Holiday Inn Bed

Chapter 8

“Oh. My. God. Is that my…mother?”

At Jess’s incredulous question, asked in a horrified whisper that registered at least an octave above her normal voice, Eric halted in the act of hanging their snow-covered parkas on the coatrack in the lodge’s lobby. He winced. Uh-oh. This didn’t bode well for the relaxing, early-morning breakfast he’d anticipated.

After settling the coats on the brass hooks, he turned and followed Jess’s slack-jawed, wide-eyed stare across the lobby toward the lounge area. And his stomach sank into his snow-encrusted boots.

Carol sat in profile to them at one of the low tables, a steaming ceramic mug set in front of her, chatting away on the cell phone held to her ear. Damn. He’d thought for sure they wouldn’t run into any snowbound family members by eating so early. It was barely six-thirty, for crying out loud. Kelley would never show up anywhere before 10:00 a.m. unless a full-scale emergency was involved. She’d never been an early riser which was one reason she loved having her own business-she could set her own hours.

He figured Marc and Carol for late sleepers, too-restaurants closed late, so most of Eric’s colleagues didn’t jump out of bed at the crack of dawn. Eric normally didn’t, either, but he and Jess had fallen asleep early without ever venturing out for dinner, and had awoken at dawn. After a bout of slow, soft morning sex, they’d both been starving and the few wizened grapes left over from their picnic the night before weren’t going to do the trick. Since room service was only served in the lodge, they hadn’t been left with much choice but to get dressed and haul their butts here through the nearly three feet of fresh snow that had fallen during the storm.

Yet clearly he’d miscalculated, because there Carol sat, chatting away, waving her free hand in the air. He frowned. Who the hell talked on the phone at six-thirty in the morning?

He sighed. “Yup, that’s your mom.”

He felt the weight of Jess’s regard and turned to look at her. “You don’t sound-or look-surprised to see her.”

Clasping her hand, he led her toward the large Christmas tree so they were out of Carol’s line of vision. “I’m not. Your mom, Marc and Kelley all got snowed in with the blizzard.”

Her eyes goggled. “All three of them are here?”

“’Fraid so. Kelley’s in a cabin two doors down from ours. Your mother and Marc have rooms here in the lodge.”

“And you know this how?”

“Kelley called our cabin last evening while you were in the shower and told me.”

She folded her arms over her chest and shot him The Look. He could hear the toe of her snow boot tapping against the hardwood floor. “And you didn’t tell me because…?”

“Because I didn’t want you looking the way you’re looking right now.” He reached out and lightly clasped her stiff shoulders. “I figured if you knew they were here, you’d be worried about them calling the room, or knocking on the door.”

“And you weren’t?”

“Can’t say it didn’t cross my mind, which is why I turned off the ringer on the phone. As for banging on our door again, I’d made it very clear to all of them that we didn’t want any further interruptions.” He captured one of her hands and brought it to his mouth to kiss her palm. “Once you tied me up, I didn’t think about anything except you. I hoped we were here early enough to miss them.” Craning his neck, he peeked around the tree toward the lounge. “Just our luck she’s here so early.”

“Mom wakes up every morning at five without an alarm. Doesn’t matter what time she goes to bed, she’s up with the chickens. And she’s a light sleeper. Which made it really hard to sneak in after curfew, and impossible to sneak in after 5:00 a.m.” A quick grin flicked over her lips. “Worse for my brothers because they’re all big and clumsy and never learned the meaning of the word ‘stealth.’”

“Wish I’d known that before I suggested coming for breakfast. Who the heck do you suppose she’s talking to at this hour?”

“Her sister, my aunt Liz. She lives in Florida and also wakes up at the crack of dawn. They talk every day at this time. My brothers and I keep telling Mom that if she’d spend as much time looking for a nice man who lived nearby as she does talking to her sister who lives sixteen hundred miles away, maybe she wouldn’t be so lonely. And maybe she’d have more to occupy her time than trying to run our lives-although none of us said that last part to her face.”

