Читать книгу The Groom Came C.o.d. - Mollie Molay - Страница 13

Ben got as far as the entrance to the small park across the street from the bridal shop before he came to a stop.

He felt like a heel leaving Melinda and her aunt without a decent explanation for his attitude. Not that it would be easy to explain when he wasn’t even sure he understood why himself. His earlier marriage had taken place years ago, but that was then and this was now.

Maybe he should have been grateful for the unexpected turn of events. Maybe now he could get rid of all the wannabe Mrs. Ben Howards.

Shaken out of his reverie by a flock of birds bursting from the full branches of the tree above him, he found himself gazing around him. It was the setting where, according to the wedding announcement, he was scheduled to marry Melinda next month.

The scent of jasmine filled the air. Rustic bridges crossed a babbling brook that slowly meandered through the small park. Carefully tended green hedges bordered the cobblestone walks that led to a white lattice gazebo in the park’s center. A sundial, a birdbath and white iron benches were scattered throughout the small park. It was the last place in the world he expected to find himself. Let alone find himself taking Melinda seriously.

What had brought him here when he had more important things that needed his attention? And why was he suddenly so unsure of his decision to have the fantasy wedding called off?

He thought of Bertie’s assurance that a higher power was at work. Was there some kind of magic aura in the early morning air that made her pronouncement sound reasonable? Was it the same aura that was urging him to go back and tell Melinda he was thinking of changing his mind? That he didn’t want to call off the wedding? And why did it suddenly seem as if it were the right thing to do?

His thoughts stopped him cold. After all, he was an intelligent and successful businessman. Why was he even thinking of magic auras? Was he losing it?

Something turned him back to gaze at the vintage Victorian house across the street. Bertie’s Bridal Shop had been housed there for more years than he could remember. He remembered his two older sisters had purchased their bridal gowns there years ago.

The brown wooden house with its faded white trim was showing its age. The porch railings sagged, but freshly starched lace curtains proudly graced the windows. It looked familiar, and yet there was something different about it today that caught his attention. He squinted in the sunshine to get a better look. The lettering on the sign in the window that advertised a Bridal Referral Service was fairly new. According to Bertie, the service was Melinda’s attempt to keep the shop in the black. The idea may have sounded like a good idea, but there were screwups every day on the Internet.

The realization that she’d found him on an Internet dating service turned his blood to ice water. He should have looked into how it got there before he left. If word got out that Melinda had found him there, he was a dead man.

Before he could decide what prompted him to retrace his footsteps, he found himself back at the bridal shop’s front door. He was about to knock when he remembered Melinda’s headache. He rang the door-bell—gently, but firmly. He had a mission to accomplish.

The door opened a few inches. Bertie peered out. “I knew you’d be back as soon as you had a chance to think things over, Benjamin.” She held the door open with a welcoming smile. “I baked your favorite cookies last night. Why don’t you come in and join me in a fresh cup of coffee?”

Ben glanced over her shoulder at the empty entry. “Actually, Ms. Bertie, I came back to talk to Melinda.”

“Of course,” she agreed amicably. Come right in. Your bride is upstairs getting dressed. She’ll be down in a minute.”

His bride! It was the last thing he wanted to hear, at least until he had a chance to talk things over with Melinda. “Sorry, Ms. Bertie. This bride stuff is a little premature.”

She wagged her forefinger at him. “Now, Benjamin, you aren’t still having cold feet, are you?”

He shook his head. Why wasn’t he heading for the safety of his distillery where more rational heads prevailed instead of talking to a wall? “Not really. The fact is, I came back to apologize for losing my temper. It’s just that I was sure the wedding announcement would play havoc with my life. Even now,” he added with a wry shrug as he followed her into the kitchen, “I feel as if I’m caught in the middle of a hornet’s nest.”

She smiled and prattled on about reluctant bridegrooms.

Maybe it was the odor of freshly brewed coffee or the plate of chocolate-chip cookies waiting on the kitchen table, but Ben felt right at home. The bright-yellow and white chintz curtains at the windows were invitations to enjoy a few moments of relaxation. Under different circumstances, he would have been ready. Unfortunately, the soft music coming over the intercom designed to calm bridal nerves wasn’t exactly music to his ears.

The muscles at the back of his neck tensed as he dropped into a chair. Bertie’s contented smile did nothing to reassure him he was going to make a dent in her conviction that he was about to become a member of her family.

