Vivian Arend - Diamond Dust

His hands were steady as he slipped the massive stone on. He stood her up and brought her close, fingers firm under her chin to lift her lips to his.

Caroline savoured the kiss. Soaked in his warmth. Passion blossomed in her core as he swayed them together, his body intimately close.

When he let her go for air, she caught him by the suit-jacket lapels and hung on tight. “I would be honoured to marry you, Tyler Harrison.”

All the bits and pieces of what she’d done over the years made her who she was. A human with more than a little shifter nature. Maybe that was why falling in love so quickly wasn’t impossible.

The shifter-savvy part also knew one more thing. The food would get very cool before they got around to it. She jerked his jacket off his shoulders and latched their mouths together.

Oh yeah.

He picked her up and carried her five paces down the length of the room to a section of the table that had no place settings or food. She was laid out on the surface, naked, faster than she thought possible. “You need to teach me that trick sometime. Oh …”

Tyler was between her legs and driving her mad with his tongue. She buried her fingers in his thick hair and enjoyed the ride, the speeding bullet arriving with little enough warning she knocked one of the flower arrangements over as her arms shot out.

One motion later, Tyler leaned over her, his muscular torso right there for her to enjoy mapping with her fingers while he guided his cock deep into her core. After that there wasn’t a lot of talking time. Lots of growls and groans, and eventually laughter as Tyler tipped the table over in his enthusiasm and they ended up on the floor, still entwined.

They rolled, Tyler protecting her and bringing her over him. They stared to their right at the upset platters and wine pooling on the carpet. “Well. That’s embarrassing.”

“You’ll have to get it professionally cleaned before the owners get home,” Caroline teased.

Tyler brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I don’t know. Would you really make me bring in a cleaner?”

What? “Say again?”

Tyler sat up, cradling her in his arms. He gestured around the room. “It’s yours, Caroline. If you want anything changed, we’ll renovate. But I figured if you didn’t say yes, I’d need a place in Whitehorse to woo you from. So I bought it.”

“In less than one freaking day you bought me a house? That should have been on the list.”

He smiled. “You do know I have a bit of money, right? You won’t hold it against me?”

There seemed to be less oxygen in the room than before. “Oh, I-I knew you had money, but I think I need to add a few zeroes to my mental math.”

“You can fly with me to Europe when I go. And the South American trips will be much more pleasurable with you along.”

Caroline’s head swam with excitement. And then, a flash of an idea. “I feel terrible I don’t have a ring for you to wear.”

“That’s fine, we’ll find one later,” Tyler assured her.

Caroline shook her head. “Nope, this is important to me. And since it’s got to be shifter safe, how about this?” She leaned over and snatched up the ribs that had fallen to the floor. Off the top of the bone she pulled the decorative silver ring.

“You’re not serious.” Tyler laughed and hid his hands behind his back. Or at least he did until she raised a brow.

He sighed. Brought forward a hand and allowed her to slip it on.

Caroline took advantage of his momentary distraction to escape his lap and race for the stairs. Tyler was up and after her in a flash. Chances of her making it to the top without getting caught were slim to none, kind of like her chances had been of not falling madly in love with the big brute.

If it was her house, she was going to enjoy christening each and every part of it with her fiancé. And there was no time like the present.

It wasn’t the wedding she’d thought she would have.

Nahh , she had to be honest—dreaming of weddings had never been a part of her agenda. Other girls might have pored over catalogs and imagined lofty cathedral settings. She’d wondered if she’d ever get married, because matrimony wasn’t a deep desire of hers.

Love was what she wanted, far more than the trappings of the occasion.

Although, in a kind of “ode to bear timing”, blessed by Caroline’s organizational skills and aided by Tyler’s money, the trappings had come together in only three days.

As she and Evan finished the long, slow walk to the front of the room, as she pulled away from Evan’s unexpected farewell kiss, she turned to discover Tyler stood only inches away from her. Heat poured from him, wrapping around her and protecting her from more than the cold of the world.

He would always ask her what she really wanted. With a smile on his face as he waited for her to decide.

Tyler had lost his smile, though, as he examined Evan coolly. “Good friends who don’t ever kiss from here on. Just so we’re clear.”

With his usual laissez-faire , Evan shrugged. “No problem. Got it.”

Tyler stared him down. Nodded. Then shifted his gaze to meet Caroline’s. “You ready?”

He held out his arm, elbow raised high. She pulled herself together once more, and rested her hand on his tuxedo-clad arm. Left Evan standing behind as she and Tyler walked up the short flight to the dais. Left her old life behind.

Emotions of panic had no place in this. What she’d done, she’d done for love. Tyler stood beside her as they repeated the words they’d picked for the ceremony. Simple and short. Vows to cherish each other. To be there for each other.

He was slipping another ring on her finger far sooner than she expected as a buzz began in her ears, the murmur of wolf and human voices rising to fill the hall. People she’d known her entire life all smiling and enjoying her good fortune.

The bears watching? Out of the corner of her eye she saw some pleased expressions, some unreadable. The only face she was completely surprised to see was Ainsworth, three rows back flanked by Nadia and her guard.

The shock was forgotten in a wave of happiness as she spotted Amanda safely in the front row, Justin at her side.

A throat cleared and Caroline’s attention snapped back to the woman leading the ceremony. She’d missed something. “What’s that?”

The justice of the peace smiled. “Do you have a ring for Tyler?”

“Oh, yes.” She reached into her bodice, smirking as Tyler’s eyes widened.

He whispered. “You did not…”

Caroline held out her hand, the heavy weight of the diamond cluster he’d already slipped on her ring finger unfamiliar and yet right. Definitely there, making her aware something had changed.

Tyler eyed her warily, but she slipped the shiny silver cooking decoration over his knuckle, keeping her expression serene. “I bought a caseload. So when you break them, you’ll have spares.”

Lillie and Jim Halcyon met them at the doors following the service. Lillie hugged Caroline tight, then handed over an envelope. “The final count was a joke. Most of Clan Ainsworth took off the night before the vote.”

Jim lowered his voice and leaned in close. “I heard they’re trying their best to distance themselves, and their finances, while we still have him here under surveillance.”

Tyler chuckled evilly. “Well, let’s make sure they have enough time to prove their real colours before Caroline and I go check things out. Ainsworth is staying as a guest here in Whitehorse until we’re back from our honeymoon, Nadia babysitting him. Once we return we’ll accompany him home and start guiding changes.”