“Probably a good idea.” He shot Carol a speculative look. She wasn’t an unattractive woman. She’d been a widow for eleven years. Maybe she was lonely. Maybe that was the root of her overbearing nature. “Listen, if you think some male companionship would get her to concentrate on her own life instead of trying to interfere in ours, consider me on board the ‘find Carol a man’ bandwagon.”

“Great. But that doesn’t do us much good right now.” Jess’s stomach growled, so loud they both heard it. “I’m starving.”

“Me, too.” The scent of bacon wafted toward them from the Coldspring Room, and he lifted his nose to sniff the enticing aroma. Unfortunately the restaurant’s double doors were situated directly behind where Carol sat.

“Mom only has coffee this early,” Jess reported in an undertone. “She won’t eat until around eight o’clock. If we keep to the perimeter of the room, maybe we can make it into the restaurant without her seeing us. Then we can get a table in a back corner, out of sight.”

“Good plan. And maybe there’s another exit in the restaurant. We might be able to pull this off.”

“What about Kelley? What if she comes in for breakfast?”

“No chance. She never wakes up with the chickens. Marc?”

“Late sleeper. And if there’s room service available, he’s all over it.”

“Good.” He eyed her up and down, then said in a conspiratorial tone, “You ever had any sort of useful sneak-along-the-perimeter, military-type training?”

She considered for several seconds. “I was a Girl Scout in second grade. You?”

“Never a Girl Scout.”

“That’s a relief.”

“But I did go to sailing camp one summer.”

She looked toward the ceiling. “Great. If we happen across any yachts on our way to the restaurant I’ll defer to your superior knowledge. Clearly we’re well equipped.” A mischievous gleam entered her eyes and she surreptitiously rubbed her palm against the fly of his jeans. “Very well equipped.”

He sucked in a quick breath as his body came swiftly to attention. With a half laugh, half groan, he captured her wrist and dragged her errant hand up to rest on his chest. “Thanks. But I can’t walk in a stealthy manner with a raging hard-on.”

“They didn’t teach you that at sailing camp?”

“No. But they did teach us how to deal with saucy wenches.” He wrapped his arms around her and leaned down to nuzzle her warm neck. “Care to see my yardarm?”

“Are you trying to get me to say ‘aye, Captain’?”

“Absolutely. Is it working?”

“Aye, Captain.” She leaned back in the circle of his arms, lightly rubbed her pelvis against his and waggled her brows. “How’s your mainsail?”

“Hoisted. You know, on second thought, maybe we should forget about breakfast and just head back to the cabin-”

“Oh, no, you don’t,” she said. “You’ll have a mutiny on your hands. You promised me pancakes dripping with syrup. And eggs. And sausages. And bacon. And coffee, and-”

He halted her words with a quick, hard kiss then shot her a mock frown. “Then quit tempting me with your non-breakfast items or we may never get a meal.” He took another quick look around the tree and noted Carol was still yapping into her phone. “Now or never. Ready?”

At Jess’s nod, he took her hand, and keeping their gazes downcast, they headed toward the restaurant, staying close to the wall. Eric heaved a mental sigh of relief when they passed the area where Carol might well have seen them in her peripheral vision. They still needed to walk quite close to her to enter the restaurant, but they’d be directly behind her. Just a few more yards and they’d be safe.

“I’ve booked the ballroom at the Ritz for the first Saturday in June,” he heard Carol saying as they moved behind her. Certain he’d misheard her words, he stopped. Jess halted as if she’d walked into a wall.

“Oh, they’ll probably fuss at first,” Carol said into the phone, “but what else could I do? Turns out the large ballroom at the country club was no longer available for the date they wanted in February, and the small ballroom simply won’t do. I figured as long as we had to change the date anyway, why not make it June? June is the perfect month for a wedding-so much better than February.”

Eric’s every muscle went rigid with disbelief and a red haze seemed to dull his vision. He glanced toward Jess. She’d gone perfectly still and was staring at the back of her mother’s head.

Carol was silent for several seconds, presumably listening to her sister. Then she said, “Putting off the wedding until June also gives me longer to make certain everything’s perfect, and to hopefully get Jess more interested in planning all the little details. This should be a fun time for her yet it seems all she does is mope.” After another few seconds of silence, Carol nodded and said, “Maybe she isn’t sure. After all, their engagement happened so quickly-after only six months. I’m hoping the extra four months will give her time to know her mind. Maybe she’ll reconsider her unfortunate choice. God knows she could have any man she wanted.”

