Page 57 of Reckoning with the Cowboy
“This commitment. Does it have to be written in blood?” She saw his expression and realized the joke hadn’t come off as well as she’d hoped. “Sorry.”
“No,Iam. I don’t want you to feel pressured.”
“I don’t,” she assured him as the waiter approached their table. They ordered drinks and appetizers. She asked for a pen and paper, avoiding Cordell’s questioning look. The drinks arrived quickly—along with a pen and paper.
She took a sip of her drink, looking at him over the rim of her glass before she put down her drink, picked up the pen and began to write.
The next time she looked up, Cordell appeared amused.
With a flourish, she signed what she’d written and added the date, time and place. Then, taking her time, she folded the paper and put it on the table next to her before picking up her drink again.
“You aren’t going to let me read it?” he asked, studying her.
“Let’s see how the night goes,” she said and took a sip of her drink.
Cordell chuckled and raised his glass to hers. “To the perfect evening.” They clinked glasses.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
A taxi took Shane and Amy Sue to the wedding chapel. It wasn’t as corny as some she’d seen on the drive from the airport, but she couldn’t help feeling that Shane had skimped on this part. Or maybe it was the only one available at such short notice.
It smelled inside like an antiques store. She realized that it was probably the heavy old velvet drapes that lined the walls. “Wagner wedding?” an elderly woman asked, appearing from off to the right.
“That’s us,” Shane said. He seemed even more anxious than he had earlier at the license bureau. “You have witnesses?” he asked, looking around.
“They’re already in the chapel.” She motioned him to follow her, telling Amy Sue that she could wait there. They disappeared through the drapes. She could hear the woman trying to upsell Shane, offering other services that cost more money. Shane kept saying no and finally lost his temper.
“We just want to get married,” he snapped. “Quick and simple. Husband and wife. Can you do that?”
The woman made a rude sound, then told him how much it would cost—more than what she’d apparently told him over the phone when he’d made the reservation. “That’s criminal, you know that?”
Amy Sue would have found that funny, if she wasn’t so nervous. She heard Shane slam down the money. When he came through the curtain, his face was twisted into a look she had never seen on him before. She must have showed surprise, because he quickly changed his expression.
“Time to go on back to the chapel.” He took her arm and kind of pushed her forward as if he wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.
Amy Sue couldn’t blame him. The smell of the place was making her nauseous and the voice in her heard telling her to run was no longer Josie’s. It was her own.
The chapel appeared before them. As they moved forward, a white-haired man with a limp motioned them to come closer. Out of the corner of her eye, Amy Sue saw the witnesses. They looked like two people who’d been kidnapped from a rest home.
Swallowing around the lump in her throat, she turned to Shane and whispered, “I need just a minute.”
“What?” he snapped, clearly irritated.
“Just a moment,” she told the man who was to officiate their marriage as she walked back the way they’d come, Shane going with her.
“Amy Sue, come on, this is—”
“I need to ask you something. It’s important and I need you to tell me the truth. Did you know Roger Grimes?”
Shane frowned.“What?”
“You heard me. Tell me the truth.”
He looked her in the eye. She saw him visibly trying to rein in his temper. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve never heard that name in my life.”
She nodded. That was exactly what she had needed to hear. He didn’t ask who Roger Grimes was or why she needed to know because he knew the answers to both. He had lied through his teeth.
“We need to get on with the ceremony,” the older man called. “We have another one coming up next. I also have some paperwork for you to sign.”
