Taken Home (Lone Star Burn)

  She reached into her bra, pulled out the condom, and stared at it in her hand. I should have kept my mouth shut about my inexperience. But that’s me. I blurt things out when I’m excited.

  The memory of their kiss brought a flush to Chelle’s cheeks. She looked up at her reflection and saw desire burning in her eyes. Regardless of how the kiss had made Mason feel, it was obvious how she still felt about it.

  Mason Thorne does not matter. What he thinks of me does not affect how I see myself. It’s okay to be a twenty-five-year-old virgin. The right man will appreciate that I waited for him.

  Fresh tears came to her eyes, and she dabbed them quickly away. I am so full of shit. I should probably sleep with Bobby Mulner just to get it over with.

  Despite how he had become an attractive adult, she shuddered at the thought of kissing him. Maybe if I got drunk. Isn’t that what everyone does the first time? They have a few too many and blame it on that?

  There is not enough alcohol here to make Bobby look good to me.

  Shaking her head, Chelle turned, unlocked the bathroom door, and stepped back into the foyer only to come face-to-face with one very concerned-looking David. Double shit.

  “What happened, Chelle?”

  Her bottom lip quivered, and she shrugged. “I’m an idiot.” She looked away. It was then she realized she still had the condom in her hand. She held it out to him. “Here. I won’t be needing this.”

  David accepted it with a carefully blank expression and dropped it into his jacket pocket.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Chelle caught a glimpse of her father at the door of the reception hall and hoped age had diminished his eyesight. He didn’t look happy as he turned on his heel and disappeared back into the reception.

  She fisted her hands at her sides.

  David studied her face for a moment more, then, in his always unflappably calm manner, suggested, “Why don’t I go get Melanie for you?”

  Before Chelle could tell him it wasn’t necessary, he also retreated back into the wedding reception. Only the knowledge that things would get worse rather than better if she left made her do the same.

  Melanie was at her side a moment later, pulling her off to a quiet area away from the music. “Do you need a pad or tampon? I don’t have a purse with me, but one of my sisters will.”

  Confused, Chelle shook her head. “Why would you ask that?” Then she spun in horror, trying to see the back of her dress. “Oh my God, did I start?” I didn’t think things could get worse, but I was wrong.

  Melanie raised a hand in a calming motion. “No. No. David told me you were having feminine issues and sent me over. I just assumed . . .”

  Panic receded as Chelle saw the root of the misunderstanding. She rubbed a hand over her eyes, not sure if she was on the verge of laughing or crying again. “This may very well be the worst day of my life.”

  Melanie made a face and joked. “I wouldn’t let Sarah hear you say that.” When Chelle didn’t even crack a smile, Melanie added, “How bad could today be? I saw you talking to Mason; I’m sure that was entertaining.”

  “Trust me—it wasn’t.”

  “Did he say something to upset you?” Melanie closed a hand on Chelle’s forearm. “You can tell me.”

  Unable to meet Melanie’s eyes, Chelle said, “I’m not myself tonight. Can we leave it at that? I want to have a drink, maybe two, and start tonight over. I’ve been a total ass so far, but that ends now. Tonight is about Sarah and Tony, not me.” And my cobwebbed vagina.

  Melanie looked as if she wanted to ask another question, but instead she nodded. “Okay, but if you need to talk to someone, I’m here, Chelle. We may not be as close as you and Sarah, but I don’t like to see you upset.”

  Chelle studied the woman who had spent so many years hiding from the world. She remembered falsely believing Melanie didn’t want friends. Melanie used to always have an unapproachable, angry expression on her face, but she had changed over the past year. She was softer, more confident, and a hundred times more beautiful.

  She looked over at Charles Dery, Melanie’s fiancé, and smiled at him sadly. I’m happy she found him. And that Sarah found Tony. Just because Mason Thorne didn’t want me doesn’t mean the right man isn’t right around the corner.

  Who knows, maybe he’ll walk right through that door.