The surge of anger that roared through Eric seemed to implode inside his head. He couldn’t recall ever being so furious in his entire life. In the space of a single heartbeat, his life flashed before his eyes-not his past, but his future. A future with his life being manipulated, being the victim of behind-the-scenes machinations and scheming, his express desires being ignored and circumvented. It wasn’t a pretty picture. In fact, it was a really ugly picture. And the realization it left in its wake hit him so hard he nearly staggered.

He didn’t want it. None of it. He wasn’t going to let it happen.

And he knew what he had to do.

As if from far away he heard Jess gasp then say, “Mom?” in a voice that reflected both confusion and outrage. Saw Carol start then turn around. Her eyes widened at the sight of them and a flush suffused her face.

She mumbled, “I’ll call you back,” into the phone then flipped it closed. Then she stood and faced them.

“Good morning,” she said, offering a tentative smile, her gaze bouncing between them, clearly wondering what, if anything, they’d overheard. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here so early. You usually sleep in, Jess.”

“You and I need to talk, Mom.” Jess turned to him. “I’m sorry to cancel our breakfast, but would you give me some time alone with my mother?”

Eric looked at Jess, but felt as if he were looking through her. He had to swallow twice to locate his voice. “Sure.” He barely pushed the word through his tight throat. With a quick nod, he turned on his heel and strode away, not sure where he was going, but it didn’t matter. He just wanted to get away. Before he said something he’d regret. Good thing he was too furious to speak.

Sure, he’d give Jess time, all the time she wanted. Didn’t matter how long it took or even what she said. Because he was done. Finished. Couldn’t take any more. Carol’s words had snapped something inside him, something that he knew couldn’t be fixed. It was time he faced the truth-and the truth was that what he’d overheard was the final nail in the coffin. This weekend with Jess was supposed to be about them. Just them. Getting things back to normal. Instead it had turned into the very thing they’d been trying to escape-the viper’s nest their engagement had turned into.

He grabbed his coat from the rack, slammed his arms into the sleeves, then shoved open the door to walk outside, barely registering the cold and the snow that continued to lightly fall.

All she does is mope… It was time to be brutally honest with himself. Jess wasn’t happy. She hadn’t been for months. And neither was he. Not really. He just hadn’t wanted to admit it, not even to himself. But now, there was no way he could deny it any longer.

Perhaps she’ll reconsider her unfortunate choice. God knows she could have any man she wanted. Carol’s words echoed through his mind, and his hands clenched into tight fists. Yes, she could have any man she wanted. He’d known that from the first minute he’d laid eyes on her. Just as he’d known he wanted to be that man.

June is the perfect month for a wedding. Maybe it was. But that didn’t matter anymore, either. There wasn’t going to be a damn wedding in June. And there wasn’t going to be a damn wedding in February.

He was done.

When he arrived at the cabin a few minutes later, he went directly to the phone and punched the number for the front desk.

After Roland Krause identified himself with a cheery greeting, Eric asked without preamble, “Are the roads still closed?”

“I’m afraid so, Mr. Breslin,” Roland said. “Is there something you need?”

Yeah. To get the hell out of here as soon as possible. He knew there’d be a fallout. And tears. And hurt, but he couldn’t help that. The chips would just have to fall where they may. “Any word on when they’ll be clear?”

“Well, the snow’s still coming down, but I heard on the news that they’re working on the interstates. Once they’re plowed, they’ll start on the secondary roads. We’re pretty isolated here, so it’ll be a while. To be on the safe side, I’d plan on being snowed-in here until tomorrow morning. Good thing you were plannin’ to stay on till Tuesday.”

Eric pinched the bridge of his nose. Great. “How about snowmobiles?”

“They’re all rented at the moment.”

“Dog sled?”

Roland chuckled. “Don’t have any of those. Why don’t you tell me what it is you need, Mr. Breslin? Chances are we’ll be able to accommodate you.”

