Page 4 of The Bargain Bride

He hurried back to Simon's bedroom and found it empty. His immature and irresponsible brother had taken off. Jared raced across the room and leaned out the open window just in time to see his brother's car zooming down the drive. Damn him!

Jared thought about jumping in his own car and chasing Simon down the road until he caught up with him. Then he could hogtie the lying jerk, throw him in the trunk, and return him to his wedding. If Jared came up with the right incentive, blackmail or bribery, he could force Simon to marry Beth.

But knowing Beth, she'd refuse if she figured out Simon didn't want to go through with the wedding. She was too proud for her own good. Jared walked around the room, searching for a way to give her the bad news. His gaze landed on a hastily scrawled note on the dresser. Simon had placed his wedding ring on top of it like an expensive paperweight.

The note was simple and to the point: Tell Beth I’m sorry.

Chapter Three

The Wedding March began to play beneath her feet. Beth stared at the bedroom floor in stunned silence. She'd been biting her nails, waiting for someone to come to her door with news that her groom had run away with the maid of honor. Hearing the wedding music threw her for a mental loop. Had Simon refused to step up and do the right thing by his child? Or was Trish down there getting married in her place? She didn't know what to do. Should she stay in her room and wait?

Or should she go downstairs to see for herself?

Caught between curiosity and dread, she hurried down the hallway to the hand-carved staircase. As she descended, she wasn't quite sure what she hoped to find. Marrying Simon would solve her current problems, but it would create new ones. They didn't love each other, and he was about to become a father. His baby needed him. She couldn't live with herself if she took a father away from his unborn child.

She froze halfway down the staircase, caught off guard by a familiar face. Jared! Her breath caught. Not only had he returned home, but he looked incredible in a tuxedo that must have been custom made to fit his broad shoulders, solid chest, and muscular arms. Her mouth went dry at the sight of him and years faded away until it was like they hadn't been apart a single day.

In a flash, she was back in the barn, a clueless sixteen-year-old girl throwing herself into the arms of an older man. He had scarred her young heart forever that night. At the time, she labeled him a complete bastard, but now she knew he could have done a lot worse than verbally rip her to shreds.

Blood rushed to her cheeks at the horrible memory. His final words to her had haunted her dreams for years. Now her face burned beneath his hypnotic stare. His eyes, steely gray and intense, locked onto hers. Down below, the parlor's double doors were wide open. A few curious guests were watching them. She imagined they made an interesting picture with Jared at the bottom of the stairs and her caught halfway between him and freedom. She could spin around and race back to the safety of her bedroom. Tempting, but her feet were glued to the floor.

Not known for his patience, Jared raced up the steps separating them. He grasped her arm just above the elbow, bent forward, and whispered in her ear. “Simon is gone.”

His touch burned her skin. She got a flash of the vampire from her favorite show as a teenager getting burned by the silver cross hanging around his girlfriend's neck. The forbidden relationship between the slayer character and the vampire paralleled her relationship with Jared. Their problems included an age difference of eight years—which didn't seem like much now, but when she was sixteen and he was twenty-four, it seemed insurmountable—and then there was his hatred for her beloved ranch. They lived in two different worlds. Thank God she'd given up on the fantasy of being with him years ago.

She tried to pass him on the stairs, but he held on to her arm. He held her immobile. His lips were too close to her ear, and his hot breath sent a shiver up her spine. The most disturbing thing was how his touch made her feel, like a silly schoolgirl with a mad case of hero worship. It was disheartening to realize that in eight years nothing between them had changed. Yesterday, if someone had asked, she would have told them she was a different person and would not melt at the sight of Jared Wilder.

Wrong! A simple touch from him still made her skin tingle with awareness, and his gaze still had the power to totally enrapture her.

Jared pulled her back up the stairs, down the hallway, and straight into the master suite. It looked the same as it had when Big Jim was alive. The king-size bed was covered with a masculine brown spread that made her think of a grizzly bear—and reminded her of Big Jim who'd been famous for his bear hugs. Sometimes she visited the room to feel close to him, her mentor and secondary father.

She plunked down on the edge of the mattress. Her legs were too weak from shock to hold her up a minute longer. Why had Jared returned after eight years? What did he want?

Blunt, as always, he spoke in a clipped tone. “Simon isn't going to marry you.”

She blinked. “When did you get here?”

“Did you hear me?” He sighed while rubbing the bridge of his nose between closed eyes. “Simon left. He isn't going to marry you.”

She nodded.

He groaned. “I know about the baby. Okay? So drop the act. Let’s just be real here.”

She felt the blood drain from her face. “Simon told you?”

“He told me he's not ready to be a father, and he's probably halfway to Mexico by now. I'm sorry. I should have known he was a flight risk.”

She shrugged. “Not your fault.”

He stared at her for a long, drawn-out moment. Silent. He rubbed the back of his neck, clearly exasperated over his brother's unexpected bundle of joy. The familiar gesture made her nerve-endings tingle. In her twenty-four years, no other man had given her heart palpitations or caused her breath to catch. She wondered if he knew about his effect on women. There had to be others. She couldn't be the only one that had naughty thoughts when looking at him.

“Grab your stuff,” he said in a gruff voice. “We need to go.”

Go? Go where? She stared at him in total confusion. Did he want to walk her down the aisle to a groom-less altar?

“Why are you here?” she asked, still thrown by his presence.

“Don't. Ask. Questions.” He jerked the door open. “Just come with me before I change my mind.”

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