He watched her flutter about the kitchen setting out cups and saucers.

“How did you know I’d be back, Ms. Bertie?” he asked, interrupting a tale that had something to do about a bride having to wrestle a groom to the altar.

Her answering smile was benevolent. “You can’t run away from your destiny, dear.”

He didn’t have a ready reply to that remark.

What was there about the lady that made the illogical seem logical? What was there about her that had him ready to believe in her conviction that destiny had brought him here and not the wedding announcement in the newspaper. Or were they the same?

He was a pragmatic man who had spent his life creating his own destiny. He’d decided the only way to do something for the economy of Ojai was to do it himself. With Bertie happily prattling in the background, his thoughts swung to his Oak Tree Gourmet Distillery, an enterprise he’d started to bring industry to a town that survived largely on tourism. That decision hadn’t been decided by fate, as Bertie preached. No, sir. It had been a sure, pragmatic decision and, thank God, it had worked. Oak Tree brandies were known all over the world.

Still, considering he was a visitor in her kitchen, he couldn’t tell Bertie he was ready to believe she must have come from a different planet. Or that maybe she could be a guardian angel in disguise. For sure, she was an innocent who saw only the positive side of everything and everyone, including him.

“Ms. Bertie,” he began, “I don’t know if it was fate or destiny that turned me back here, but the fact is I owe you an apology.”

“Of course, dear,” she soothed. She moved the plate of plump cookies closer to him. “But, there’s no rush. Take your time.”

Ben swallowed a sigh. Once the newspaper announcement of his “wedding” hit the streets, there was a rush. He was running out of time.

“It’s just that you’ve always been so decent to me—and the whole town, for that matter. I shouldn’t have lost my cool. I wouldn’t want you to think I’ve gone off the deep end.”

“There’s nothing to explain, dear.” She patted his shoulder in passing on her way to turn off the coffee.

“I understand perfectly. You’re just having a bit of bridegroom nerves.”

Ben bit back a hollow laugh and tried again. “I don’t think you do understand, Ms. Bertie. I want you to know I don’t hold what Melinda did against her. I came back to tell her so. Everyone makes mistakes, myself included. It’s just that I don’t understand why Melinda would pick me for her fantasy bridegroom. We hardly know each other.”

Bertie smiled over her shoulder. “The answer is there for you to see, Benjamin. All you need to do is open your mind.”

“Open my mind?” Ben reared back in his chair.

“That’s the problem! I have opened it, and I’ve been in a state of shock ever since I read this morning’s newspaper! Marry Melinda? I swear it was the first time I’d heard of it.”

Her eyes took on a sparkle. “Perhaps so, but I believe you and Melinda were fated to meet again. It doesn’t matter how. Although I have to admit the circumstances are a bit unusual.”

“You got that right,” Ben murmured under his breath.

“However, I’m very pleased at Melinda’s choice,” she went on. “I’ve always said you’re a fine young man.”

He would have laughed at her naïveté if she hadn’t been so sincere. Bertie wouldn’t have seen anything wrong with him even if the truth stared her in the face. “After all the crazy things I managed to get into in high school?”

“Boys are boys,” she agreed. “It comes with the territory. But I’m sure what you did then was harmless and not at anyone’s expense. Just look at you now! Ojai owes you a great deal for all you’ve done for us.”

After Bertie’s endorsement, he was beginning to think there was a halo blinking above his head. So why didn’t he feel saintly?

In the interest of getting out of here before the morning was through, Ben agreed his intentions were good. It wasn’t all that much, but every little bit helped. “Thank you. But to get back to why I’m here. I want to set the record straight. I got angry because I hate to be used. Or made to do something I hadn’t planned for…like get married.”

“If it will make you feel better, go right ahead and get it off your chest.” She smiled and waited expectantly. “But I’m all for you and my niece getting married.”

Ben took a deep breath. “I want to go on record that I haven’t spoken to Melinda in years before now—certainly not since high school. The truth is, I don’t remember her. So you see,” he went on earnestly, “I couldn’t have proposed.”

Bertie set a steaming cup of coffee on the table in front of him. “Perhaps. What do you think prompted my niece to plan a marriage to you if fate hadn’t prompted her to make her little mistake?”

Little mistake! It was a mistake large enough to change his life!