Doubtful. But what the hell. Maybe the man had some cross-country skis or snowshoes-anything to get Eric the hell out of here. So he told Roland what he wanted. When he finished, Roland said in a solemn voice, “I see. Well, Mr. Breslin, as luck would have it, I believe I can help you.” They spoke for several more minutes, then Eric replaced the receiver. He glanced around the room, his gaze falling on his overnight bag. He’d come back for his stuff shortly, but right now there was someone he needed to talk to.

He closed the door behind him and trudged through the deep snow. When he reached cabin twelve, he banged on the door. “Kelley, it’s Eric. Open up.”

Knowing his sister slept like the dead, he kept pounding and repeating his summons. A full two minutes passed before the door opened a crack. Kelley, her hair tousled, clutching the collar of her robe closed, and looking none too pleased, peered out at him.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“We need to talk.” He made to enter her cabin, but she blocked his way.

“At this ungodly hour? I don’t think so, Eric. Call me in a few hours.”

“Now,” he insisted, once again trying to enter, and once again her sidestepping to block him.

“Is something wrong?”

“Not something.” He briefly squeezed his eyes shut. “Everything is wrong.”

Worry instantly replaced her annoyed expression. “With you and Jess?”

A lump swelled in his throat. “Yeah.”

“What happened?”

“I’ll be happy to tell you as soon as you let me in-or am I supposed to stand out here freezing my ass off?”

When she hesitated, he rolled his eyes, his patience on a thin tether. “Good God, I don’t care if your girly stuff is all over the place, Kell. Like I’m not used to that after growing up with three sisters and one bathroom.”

She clutched her robe tighter. “Tell you what-I’ll get dressed and meet you at the lodge in fifteen minutes.”

“Forget it. It’ll take that long to hike up there. They haven’t shoveled the paths yet. Besides, the lodge is the last place I want to be. Jess and Carol are there.” Anxious to get out of the frigid air, he shouldered his way inside. While Kelley closed and locked the door behind him, he strode into the room.

While removing his snowy parka, his gaze absently circled the room, noting the rumpled bedcovers, the cheery fire burning in the hearth.

The pair of men’s snow boots next to the hearth.

He froze with his jacket halfway down his arms and narrowed his eyes. There was no mistake-those weren’t Kelley’s boots. Her feet were small and those boots weren’t. His gaze darted around the rest of room. No signs of a man’s clothing, but two wineglasses bearing traces of drinks rested on the night table. And it hit him that while he’d clearly rousted Kelley from bed, she hadn’t looked the least bit sleepy when she opened the door. And the fact that the guy’s boots were still here, meant he was still here.

His gaze shot toward the closed bathroom door then he swiveled around to face her. She stood near the door, her face flushed crimson. “You’re not alone,” he blurted out, unable to keep the surprise from his voice.

“Eric, listen. I…” She blew out a long breath and raked one hand through her tousled hair. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Actually, neither do I.” His sister was thirty-four years old-her love life certainly wasn’t any of his business. “Obviously I should have called first, but it never occurred to me you’d have company-”

His words cut off when the bathroom door opened. A tall man, fully dressed-thank God-except for his boots, emerged and walked toward him.

Eric actually felt his jaw drop. “Marc?”

“Eric.” Jess’s brother treated him to his usual scowl as he walked by. Marc stopped next to Kelley and took her hand. There was nothing scowl-like about the look he bestowed on her. And Kelley, who gazed up at him, jeez, looked like she’d just swallowed a lightbulb.

“Well I’ll be damned,” Eric muttered, staring at them. “I thought you two couldn’t stand each other.”

Marc turned and met Eric’s gaze. “Seems we can.”

Apparently. Clearly those sparks he’d detected between them were the result of more than animosity. “How long has this been going on?”

“Turns out we’ve had feelings building for each other for a few months,” Marc said.

“But only discovered how deep they ran last night,” Kelley added.

“Appears our feelings are stronger than either of us even suspected,” Marc said, his gaze steady on Eric’s. “You have a problem with that?”

