Page 27 of Billionaire Lumberjack's Bride

“Your future will be filled with new adventures, laughter, and challenges, but through your love and unfailing support of one another, you will meet these inevitable bumps in the road together and see each other through them. Silas, do you take Lyla to be your wife?”

Silas cuts his gaze over to me, seemingly unaffected by the vows the way I am. He only hesitates a second before his lips part and those two small, important words slip out. “I do.”

Two more stabs.

The pain makes my legs wobble.

“Lyla, do you take Silas as your husband?”

The clicking of a camera and Ronald moving around the edges of my vision to get different angles of the ceremony draw my focus away from the question long enough for me to forget it was asked.

“Lyla?”

My name finally draws me back to the moment, and I shift and force a half-smile.

It’s now or never.

“I do.”

The officiant looks to Silas. “Do you have rings?”

Rings?

I never even thought of that. There are so many things I haven’t had the time to consider or wonder about.

Ronald holds up a hand. “Hold on. I have them.”

Of course, he has them.

The man seems endlessly prepared for any potential hiccups in this process—unlike the two ofus.Silas seems just as surprised at the mention of the rings as I am, watching his attorney suspiciously as he fumbles in his inside coat pocket and comes out with a blue velvet box.

He flips it open and turns it toward us.

A massive solitaire diamond sits in an intricate setting made for a queen, and below it, a simple gold band intended for Silas.

Silas’ breath hitches. “Is that…”

Ronald gives him a sharp nod and holds it out for him. Silas reaches for it with a shaking hand and slips the elegant ring from it. He turns back toward me, lips pressed together firmly, averting his gaze, and takes my hand in his tattooed one.

Electricity sizzles through the connection—the power of all the built-up tension between us.

He slips the ring onto my finger, looking to the justice of the peace, refusing to meet my gaze while he says his hollow vows.

“Repeat after me: I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and devotion as we join our lives together today, tomorrow, and for as long as our love shall last.”

Silas pauses a moment, his gaze cutting down to the ring on my very important finger. His hand under mine trembles. “I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and devotion as we join our lives together today, tomorrow, and for as long as our love shall last.”

More slices at my already-flayed heart burn in my chest.

Ronald steps forward and holds the velvet box toward me, urging me to take the band intended for my fiancé. I take it and turn his hand, my fingers brushing over the thick, calluses on it as I slide the ring down over the ink on his finger and say the words we both know neither of us means.

“I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and devotion as we join our lives together today, tomorrow, and for as long as our love shall last.”

“And by the power vested in me by the state of Pennsylvania, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

Shit.

We haven’t discussed any of…thatyet.

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