A fleeting glance at Parker revealed that the good reverend was too caught up in the music and the bride’s advance to have overheard, but Conner smiled at the memory of first meeting Roy. Who would’ve thought they’d ever become friends? And who would’ve thought he’d end up marrying the virgin who’d come to his room that night at the Bellemont?
He briefly recalled the fact that he’d once considered Idaho synonymous with the outer reaches of hell, and his smile widened. If it was hell, he’d just told Satan to turn up the heat.
THE KISS CONNER HAD GIVEN HER at the altar had been light and sweet, but mostly respectful. Delaney had stood in front of all her friends and acquaintances, just about everyone she knew, and imagined they recognized the lack of passion in his kiss as easily as she did. Had he been trying to make some sort of announcement—that he was only marrying her because of the baby?
She was making a terrible mistake, she thought miserably. And yet, whenever she looked up and found Conner watching her, or brushed against him as they cut the cake or posed for a photograph, or heard the deep rumble of his voice, she felt a tingle in her stomach and even a surge of excitement at the thought that, for whatever reason, he belonged to her. Certainly, that was something worth building on….
Rebecca glanced up from her plate and frowned. “What’s wrong? This is your wedding luncheon. Aunt Millie and Uncle Ralph have gone to a lot of work to get the yard ready. You’re supposed to be having fun.”
“It’s difficult to have fun when my face hurts from this fake smile, my conscience hurts from all the lies and my pride hurts from the fact that Conner doesn’t even want me.”
Rebecca shook her head. “You’re taking life too seriously. Can I have your cake?”
Delaney shoved her untouched piece of cake over to Rebecca. “And marriage is supposed to be a game?”
“Just relax and celebrate. Hey, Conner’s mom is watching you. She looks concerned.”
Delaney boosted her smile a few notches and nodded at Vivian. “What’s to celebrate? I’m marrying a man who doesn’t love me,” she muttered to Rebecca, double-checking to be sure her new husband wasn’t within earshot. When she saw him several feet away near the rented arbor, deep in conversation with his grandfather, she relaxed. Aunt Millie’s small backyard was still crowded, but the wedding luncheon was technically over and the guests were wrapped up in their own conversations. She could hear Aunt Millie gushing to Ruby and some of the neighbors about how she’d waited for this day her entire life, and Delaney felt as though she’d betrayed her. If this was the kind of wedding Aunt Millie had wanted it to be, Delaney and Conner would’ve left long ago. They would’ve rushed off before anyone else, eager to start their honeymoon.
But Conner had a ranch to run and had mentioned that he was eager to take care of some business while his grandfather and uncles were in town.
“You’re going to have a father for your baby. That’s something to celebrate,” Rebecca said, polishing off the cake.
Allowing her baby to grow up with his or her father counted for a great deal. But somehow, it couldn’t cover everything. Was it too much to ask that he care a little about her, too?
“I just…I don’t know,” Delaney said. “I feel like I’ve let everyone down, including myself.”
“Conner…”
Delaney heard Vivian’s voice, saw her move toward her son and watched their heads bend together for a few moments. Then Conner looked over at her, and Delaney quickly lowered her eyes.
“Oh my gosh. His mother’s having to tell him to take me away,” she said. “She’s feeling sorry for me.”
“Somebody should’ve told him an hour ago,” Rebecca said.
Conner walked over, absolutely gorgeous in his tux. Delaney told herself to remember that this was the same man who’d lugged her suitcases into the ranch wearing such an angry expression, the man who’d refused to acknowledge her for weeks, the man who was still treating her indifferently. She had to remember all this, so he’d never have the power to break her heart. But after what she’d done to him, his behavior was all too forgivable, and she ended up thinking instead about the way his hands had felt when they’d touched her that night in Boise.
“You ready to go?” he asked.
“It’s about time you got over here,” Rebecca said before Delaney could answer.
“Rebecca!” she cried.
Rebecca gave Conner a dirty look and hugged Delaney goodbye. “Well, he should have,” she said. “And if he’s not good to you, I swear I’m going to—”
“Stop it,” Delaney said, but she couldn’t help smiling as she led Conner away.
“Rebecca is certainly…her own person,” Conner murmured after they’d said their goodbyes to Aunt Millie, Uncle Ralph, his mother and his grandfather, and were heading out to the truck.
“Don’t say anything bad about her around me,” Delaney said.
Conner laughed. “Calm down. I think I like her. That’s the crazy thing. Nothing here in Dundee is turning out the way I thought it would the day I pulled into town.”
“I could say the same thing,” she said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“I SAW MY UNCLE STEPHEN talking to you at the luncheon. What did he say?” Conner asked, keeping his eyes on the road so he wouldn’t stare at his lovely bride and swerve into a ditch.
Delaney considered him. “You really want to know?”
Conner shrugged. “I can probably guess, but let me have it.”
“He said not to get too comfortable at the ranch, that you never stick with anything.”
Quickly masking the anger that flared inside him, Conner told himself not to worry about Stephen. The ranch belonged to him now. At least he had a fighting chance. “Nice of him to wish us well, don’t you think?”
“This must be the man you thought had put me up to seducing you in Boise.”
“That’d be him.”
“He’s part of the reason you married me, though, isn’t he?”
Conner didn’t know what to say. Stephen had been part of the reason, but only because he’d insisted on magnifying Conner’s flaws. The truth of the matter was that Conner had actually been trying to escape his own reputation. Except, he didn’t want to think about that because then he’d have to admit he had some culpability in everything that had happened between them. Delaney might have tried to get pregnant in Boise, but he wouldn’t have felt marriage was his only option if he’d led a good life up until that point. In a sense, he’d trapped himself.