Scarlet Nights

  “Great. I’m historically dumb.”

  Mike’s eyes showed his amusement.

  “I take it they planned to do away with me after the marriage.”

  “We think so,” Mike said. It was too late to sugarcoat the truth. “And Stefan would inherit whatever you have that only he knows about. We certainly don’t.”

  Sara’s face lit up. “That’s why he made the people of Edilean hate him. He planned to use their dislike of him as an excuse to take me away from here so he could … so he could murder me.”

  “Yes,” Mike said softly, “that’s just what we think he aimed to do.”

  Sara was quiet for a moment, her hand at her throat. “So why did he want Merlin’s Farm?”

  “Good question,” Mike said. “But it could be as simple as Vandlo getting angry at Lang about something, then wanting revenge.”

  “Greg did kill the dogs, didn’t he?”

  “Probably. Sara, there’s more. I’ve spent the last hours doing a lot of planning. I talked with my captain and I also made some arrangements with your parents.”

  “My parents?” Again, she waved her hand. “Don’t let me interrupt you. Tell me what your plan is.”

  “I need to do whatever is necessary to take the Vandlos’ attention off of you and put it on me.”

  “What does that mean? You go in shooting?”

  “That was my first choice.” He was watching her intently. “But they have relatives, so if I shoot them, more Vandlos will come after you in their place. Sara,” he said slowly, then stopped.

  “You’re frightening me again. What horrible thing do you want me to do?”

  “Marry me,” he said simply.

  “What?”

  “If you marry me, then the Vandlos will have to kill me before they can get to you.”

  “Oh,” Sara said. “Oh.”

  Mike felt his ego deflate by half, but then he wondered what he’d expected, that she’d run to him and say she wanted to marry him? He got himself back under control.

  “I want you to marry me in secret. Now. Tonight. Tomorrow morning I have to return to Fort Lauderdale, and until Vandlo gets back I don’t want anyone here to know we’re married. I’ll return for the fair, then I plan to let everyone know that you’re no longer free to marry someone else.”

  When she said nothing, just sat there and stared at him, he continued. “Sara, don’t worry. You don’t have to stay married to me, and in the meantime, we can keep living separately just as we’ve done. We can arrange living any way you want, but I want it legal between us. If Vandlo gets whatever you have, he’ll have to take me out first.”

  “I …” She didn’t know what to say.

  “It’ll be all right, I promise. As for the marriage ceremony itself, it’s all been set up with your parents.”

  “My parents? I think I’m old enough—”

  “That’s not what I meant. Your mother is the mayor, and people owe her favors. Tonight she called them in and got a license for us on a Sunday night. Are you ready to go?”

  Sara couldn’t think of anything to say. There was too much in her mind for her to comprehend. Brian, sweet, dear Brian killed because of her. And Greg—The truth was that she wasn’t surprised to hear that he was a criminal. Over the months they’d known each other, she’d looked away from the many underhanded things he did.

  Silently, she followed Mike to the car. It was the early evening on an ordinary Sunday night and she couldn’t make herself realize that she was on the way to her wedding.

  When Mike got in beside her, she looked at him. She’d known him for only eight days, but it didn’t feel that way. She thought of when they’d hidden in a tree together, of baking for him, of watching him walk along the top of a pavilion. He’d walked across rafters like he was a circus performer and Sara’s heart had pounded in fear. She thought of his date with Ariel. When she’d seen Ariel in church, she’d wanted to throw spitballs into her glossy red hair, as she’d done when they were children.

  Mike pulled out of the driveway. “Sara, I’m sorry about this. I know you wanted your wedding to be in front of the whole town and—”

  “No, I didn’t. That was Greg’s idea. I wanted it to be in Edilean Manor with Luke and Rams, and Joce and Tess there. And my parents. I didn’t even want my sisters to come. It was Greg who wanted a big wedding and he insisted that all the shop clients be invited.”

  “And one of them probably would have been his mother,” Mike said.

  “I guess so …”

  Mike pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Call Luke, wake them up, and tell them we’re on our way to get married in their old house.”

