Page 39 of Midnight Rider
She tried to find words, and couldn’t get them past her surprise. He smoothed her hair and her dress, opened the door, peered carefully down the hall and tugged her out with him.
They walked together quite circumspectly to the front porch. “Don’t come out with me,” he said. “It’s much too hot out there.” He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her fingers softly. “I am a most lucky man,” he said with solemn fervor. “And I’ll do my best to make you feel that you’re the luckiest woman alive.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “You aren’t angry anymore, about the dress?”
“After this?” He laughed. “No, Bernadette. I’m not angry about the dress. I’ll come back in a day or two to fetch you. We still have to make final the guest list, invitations and a few other arrangements.”
“I thought Lupe was going to do it all,” she said, trying not to sound bitter or jealous.
“Not now. It’s your wedding. I think you should decide some of these things.” He looked at her hungrily. “I only want it to be quick.”
She smiled. “So do I!”
He shook his head slowly, marveling at the passion they kindled in each other. It was a magnificent thing that a man and a woman should pleasure each other so much in that relatively innocent way. The thought of Bernadette in his bed made his head swim, made his body clench hard with desire. She was going to be sweet heaven to make love to. He could scarcely wait to make her his wife.
She saw that need in him and her face became radiant. “I’ll try not to disappoint you, even though I’m not Spanish.”
He chuckled. “That doesn’t matter to me.”
“It does to your grandmother.”
His smile faded. “Cross bridges when you come to them,” he counseled. “There’s no need to borrow trouble.”
“That’s the last thing I want to do.” She took a step forward. “I’ll try to get along with your grandmother. I promise I will.”
“I know that.” He smiled at her.“Adiós.”
“Adiós.”
His eyes narrowed. “You might learn a little of our language,” he said thoughtfully. “That would impress her.”
She already read and spoke it like a native, but she wasn’t giving away that secret just yet. It still might come in handy to keep him in the dark about some things.
“I’ll think about it,” she agreed.
He lifted a careless hand and walked toward the stables, where he’d left his horse to be fed and groomed. All the way to the ranch he relived the passionate moments he’d just shared with Bernadette. And the memories made him wild for the ceremony to be over and done with...and all the guests on their way home.
He and Bernadette alone....
CHAPTER NINE
THEWEDDINGTOOKAMONTHTOarrange. Lupe seemed to drag her feet deliberately, with a dozen excuses a day. Meanwhile, the oldcondessaworked on changing Eduardo’s mind about his bride. She pointed out every flaw she could find with Bernadette, behind her back and to her face. The evenings when Bernadette and her father dined with Eduardo’s family were pure torment.
Bernadette wondered how she was going to survive in the same house with that vicious old woman. She didn’t dare criticize her to Eduardo. The camaraderie they’d been developing had all but disappeared. He grew more and more tense as the arrangements dragged on, and he didn’t touch his intended bride at all, not even to give her a chaste kiss on the forehead. He kissed her hand, and not very enthusiastically at that. Bernadette worried that he’d lost all desire for her.
That wasn’t the case at all. His desire had grown to violent proportions, so unmanageable that he was afraid to touch Bernadette lest it get away from him and dishonor them both. He was impatient with Lupe’s delays and his grandmother’s sarcastic comments, but he was determined not to let the women see that they were disturbing him. He only wanted the wedding over. Once he had Bernadette, the rest would work itself out.
Bernadette had wanted Maria to help dress her for the ceremony in the large hotel in San Antonio where the wedding party was staying for the service at the huge and beautiful Cathedral of San Fernando. But thecondessahad said that it would only be proper for Lupe to perform this honored task, and Eduardo, to save argument, had agreed. He wasn’t in the best of humor because his friend who was to have stood for him as best man in the ceremony was ill and couldn’t come. The man had cabled at the last minute, leaving Eduardo with no time to replace him.
Lupe wore the heaviest perfume she could find, and of course, Bernadette had an asthma attack that almost brought her to her knees. Eduardo, remembering what she’d said about the physician in New York, had her bags searched for the medication that had been prescribed and prayed that she’d had the foresight to bring it with her. She had.
He gave her the recommended dose himself from the little brown cork-stoppered bottle and cursed silently while it took effect.
“I’m so...sorry,” Bernadette choked as she fought for each breath until the medicine worked.
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” he said curtly. “I told Lupe—” He lowered his voice. “I told her about the perfume. She must have forgotten.”
On purpose, Bernadette thought, and vowed revenge. But this wasn’t the time or the place. She lay back in the chair in her magnificent wedding gown and Eduardo held her hand, not speaking.