Eric’s gaze shifted to Kelley and his heart twisted at the light shining in her eyes. Shaking his head, he said, “As long as Kelley’s happy, that’s all that matters to me.” He hesitated then said to Marc, “You know your mother isn’t going to be happy about this.”

“Probably not.” Marc shrugged. “She’ll just have to get over it.”

Good luck with that. But it was just what Eric wanted to hear for Kelley’s sake. He narrowed his eyes. “You’d better be good to my sister, you big, scowling jerk.”

Marc blinked, then his lips twitched. “Same goes.”

Eric’s insides knotted tighter and before he could reply, Marc approached him. “I owe you the same courtesy you just showed me. I’m sorry I haven’t offered it sooner. As long as Jessica is happy, that’s all that matters to me.”

He held out his hand. Eric studied it for several seconds, his stomach cramping with what he had to tell them. Damn. He didn’t want to mess up this peace offering, but what choice did he have? He shook Marc’s hand then drew a bracing breath. “Thanks. But there’s something I need to tell you. Both of you.”

8 JESSICA HURRIED through the lobby, a beehive of activity in the center of which a smiling Helen Krause buzzed. She offered the woman a quick wave but didn’t pause, intent on getting back to the cabin as quickly as possible. Her breakfast with her mother had taken far longer than she’d anticipated-it was almost eleven o’clock. She’d hoped Eric might be waiting for her in the lounge or lobby, but she couldn’t blame him for not hanging around for four hours.

An image of him, when he’d looked at her just before he left her outside the restaurant with her mom, flashed through her mind. She’d never seen such an expression on his face before. He’d clearly been extremely upset. As was she. But Eric had appeared almost dazed. Furious-like a volcano ready to erupt, yet somehow also looking as if he’d just lost his best friend.

She’d wanted to talk to him, but she had to deal with her mother immediately. And now that she had, she needed to tell Eric about the compromise she and her mother had hammered out. And hope that he’d agree to it.

She exited the lodge and struck out on the freshly shoveled path, a smile tugging at her lips at the sight of a family making snow angels and a group of shrieking teenagers in the throes of a snowball fight.

She picked up her pace, her rapid breaths blowing vaporous puffs in the cold air. When she arrived at the cabin, she closed the door behind her and blinked against the sudden dimness, a stark contrast to the bright white glare of the snow. She was about to call Eric’s name when she made out his shape, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Sorry I took so long,” she said, quickly removing her coat then walking toward him. “Did you think I’d deserted…”

Her words trailed off as she drew closer to him. He was leaning forward, his elbows braced on his spread thighs, his clenched hands hanging between his knees. He looked up at her as she approached him, his expression more serious than she’d ever seen it. He rose slowly, as if some great burden weighed him down and concern suffused her.

“Are you all right?” she asked, lightly grasping his arm.

He stepped away from her touch, something he’d never done before, and uneasiness slithered down her spine. Obviously he was still very upset. Not that she blamed him. “We need to talk,” he said.

Yes, they did. But the way he said those words, in that grave tone, and his somber expression, her uneasiness morphed into dread. Her intuition warned her she wasn’t going to like what she was about to hear.

Forcing a half smile, she said in the brightest voice she could muster, “Of course we do. I want to tell you about my extremely long conversation with my mother, although I’ll give you the condensed version-”

“Jessica.”

She stopped speaking at the sound of that single quiet word. He never called her Jessica. It was always Jess or sweetheart or some other endearment. She had to swallow to locate her suddenly missing voice. “Yes?”

“The conversation with your mother isn’t what I need to talk to you about.” He nodded toward the chair by the fire. “Maybe you should sit down.”

Her stomach plummeted to her feet. Sit down? Oh, God. Nobody was ever told to sit down because whatever was coming next was good. She shook her head. “I’d rather stand.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw and she wanted to reach out and touch him, but she suddenly felt as if she couldn’t move.

“About what happened this morning at the lodge,” he began.

A feeling akin to panic made her rush to say, “I know it was awful, but-”

“It was worse than awful. It was…intolerable.” He looked away from her for several long seconds and when he looked back his eyes were filled with both sadness and regret. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “So sorry to have to say this, but I just can’t do this anymore.”

