Awakening Veronica (9 page)

Dancing?

Veronica edged away. “Oh, all right, well, you go have fun then. I’ll—”

Hank’s brows furrowed but a smile crossed his lips as he gathered her other hand in his. “We’re not letting you get away that easily, Miss Benedict.”

Travis nodded. “I’m not about to give all the other men here a chance to snatch you away from us. The bride and grooms will be leaving in a couple of hours. Would you stay and then perhaps come to the Dancing Pony with us for the post-reception fun?”

Before she could answer, Grandma Kate finished her hushed conversation with Ethan, shook her head, and patted his cheek. “That’s not necessary, sweetheart. They’re called intimate gatherings for a reason. But I think Veronica might jump at the chance.”

Ethan turned to her and she was once again dazzled by his brilliant blue eyes. “Veronica, would you care to join us for the binding ceremony. It’ll take place in about five minutes, in the reception tent.”

Biting her lip, she looked up at Travis and Hank, wondering what to say. Travis saved the moment when he said, “Veronica, if you’re doing research, you should go with Ethan.” He stroked her cheek and added, “Just know that we’ll be waiting for your answer.”

“You will?” she asked, glancing between the two of them, fighting the ball of nerves that tightened in her stomach. Her rational brain told her she was thoroughly exhausted from writing through a majority of the night but the idea of spending time with them was tempting. What could it hurt?

“We will,” Hank murmured, as his gaze slowly stroked her from head to toe, leaving a warm trail that felt like an actual caress.

I wasn’t hallucinating.
“Well then…I’ll see you in a few minutes.” She could see the wedding party and a few select others making their way to the large white reception tent set up in the grassy lot next to the rose garden.

Grandma Kate patted her arm and waved her hand. “Go with Ethan and Grace, sweet girl. I’ll keep Hank and this fine-looking young man company while you’re gone.”

Veronica wanted to hide her face, which felt like it’d turned beet red, but she couldn’t think of a thing to say. Both men’s eyes twinkled as they nodded and helped Grandma Kate from her chair.

Veronica followed after Ethan and Grace, feeling stiff and decidedly ungraceful. She tried to dredge up the feelings she’d experienced when she’d first seen herself in the dress Grace had loaned her for the wedding. Because she rarely attended formal functions, and quite honestly avoided them like the plague, she hadn’t had a thing to wear to the wedding.

After discovering that she wore the same dress size and shoe size, Grace had brought her several dresses and pairs of shoes to try on. Grace and Kate’s faces had lit up when she’d modeled the red for them. She had to admit she’d felt like a model when she had turned to the full-length mirror in the master bedroom and gotten a glimpse of herself.

She was used to wearing yoga pants and baggy T-shirts because they were comfortable for work, and she was always working. She let out a deep breath and watched her step as she walked up the path, aware of the warmth that coursed through her body. She wondered if they watched her but refused to look back for fear she might lose her footing and topple in the red heels.

The entire throng moved back up the walkway and she was quickly separated from Ethan and Grace but didn’t want to push in between people. By the time she reached the tent, she was out of breath and worried that she’d disrupt the ceremony if it was already in progress.

Grace and Ethan smiled when she slipped through the opening which had been drawn closed. Grace waved her over and said, “We waited for you. Maizy told me she’d love to chat with you later, if you’d like.”

They’d waited for her? Veronica tried to hide her shock and smiled and nodded. “I’d love that.”

The ceremony that proceeded, with Ethan officiating this time, was a more intimate joining that included Heath and Spencer. Veronica couldn’t help it when her tears overflowed.

Grace smiled and handed her tissues as each man knelt in front of Maizy and pledged his life, love, faithfulness, and support to her, and slipped a slim diamond-studded ring next to the wedding band that already adorned her ring finger.

In turn, she spoke vows to each of them, binding her heart with theirs, and slipping heavy gold bands on Heath’s and Spencer’s fingers that matched Cody’s. Maizy sniffled as each groom kissed her hands, still on his knees, and then wrapped his arms around her waist and embraced her with pure love in his eyes.

Veronica was so enthralled by the whole ceremony that she wasn’t even sure she blinked until it finally ended.

She planned to ask Grace later if this was typical in Divine, if the attention and love lavished on the bride during the binding was the norm or the exception. She wondered what it would be like to be the recipient of such adoration.

As if on some cue, her phone vibrated in her purse again.
Darn it!
She’d been ignoring Brent’s texts and e-mails but something inside her got a little irritated and she took out her phone and opened up the long thread of all of his text messages. They all carried the same theme—all fifty of them in the last week
. “Chubbs, come home so we can talk this out.” “Call me so we can talk about this, Chubbs.” “It’s not over until we both agree it’s over.”
She rolled her eyes and her fingers flew on the keys as the guests milled around the tent for a moment.

“Stop texting and e-mailing me. Pack your belongings and move out, Brent. We are through.”

His reply was lightning fast
. “Tell me where you are so I can come to you. I want to talk this out.”