  The side door of the reception hall opened, and Chelle held her breath. Fate had never been overly kind to her, but after the day she’d had, maybe it felt it owed her.

  A woman walked in, decked out in a skintight silver dress and diamonds. Her hair was done up in a beautiful loose knot, and she carried herself like a princess arriving at a ball. “Who is that?” Chelle asked aloud.

  Melanie turned and also gave the newcomer a once-over. “I have no idea, but she appears to be looking for someone.”

  Flashy to the point of being gaudy. Beautiful in a plastic sort of way. The woman belonged in Hollywood, not some tiny town in Texas.

  Hollywood.

  Could she be the woman Mason claimed he had lied to in an attempt to discourage her? Could she? If so, Chelle found it difficult to feel sympathy for her. The Gwyneth Paltrow blonde made a face as she looked around the room, as if she had entered an unclean area she couldn’t wait to leave. She wrinkled her nose at one of Chelle’s slightly overweight female cousins, who had squeezed herself into a dress that had probably fit her well at the last wedding she’d attended.

  A protective shot of adrenaline coursed through Chelle. Oh no you don’t. I don’t care what they’re wearing—you do not look at my family like that. Chelle almost headed straight over to confront her, but stopped when a better option occurred to her.

  She wasn’t sure if her motivation stemmed from feeling protective of her family or from not liking the idea of Mason with someone so obviously superficial. Either way, Mason had asked for help, whatever his reaction to her. Sending Barbie scurrying back to California felt like the right thing to do.

  “Are you okay, Chelle?” Melanie asked when Chelle turned to walk away without saying anything.

  “I will be.”

  Mason rested his elbows on the banister of the balcony, trying to untangle his thoughts before returning to the wedding. He’d decided a long time ago that guilt was a wasted emotion. It didn’t change anything.

  Still, he didn’t like how he felt each time he thought about Chelle. He’d been honest with her. Wasn’t that better than leading her on?

  I could have let her down easier. She doesn’t know how badly I wanted to say yes to her.

  David appeared beside him and mirrored his pensive pose. “I remember my first impression of you.”

  Mason straightened, turned to lean back against the railing, and folded his arms across his chest. David sounded like a man about to give a stern lecture to a child, and frankly, Mason wasn’t in the mood. “I’m sure I don’t want to hear it.”

  Without missing a beat, David continued, “I thought you were a self-serving, irreverent narcissist.”

  Mason raised an eyebrow, refusing to rise to the very obvious bait. “My, my,” he said with thick sarcasm and a fake southern accent, “that must be what they call southern charm.”

  “Consider it a dose of Texan honesty.”

  Mason turned to meet David’s eyes. “Let me give you some Californian candor. I couldn’t care less what you think of me.”

  David straightened, but kept both hands tight on the railing. “A wedding is no place for disagreements, but I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t speak my mind. You need to stay away from Chelle Landon.”

  Mason barked out a laugh. “You’re upset because you saw me talking to a woman?”

  David’s hands clenched visibly. “Chelle is one of the sweetest, shyest women in these parts.”

  Mason’s eyes rounded a bit in disbelief. During his very brief acquaintance with her, Chelle had both kissed him and belted him. David, however, didn’t look like a man who would appreciate Mason’s insights into
her character. “I’m sure she is.”

  “Someone like you would be better off steering clear of her.”

  “Someone like me?” Some of Mason’s appreciation for the humor of the situation faded. “I’m a goddamned senator.”

  “What you do for a living has no bearing on what I’m saying. I’m telling you to find your entertainment elsewhere tonight.”

  Mason pushed off the banister and turned to face David. “Listen, David, I like you. I do. In fact, this whole small-town good-guy persona you have going is big-screen worthy. However, Chelle doesn’t need your protection, and I’m in no mood to humor you. This conversation is over.”

  David’s eyes narrowed in anger. He straightened to his full height, which was about equal to Mason’s. “My ‘good-guy persona’ will shove its boot up your ass if I see you around Chelle again tonight.”