Jessica tried to draw a breath, but it seemed as if his words had sucked all the oxygen from the room. She licked her dust-dry lips. “What do you mean by ‘this’?”

“I mean the wedding. I can’t do it anymore. It’s over.”

She didn’t need to worry any longer about the lack of oxygen in the room because her lungs seemed to have shut down, bringing her heart along with them. A deafening silence engulfed them and she stared at him, certain she must have misheard, but one look at his face told her she hadn’t. He was utterly serious. While she’d feared this moment might come, somehow, deep in her heart, she hadn’t truly believed it actually could.

Her entire body started to tremble. “You can’t mean that,” she whispered. “I know it’s been difficult, but-”

“But now it’s impossible,” he broke in. “We both know why we came here. The arguments, the stress, the problems were just getting to be too much. Well, this morning they became too much. I’m done.”

Little black dots swam before her eyes and she had to lock her knees to remain upright. “I…see.” The anguished words were barely audible. Yet as soon as she uttered them she realized that, no, she didn’t see. Not at all. A kernel of anger sparked to life in her stalled heart, flaming brighter with each passing second until she narrowed her eyes at him.

“So that’s it? It’s all over? Just like that?”

To his credit, he looked as ripped apart as she felt. “I’m sorry. But I hope we can-”

“Can what? Stay friends?”

He blinked then frowned. He opened his mouth to speak but she rushed on, tears flooding her eyes with each word. “How can you do this? Where’s the man who said he loved me more than anything? Who wanted nothing more than to be my husband? The father of our children? Who wanted to grow old with me?”

His frown grew deeper. “He’s right here.” He leaned toward her and peered at her face. “Oh, crap, you’re crying.” He moved to the nightstand and ripped half a dozen tissues from the box there.

With shaking fingers she swiped impatiently at the wetness coursing down her cheeks but the tears were instantly replaced by a new flood. God, how was it possible to hurt so much? She felt as if her heart were hemorrhaging. “You sound surprised,” she said, her voice trembling and bitter. “Did you think I’d turn cartwheels when you broke our engagement?”

His tissue-laden hand froze halfway to her cheek and he stared. “What are you talking about?”

She snatched the tissues from his hand and scrubbed at her eyes. Her diamond glimmered in the firelight and she squeezed her eyes shut to block out the sight of the ring that had represented all her hopes and dreams.

His hands cupped her wet face. “Jess, look at me. Sweetheart, please…”

A sob caught in her throat. Great. Not only did he not want her anymore, but he was tossing out pity endearments. She opened her eyes and found him staring at her, his confused gaze intent on hers. “You think I’m breaking our engagement?”

She blinked at the incredulous note in his voice. “Are…aren’t you?”

“No! God, no. Never. No.” He peppered kisses all over her wet cheeks. “How could you possibly think that?”

“Uh, I guess because you were saying things like ‘it’s over’ and ‘I’m done.’”

He wrapped one strong arm around her waist and yanked her against him. With his other hand he dabbed at her tears. “I was talking about the wedding. Not us.” He cupped her cheek in his palm and looked deep into her eyes. “Jess…I love you so much. I would never give up on us. Ever.” There was no missing the hurt that flashed in his eyes. “I can’t believe you’d think I would leave you.”

Her relief was so intense she felt light-headed. “I’m sorry. At first I couldn’t believe it. But you were so upset when we overheard my mother, and so serious now with your ‘we need to talk.’” She kissed him, once, hard, then leaned back to glare at him. “You could have made yourself clearer, you know.”

“I thought I was being clear.”

“Yeah-like mud.”

“In my own defense, it never occurred to me you’d think I was dumping you.”

She framed his face between her still-not-quite-steady hands. “As if you could.” She hiked up her chin. “I’m not an easy woman to dump.”

“Sweetheart, it would be impossible. How could I live without my heart?”

Her chin quivered. “Okay, that was a very romantic thing to say.”

“And totally true. Ending our engagement never once crossed my mind.”

“You scared me to death.”

“I’m sorry.” He brushed his mouth over hers. “Sorry I scared you, sorry I made you cry.” He raised his head and searched her eyes. “Forgive me?”

