Susan Fox: An Arranged Marriage

The loss of his body heat seemed to calm the turbulent sensuality between them. But only slightly. Even when they were no longer touching, something a lot like raw electricity danced and snapped between them.

“I reckon you’ll want to get yourself back to town and start makin’ plans,” he said gruffly. “I’ll call on you tomorrow afternoon to see how you’re comin’ along.”

Allison was still too in thrall to speak. She felt an unexpected nick of pain when she sensed Blue withdraw emotionally. Suddenly aloof, he escorted her to the door, then outside and down the walk to her car. He opened the door for her, then shut it solidly once she was behind the wheel.

She drove all the way to the highway before she realized she was shaking violently.

THE month before the wedding passed in a frantic blur. Aunt Pet regained her good health and they both waded into wedding preparations like a pair of maniacs.

To her surprise, Allison rarely saw Blue, though she spoke to him daily on the phone to keep him apprised of wedding preparations. He sent his decorator to her aunt’s house and even Aunt Pet was pleased by the plans he and the decorator had worked out, subject to Allison’s approval.

At Aunt Pet’s insistence, she and Allison spent an afternoon looking through the ranch mansion to give them both a better idea of the furnishings that would have to be bought. Though Aunt Pet was reserved and cautious with Blue and he was aloof with both of them, Aunt Pet came away from the ranch deeply impressed by the house he’d built.

Pet was sparing in her personal remarks to Allison about her future husband, but she did allow that Blue Sumner was ruggedly handsome and had a macho presence that could be considered exciting.

No one mentioned that this was an arranged marriage between two strangers, and sometimes Allison got so caught up in preparations that she almost forgot. Until she spoke to Blue on the phone or saw him face-to-face. He grew more remote by the day. It was as if the kisses they’d shared that Sunday afternoon had never happened. He seemed even more a stranger to her, and at times, she had to struggle to keep her downcast spirits about the marriage to herself.

While she and Pet were busy with the wedding details, Blue’s house was finished and he set about ordering the furniture Allison had chosen. He also hired a butler, a cook and a housekeeper.

By the night of the rehearsal dinner, they remained little more than acquaintances. By mutual agreement, they’d limited their wedding party to a maid of honor and a best man, who turned out to be one of the wealthiest ranchers in the area.

Blue had once worked as a foreman for Ty Cameron, but their friendship seemed to have withstood Blue’s distance and years away from the Cameron Ranch.

Charles was impressed by the connection between the two and, to Allison’s horror, had immediately begun to speculate about attracting Ty to some of the mortgage investments he had in mind for Blue. His frequent comments about saving the bank continued to trouble her, as did his ongoing refusal to report the embezzlement.

Blue drove her directly home after the dinner, but they were more stilted than ever with each other. Their conversation was so sparse and infrequent that it was as if they hadn’t spoken to each other at all.

On the night before her wedding, Allison laid in her bed a long time, staring up into the darkness, certain she was about to make the mistake of her life.

The ceremony at Chaney Community Church was the largest ever held in Chaney, and the most perfect.

Allison had been to a lot of weddings. Something seemed to go wrong in every one of them, from a wedding cake that leaned off center, to a flower girl who dropped her basket of rose petals and burst into howls of dismay.

Nothing, however minor, went wrong at their wedding. On the other hand, everything was as wrong as it could possibly be.

Two strangers repeated vows to love, honor and cherish. Two strangers were pronounced man and wife. Two strangers turned fully toward each other, hesitated for the lifting of the veil, then pressed cool, stiff lips together at the preacher’s enthusiastic, “You may now kiss your bride, Mr. Sumner.”

Those same two strangers, perfectly poised and elegant in their wedding finery, smiled and walked down the aisle arm in arm. Later, they posed for wedding photos that the photographer swore were worthy of a high fashion layout.

Afterward, two strangers got into the limousine that took them to the Sumner Ranch for the reception. They officially received their guests, fed each other the traditional bite of wedding cake, then toured the gift room where a mountain of wedding presents had been displayed.

By the time Allison could slip up to the master suite, where Aunt Pet would assist her with her gown, her nerves were shattered. The traveling suit she’d planned to wear to Dallas was laid out neatly on the huge bed, but suddenly, she was reluctant to face the idea of a honeymoon.

She’d not allowed herself to dwell on thoughts of what would come after the ceremony, but the sight of that pale pink suit on the bed triggered every worry and misgiving—every fear—that she’d repressed about their wedding night and all the other nights that would follow.

The memory of those two kisses a month of Sundays ago, flooded her mind. A flash of heat burst up from deep inside, and she suddenly felt dizzy.

I reckon sex won’t be something we have to put off till we know each other better, Blue had said.

Allison couldn’t recall that she’d actually voiced an objection, and she couldn’t help the panic she felt.

Surely Blue wouldn’t expect her to consummate their marriage right away. If he’d truly expected to, surely he would have taken time to actually court her these last weeks, or at the very least, he’d have given them time alone to get to know each other.

Allison pressed a shaky hand to her middle, then forced herself to give a little laugh. The stress of putting together the huge wedding on such short notice was beginning to tell on her. She was keyed up and exhausted and this worry about intimacy with Blue was likely nothing more than bridal nerves.

Determined to calm herself, she crossed to the huge dresser mirror to start removing the hairpins that anchored her headpiece. She was facing a bit away from the mirror to reach an elusive pin when the bedroom door opened, then closed.

She called out a relieved, “There you are, Aunt Pet. I can’t seem to locate all the pins—”

She turned her head to peer into the mirror’s reflection of the room, expecting to see her aunt. Instead Blue stood just inside the door.

Slowly his eyes traced every bead and design detail of her gown, lingering hotly on every curve along the way. As almost an afterthought, his gaze at last came up to hers, and he stared intently at her flushed face.

The blatant lust in his gaze seemed to blaze higher. Allison was barely breathing.

“I was…expecting Aunt Pet,” she said.

Blue’s steady look never wavered. “She won’t be coming up now.”

Allison shook her head. “I need her help,” she said as he started toward her. A fluttering cluster of nerves surged to her throat, choking her soft voice to a ragged whisper. “With the buttons.”

Blue was so handsome in the severe black tuxedo that she couldn’t make herself look away. The starched white of his shirt emphasized his tanned, weathered skin tones, which contrasted strikingly with the fiery blue of his eyes. The cut of the tuxedo faithfully followed his broad-shouldered, lean-hipped build, and Allison couldn’t tell if she was excited or terrified by the sight of his breath-stealing physique.

Now that he could look at her as much as he liked, Blue couldn’t keep his eyes off his bride. She was decked out like a fairy princess, all white lace and pearly beads and satin. The stiff white veil she still wore haloed her head and shoulders all the way to the floor, hinting at angel wings.