  Sara couldn’t help the little wave of joy that ran through her. “Really?”

  He smiled at her. “I can’t give you everything you want—and deserve—but I can give you the wedding you’d like to have. Minus the correct groom, of course.”

  Sara didn’t reply to his last remark. There were too many other things on her mind. “Did you tell Tess?”

  “Yes.” He didn’t want to burden Sara with more than she’d had piled on her tonight, but Mike had spent twenty minutes calming Tess down. She was nearly hysterical with fear that both Mike and Sara were going to be killed.

  “What did Tess say?”

  “That if she were here, she’d have Rams draw up a contract saying that if you and I divorce, you get Merlin’s Farm.”

  Sara managed a smile. And she remembered the way Tess had protected her from Greg’s greed. How she missed her friend! But Sara’s mind was too full to feel much else. On top of the horror of finding out the truth about Brian and about the man she’d almost married, was how close she’d come to being murdered. And now she was at last getting married, not because of love, but to save her own life. Mike’s marriage proposal had talked of secrecy and living separately, and of not staying married. She’d never imagined words so cold.

  When they reached her parents’ house, Dr. Shaw was outside, waiting for them. He put his arm around his daughter’s shoulders and led her inside.

  Mike stood outside in the dark. “Okay, Newland,” he said aloud. “Straighten up and be strong. You’re about to get married.”

  Mike waited for the shudder to come, but it didn’t. The truth was, he wanted to get this done with before Sara came to her senses and told him to get lost.

  19

  BY THE TIME they got into the house, Sara’s sober mood began to leave her. By rights she knew she should be miserable. She’d just found out about Brian’s death and that Greg wanted to murder her. To further complicate things, she was marrying a man she’d known for only a few days and the marriage would probably end in divorce.

  All in all, she knew she should be sad, but she wasn’t. Instead, she looked at Mike and felt warmth spread through her. It didn’t make sense, but what she was doing felt right.

  “Where’s Mom?” Sara asked her father.

  “Already at Edilean Manor. After Mike’s call, she went into action—and you know what that means.”

  “Orders,” Sara said.

  “Exactly. She said you’re to put on Lissie’s dress here and I’m to drive you to Luke’s house.”

  When Sara and her father turned to look at Mike, he didn’t know what they wanted. “Oh. Right. I’ll meet you there. Sara—”

  She couldn’t bear hearing another apology. “Go! Get your suit on and meet me at the house. And remember …”

  “What?”

  “If you chicken out I’ll be obliged to marry Greg.”

  Mike smiled at her. “Yeah. Good. Okay.” He couldn’t seem to make a complete sentence. He went to his car, and minutes later he was outside Edilean Manor. The house was ablaze with light and he could hear voices inside.

  Luke threw open the front door, a glass of champagne in his hand. “I have a houseful of excited women. Well, really only two women, but they’re making enough noise that it sounds like New Year’s Eve.”

&n
bsp; “Luke!” Sara’s mother called. “We need you.”

  “I suggest you slip over to Tess’s house to change. I’ll come and get you when it’s time. Okay if I’m your best man?” When Mike nodded, Luke said, “If you come in here, they’ll put you to work.”

  “Doing what?” he asked, but Luke had already shut the door.

  Mike went to his sister’s apartment, showered, shaved, and dressed.

  In his pocket were two new platinum wedding bands that Sara’s mother had given him when he’d gone to them to arrange the marriage. He’d thought they would protest his outrageous plan, but they hadn’t. Mike had told them that Greg was a criminal and he wanted something from Sara that he could only get by marrying her. To Mike’s surprise, neither of them had questioned his story. Ellie said, “What can we do to help?” When Mike told them he wanted to marry Sara that night, he’d hardly finished the sentence before Ellie went into action. As for Dr. Shaw, for a second there were tears in his eyes, then he jumped up and went to work helping his wife make arrangements.

  “From Kimberly?” Mike had asked when she’d handed the rings to her. “No questions asked?”