“I suppose.” She sniffled. “But only if you promise never to frighten me like that again.”

“Promise.” A glint of humor flickered in his eyes. “Good to know, though, that you’d have missed me.”

“Ha. I wouldn’t have missed you one bit.”

“Yeah, that’s obvious, Miss Waterworks,” he teased, gently blotting away the last remnants of her tears with the wad of tissues he pried from her fingers.

“I wouldn’t have missed you because I wouldn’t have let you get away. I have silk scarves to tie you up with and I’m not afraid to use them.”

He grinned. “You’ve been reading my letter to Santa again.” Then his expression sobered. “Jess, what I was trying to say about the wedding is that it’s caused nothing but problems, ones that seem to multiply no matter what we do. So let’s not do it.” He cupped her cheek in his hand. “I want to marry you, so I can spend the rest of my life with you. A fancy wedding doesn’t make a damn bit of difference to me. Saying vows to you does.” Clasping her hands in his, he dropped to one knee in front of her. “Jess, will you marry me? I mean marry me-not have a fancy wedding with me?”

Another batch of tears rushed into her eyes. A half laugh, half cry rushed from her. “Yes. God, yes. Please, yes.” He stood and caught her up in his arms and spun her around until they were both laughing and breathless. And then he kissed her, a deep, passionate kiss that tasted of love and happiness. After he lifted his head, she said, “This is exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. I shared a very long and exhausting conversation with my mother, but it did us both a world of good. We cleared the air about a lot of things and after a lot of arguing, tears and finally some laughter, we came to an understanding.”

“What’s that?”

“First, that I love you and am going to marry you. If she doesn’t accept that, our mother-daughter relationship will be irreparably damaged. And second, that this is our wedding. Yours and mine. And that we’re going to plan something very small and intimate. That we might even decide to elope. Or jet off to Vegas. But we’re going to do what we want, when we want. I told her if she’d like to throw a party for us sometime afterward, that would be fine, but that I really thought she should save her money and take a nice singles cruise. Maybe she’d meet a nice man and could someday plan her own extravagant wedding.”

“And she accepted that?”

“It wasn’t an easy sell and she’s definitely disappointed since she’s been dreaming of my wedding for years. But in the end she finally realized that she needed to accept our decisions even though they might not be the ones she’d make. I made it extremely clear that there was to be no more interfering or manipulating. I don’t think she understood how bad she’d gotten, but I made her see the light and she apologized, as well as promised she’d try her best to do better. She really is a good mom. I honestly think she’s just lonely.”

“So let me get this straight-you’d already decided that you didn’t want a big fancy wedding before I gave you my whole sales pitch?”

She grinned at his grumpy tone. “Yup.” She looped her arms around his neck. “Great minds and all that.”

“Great. So how would you feel about getting married here? Today? Now?”

She blinked. “Now?”

“Well, not right this minute, but in about-” he lifted his left arm and consulted his watch over her shoulder “-two hours?”

She was about to laugh, but something in his eyes stilled her. “You’re serious.”

“Extremely. When I realized I couldn’t take the fancy wedding thing any longer, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Those four hours you were with your mom? I spent them making arrangements.”

A wave of cautious joy spread through her. “But we’re snowed in. How could you possibly make arrangements?”

“You forget my very formidable wedding planner sister is here. Between me, her and Helen and Roland Krause, things are rolling right along. Apparently Timberline Lodge is a popular wedding ceremony spot.”

“But who would perform the ceremony?”

“Helen Krause. She’s an ordained minister.”

“But we’d need our marriage license.”

“It’s in my wallet-where I’ve kept it, safe and sound, since we got it two weeks ago.”

Warmth spread through her. “So it looks like all systems are go.”

“Yes. Well, except for one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“The bride-to-be hasn’t yet accepted my proposal. Will you marry me today?” He gently kissed her lips.

The floodgates opened and happiness spilled through her. “Are you trying to get me to say yes?”

“Absolutely. Is it working?”

She smiled into his beautiful eyes. “Absolutely.”