  Mason flashed his teeth at David and leaned in threateningly. “I didn’t get where I am today by letting anyone tell me what I could and couldn’t do. I don’t want to fight with you, David. Not at a wedding, but if you take it there, you won’t like the outcome.”

  “You think you’d last longer than a second in a real fight?” David went nose to nose with him. “Your confidence is overblown from those fancy gym punching bags. Don’t make me prove it to you.”

  “So this is where the party is,” Charles said, deliberately making light of the tension between the two men. “They’re cutting the cake inside, but it might be best if you two stay out here until they put the knife away.”

  Neither Mason nor David looked away from their standoff.

  Charles admonished them. “Seriously, whatever you’re arguing about, shelve it for tonight. This is a big day for my sister. I want people to remember her wedding because it was beautiful, not because you two jackasses had a drunken brawl.”

  “One drink,” Mason said tightly.

  “Stone sober,” David added.

  “Then what the fuck is the problem?” Charles asked impatiently.

  “No problem. I believe I made my point.” David gave Mason one last warning look before walking away.

  Mason held back the smart-ass retort that came to him, but only out of respect for what Charles had just said. It was, after all, his best friend’s sister’s wedding. “You must love it here, Charlie. These people are as uptight as you are.”

  “What point did he feel he needed to make?” Charles asked.

  Mason shrugged. “He saw me talking to Chelle and couldn’t handle it.”

  Charles rocked back on his heels and pocketed his hands in his trousers. “Stay away from her, Mace. She’s not like the women you’re used to.”

  Mason rubbed the cheek she’d slapped. “So I’m beginning to see.”

  “I’m serious. Most of these people were born here. They marry local, and they intend to die here. Some families settled here generations ago. Reputations matter. Don’t do anything that will make it hard for Chelle to face her neighbors tomorrow.”

  “You mean, don’t do anything that will make it hard for you.”

  “That too.”

  Mason let out a long sigh. “Do you want me to leave? You know, before I corrupt the whole town?”

  Charles ran a hand through his hair. “No. You’re a good friend, and it means a lot to Sarah that you came. You were late, but you came.”

  “Maybe I would have gotten here quicker if your sister hadn’t decided to marry someone in cow-tipping country.”

  Charles gave a flicker of a smile at that. “It’s not that bad.” Then he sobered. “You really don’t have any business messing with someone like Chelle. She’s a good woman. She deserves . . .”

  Mason frowned. “Someone better?”

  Charles pinched the bridge of his nose and seemed to be choosing his words carefully. “You’re with a different woman every night. Sometimes more than one at a time. I don’t judge your lifestyle—”

  Irritation spread through Mason. “It sure as hell sounds like you do.”

  “Mason, I get why you don’t let yourself get attached to women. What you do with your personal life isn’t my business, unless you bring it here. I don’t know how to say this any more nicely. I’m happy with Melanie. The next wedding this town sees will likely be ours. If you fuck that up for me, I don’t know if we could get past it.”

  “How much of a bastard do you think I am?”

  Charles didn’t say a word, but his silence was his answer.

  “That’s just fucking great,” Mason said harshly. He shook his head in disgust. “Believe it or not, I have no intention of having sex with anyone in this godforsaken town. Saint Chelle is safe. I’ll fly out right after the reception.”

  “Thank you,” Charles said, then smiled. “How about we go get some cake?”

  Slightly offended by how his friend had readily agreed that he should go, Mason gave Charles a long, dark look.

  Chelle walked back onto the balcony. She smiled at Charles. “Do you mind if I speak to Mason alone?”

  Despite how his heart started pounding at Chelle’s entrance, Mason gave Charles a pointed look, then said to Chelle, “Charles was just explaining that my presence is requested back inside.”

  Chelle laid a hand on Mason’s arm. The heat of that innocent touch shot through him, making it difficult to concentrate on her next words. “It’ll just take a minute. There’s something you need to know.”

