"After breakfast, Judah," Lee said gently.
"Breakfast?" The elderly lawyer sounded as if he'd never heard the word.
Mary stared at Judah. His dark brown eyes were vacant, his face slack, expressionless, and his dark blue waistcoat was turned inside out. Suddenly Mary understood. She held out her hand to him. "Breakfast, Mr. Crane. You know, steak, and eggs and hot biscuits."
"Biscuits?" Judah repeated.
"Never mind," Mary assured him. "When we get home, I'll show you."
"Are we going home?" Judah turned to Lee.
"Eventually," Lee answered. "But right now, we're going to ride out to the ranch for breakfast."
"Good," Judah pronounced. "I'm tired of all these strangers. And I'm sure it must be time for my nap."
Lee turned to Mary, and offered her his arm. "Shall we go to breakfast, Mrs. Kincaid?"
Mary linked her arm through Lee's, then reached out and grabbed Judah by the hand. She smiled shyly at her new husband. She liked this side of Liam Kincaid—the family man side of him. "I'd be delighted, Mr. Kincaid."
He grinned. "Let's go." Lee led his small party down the rest of the aisle and out the front doors of the church. He paused on the top step, turned, managed a slight bow, and smiled at Mary. "Your carriage awaits, milady."
Mary gasped in surprise. Not at the plain hired hack parked on the street, but at the snow-white thoroughbred stallion tied to the back. She recognized him, of course. There was only one horse like him in the country— Pegasus. He belonged to her cousin Reese, but Lee had ridden him into town. She glanced at Lee once again. It seemed Prince Charming had come to her rescue after all. And he had ridden in on a snow-white stallion, just like in the scenes in all the fairy tales—like the scenes from all of her dreams.
The wedding party arrived at the Trail T ranch in time for a late—very late—wedding breakfast. Reese Jordan and his wife, Faith, had sent Daniel ahead to warn the women and the ranch hands, who had remained at home preparing the food and making arrangements for the arrival of guests, that there had been a change in grooms. Reese's instructions asked that anything bearing an association with Pelham Cosgrove III be removed from sight and that no mention of Cosgrove reach Mary's or Lee Kincaid's ears.
Mary and Lee stood side by side in the huge dining room of the main house and waited for the wedding guests to arrive. The dining table, large enough to seat thirty people, had been moved from the center of the room to one wall, draped in white sheets, and loaded with a buffet of fine foods—from thick juicy beefsteaks to delicate seafood brought in by rail from San Francisco. Smaller tables had been set up in the center of the dining room for the bride and groom, their families, and members of the wedding party. It looked to Mary as if every straight-backed chair on the ranch was lined against the dining room walls. She nervously fidgeted with the skirts of her wedding dress and readjusted her veil before the guests arrived. Although she told herself that everything would be fine, Mary wondered how she would manage to endure the looks and comments of her guests. One look at Lee in his dusty suit and canvas duster standing beside her in her pristine white satin wedding gown would serve to remind everyone on the Trail T that she had left the ranch to become Pelham Cosgrove's bride and had become Mrs. Liam G. M. Kincaid instead. It was only a matter of time before one of the wedding guests forgot their manners long enough to mention it.
Mary shifted her weight from one foot to the other and waited impatiently for the trial by fire to begin. She glanced at Lee, wishing she could appeared as relaxed as he did, wishing she had Judah and Maddy with them. But Maddy was eating breakfast in the kitchen with the other children and Judah. Mary sighed. Nothing about her wedding had gone according to plan. According to her schedule, she and Pelham should have been settling into Reese's luxurious private railroad car for their honeymoon journey to San Francisco by now. But then, no one had planned on having Lee Kincaid ride to the church and make her his bride.
Pelham. His clothes and personal belongings had already been placed in Reese's private Pullman car for the journey west. "Oh no," she gasped loud enough for Lee to hear.
"Wait is it?" Lee turned to her.
"It's nothing," Mary shook her head. She would have to remind someone to unload Pelham's things and send them back to him before she left with Lee.
