Chapter 8 #2
“I’m not looking forward to going back to Maui and facing my father,” Alana said. “He’ll find a way to make this all my fault. He thought Vance hung the moon.”
Gina snorted. “You’ll just have to convince him that Chase is the right man for you.”
Alana tilted her head, frowning. “Why would I do that? We’re getting an annulment.”
Once again, her words struck Chase in the gut. The more time he spent with Alana, the more time he wanted to spend with the woman who was dead set on ending their marriage.
“That might take longer if you don’t stay in Mexico to take care of it,” Gina pointed out.
Chase almost smiled at Gina’s words. Maybe going to Hawaii before the annulment would buy him more time with his reluctant bride.
Alana grimaced. “On the other hand, I won’t need an annulment if I’m dead.”
Chase frowned, his gut clenching at the thought. His jaw hardened. “We’re not giving Delgado that option. Ready?”
Alana nodded and stood back while Chase opened the door.
“Alana, girl!” a deep, familiar voice boomed from the hallway. “You don’t know how hard you were to find.” An older man with a shock of graying-blond hair and a shadow of a beard stepped through the doorframe. Another man, possibly a bodyguard, in a dark suit and sunglasses waited in the hallway.
Alana ground to a halt, and her jaw dropped. Her father wrapped her in a giant bear hug.
“Daddy?” she said. The single word came out barely above a whisper and then strengthened into a demand. “What are you doing here?”
The older man paused inside the suite and stared around at the others with one eyebrow cocked. Then he turned to face Alana. “I came to bring you back to Maui. I’ve spoken to Vance. He sends his regrets and is ready to go through with the wedding.”
“Are you kidding me?” Alana crossed her arms over her chest. “I wouldn’t marry Vance if he were the last man on earth. He cheated on me, Daddy. Did he tell you that?”
“All men can be led astray at different points in their lives,” her father said. “Vance just got an earlier start than most.”
“I’m not going back to Maui.” Alana scooted closer to Chase. “And I’m not marrying Vanishing Vance. That’s over. I never should’ve agreed to marry him in the first place. We weren’t meant to be together.”
“You agreed to marry him. He’s ready to go through with the ceremony to live up to his side of the promise.”
Anger burned in Alana. She loved her father, but he could be obtuse and obstinate at the same time. “He broke that promise for good when he didn’t show up for the wedding, because he was too tired from boinking the wedding planner.”
“That’s over,” her father said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “He’s waiting for you to come back. We can hire a JP to perform the ceremony and have you off on the honeymoon of your choice by the end of the day.”
“Daddy…” Alana cupped her father’s cheeks between her palms. “I love you, but I’m not marrying Vance. In fact, I’m already married.”
“What?” Her father’s cheeks burned a bright red, the color extending all the way out to the tips of his ears. “What the hell?” He glanced at the occupants of the room. “Will someone tell me what she’s talking about?”
Alana held up her left hand. The one with the plain wedding band on her ring finger. “I got married last night. It’s too late for me to marry Vance, even if I wanted to. Which I don’t. He’s not the man for me.”
“But how?” Her father looked around at the faces in the room. “How did you know this person you married? You were set to marry Vance yesterday. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“It made sense to me. Didn’t you marry Mama after knowing her for only three days?”
Her father’s frown deepened. “That was different. We didn’t have two nickels to rub together.”
“I don’t have much more than that,” Alana said. “And what difference does it make? Sometimes, your heart knows what your head is afraid to admit.” She hooked her arm through Chase’s. “Daddy, this is my…husband…Chase Flannigan.”
Her father glared at Chase, then shot an equally wilting glance at his daughter. “Please tell me this is some kind of joke.”
Alana lifted her chin and met her father’s glare head-on. “No, this is not a joke. We have the marriage certificate to prove it.”
“How can you be married to this man when you were engaged to marry Vance?” her father demanded.
“Daddy, you aren’t listening. My engagement to Vance ended the moment he decided to run off with the wedding planner and leave me waiting at the altar.”
“I was there. You didn’t make it to the altar. Who knows, Vance could’ve shown up, had you walked all the way down the aisle and waited for him. As it is, he’s come to his senses and has agreed to fulfill the promise he made to marry you.”
“Ha! He was nowhere around. How much more pathetic would I have been had I continued down the aisles and stood there waiting for a groom that obviously wasn’t coming?
