The Wrangler Takes a Wife (Silver Creek Ranch #7)

Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

C hase

“What’s this?” Amara asked as she stared into the blue velvet box. She leaned forward with her brow furrowed. This wasn’t the reaction that Chase had been expecting.

“It’s an engagement ring. Why are you acting like you are surprised to see it?”

“Well, I wasn’t expecting… all of this?” she explained, waving from the box to the flowers and the candles.

His proposal wasn’t a declaration of a lifetime of undying love, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t make it memorable. Amara was so caught up on what they weren’t he felt she missed what they were.

“You won’t have to fudge the details when you’re asked about the proposal.” He was still holding the ring out to her. “A ring is part and parcel of an engagement. Did you not expect me to get you one?”

She sighed. “I did, but not that.” Her voice dropped in a hush whisper. “It looks real.”

Chase matched the volume of her voice. “It is real.”

Her eyes became large saucers. Pressing her hand to her chest, she gasped. “You didn’t!”

“I did. What the hell were you expecting?”

“I don’t know. Maybe a cubic zirconia from a big box store.”

The very thought was offensive. “There was no way I could do that. I think you deserve more than some ring turning your finger green.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Then say yes, so I can slip the ring on your finger.”

“How much did you spend on the ring?”

Who the hell asked that shit? “It really isn’t any of your business.”

“I’m the one who has to wear it,” she shot back.

“Then wear it. Don’t worry about the cost of it. I got you something understated.” Chase had put in time and effort to select a ring that was not only aesthetic but also was functional. The one carat diamond was recessed in the ring’s band.

“Well, thanks,” she said sarcastically.

Grabbing her hand, he slid the ring on her finger. The white gold band looked at home on her long slender digit. “It looks beautiful on you.” He refused to release her hand.

“It’s a beautiful ring,” she complimented.

“I’m glad you like it.” Chase brought her hand to his lips. Then he pressed a kiss to her hand. “We should seal our engagement with a kiss.”

“Nope.” Amara shook her head. “You’re the one who orchestrated this dinner at Rodney’s. We can’t be late.” She stood, pulling her hand from his hold. “Don’t pout.”

“I’m not pouting. Grown men don’t pout.” Chase got to his feet, crowding her space. His hand circled her waist. His head descended, drawing closer to her. She halted him by pressing her finger to his lip.

“Then you must not be grown cause you’re pouting.” She exposed her neck and threw her head back, laughing. It was a temptation he couldn’t resist. He peppered her neck with kisses. Loud smacking noises filled the air.

“Wrangler, you better not mark me,” she warned.

“That isn’t what you said this morning.” He lifted her skirt, and slipped his hand between her thighs, where he had in fact left his mark. His cock hardened at the idea of knowing she was walking, around with his mark on her. It was right up there with seeing his cum drip out of her pussy. “Fuck,” he groaned as his hand slipped to her ass and he cupped it.

“We can’t be late.”

“What’s a little time between friends? They’ll understand once we make our announcement.”

“How about I just give you a blow job?” She looked so hopeful, he almost hated to disappoint her.

“I’ll take the blow job and also fuck you against the wall.”

“What do you have against beds?”

As it turned out Chase was right. Their fellow dinner guests were very understanding of their tardiness once they learned the pair were engaged. Understanding was a stretch. The announcement garnered some interesting responses.

Rodney and his wife Louisa’s reaction were opposite. While she congratulated them, Rodney demanded, “tell me you two aren’t serious.”

“We are.” Chase bristled.

“This shit…” Rodney said, pointing between them. “…doesn’t make sense. One moment you two are enemies, the next you two are loved up on steroids. What the hell is going on?”

“I’ve never been Amara’s enemy. Now she might’ve disliked me, but I’ve always been fond of her.” All the eyes around the table stared at him in shock. “Besides, sometimes people change how they feel about each other.”

“Yeah, relationships change…” Jo interjected, holding his gaze. “…but do you love her?”

“Amara knows how I feel about her,” Chase responded.

Roddick spoke up. “You didn’t answer the question?—”

Amara apparently had enough, she held up her hand cutting off her brother. “Jo, Roddick, I love how you are looking out for me, but like Chase said, I know how he feels about me. Which is all that should matter.”

“No, it isn’t. As much of a romantic as I am. This feels way too rushed. You’re engaged in under a month of being together. The next thing you’re going to tell us is you guys will be getting married in a couple of weeks.” Jo’s gasp seemed to suck all the air out of the room. Reaching across the table, she smacked Amara’s hand.

Amara looked at Chase, then nudged his leg under the table. He supposed it was fair; he put all of this into motion. “We are getting married in a week.” He announced. The room plunged into silence. Her family was well versed in silent communications. Incredulous looks passed back and forth around the table.

Finally, it was Jo who broke the silence. “That isn’t much notice. How are we going to be ready in a week?”

It was Amara and Chase's turn for some silent communication. They hadn’t planned to issue any invitations. He was just about to be the bearer of bad news when Amara spoke up.

“You don’t have anything to be ready for. The ceremony is going to be just us.” Damn, she was efficient at ripping off band aids.

“So, the ceremony will be just the two of you?” Louisa’s trademark cheerful demeanour faltered.

“Yeah, Louisa. Chase and I decided to have the ceremony for just the two of us.”

“I get it, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a small get together to celebrate, does it?”

Louisa looked so hopeful as she looked around the table. Amara sat forward, shaking her head.

“You won’t have to do anything, Amara. Jo and I will handle everything. How could you not want to celebrate with us?”

