Eleven
Laura
“Sir, you have just cause ?” the minister asked. Her hard tone told me this wasn’t her first rodeo when it came to last minute objections. The narrowed eyes that studied my dad, Luke and me told the same story. What I wanted to know was how my father had found us.
“She’s my daughter, and it seems I got here just in time. That damn inept detective should have done something,” he muttered. “I do not give my permission. She’s promised to someone else, not…not…not this whoever he is.”
Our celebrant raised an eyebrow then looked at me, her notebook hugged to her chest. “You’re over eighteen, if I’m not mistaken?”
“Almost twenty-three,” I replied with a nod then gasped as pain bit into my arm. Steely fingers bit into my bicep to yank me away from my fiancé.
“Luke!” I cried as I stumbled backward toward my father while he tugged me away.
I needn’t have worried. My husband-to-be was there in an instant, grasping my father’s wrist and forcing him to let go of me.
Jameson moved beside him, the two Cassel men forming a wall between me and my dad once Luke urged me behind him.
Rick joined them. Willow rushed to my side and embraced me, pulling me a few feet farther away.
“You’re engaged to another man?” the minister asked.
“No! My father wants me to be but I’m not. I’ve never even met the man.”
“She’s promised!” he bellowed, glaring around the shoulders of the powerful men blocking him.
“I don’t believe I was talking to you,” the minister replied. “But since you’re feeling talkative—”
I almost snorted. I liked this woman. I’d rarely seen anyone female stand up to my dad.
“—did you have a valid reason to disrupt these nuptials?”
My father glared.
“Laura,” the minister asked. “Do you want to marry Luke?”
“Yes, more than anything.” Wasn’t that why we were here?
“Good. Luke? You want to marry Laura?”
“Yeah,” he laugh-scoffed. “I wanted to marry her months ago. And I’m sure as hell ready now.”
“Okay, good, then,” she said, scratching her pen across a paper in her notebook. “Well, we’re done here then. Congrats, you’re man and wife. Make sure you pick up the certificate before you leave. Live long and prosper and all that.”
I stared at her, my mouth dropped open, while joy and relief filled me. The celebrant threw me a wink before refocusing over my shoulder. “Do we need to call security?”
“This is ridiculous! I will have your license,” my father bellowed at the minister.
She nodded. “Good luck with that. I’m just filling in for friends today. In real life, I’m a circuit court judge. Do you want to discuss how you were trying to force your daughter into a marriage without her consent?”
“This is none of your business! It’s a family matter!” he exclaimed.
Apparently deeming it safe, Luke broke away from the blockade and came over to pull me into his arms while Rick and Jameson closed ranks.
“Mrs. Cassel,” he said, cupping my face and peering down at me with pure, possessive love. I never wanted that look to change. A warm golden glow seemed to fill me while I returned the stare, filled with happiness.
“Mr. Cassel,” I whispered, ignoring the blustering a few feet away. Nothing mattered except Luke’s mouth coming down over mine, so firm yet tender. I groaned, leaning into him. With Luke, I knew everything in my life would be okay.
But I needed to face my father. Pulling back regretfully, I saw understanding on Luke’s face. His thumb brushed over my cheek. “I’m right here.”
His hand grasped mine, and before I guessed what he was doing, he slipped my band onto my ring finger.
I held out my palm, and he dropped his ring onto it.
Once I had it on his hand, I moved to face my father, Luke at my side, giving me much-needed strength.
This was the parent who’d been so harsh and borderline terrorizing my entire life.
This was the parent who’d never cared about me until he’d deemed me useful.
“I’m married now,” I told him. “But even so, I don’t belong to anyone but myself.”
Beside me, Luke growled, and I squeezed his hand, silently telling him I belonged to him, but that was different.
“I love Luke, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life with him. And I…” I took a deep breath, steeling myself for some of the hardest words I would ever say. “I…don’t ever want to see you again.”
“Laura!” my father gasped.
“No,” I interrupted before he could argue.
“I was never anything to you, not until you wanted something from me. I was the daughter who should have been a son. And because I’m not a boy, I was worthless to you.
Luke loves me. Luke makes me feel important, not for anything except who I am. He listens to me and believes in me.”
“I do,” Luke breathed. “You’re everything.
” His face turned granite as he glared at the man I was evicting from my life.
“And I will do everything necessary to protect Laura. I know how precious she is. And you can bet, she will always be guarded. Don’t ever think about trying anything.
” He glanced down at me and away from the deflated man who clearly realized he’d lost this battle and was probably tallying in his head how much money he’d lost. I knew the arrangement wasn’t about me, but about the cash.
“Are you ready to go celebrate?” Luke asked me, bringing my attention back to him.
“Yes.”
“Cassel wedding party? Ready?” he asked the room.
“Let’s go,” Jameson replied. It didn’t miss my attention that his eyes were pinned to Willow when he answered.
“I’ll get the car,” Rick said.
“How much was he—the guy you promised me to—going to pay you?” I asked my father, unable to help myself.
My father’s scowl returned, his eyes narrowing. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It does to me. How much was I worth? What’s the going dollar value for a daughter?”
“Two million,” he muttered.
“I’ll send you a check—”
“Luke, no!” I exclaimed, even as the face of the man who’d sired me brightened. He didn’t deserve to be called my father. “You can’t.”
“And in return, you will never bother us, never come near Laura again—you or anyone working for you,” Luke went on, ignoring my protest. “You’ll call off whatever detective you’ve had trailing her here in the city.”
“Done,” the other man replied. Turning on his heel, he left without so much as another glance at me. I tried to ignore the pain in my chest, the hurt at being so much…nothing to him.
Luke hugged me to him, somehow knowing what was going on inside me. “I can do it,” he said. “I’m a billionaire, remember? Two million to ensure you’re safe is like pennies to any other man. We won’t even miss it.”
“We?”
“Did you sign a prenup? I sure didn’t. What’s mine is yours, baby. But most importantly, you’re mine. All mine. Forever.”
I melted into him. “All I want from you is your love. And maybe babies, one of these days.”
He grinned. “I look forward to making as many as you want. And as for my love, you’ve owned that for months. You’re stuck with it.”
A few feet from us, Jameson made a gagging sound and Willow punched his arm.
“Shut up, dick,” she grumbled. “Your brother is exactly what women want. Sweet, romantic. He’s the kind of guy I’ll someday—”
She screeched as Jameson suddenly threw her over his shoulder and stormed from the chapel. I looked at Luke, wide-eyed.
“There’s long history there,” he told me. “I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow. Today is about us.”
Going on tiptoes, I pulled his mouth down to mine. “Nope. Forever is about us. Let’s go, husband. I want to get started on that.”
I laughed, giggling, as he threw me over his shoulder, too, and followed his brother’s footsteps right into our bright future—of course, not forgetting our wedding certificate on the way out.