Page 46 of The Bastard Heir
“Could I have a moment with Carolina?” he asked.
“Of course, I’ll await you both downstairs with the others.” Her aunt swept out of the room and Caroline met her groom at the door.
His eyes widened in appreciation when he saw her and he took the length of her in, all the way down to her toes and back up again. “You’re beautiful.”
“You look very handsome in a suit.” She hadn’t been able to tell him that yesterday at the wedding. Somehow she had lost her words in between their engagement and now. But it was true. His shoulders seemed impossibly broad and the fine fabric brought out the green in his eyes and the olive tone of his skin.
He grinned, revealing a flash of white teeth, but it was gone almost as quickly as it had appeared. “I’ve come to make certain that this is what you want. It’s not too late, if you aren’t sure.”
That was the last thing she wanted. Her claim on him was tenuous at best, but she wanted him in her life. Needed him, if she was honest. She loved him now and there was no turning back on that. “I am certain. But if you—”
He was smiling before she could finish asking if he wanted to call off the wedding. Reaching up, he stroked her cheekbone with his thumb, sending a flutter through her belly. “This is what I want.”
He wanted her. He hadn’t said it, but that’s what that statement meant.
Before she could answer him, he said, “I have a ring, so don’t concern yourself with that. I am more than ready to make you my wife. Let’s go.”
He offered her his arm and she took it, allowing him to lead her into this brand new start.
***
No one had been more surprised than Castillo when he’d offered to marry her. In that startling moment of clarity, he’d realized that the only way to really keep her safe—from scandal and her family interfering in her education—was to keep her under his protection. The meeting with her parents had been very brief and to the point. Her parents had agreed to the marriage as an inevitable consequence of her admission, but they weren’t happy about it. Castillo suspected her mother wanted someone more socially acceptable, but her father seemed content as soon as Castillo had voiced his opinion about Carolina’s education.
Hunter and Emmy had offered a double wedding, but Castillo had refused. He told them that he didn’t want to take away from their ceremony. The truth was, he wanted Carolina all to himself.Despite the fact that his marriage to her was supposed to be little more than an arrangement, he’d wanted the moment they took their vows to be for her alone and not shared with another couple.
He’d barely seen her since the night in Tanner’s study. Hunter’s wedding had been the day before, and Carolina had sat with her parents while Castillo and Zane had stood at Hunter’s side. Then he’d had to go back out and ride the property, ever vigilant to the possibility that Derringer could make an appearance. The few times he’d made eye contact with her, she’d smiled but looked away as if unsure of herself.
This morning was the first time they had really spoken. It had taken all he could do not to pull her into his arms and kiss her in the doorway of her bedroom. Instead, he escorted her outside and to the carriage where her family waited and then ridden outside to keep watch for Derringer.
Derringer. It always came back to him. Castillo had to get her safely to Boston as soon as possible, but he couldn’t think about not seeing her again. Not yet. Not when they had the rest of the day and tonight.
Already apprised of their arrival, the justice of the peace ushered them into his office, a small, stuffy room that everyone barely fit inside. “Welcome, welcome,” he greeted them.
Carolina found her way to Castillo’s side and slid her hand in his. He gave it a squeeze. Though his heart was beating faster than the hooves of a galloping horse, he was certain that this was right. He wanted her in every way a man could want a woman and for more than he’d let on. More than the years it would take her to get through school.
“Let’s get started,” the man said a moment later when the door closed and took his place standing behind his desk. “We are gathered today to join Castillo Jameson and Caroline Hartford in marriage.”
Minutes later, Castillo was sliding his mother’s ring onto her finger. The room was silent after he’d voiced his vows. Giving her hand a gentle squeeze, he stared into her eyes, hoping that she knew that he meant them. He would love her and honor her even though he still hadn’t the slightest idea how to actually be with her. He searched her eyes for some hint of regret or sorrow—this couldn’t possibly be the wedding she’d imagined for herself—but all he saw was hope and an emotion he couldn’t identify shining out at him. Part of him wanted to call it love, but—
“I now pronounce you man and wife.” The words penetrated Castillo’s thoughts, bringing with them a well of emotion that swelled in his chest and made it ache.
Carolina smiled up at him. Shyness and nervousness was evident in that smile, but she wasn’t uncertain. She tightened her hold on his hand until her father shoved in between them to shake his hand. She stepped back out of the way, but her gaze didn’t leave Castillo’s until her aunt pulled her into an embrace, blocking her view of him. Castillo mumbled words to Hunter, Zane, Tanner and her father, but he couldn’t stop looking at her. He couldn’t believe that she was his—that this amazing woman had agreed to become his wife.
Wife. He knew he shouldn’t get too attached to the word because this was only a marriage of convenience, but he liked it. He liked it a lot.
They were back on the boardwalk outside the office in the late afternoon sun a few minutes later. Castillo found he didn’t quite know what to say to her and suspected that she felt the same. Instead of speaking, he offered her his arm and they followed their families to the Baroness. Tanner had booked rooms for the group since Carolina and her family would leave for Boston the next morning.
They had a meal together in the hotel’s dining room. Tanner ordered champagne and made a big fuss about toasts and theimportance of families, and for a brief moment Castillo found himself believing him. If he forgot the past and the future, he could believe that Carolina was his wife in every way.
Caught up in the moment, Hunter swigged his champagne and pulled Emmy in for a kiss, and everyone laughed. Their joy and obvious love for each other was easy to see. Castillo laughed, too, and for the first time didn’t feel that pang of envy. When he glanced at Carolina she was smiling, but she’d been watching him. Her gaze dipped down to his mouth and a spark of heat leaped between them. He wanted to pull her into his arms, but he didn’t know if that was what she wanted.
When the meal came to an end, Tanner not-so-subtly suggested they retire for the evening. Castillo agreed because he was greedy to spend time alone with her before she left, no matter what the night would bring. Castillo pushed the door of their suite open and followed her inside. She was beautiful in a cream dress that hugged her figure and flared out softly in the back. Its skirt was pulled up to reveal a matching underskirt that swished past her ankles. Her back was straight and her shoulders squared, as if she, too, was suddenly uncertain and doing everything she could to hold that uncertainty at bay. She looked feminine and strong.
This was the first time they’d been alone since his proposal in the hallway and he didn’t quite know what to say to her. She was his wife. The weight of that settled over him again, but it wasn’t suffocating. It was warm and strangely comforting. He tried not to examine it too much. After all, this wasn’t real. His life was finding Derringer, and then his life would be at the hacienda. Hers was in Boston, somewhere there was no place for him. They hadn’t spoken of what would happen after she graduated, but he had no right to expect her to come live with him.
Her trunk had been delivered earlier and she walked over to it as if to change her clothes, but stopped once she reached it, uncertainty had crept in.
“I’ll give you some time alone,” he said awkwardly, walking into the connected washroom and closing the door behind him. The room was small, but serviceable, with gleaming white tile. It was hot, so he shrugged out of his coat and waistcoat, and hung them on the hook on the back of the door. As soon as he did, the weight he hadn’t realized he’d been carrying around left him and he leaned his palms on the cool porcelain of the sink. This marriage felt real. Staring at his reflection in the small shaving mirror, he saw that his eyes were wide and unsure. He’d stared down men holding him at gunpoint, but this woman who was now his wife scared him.
