she gritted out, rebellion stirring.

‘Yes, it is.’

‘There’s just the two of us getting married,’ she argued, turning to face him, to hammer home the truth as she saw it. ‘It’s not as if we’re doing it in front of a whole pile of guests.’

It wiped the grin off his face. With a far more serious expression, he quietly asked, ‘Aren’t we the most important two, Sunny?’

Somehow that point steadied the angry whirl of protest in her mind. ‘Yes, we are,’ she conceded, though this was not the wedding of her dreams and she didn’t want to pretend it was.

‘Do you want to look back on our wedding and think of it as some hole-and-corner ceremony?’

She frowned, not having thought of what they were doing in those terms. ‘It…it means the same,’ she argued, still feeling out of step with his grand plan.

His green eyes seemed to glow like emerald fire as he softly said, ‘I want my bride feeling beautiful, and knowing she is beautiful to me.’

Sunny’s heart turned over.

‘And I want you to be proud of the photos of our wedding when you show them to our children—their mother and father on the day they were married.’

Their children? They swirled in the mists of Sunny’s imagination—a little boy and girl, examining their parents’ wedding photos.

‘We owe it to ourselves and them to do it right, Sunny,’ Bryce pressed.

She hadn’t been looking ahead. The blind need for positive action had seized her, and nothing else had really entered the equation. Selfishly blind, Sunny suddenly realised. This was Bryce’s wedding, too. And the intent of their marriage was to have a child…children.

As he said, love could grow out of caring for each other. He wanted her to feel like a beautiful bride, and why shouldn’t she? She would have wanted that with Derek, and Bryce was better husband material than Derek had ever been.

She could send a wedding photo to her family. That would make her marriage to Bryce more right for them, as well. And shift any nasty cracks from Derek into the sour grapes category. A fait accompli would certainly help to put a stop to criticism.

‘Okay. We’ll go for all the trimmings,’ she agreed, glad now that he had thought of them for her. ‘But I pay for my own wedding gown, Bryce.’

He laughed. ‘One last stroke of independence?’

It was more a matter of pride. ‘I’m not coming to you on a free ride.’

He instantly sobered, his eyes flashing darkly. ‘Wipe that guy and everything he said out of your mind, Sunny. This is our day. I know what you’re worth to me and in that context, counting money is meaningless. I’m not buying you.’

Shame wormed around inside her, raising a flood of heat to her cheeks. ‘I’m sorry, Bryce. I…I guess that really stung me.’