He munched on a chocolate-filled cookie and gazed around the kitchen. “Maybe, but considering we’re knee-deep in bridal territory, I guess it could have been natural for Melinda to play out her dream wedding on the Internet. Maybe it was a harmless fantasy—but it sure backfired. I’m not even sure it’ll help even if she does retract the story,” he said morosely.

Bertie smiled. “You’re thinking of changing your mind about asking Melinda to go ahead with the retraction, aren’t you?”

“How did you know?” The way the woman was able to read him was beginning to make him nervous. Why hadn’t he left well enough alone and kept on going when he’d left the first time? Why had he given in to the urge to come back to explain himself to someone who was convinced fate was about to make him her nephew?

“By the way, Ms. Bertie, a moment ago you said you expected me to come back. How did you know I would change my mind?”

She answered his question with a question of her own. “You have come back, haven’t you?”

Ben took a deep swallow of coffee and studied his companion. Did the little park have some magical power that had worked on him? Had it been Bertie herself who had willed him back? He shook his head to clear it. No matter what she might believe about fate and destiny, he for one was living in a real world. He tried again.

“I have to tell you that when I found myself in the park across the street, the strangest feeling came over me, Ms. Bertie. Before I knew it, I found myself back at your door.” He shook his head in wonder. “I had the strongest feeling someone was sending me a message.”

She beamed at him as if he’d passed some kind of test. “I’m so pleased you feel this way. You see, when Melinda asked you to go along with the wedding, it was more than a matter of pride.” She slid the plate of cookies closer to him. “Here, have another cookie.”

“Thanks.” Years of Bertie’s famous cookies had turned him into a cookie addict. “Too bad you aren’t running a bakery instead of a bridal shop, Ms. Bertie.” He wouldn’t have been in such a mess. Bertie might be oblivious to the implications of Melinda’s wedding announcement, but it was his life they were talking about. “Go ahead.”

“The bridal shop is on the verge of bankruptcy,” Bertie began slowly, but he could see a hint of sadness in her eyes. Obviously, even guardian angels had human feelings. The knowledge that he might be adding to her unhappiness made him feel worse than ever.

“Melinda doesn’t think I know the financial status of the shop, but I do,” Bertie went on. “I couldn’t let on that I knew the truth. Not when she left a good position in San Francisco to come back to help me. Why,” she added proudly, “she’s even added a bridal referral service to make ends meet. It has been useful, but I’m afraid there aren’t enough interested brides in Ojai. Young women today aren’t interested in tradition. They go to a bigger city to shop.”

Ben stirred uncomfortably. “I’m truly sorry to hear that, Ms. Bertie. I remember my sisters telling me how helpful you were with their weddings.”

“Thank you, Benjamin, it’s kind of you to say so. The fact is that because of the state of my finances, Melinda is afraid any unusual or adverse publicity would hurt the little business I do have left. So you see, by asking you to go along with her, she was only trying to protect me.”

Now Ben really felt like a worm. If only Melinda’s make-believe wedding hadn’t involved him, he might even have thought the caper was amusing. Now, after hearing Bertie’s story, the picture was changing. The problem was more than Melinda’s pride—Bertie’s future was at stake. Damn!

As if sensing his mixed emotions, Bertie leaned over and patted his hand. “It’s not your fault Melinda’s fantasy went awry, dear boy. I believe that there’s another reason that prompted her to set her fantasy in motion.” Her blue eyes lightened as she gazed fondly at him. “I believe this is a moment to give you both a second chance to fulfill your destinies. Fate brought you two together.”

Ben felt shivers run up and down his spine. He was in between a rock and a hard place. He didn’t want to remarry, not yet. And certainly not after his earlier marriage had been such a sorry experience. There was also his uncle Joseph who was after him to marry and start a family. And women at the country club who seemed to be set on being his wife.

Maybe a make-believe marriage to Melinda Carey could be the answer.

Then, too, from what he understood, there was Bertie. She could lose everything she’d spent a lifetime working for.

He struggled for an answer, but one thing was clear. It was beginning to look as if he might be damned if he went through with the wedding and damned if he didn’t.

“Aunt Bertie! Ben! What’s going on?” Ben jumped to his feet as Melinda rushed into the room. Bertie calmly motioned him back to his seat. “I was just explaining the situation to Benjamin, dear.”

Melinda was horrified. To her, “situation” could mean only one thing. “Aunt Bertie, please tell me you didn’t!”

