Page 46 of Reluctant Surrender

“To France?” Patryk squished up his face like he’d just sucked on a lemon wedge. “Why couldn’t he have gone to Poland? We’d have him tracked down in minutes.”

While we did have some distant relations still living in Poland that would answer the call, I wouldn’t use our connections for a man like Konrad.

“Well, unfortunately, he went to France with his wife. So who’s available?” I asked, checking my watch again. This woman was going to make me drag her down to my office like the Neanderthal she accused me of being.

“Oskar or Alex probably.”

I grimaced. “Those two might get lost in the airport. Find someone else and have them on the first flight tomorrow.”

“And what do you want done when they catch up to dear old Dad?”

The door to my office opened, and Maggie walked in, distracting me from Patryk’s question. “We’ll talk about it later.” I waved him off and stepped over to Maggie.

The dress Chrysta had sent over fit her like it was made just for her. The corset portion of the dress hugged her breasts and gave them a more natural lift without making her appear overstuffed, and the flowing skirt brought elegance. I had asked Chrysta to take any beading or fancy decor off the dress. Maggie didn’t need it, and I’d been right.

“You shouldn’t have done this,” Maggie whispered while gesturing to the gown. I’d had the dress brought over that morning.

“You needed a wedding dress, but you were still being too stubborn to admit this was happening.” I leaned in and kissed her briefly on the cheek. It wasn’t enough, a small peck, but the judge was waiting and the longer I let her delay, the more chances she might take in getting away. “You’re gorgeous.” I ran my fingertip up her jawline.

She deserved more than this pathetic wedding ceremony. She deserved to have all of her friends and family surrounding us. A huge party with cake and fireworks would have been more fitting than the dinner I arranged to be set up for us in the dining room.

“Let’s get this over with before I change my mind.” She pinched her lips together. She didn’t even have a bouquet of flowers.

I laced my hand into hers and gave a little squeeze. “Let’s go.”

I brought her up to the front of my office where the judge stood with his little pamphlet of vows. He muttered his way through the passages and talked about commitment and love and on and on he went, but I was barely listening. I kept glancing to my left, watching her reactions as she fidgeted her way through the ceremony.

In the end we spoke the vows, signed the papers, and Maggie Dudek became Maggie Kaczmarek, my wife.

I plucked the pen from her hand as soon as she finished signing her name with her perfect penmanship and captured her mouth beneath mine. Her hands came up to my arms, lightly grabbing hold of my suit jacket as I took the kiss deeper, giving her no reason to believe she was anything but mine. Her lips were soft, and she tasted like peppermint. I bit her bottom lip gently as I broke away.

“I’ll let Sammy know it’s done,” Joey said from the corner of the room, destroying the moment.

I gritted my teeth. “You do that.”

As I ran my hands down her arms, I turned toward the judge. “Andrezj will see to your fee.”

Gripping her hand, I walked her out of my office and took a hard right toward the back stairwell.

“Something smells delicious.” She tugged on my hand as we walked past the dining room where our dinner was being laid out.

“You can eat later.” I led her past the kitchen, down another hall, to the stairs that would take us up to our bedroom.

“Lukas, we have all night.” She hurried up the stairs behind me. I slowed down, when I noticed her holding up her dress to keep from tripping on the hem. I would not start our marriage off with a visit to the emergency room because she broke her face on the way upstairs.

“Exactly, you have all night to eat.” I shoved through the door at the top of the stairs and pulled her to our bedroom door.

“I had no idea that was even there,” she mused, looking behind herself at the door. When closed, it was flush with the wall, so it was practically hidden from those that didn’t know it existed.

I threw open our bedroom door. “Inside.”

“Aren’t you supposed to carry me over the threshold or something?” She took her hand back from me and put it on her hip. “Actually, aren’t we supposed to be downstairs until all your guests leave?”

“They aren’t guests, some of them actually live here on the grounds. And of course, I’ll carry you over the threshold.” I bent over and picked up my bride, tossing her playfully over my shoulder. It was fast becoming one of my favorite things to do with her. It gave me full access to her sweet ass. I gave her a quick smack against her ass. She squealed, but I doubt she even felt it through all that damn fabric of the gown.

Once we were inside the room, I eased her down to her feet.

“That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.” Her face was flushed and several locks of hair were falling loose in front of her eyes.

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