Chapter Seven
Jace was halfway to the truck when he stopped dead in his tracks. His body shut down, refused to move until his mind caught up and took in the ramifications of the last twenty minutes. He’d just proposed to a woman he’d known a little over forty-eight hours.
Two days. That was it. And he had a fiancée. What the…?
Not just any fiancée, either. Aurelie was his childhood friend’s best friend, was currently in a country that wanted to deport her, and she was hell-bent on saving the town he’d voluntarily left the day he’d turned eighteen. Not to mention she was running from an abusive and maniacal father.
To add to the craziness, he’d proposed this solution to her problems without even knowing her last name. What on God’s green earth could he have been thinking?
He wasn’t. That was the problem, wasn’t it? Ever since he’d met Aurelie, his brain had taken a back seat to his impulses, and damn, had they taken over full-time now.
As his body slowly regained basic motor function, Jace got into the driver’s seat.
His hands shook as he gripped the wheel.
Afraid Aurelie would peek out the window and see him in a full-blown panic, he started the engine and roared out of the driveway.
Where was he heading anyway? If he had any sense, he’d head straight for the airport and get a one-way ticket to LA.
He’d sell this house and land that had brought him nothing but drama since he was old enough to walk.
Or before that, if he was honest with himself.
His own mother had died in that house, on that land, having never gotten to chase a single one of her own dreams. Instead, she’d been knocked up by her high school boyfriend the summer after graduation, married him before she showed in her gown, and died three hours after giving birth to Jace.
His dad had said on more than one occasion he wasn’t sure he’d even wanted kids; his mother sure hadn’t.
She’d had big dreams of going to acting school in California until she got pregnant.
One night, when Jace was in high school and being a teenage ass, his dad, in a drunken rage, had gone so far as to blame Jace for his mother’s death.
They’d repaired things more or less, but Jace had known this life wasn’t for him. He owed it to his mom to chase his dreams and get out of this town before it killed him, too.
What was his dream now, though? Because he’d inadvertently chased his father and mother’s dreams for them, but had no idea what his own might look like.
The turnoff to the highway came and went.
He could tell himself all he wanted that he was marrying Aurelie because Cammie told him it would help his career, if he went back to it, but the truth of the matter was, he couldn’t get Aurelie out of his head.
Thinking of her back on the islands, at the mercy of her father, made his skin crawl with anger.
Thinking of her on his porch—the porch where he’d dreamed his biggest dreams and longed for a bigger life—calmed the fury.
The image was complete with her in a sundress, a glass of lemonade—or rum—in her hands, her bare feet dipping in the grass at the edge of the porch. In the vision, he was beside her.
What the hell did that mean? He’d barely destroyed the porch. The house was next on his list, but the idea of rebuilding it into something that could hold not only his life, but someone else’s hadn’t occurred to him until that precise moment.
A moment too late, it seemed, since he’d already asked the woman to marry him.
For business reasons, right?
Sure. He wanted to help her out, but… He couldn’t shake the idea that making Aurelie his wife was more than just transactional. He was attracted to her, as evidenced by the half-mast erection he had every time he thought about her, but he also wanted more than just a quick lay.
Watching her tend to Maddie, rocking the infant and feeding her on the couch…
Something about that called to him in a deep, feral way he’d never experienced before.
An errant daydream of Aurelie pregnant with his baby, his hand on her growing stomach, flashed across his vision.
The image sent chills down his arms, but heat roiled wild in his belly.
Still… He didn’t know that he could have a family of his own, not without worrying every damn second it would be taken from him like his father’s wife had been, and long before they’d had a chance to love one another deeply.
That’s why marrying Aurelie was the perfect solution.
It helped her, helped him, and guaranteed he wouldn’t fall for a woman who had the power to upend his life because he’d be spending all his time making sure Aurelie never felt that this wasn’t real.
Maybe it wouldn’t be, but he could do anything in his power to never let her regret this decision.
There’s more than this, too.
The voice in the back of his head was loud and not easily ignored.
You’re doing this to prove something to him, too, aren’t you?