  Mason’s imagination was running overtime. Was she back to offer herself to him again? If so, he didn’t think he could say no, regardless of what he’d promised Charles. With an inward groan, Mason said, “I shouldn’t.”

  Charles made a warning sound deep in his throat.

  Mason strengthened his refusal. “I won’t.” He looked at Chelle and silently implored her to understand. “I appreciate whatever you came to say, but I really have to go inside.”

  “Mason, darling, there you are,” a high-pitched female voice sang loudly from a few feet away.

  “Trish,” Mason said between gritted teeth. Fuck. This isn’t going to be pretty. He was still weighing his exit options in his head when, to his utter shock, Chelle tucked herself beneath one of his arms.

  “Mason? Is this one of your California friends?”

  “Oh, honey, I’m more than his friend.”

  Chelle gasped and brought a shaking hand to her mouth. The frantic look she gave him was Emmy worthy. “Tell me this isn’t the woman you cheated on me with.” She let out a tiny sob.

  The actor in Mason admired the emotion Chelle was bringing to the scene. He didn’t understand why she’d changed her mind about helping him, and if Charles’s expression was anything to go by, there would be hell to pay for this later, but for the moment playing along with her made sense. “It is, but it’s over, Chelle. I meant everything I said. She was a mistake, and one I’m sorry for.”

  Trish’s eyes narrowed, and she wrinkled her nose. “Mason, you can’t be seriously dating this . . . this . . .”

  Chelle leaned forward in mock sympathy for the other woman. “Don’t hold back on my account. I understand why you’re upset. You came all this way to see a man who is in love with someone else. So let it out if you have to. We’ve all been there.”

  Trish’s face went bright red beneath her thick makeup. “You bitch.”

  Mason straightened in anger. “I think it would be best if you left, Trish.”

  The blonde scoffed. “You’re threatening me?”

  Mason pulled Chelle closer to his side and returned to the improv Chelle had initiated. “No, I’m asking you to respect that I’ve found a woman I care deeply for.” He looked down at Chelle. “I know I have to win back her trust, but she is worth every hoop she has me jump through to make that happen.”

  “Oh please,” Trish said with disgust. “You would choose her over me?”

  Without looking away from Chelle’s eyes, Mason said, “Every day for the rest of my life.”

  Chelle raised a hand and gazed lovingly up i
nto Mason’s eyes. “I’ve changed my mind. I accept your proposal, Mason Thorne. I do want to settle down with you and have those six children you keep talking about.”

  “Six children?” Trish repeated in disgust. “You can have him. No man is worth those stretch marks.” Trish snorted and flounced off.

  Mason was momentarily mesmerized by Chelle and the feelings her words had elicited in him. He knew it was all an act, and he’d always been able to keep that straight during his acting career, but this felt different. Words that should have terrified the confirmed bachelor in him lit a yearning in him he’d never felt before.

  He’d never met a woman he could imagine waking up to more than once. In fact, he preferred their time together end well before that. Love was a mystery he was not at all interested in unraveling. He’d watched his friends pair off and always wondered why they would possibly choose one woman when they could have many.

  Still, he couldn’t deny how he’d felt when Chelle had said she would marry him. For just one insane moment, he’d felt as if he weren’t alone.

  Until then, he hadn’t considered that he might not want to be.

  Chelle pushed back from him. “You really are a dog,” she said in a scathing tone and walked away.

  Mason simply stood there watching her go, wondering how one woman could have knocked him so off kilter.

  Charles cleared his throat loudly again. “I don’t want to know what any of that was about. Just promise me you’ll keep it out of the damn wedding reception.” With that, he also left.

  Mason returned to his pensive stance, looking out into the night. Trish Shugarts was very likely upset enough with him to say something nasty about him to her father. Suddenly, that possibility didn’t matter. He’d weather that storm as he’d weathered all the others in his career.