Her aunt’s guilty look was all the answer Melinda needed. She turned her gaze on the noncommittal look on Ben’s face. Her aunt not only knew the truth about her financial affairs, it looked as if she’d shared the information with him!

“What are you doing back here, Ben Howard? I’ve already agreed I would call Martha Ebbetts and retract my announcement, haven’t I? What more do you want?”

“Yes, well…” He seemed to struggle for an answer, but whatever he wanted to say wasn’t coming easily. “I was just about to say that maybe I was too hasty before. In fact, I’ve been thinking of changing my mind.”

Melinda stiffened her back. If this was a marriage proposal, she’d never heard a more reluctant one. “I can just imagine what my aunt told you. Well, let me set you straight. I don’t need your pity. My aunt and I have managed to get along until now, and we’ll get through this, too.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Ben rejoined. He eyed her in a way that made her hormones snap to attention. “But before I commit myself, I have a few thoughts of my own about this marriage you’ve dreamed up. Maybe we can settle it to our mutual satisfaction.”

Mutual satisfaction? The only way she would be satisfied was if Ben Howard took himself out of her sight before she died of embarrassment. “I’ve just told you it’s not necessary.”

“Maybe so, but I think you at least owe me the chance to discuss it.”

Bertie rose. “Why don’t you and Benjamin talk things over quietly, dear. I have an errand or two to take care of.” She waved goodbye and glided out of the kitchen.

Ben eyed Melinda warily. He was determined to find a way to at least discuss his crazy ideas with her—for both their sakes. Too bad she didn’t look as if she were the compromising type.

He plunged in before she could start up again. “I wanted to explain why the wedding announcement riled me. Okay?” She nodded reluctantly. “The truth is I was married once—in college.”

Melinda held up her hand to stop him. “I’ve heard all about it. What does it have to do with me?”

“Only that the marriage lasted long enough for Annie and me to realize we were too young to know what we really wanted. When I told her I wanted to go on to grad school and study law, she announced she wasn’t willing to wait that long to have a life. The divorce came though the day we graduated.” He shrugged. “You might say it was a graduation present.”

“I still don’t see what this has to do with me.”

“I was just trying to explain why I reacted the way I did after I read the newspaper this morning.” He grinned sheepishly. “I guess you could say I’m allergic to marriage.”

“Great!” Melinda grimaced. Another allergic bridegroom! “All the more reason to forget this whole thing.”

Ben bit his lower lip. Hell, she was the one who started the mess, why was she so upset? Forget it? Fat chance. “I’m trying to tell you there’s a good reason why a temporary marriage between us might be a good idea.”

“A good idea?” If Ben had said Mars was hurtling its way toward Earth and would arrive in Ojai tomorrow, she wouldn’t have been more surprised. “Are you trying to tell me you want to get married now?”

“Yes, no…that is, maybe.” Ben gazed thoughtfully at his prospective bride. If he’d been looking for another wife, Melinda would certainly fit the bill. She was honest and loyal. She wasn’t greedy, either, or she would have jumped at the chance to be the wife of one of Ojai’s first families.

Luckily, there was more to admire in Melinda than her character. Her silky legs turned him on. Her womanly curves were pleasing. And so were her expressive green eyes and tossed blond hair.

She wore beige linen slacks and a matching silk blouse, pearls around her throat and at her ears. Definitely a class act. But the shorts and the sleeveless white shirt that left her midriff bare and the lush line of breasts exposed earlier had been a lot more interesting. If she’d been as attractive in high school as she was now, how could he have managed not to notice her?

If he put the facts together and threw caution to the wind, marrying Melinda could make sense. All he had to do was control his testosterone and remember he was planning on a marriage of convenience followed by a quiet annulment.

“If you don’t mind,” he began again, “I’d like to tell you something. It’s not easy for me to say, but I shouldn’t have lost my temper.”

Seemingly speechless, Melinda continued to stare at him. He didn’t blame her. He didn’t recognize himself in all of this, either. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to apologize for the things I said earlier.”

Melinda nodded. Reluctantly, but he was relieved to see he had her grudging attention.

“So…maybe we ought to think about this marriage business.”

Melinda looked at him warily. “Wait a minute! Let me understand this. You’re suggesting we actually go through with a wedding ceremony?”

He shrugged. “Maybe.”