At four o’clock that afternoon, Jessica looked up at the soaring Christmas tree in the lobby of the lodge. The surrounding area had been transformed into a beautiful, romantic chapel-like setting with swags of pine and holly and dozens of flickering white candles. The hint of vanilla and pine scented the air, and gentle violin music played in the background.

A warm nuzzle to the back of her neck had her sucking in a quick breath. A pleasurable tingle shimmied down her spine and with a smile she turned.

“Watch it there, mister,” she said with a mock frown. “My husband won’t take kindly to you kissing my neck.”

He handed her a glass of champagne then touched the rim of his glass to hers. “Your husband is the luckiest guy on earth.”

“His wife’s pretty lucky herself. Do you realize we’ve been married for almost two hours?”

“Happy anniversary.”

She laughed then heaved a contented sigh. “The ceremony was beautiful, wasn’t it?” Roland Krause had walked her down the short length of white carpet to Eric, who wore a dark suit, white dress shirt and red silk tie and greeted her with a dazzling smile. With Marc serving as best man and Kelley as maid of honor, and with her mother looking on, snapping dozens of pictures from the disposable cameras she’d purchased at the gift shop, Helen Krause performed the simple, lovely ceremony that joined her and Eric for life.

“Beautiful,” he agreed, drawing her close with his free arm. “As is my bride.” His warm gaze skimmed over her simple winter-white dress. She’d brought it along-as Eric had his suit-in case they went out somewhere nice to dinner during their weekend away, never dreaming it would serve as her wedding dress.

“You look pretty beautiful yourself,” she said. “Especially right here…” She kissed his lips, a gesture she’d meant to be quick and light, but he hauled her tighter against him and gave her a kiss that made her head spin.

“Wow,” she said after he lifted his head. “Whoever said the romance fizzles out after you get married obviously knew diddly-squat. And speaking of romance…” She gently nudged his ribs and nodded toward the lounge area where Kelley and Marc sat at a table in the corner, heads close together, talking and laughing. “Can you believe how happy they look? I’ve never seen Marc look at any woman like that.”

Eric nodded. “Good. That’s how Kelley deserves to be looked at.”

“I’m glad she took our decision to get married today in stride. Marc, too.”

“I basically had the same talk with them that you had with your mom. I know she was disappointed not to have a fancy wedding to plan, but in the end she just wants us to be happy.”

She smiled. “Mission accomplished.”

“Agreed. My only regret is that we didn’t do this four months ago.”

“Actually, looking back, I think those four months were good for us. My mom finally understands I’m no longer a child and you and I are stronger together for surviving The Family Feud.”

“Can’t argue with that. Of course, we might have a front-row seat to Family Feud, Round Two, courtesy of Kelley and Marc.” He shot a meaningful glance toward the corner of the lounge area.

Jessica nodded. “I think you’re right. I spoke to Marc earlier about Kelley. He told me he felt like he’d been struck by lightning the first time he saw her.”

“He’s a goner.” Eric touched his lips to hers in a slow, soft kiss. “I know exactly how he feels.”

“Good to know.” She chuckled. “Can you imagine Kelley and my mom clashing over that wedding? Fun times ahead there.”

“Right. If by ‘fun’ you mean ‘migraine-inducing.’ But hey-that’s their problem. They’ll have to figure it out just like we did.”

“Amen to that. Although, by the time any actual wedding planning rolls around, Mom might have other things to occupy her time. Have you noticed the way Steve the bartender has been looking at her? And the way she’s been looking back?”

“Oh, yeah. There’s definitely a mutual admiration happening.”

Jessica smiled into his eyes and saw all the love and passion she’d ever dreamed of looking right back at her. “Looks like we have a candidate for our ‘get Mom a man’ campaign.”

“Sure does. Between her and Steve and Kelley and Marc, I’d say our work here is done. And that being the case, how about we say our goodbyes and get our honeymoon started?” He leaned down and nuzzled the sensitive skin behind her ear.

With a pleasure-filled sigh, Jessica tilted her neck to afford him better access. His teeth lightly grazed her earlobe, eliciting a barrage of tingles. “Are you trying to get me to say yes?”

“Absolutely. Is it working?”

She gave a happy laugh. “Absolutely.”