  Ellie smiled. “You fit into Edilean very well,” she said as she left the room.

  “You’ve done it now, boy,” Dr. Shaw said. “Once they accept you, they don’t ever let you leave this town.” He made sounds of eerie music.

  “I heard that,” Ellie called from down the hall.

  Now, in Tess’s apartment and dressing for his wedding, surprisingly, Mike felt good. As he waited for Luke to come and get him, he again called Tess. Her pills hadn’t worn off, and combined with the hormones of pregnancy and having just told Rams about the baby, she did little but cry.

  “I wish I were there,” she kept saying. “I wanted to see you get married. And Sara …”

  Rams took the phone and asked Mike to let Tess listen to the ceremony.

  “Of course,” Mike said, then looked up to see Luke in the doorway. It was time. He followed Luke to the main part of the big, old house.

  Mike was shocked at the sheer quantity of flowers that draped the entrance of the house.

  “They’re for a wedding that’s to happen tomorrow,” Luke said from beside him. “We figure no one will know if the flowers spend a few hours here.” They were standing in front of the big parlor fireplace, which had been made into an altar, with an archway of roses and ferns. Big bouquets of white roses with blue ribbons dangling from them made a pathway through the room.

  “Nervous?” Luke asked.

  Mike nodded. “I was calmer that time I faced two men with automatic rifles.”

  “We really need to talk about your life. How’d you get out of that one?”

  “Knives. I always carry—” He stopped talking because music began to play over a stereo system, and Luke hurried back down the aisle. Moments later he reappeared with his hugely pregnant wife in a wheelchair.

  There were only three couples there, just six people, but the music and the flowers and the beautiful house made it feel like a true ceremony.

  When the wedding march began to play and Sara appeared in the doorway on the arm of her father, Mike knew he’d never seen anyone so beautiful in his life. Her dress was of lace over satin, very old-fashioned-looking, and fit her perfectly, smoothing down over her hips to flow out gently into a skirt. She had on a traditional veil that covered her face, and Mike couldn’t help feeling pleased that he’d get to lift it. It almost made the wedding seem real.

  When she reached the little altar, Dr. Shaw gave Sara’s hand to Mike and he squeezed it. Under the veil, he could see her smile.

  Beside them, Luke dialed Tess and Rams to let them hear everything over the speakerphone.

  Mike and Sara turned to her mother, who stood there in a long white robe, a Bible in her hands. When she’d told Mike she was ordained to conduct wedding ceremonies, he hadn’t been surprised.

  Now, Ellie’s eyes were red, and her nose swollen from crying.

  “Dearly beloved,” she began, then had to stop to blow her nose. “We are gathered here today—” She stopped again because her tears were dripping.

  “Daddy!” Sara hissed at her father, who was standing behind Joce in her wheelchair.

  Chuckling, Dr. Shaw went to help his wife get through the ceremony.

  When Mike slipped a ring on her finger, Sara looked at him in surprise, and when he handed her a ring for him, there was a smile of gratitude on her face.

  Given his background, Mike had thought he’d hesitate over the promises he was to make to Sara. But he didn’t. He answered the questions and made the vows without so much as a pause.

  Sara said everything with so much happiness in her voice that he could almost believe what she was saying.

  “I now pronounce you—” Ellie began, but dissolved into tears so copious that she couldn’t speak.

  “Really, Mother!” Sara said.

  Dr. Shaw pronounced them man and wife, and Ellie nodded in agreement. “You may kiss her now, son,” he said to Mike.

  Smiling, Mike lifted Sara’s veil and looked at her beautiful face. Gently, he took her in his arms and kissed her—and flashbulbs went off.

  Laughing, blinking, they broke apart and smiled for all four cameras that were aimed at them.

  “Cake,” Dr. Shaw said. “I demand cake and champagne.”

  In the dining room were more flowers and in the center was a three-tiered wedding cake with white icing and about a hundred roses in different shades of pink. It was an extraordinary creation.