“I can’t believe this!” She let loose. “Either you do or you don’t. First you blow your stack and then you come back here to tell me that you’ve changed your mind. Let’s get this straight—do you want to get married or don’t you?”

“Sort of,” he murmured, caught between a rock and a hard place. “Something changed my mind and brought me back here. I’m just not sure what it was.”

How could he tell her what had turned him back when he hadn’t had a logical answer to account for it?

He tried to concentrate on the happy smile on Bertie’s face. And the way she’d waved at him before she disappeared through the kitchen door. A blessing?

All the more reason he had to go on record about the conditions of the forthcoming wedding—provided they ultimately decided to go through with it.

“There is one thing I’d like to put on the table.” Melinda stared at him silently. Good. After what he had to say, he wasn’t sure she wasn’t going to take things so quietly. “This so-called marriage thing—you didn’t intend it to be real. It was only a fantasy. Right?”

Melinda’s face turned pink. She nodded hesitantly.

“I hate to get personal,” he insisted, “but under the circumstances, I have to be sure you do understand what I’m talking about.”

Melinda’s face turned a deeper pink. “If you’re saying this is going to be a marriage of convenience, I never intended anything else. In fact,” she frowned, “the more I think of it, the more I know this would never work. We’d have to be crazy.”

Ben had the feeling he should have his head examined. Two hours ago he’d gone on record as being against a wedding of any kind and here he was trying to convince Melinda they should go for it. Strangely enough, even though she was giving him a chance to back out, he actually felt disappointed. “The truth is,” he blurted, “I might need a wife.”

“Might need a wife?”

If ever there was a time to admit the whole truth, this was it. “Yes. This might sound crazy, but my uncle has been after me to get married. For that matter,” he muttered darkly, “so have a lot of women.”

“Lucky you.” The look she gave him would have frozen an Eskimo. “Why pick me?”

How could he tell her mistake was opportune? That he sensed she could be trusted to “dissolve” the marriage when the right time came. That it might be convenient to have her as his “wife” for the duration. He managed a grin. “Maybe your timing was right. Or maybe your aunt was right about your ‘mistake.’ Maybe it was fate.”

Melinda considered Ben’s answer. Her aunt had talked about fate and destiny for so long, she was conditioned to believe it herself. At any rate, a mock-marriage, without a license, to a socially prominent man with connections might just be the ultimate answer to the lack of prospective brides. She didn’t have to feel she was using him. From what he’d said, the marriage would be to his advantage, too. “I’ll think about it.”

“Good, I’m glad we finally agree on something.” Ben settled back in his chair. “I think we should also settle a few important details while we’re at it. Okay?”

Melinda shrugged. “After the story you just told me, I can’t imagine what else is left to talk about. But go ahead.”

“I’ll supply the minister.”

She hesitated. “Actually, if I decide to go through with the wedding I was going to ask the Reverend Charles Good to conduct the ceremony. Charles is a good friend of Aunt Bertie’s.”

“A real minister?”

“Of course.”

“No way!” Ben rose and paced the kitchen floor. He counted off the squares in the brown and white linoleum until his frustration cooled. “I’m not going to take a chance on anything going wrong. I have a friend back in Boston who is a drama professor. Dex will fly out to do the honors if I ask him to. He’ll not only look and act like a real minister, there’s a plus.”

“What’s that,” she asked cautiously. “No one will ever see him again.”

“We can’t,” she protested. “It would break my aunt’s heart, and I’d feel like a fraud!”

His eyebrows rose. “Would you feel any differently if this friend of your aunt’s performed a mock-ceremony without a license?”

Melinda glanced down at her clenched hands. Her heart was breaking into little pieces. The dream she’d woven into her fantasy wedding was crumbling fast, and she didn’t know how to stop it. A platonic, temporary marriage with a man she’d yearned over for half of her life was the last thing she’d expected. How could she have gotten in so deep?

Ben cleared his throat. He’d never seen a more unhappy look on the face of a woman who had just gotten engaged. He’d have to make it up to her later. “Sorry. Tell the reverend I’m having a close college friend do the honors. Just be sure he doesn’t know the truth. What he and Ms. Bertie don’t know won’t hurt them.” He hesitated. “Oh, one more thing. I want you to take my photograph off that damn dating Web site before anyone else sees it!”

“I told you I had nothing to do with putting it on there!”

“I don’t care. If it’s not too late, see if you can get me off there before the whole town sees it.”