Chapter 2 #3
“Fine,” she said, and didn’t bother to watch as he drove away. When she glanced up at Ryder, he was grinning.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
“You’re hell on wheels, aren’t you, wife?”
“Don’t call me that,” she said, and slammed herself bodily into the seat behind the wheel.
Ryder was still grinning when he took the seat beside her. “Want me to drive?” he asked. “After all, I’m going to be your chauffeur.”
Her bottom lip slid slightly forward as she started the car, leaving the side of the road in a flurry of flying dust and gravel.
“I guess not,” Ryder drawled, and then settled back into the passenger seat. The longer he was around this woman, the more he liked her. She reminded him a little bit of his brother, Roman, who chose to believe that laws and rules were made by men with too much time on their hands.
* * *
There was a pasty white sheen on Lash Marlow’s face as he hung up the phone. He glanced at the clock over the mantel and swiped a shaky hand through his hair. It was almost noon. Time was running out.
His thoughts were jumbled as he considered the possibilities of where Casey might be.
Damn Delaney for insisting on that forty-eight hour time frame.
He’d told him from the start it wasn’t a good idea, but Delaney had insisted, claiming he knew his granddaughter better than anyone.
He’d sworn she would never adhere to the terms of the will unless pushed.
Lash felt sick. It seemed obvious that he and Delaney Ruban had pushed too much.
“Any news?” Eudora asked, and not for the first time wished she’d sat beside her youngest granddaughter during the reading of the will.
She was still convinced she might have been able to soften the blow Casey had received.
If she had, maybe they wouldn’t have spent a sleepless night expecting the worst.
Lash shook his head and reached for another antacid. Instead, his fingers closed around the rabbit’s foot in his pocket, and he rubbed it lightly, making a bet with himself that everything would be all right.
Taking comfort from his superstitious gesture, he decided to forego the antacid.
It probably wouldn’t help anyway. He was long past worry and far past panic.
From the way his gut was burning, he was either starting a new ulcer or about to have a heart attack.
He’d expected Casey to be difficult, but he hadn’t expected this.
If she didn’t show up soon, it would be too late.
Miles lounged near the window overlooking the tennis courts, contemplating the party he would throw when he got his hands on the money.
He was sick and tired of pretending to be worried about Casey.
As far as he was concerned, she could stay gone.
For the past six years, even if she was his sister, she’d been nothing but a judgmental little bitch, always harping at him and Erica to get jobs of their own.
Eudora paced back and forth, fanning herself with a dampened handkerchief. “I just can’t bear this suspense. Oh dear. Oh dear.”
Miles rolled his eyes. “Oh, let it rest, Grandmother. She’ll come home when it suits her.”
Eudora frowned as she fanned, although the small square of fabric did little to stir the air. “I’m just sick about this. What if something awful has happened?” When no one echoed her concern, she sank into a nearby chair, dabbing at her eyes. “Poor, dear Casey.”
“Poor, dear Casey, my ass,” Erica muttered, and sloshed a liberal helping of Jack Daniel’s into her iced tea and sat down near her twin. Ice clinked against crystal as she swirled the liquid before lifting the glass to her mouth.
Lash glanced at his watch and dug his own handkerchief from his pocket, mopping at a fine line of perspiration that kept breaking out across his brow.
Time was running out. If she didn’t show soon, his worst fears would be realized.
Miles and Erica would be in control of the Ruban fortune and Lash’s dreams to resurrect the Marlow estate to its former glory would be dashed.
At this moment he didn’t know whom he hated worse—Delaney for causing the fuss, or Miles for the possum-eating grin he’d been wearing all day.
Never one to let a good silence extend itself, Eudora tucked her handkerchief into her cleavage and rang a small bell near her chair.
Moments later a tall, dark-skinned man dressed in virgin whites entered the room. Still straight and handsome at sixty, the only evidence of Joshua Bass’s age was the liberal dusting of gray in his hair.
“Yes, ma’am?”
Eudora pointed toward a nearby table. “Joshua, we’re all out of tea.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He picked up the tray and started out of the room when Eudora remembered.
“Oh, Joshua!”
He paused. “Yes, ma’am?”
“Have Tilly put some lemon in the tea this time. I do believe lemon helps cut the miasma of July.”
Casey entered on the tail of Eudora’s order, countermanding it with one of her own. She took the tray out of Joshua’s hands and set it down, then to the continuing dismay of her family, gave him a huge, breathless hug, which he gladly returned.
Casey smiled up at Joshua, taking comfort in the love she saw there in his eyes. “Forget the tea, Joshie. Bring a bottle of Delaney’s best champagne instead. We’re going to toast my marriage.”