Maybe he was trying to show his father he could do something right, could show up for his community when they needed him. So what?
Because if that’s the only reason, or the biggest reason, it’s going to backfire.
Why did Jace’s subconscious have to be right all the time? The man was gone, and he still had a hold on Jace.
Well, not for long. Soon, the only hold over Jace would be razing the man’s ranching legacy and building it into something bigger, better than ever.
That, and helping Aurelie save the town from Puckman.
It wasn’t a dream, per se, but it was a direction that might lead him to one, and that was enough for now.
*
This rationale was how he found himself parked in front of the courthouse at a little after eight in the morning the next day, and not at the Helena Airport ticket counter.
He hopped out of the truck and bounded up the stairs, all his reservations left on the road behind him.
He was committed to this, and when he set his mind to something, he always got what he wanted.
The trick would be showing Aurelie they could enjoy this time together, not just have the convenience of a marriage that served both their needs.
Fifteen minutes later, thanks to Aurelie’s quick thinking in showing up to meet him at the courthouse, he danced back down the steps with a marriage certificate in hand, she tucked Maddie in her car seat to head home for a much-needed nap, and he was back to his plan.
Only one more stop before they could make this thing official.
Jace turned up the song on the radio. It was one of his favorites about two kids making life the best that they could despite the crappy circumstances they faced. He sang along, tapping the steering wheel to the beat.
Only two blocks later, he pulled into the parking lot of the grocer. Small-town life was growing on him again, especially considering the same errand would have taken him two hours in LA traffic.
Jace headed to the floral department first, where there didn’t seem to be any lilies. Yet, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a large cerulean pot of white, bowl-shaped flowers. They almost resembled the roses he was admiring, but they were fuller, softer.
“Excuse me, can you tell me what these are?” he asked a young woman behind the counter. “They’re incredible.”
“Gardenias,” she said. Just like Aurelie’s last name, almost. A smile wormed its way across his face.
“It’s the end of their growing season, so this will probably be the last batch we get in, and they should stay inside for the winter.
You’re lucky. Normally, we don’t get them past the middle of September. ” She smiled warmly at him.
“Thanks. Any lilies?” he asked. She pulled some out of the back, but they were cut stems in a bouquet instead of live plants.
Still, they were perfect. “I’d love these both,” he said.
The woman went from registering surprise to recognition as she added baby’s breath and greenery to the bouquet for him.
There was no question she knew who he was.
“You’re…” she started, then laughed when he nodded. “Wow. I was just telling my mom nothing exciting happens around here, and then you show up. What brings you to town?”
Jace thought about what he should say, hesitating at first. But he didn’t have anything to be ashamed of, so in the end, he opted for the truth.
“I’m actually coming home. I grew up here.” The clerk looked at him through wide eyes, her mouth slightly open in shock.
“Wow. You came from here? I mean, I know why you left. There’s nothing in this place. Why’d you come back?” Her nose scrunched up her eyes and cheeks as if she’d just inhaled something foul.
He’d probably be getting that a lot and didn’t fault people for questioning his motives.
He had enough money to hire people, so he didn’t have to work the land under sheets of ice, didn’t have to repair fences when a wild animal got in, like his father had to do almost every spring.
A twinge of guilt nagged at the periphery of his thoughts, especially when he considered what marrying Aurelie would mean.
She’d be subjected to the same scrutiny.
“It’s quiet, peaceful, and I’m actually rebranding my father’s ranch to see what I can make of it.”
“Did you bring a… Well, I saw that you were dating Harley Young. Is she here?”
Jace shook his head. Harley had wanted more than he could give, which is why they couldn’t have lasted. Aurelie’s general ambivalence to him would, strangely, make her the perfect wife.
“Nope. We broke up a few months ago.” The next words came out before he could stop them. “In fact, I’m on my way to marry a lovely half-local like myself.”
Saying the words out loud to a stranger made them all the more real, and his heart fluttered with anticipation. Whether or not this was the right move, he was committed now.
“What a lucky girl,” the young woman said.