” Alana snorted. “I wouldn’t marry Vance now if he were the last man on earth.
Besides, like I said, I’m already married.
” She tightened her hold on Chase’s arm.
“To this man. Chase, this is my father, Dwayne Neal.”
“Nice to meet you, sir.” Chase held out his hand.
Alana’s father ignored the hand and addressed her. “Do you even know this man?”
“I do. He’s a former Navy SEAL. He’s going to work in Montana for a protection service.
He loves to dance, and so do I. And he’s great in bed.
” She squared her shoulders. “And he would never skip out on me with a wedding planner. He’s an honorable man who has vowed to protect me with his own life, unlike Vance. What more do I need to know?”
Chase’s heart swelled at Alana’s words. He knew she was saying them to stand up to her father, but maybe there was some truth in her words. So, she thought he was great in bed? The corners of his lips quirked. He fought to keep from grinning.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Mr. Neal said. “You cannot have married a man in less than twenty-four hours after meeting him. He’s a fortune hunter. A gold-digger. Well, I won’t have it.” Her father even stomped his patent-leather-clad foot in anger. “My attorneys will have the marriage annulled.”
“We’ve already consummated the marriage,” Alana said, her cheeks heating slightly.
“Then my lawyers will draw up the papers for your divorce. I will not have you married to someone I don’t approve of.”
“And how can you disapprove of a man you don’t know, Daddy?” Alana planted her hands on her hips.
Damn, she was cute when she was angry.
“Everything I’ve learned about Chase is good.
He served our country, defended our way of life and left the military honorably.
He’s a good man,” she said. “What has Vance done to prove his worth, other than have a high-paying job—a job his father gave him in the business that his father built? Vance never had to work hard for what he has. How does that make him a better man than Chase?” Alana gave her father one of his own looks, staring down her nose at him.
“It doesn’t. Chase is a better man than Vance could ever hope to be. ”
“You go, sister,” Gina said, and received a killer look from Alana’s father. “Really, Mr. Neal, Alana wouldn’t have been happy with Vance. You don’t want your daughter to marry a man who doesn’t make her happy, do you?”
Alana’s father didn’t look at Gina. His gaze remained locked on his daughter. “I don’t want any man to marry you for my money.” His gaze shifted to Chase, and his eyes narrowed. “I’ll give my money to charity before I let it go to someone who marries my daughter to get to my fortune.”
Chase’s body stiffened next to Alana. “Is that what this is all about? You think I married your daughter to get to your money?” He laughed, the sound jarring on Alana’s ears.
“I don’t know who you are, or how much money you’re worth.
Nor do I care. I have enough of my own. Money I saved while on active duty, defending your right to make as much money as you want.
Defending your way of life. I put my life on the line for you, Alana and every American because it’s what I believe in.
I don’t want your money. I have my own—money I earned with my blood, sweat and a few tears along the way.
I hope to use that money to buy a small ranch in Montana.
It won’t be much, but it’ll be enough. Enough to live on, to raise a few horses and cows and, maybe, a family.
I have an honorable job awaiting me in Montana.
One that will allow me to provide for your daughter and any children that might come along. What more do I need?”
Alana smiled, her eyes glistening. “Nothing.” She’d only ever wanted a place to call her own. A place she could get to know the neighbors and establish relationships with people who didn’t work for her father.
“Hell, Chase,” Gina said. “You make me wish you’d chosen me.”
“Hey,” Carson cut in. “He’s married.”
“Right.” Gina grinned. “He’s married to my best friend, and I couldn’t be happier for them.”
“And right now, Chase and I are headed to the airport to return to the States,” Alana said. “If you’ll excuse us, we’ll be on our way.”
“Why are you headed to the States?” her father asked, his expression sour. “If you just married, I would’ve thought you’d stick around here to enjoy your honeymoon.”
Alana scrambled for an excuse that didn’t involve telling her father she had a death threat out on her, and Chase was certain to be killed if he met with the cartel leader. “Uh... We’ve decided we’d prefer to spend our honeymoon in Montana. I much prefer the mountains to getting sand in my shorts.”
“I’m not done with you, young lady.” Her father stepped in front of her, blocking her path. His bodyguard remained in the hallway, on alert and ready to assist.
“Daddy, I’m twenty-eight years old. I don’t need your permission to do what I want. If I want pepperoni on my pizza, I’ll have pepperoni on my pizza.”