Joshua looked startled, and his first thought was what his Tilly was going to say. Casey was as close to their hearts as if she’d been born of their blood and here she was about to drink to a marriage they knew she didn’t want.
Miles’s face turned an angry red. Erica choked on a piece of ice, and Eudora clasped her hands to her throat and started to cry.
As for Lash, he went weak with relief. Not only was Casey back, but she seemed willing to celebrate their upcoming union with no remorse. He went toward her with outstretched hands.
“Casey, darling, I’m so glad you…”
And that was the moment they realized Casey had not come alone. The unexpected face of a stranger at Casey’s back, never mind his trail-weary appearance, startled them all into sudden silence.
“Everyone…this is Ryder Justice.” She glanced at Ryder.
To her surprise, he seemed calm, almost disinterested.
“Ryder—my family.” She pointed them out, one by one, starting with Eudora.
“This is my Gran.” She glanced at Miles and Erica and the expressions on their faces said it all.
She sighed. Some things never change. “The two beautiful blondes with the fabulous scowls are my brother and sister, Miles and Erica.”
As she smiled at Joshua, her voice softened. “And this is Joshua Bass. He and his wife, Tilly, helped raise me.”
Ryder nodded. “It’s a pleasure, sir,” he said quietly. “And, I’d say you and your wife have done a fine job. Casey is quite a woman.”
She gave Ryder a quick look of surprise. The praise was unexpected.
Joshua grinned, pleased to have been recognized as part of the family.
“Casey, really! He’s one of the help,” Eudora said, and then flushed, embarrassed that she’d been put in the position of having to remark upon the differences in their stations in life.
Casey’s chin jutted. “Unlike the majority of this family, Joshua has a job. I have a job as well. I fail to see the difference.” Then she softened her rebuke by winking at Joshua. “Joshie, hurry and bring that champagne. We have some celebrating to do.”
Lash had more on his mind than sipping champagne and social niceties. He glanced at his watch. There were a million things to do and so little time.
“Casey, dearest, we’ve been so worried. When you didn’t come home last night I even called the state police.
We all realize the will came as a terrible shock to you, but if you’d just waited a bit, I could have saved you from all this turmoil.
You know how I feel about you. It was only a matter of time before you came to your senses and did what was best for everyone. ”
When he reached for her hand, Casey took an instinctive step back, right into Ryder’s arms.
“Easy,” Ryder said softly, and Casey shivered. That was what he’d said earlier, right before he’d kissed her.
“I don’t need saving,” she told Lash. “And I’ve already come to my senses. I saved myself.”
A nerve jerked at the side of Lash’s eye, causing it to twitch. “What do you mean?”
Although Ryder was no longer touching Casey, she knew he was still behind her, and, oddly enough, it was his solid presence that gave her the courage to say what had to be said. She pulled the copy of their marriage license from her purse and handed it to Lash without batting an eye.
“Ryder and I were married this morning. I suppose you’ll need this to confirm the legalities and finalize the edicts of the will.”
“Married?”
The shriek came from across the room. Casey wasn’t sure whether it was Miles or Erica who’d come undone, and she didn’t much care.
The paper fell from Lash’s fingers and onto the floor as shock spread across his face. Speech was impossible. All he could do was stare at the woman who’d dashed his last hopes. She seemed calm, even smug about what she’d done, and as he looked, he began to hate.
At this point, Joshua came back into the room with an uncorked bottle of champagne and a tray full of glasses. Casey took it from his hands.
“I’ll pour while you go get Tilly. This won’t be official until you two are in on my news. Also, will you please tell Bea to get the apartment over the garage ready. When it’s cleaned, have someone move my things out there, okay?”
Joshua left with an anxious glance.
“Why on earth would you be doing such a thing?” Eudora asked.
Before Casey could respond, Ryder stepped to her side. For a moment, Casey had the sensation of what it would be like to never stand alone against this family again.
His voice was cool, his manner calm and assured. “Because a wife lives with her husband, and as of yesterday, I’m your new chauffeur, that’s why.”
Miles’s snort of disbelief was echoed by his sister. “My God, Casey, marrying some ne’er-do-well is bad enough, but a chauffeur? Have you no shame?”
Ryder’s expression underwent a remarkable change, from calm to quiet fury. He never took his eyes from Miles. “I don’t care if he is your brother—do not expect me to like that little pig.”
Casey almost laughed. The look of shock on her brothers’s face was priceless.
“You don’t have to,” she said, and then felt obligated to add, “but you can’t hurt him.”
Ryder gave Miles another cool stare, then took the champagne Casey handed him. “There’s more than one way to skin a cat,” he drawled, and gave Miles a cool, studied look. Then he lifted the glass toward her in a silent toast, pinning Casey with a stormy gaze that left her stunned.
“To justice,” he said, letting them decide for themselves what he’d meant.