"Something must be bothering you," Lee said. "You're as stiff as a board." He smiled at her. "I'm afraid to touch you for fear I'll get splinters."
Mary looked down at her hands tightly gripping the fabric of her dress. Her fists were clenched, her knuckles white.
Lee reached out and took one of her hands in his. "I want to help you, Mary. I know we can make whatever it is that's upsetting you better. You can trust me. I'm your husband now." His words surprised, yet pleased him. Until he arrived in Denver two days ago and found himself confronted by Tabby Gray's ultimatum, Lee hadn't expected his way of life to change. Oh, he admitted there were times when he longed for a real home, a wife, and children—maybe even a dog to sleep beside the hearth, but he had never tried to satisfy those longings. The proposal he had made to Tessa Roarke five months ago had been halfhearted at best. Lee hadn't taken it seriously and neither had Tessa. It was, as Lee had tried to explain to Mary, an offer made out of his sense of loyalty and duty to his partner and good friend, Tessa's dead brother. It was a proposal meant to infuriate David Alexander, to spur David into proposing to Tessa himself. And it had worked beautifully. No one had taken it seriously except David, and perhaps Mary. Lee took a deep breath. The scent of Mary's perfume filled his nostrils—a warm, compelling scent of wildflowers and herbs and spice—much like the woman herself. His wife. Lee grinned. He was married, and the knowledge gave him a warm feeling inside. It filled the place in his soul that had been empty for so very long… For the first time in years, Lee believed he might have a future after all.
"Pelham," Mary blurted. "I was thinking about Pelham— of how we would've been boarding the train for our honeymoon in San Francisco about now."
He stiffened. Her words affected him like a sword thrust through the pit of his stomach. Lee gritted his teeth in an attempt to halt the flow of bitter feelings surging through him. Pelham. While he had been eagerly planning a future with Mary Alexander, she had been thinking of Pelham Cosgrove III and the future they would have shared if he hadn't come along and ruined things for her with his slick scheme to meet the terms of Tabby's will.
"I'm sorry about that, Mary," Lee apologized, "I didn't know you planned to honeymoon in San Francisco."
There was a note of genuine sincerity in his deep baritone voice. Mary looked up at him to see if he really meant his apology.
"I suppose you were going to stay in a fancy hotel and eat in all the fine restaurants," Lee said. "Maybe go to the opera?"
"Yes," Mary agreed. "We had planned to do those things. Pelham had never been to San Francisco. He wanted to take in all the sights."
"What about you, Mary? What did you want to do?" Lee asked softly.
Mary hesitated a moment before answering. "I suppose I wanted to do those things, too. It's been ages since I've been to San Francisco." She studied Lee's face, the way his blond brows framed his mesmerizing gray eyes, his perfect nose—the one she'd asked her brother to break—the thick blond mustache framing his mouth, and the pout of his bottom lip which seemed to issue invitations for her to kiss it. Mary stared at his mouth. Lee Kincaid was her husband now. Less than an hour ago, he had stood beside her in the church after Pelham walked out and solemnly promised to love, honor, and cherish her. Remembering Lee's kiss, Mary smiled shyly, wondering what it would be like to have him love, honor, and cherish her with his body. She blushed at her thoughts. Although she had planned to have a family with Pelham, she had never given any thought to having Pelham cherish her with his body. She had gone out of her way not to think about sharing her bed with Pelham Everhardt Cosgrove III. But the idea of sharing her bed with Lee Kincaid, of creating children with Lee, excited her and made her look forward to her wedding night. Mary nervously licked her lips, took a deep, calming breath, then said, "About San Francisco… my honeymoon… I mean, I don't suppose you and I…" She bit her bottom lip. It wasn't like her to stutter so.
Lee stared down at his bride. Mary's face was so guileless and her thoughts so apparent. While she dreamed of the romantic honeymoon in San Francisco she had planned with Cosgrove, Mary was confronted by the possibility of having to share a marriage bed with him. Lee supposed being married to him would take a little getting used to, especially since she had been in the process of marrying someone else—someone she cared about, and maybe even loved.