  Dr. Shaw raised his glass. “To the Whitley-Cooper wedding in gratitude for the flowers and cake that they gave us.” He lowered his voice. “And may the Lord be with us tomorrow when the bride is told that her cake was eaten during the night.”

  Luke was the first to laugh, and the others joined him—but they all knew that Ellie would spend the rest of the night remaking the cake. She would never let a bride under her care go without.

  They insisted that Mike and Sara feed each other while they snapped more pictures.

  Thirty minutes later, Luke told Mike that Joce was exhausted. “And if we’re to keep this wedding a secret, we have to clear all this stuff out before dawn.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Mike said and glanced at Sara. She was dancing with her father, her head on his shoulder, and he didn’t want to break them up.

  But minutes later, the music stopped and Sara looked at Mike. He nodded. It was time to leave.

  As Mike and Sara stood in the doorway, Ellie started crying again as she kissed her daughter and slipped something into her hand.

  “She thought I’d never catch a man,” Sara said under her breath to Mike as they kissed everyone good-bye, but Mike knew that Ellie’s tears were from relief that her daughter wasn’t going to marry Greg. She’d always felt there was more wrong with the man than just a bad temper.

  Once they were outside, the cool night air felt good. He was glad when the others stayed inside and left them alone. Mike started to go to Tess’s apartment, but Sara turned toward her own and he followed her.

  “So what did your mother give you?”

  Sara held up a small bottle to the moonlight. “Scarlet Nights perfume. I told her you liked it.”

  “Wasted on us,” Mike said as he opened the door to Sara’s apartment.

  “What does that mean?” She went in ahead of him, and he shut the door behind them.

  “Nothing.” He yawned. “I need to leave as early as possible in the morning.” He looked at his watch, then smiled at Sara. “It’s been a long day.” Bending, he kissed her cheek and turned toward the guest bedroom.

  From behind him, Sara said, “I don’t get a wedding night?”

  Mike stopped in the hallway, but he didn’t turn around.

  “What is it about me that men don’t like?”

  Mike turned to look at her. “Men like you too much.”

  Sara lifted her hands in frustration as she went into the kitchen.
“Do you know how long I knew Brian before he made love to me? Six months. We dated for four whole years, but he didn’t ask me to marry him. Then Greg came along and he talked about nothing but marriage and our fabulous future together. Today I found out that he was actually plotting my death.

  “So now I’m married to some gorgeous hunk who seems to have slept with half the universe but he won’t touch me.” She glared at Mike. “What happened to real men?” Angry, she turned to go to her bedroom.

  Mike caught her arm before she took a step and for a moment he looked into her eyes.

  Sara tried to jerk away from him, but he held fast and pulled her to him with a jolt that almost knocked the breath out of her.

  Mike had kissed her before, but they’d always been sedate kisses, chaste and pure. But not now. His mouth opened over hers and his tongue assaulted hers with a force that nearly made Sara collapse. Her mind was full of the sight of his body and she wanted to touch it, to run her mouth over every inch of it.

  Mike seemed to be thinking the same thing as he reached for the shoulder of her wedding gown.

  “Tear it and I’ll never forgive you,” she murmured, her lips on his cheek.

  “You’ve dealt with too many boys,” Mike said and two minutes later her dress fell to her feet. She couldn’t imagine how he’d so quickly and deftly unfastened all the satin buttons down the back.

  When Mike saw her without the dress, he drew in his breath. Joce had overseen Sara’s undergarments, so she wore a pale pink corset of silk and lace, and a garter belt with pink hose that reached to midthigh. Her white heels were at least four inches tall.

  “Sara,” he whispered, and for the first time she saw his face without its guarded expression. He wore a look of desire so strong that Sara felt her body grow weak.

  In the next second, Mike waved his arm across the little kitchen table and everything on it went flying. He lifted Sara up onto it, her long, slim legs, still in the stockings, hanging down, while Mike ripped off his own clothes. As his skin was exposed, Sara’s eyes widened. She’d seen his nude back, but the front of him was even better. He had strong pecs above a stomach that looked like a terrain map.