Amara looked so conflicted it made Chase call an audible. “You know what? It sounds nice.”

Louisa clapped. “This is going to be so awesome.” Everyone started chattering, and he was pleased with his decision. Yeah, he was pretty content until he felt Amara’s hand on his thigh. She had a hell of a grip. Crap, she was far from pleased with him.

He was certain she would let him have it once they were back in the truck. Instead, she was quiet until they got to her place. Amara headed straight to her kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. She drank the entire thing. Her eyes drifted to her window. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

“I know I went off script.”

“No, you took our plans and shredded them. Why would you agree to Louisa's celebration?” She rubbed her hand over her face.

“I don’t know. Your family wanting to celebrate doesn’t seem like a bad idea.”

“It is a bad idea!” she hissed. “When all this is over? I have to deal with the aftermath.”

Chase knew the deal. He put the plan in motion, but hearing her talk about them eventually coming to an end was jarring. Somewhere along the line, he’d pushed that to the back of his mind. His focus was on taking one day at a time and enjoying it.

“Not you! These are the people I love. It’s bad enough we aren’t being straight with them, but you don’t really know them. They might not understand what’s happening between us, but they are going to show up for me.”

“That’s a beautiful thing.”

“No, it’s not. I don’t like the way they are going to pour their heart and soul into this.”

She moved to walk past him. He stopped her. “Where are you going?”

“For a ride,” she snapped. Her body went rigid. Amara didn’t look at him.

“Just stay and talk this out.” Chase finally realized how dire this situation was. Up close, he saw the distress in her eyes.

“What’s the point? So, you can discard what we spoke about later?”

“I’ll go back and talk to them. Tell them we’ve changed our minds and want to stick to our original plans.”

Instead of looking pleased, she narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you insane? It’s not as simple as that. You’ve involved them. We can’t just switch course.”

“It’s only been a couple of hours.”

Amara gave a mirthless laugh. “You shouldn’t have agreed without speaking to me first. It’s done now. I have a good mind not to speak to you until we exchange our vows.”

The rest of the day and night, there was a distance between them. It wasn’t a good feeling. Chase had insisted he accompany her on the ride. It wasn’t anything like the previous ones. She had emotionally pulled away. Constructing a wall, he couldn’t get past. He would have preferred it if her fiery personality fought things out. Having her withdrawn made him realise how close they’d become.

In the next two days, everything that could go wrong on the ranch went wrong. He barely saw Amara, and when he did, she was reserved. When things settled, he was determined to try to have them work things out.

“Hey, Chase,” Louisa greeted with excitement when he stopped by.

“Come in.” She waved. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“No, thanks.”

He spied the large table they had eaten on a couple of days ago. It was covered in different piles of paper.

“Are you here to speak to Rodney? He just sat down in his man cave watching one of those fast car movies.”

“No. I came to see you.”

Louisa gave him a toothy grin. “Oh, you don’t have to worry about a thing. Between Jo, Nancy and I we have everything organized. You are going to have the prettiest wedding.”

He stared from her to the table. “That’s all for the reception?”

“Well, the wedding. Everyone loves Amara, and she’s always doing sweet stuff, so the Welches are helping in a big way.”

“The Welches?” The way Louisa was speaking sounded like an enormous group of people, and not the small family Amara had in town.

“Yeah. They are scattered over a few towns and the city, but everyone is going to be here Saturday.”

“Everyone?”

“Well, everyone, who is close enough to make it. Don’t worry, your lovely fiancée will fill you in. I wanted to see you about what you were going to wear.”

Louisa held him captive. Catching him up on plans. Amara was right. He did not know the Pandora’s Box he’d opened. He had to give it to Louisa the tiny woman was a force. And she could plan like it was nobody’s business. At some point, Rodney wandered into the room. He took one look at Chase and started laughing.

“I was going to leave you at my wife’s mercy, but I got hungry.”

Rodney’s interruption was the perfect excuse for Chase to leave. He drove straight from Rodney and Louisa to the diner.

Roslynda greeted him. “Amara’s busy on the phone with a supplier. She’ll be out soon.”

He drank some chicory and had a slice of pie. In the short time Chase was waiting, he received congratulations and promises they would see him at the wedding. Some woman kept giving sad glances. He didn’t know who the hell she was. But it was what he expected from this town.

“Amara says you can go back to her office.”

When he arrived at the door, she was holding it open. “Hey,” he greeted.

“Hey, yourself.”

He stepped inside, and she closed the door. It was nice to see her smile. “So, I heard you stopped by the wedding headquarters.”

“I did.” Chase pulled her into his arms. She went willingly. God, he’d missed her returning his embrace. “I’m sorry.”

Her body shook in his hold. It took him a moment to realise she was laughing.

“I know you tried to warn me, but I wasn’t prepared.”

“Louisa loves planning celebrations. It might actually be a good thing she had such short notice.”

He stepped back, so they were an arm’s length apart, but still held on to her hands. It had been days since she looked at him like his mere presence wasn’t a huge annoyance. He felt like he had his partner in crime back.

“You don’t look like you want to scratch my eyes out.”

Amara rolled her eyes at him. “I accepted my fate and, to be honest, it helps to see how shell-shocked you are.”

“I can’t believe she’s done all that planning in such a short time.”

“Mm.”

“I didn’t mean for it to get this out of hand.” He pulled her flush against him.

“I guess we will have to get through this together.”

When he kissed her and she allowed more than just a peck, he felt like he won the lotto. This cocoon they had created meant more than he was willing to admit.