“There is nothing to talk about. You cheated. And you hit me.”

“Chubbs, that was in the heat of passion.”

“No. You lost control. Pack your stuff and move out. Please.”

As Grace and Adam drew near, she smiled up at them and got her head back in the game. She needed to get some questions answered while they were still fresh in her mind, before she left the tent. She wondered if Hank and Travis would still be waiting, like they’d said. She braced herself, figuring that as handsome as those two were, they probably were already distracted by the other female wedding guests.

Chapter Four

“There’s nothing wrong with that cantankerous woman that a thorough spanking and some masculine attention wouldn’t cure.”

Hank chuckled at Kate Benedict’s comment about the wedding protestor. Tabitha Lester was becoming more and more of a thorn in his side.

Although he loved nothing more than delivering an erotic spanking, he shuddered inwardly at the thought of delivering such a spanking to the woman who’d disrupted Maizy’s wedding. It’d been ages since he’d been on the giving end of a spanking but the only bottom he’d consider turning hot and pink had sashayed seductively toward the reception tent a few minutes before. The connection he’d felt when he’d touched her finely boned hand had zipped up his arm and left him breathless.

“Did you place her in custody?”

Hank shook his head. “No, but I did inform her I’d be within my rights to do so since she was disturbing the peace. She trespassed at a private function when the rose garden was closed to the public. I think she would’ve enjoyed it if I’d put cuffs on her, though. More sympathy from her followers, but I didn’t want to do that. My deputy took her back to the station to cool off for a bit.”

“Well, I admire the resilience of the Divine ménages. It can’t have been easy worrying about people like that showing up everywhere, making such ignorant accusations and passing judgment.”

He knew from speaking with Kate on past occasions that she not only understood the true nature of the ménages located in his pretty community, she also officiated over binding ceremonies in Lusty in much the same way Ethan was doing in the reception tent.

They were currently giving her a tour of the Memorial Rose Garden, which had been dedicated to all the veterans of foreign wars in the community.

“I myself served in the military during World War II, as did both of my husbands, Gerald and Patrick. They were flyboys.”

Hank patted her hand and said, “Kate, could you tell us what it was like, having two husbands?” He sensed Travis’s acute attention as she answered.

“Well, once I settled in, I can tell you it felt as normal as it would for a woman married to only one man. Gerald and Patrick would probably tell you that I was far too independent and set in my ways for my own good but we managed fine and brought five beautiful children into this world.”

Travis said, “And how are you related to Veronica?”

“Her grandfather was a cousin to my husbands. I’m actually her first cousin by marriage, twice removed, but to make things simpler, I just ask that everyone calls me Grandma Kate.”

Hank looked over at Travis and said, “Kate’s the family matriarch and inspires all the women of Lusty to great mischief.”

Kate burst into laughter and hugged his arm tight. “The hell you say, lawman. I’m docile as a well-fed kitten and you know it. Travis, can you tell me how you know my honorary granddaughter?”

Hank was eager to know the answer to that question, too. “Yeah, Trav. Enlighten us.”

“Well, it’s not a long story. I’m a game warden and eleven years ago I was stationed in Wyoming. I was called out to investigate the report of an illegally trapped golden eagle in Montana. The witness insisted the eagle was entangled and injured inside a cage trap.”

“Veronica?”

“Yes, ma’am. Veronica met me at a trailhead early the next morning and…well, she showed me the way to the trap. We rescued the bird which was indeed injured from trying to fight his way free.”

“And…what?” Grandma Kate asked gently, obviously not overlooking his brief pause.

Travis chuckled and his cheeks flushed a little. “She berated me first thing for not coming the day before and told me it’d be my fault if the eagle died. Really let me have it. She was pretty upset until I explained that I’d been detained while trying to wrap up another illegal trapping case in the next state. I felt terrible because she looked like she’d been crying.”

“Berated you? That doesn’t sound like
my
sweet girl. Crying over the eagle definitely does, though. Veronica has a tender heart.” She looked up into Travis’s eyes as though she was searching for something. “Was the eagle able to make a full recovery?”

He hesitated for less than a heartbeat. “Yes, ma’am. It was treated and released.”

Kate scoffed and stopped in mid-step. “No need to lie to me, Travis McDaniel. I’m made of pretty stern stuff.”

Travis let out a sigh. “It developed gangrene from its injuries and had to be put down. It was trapped in the cage enclosure too long. One thing, ma’am?”

“Call me Grandma Kate, Travis.”

“All right, ma’am—I mean, Grandma Kate. Veronica thinks the eagle was treated and released. One day she called me to follow up about it. I happened to still be in the area so I stopped by and she asked about the bird. I lied. I couldn’t stand the thought of seeing her cry.”

Kate patted his forearm. “Understandable. Sounds like you have a tender heart, too, sweetheart. But don’t lie to her again. It’ll only hurt her in the end. In return, I’ll keep your secret. So…” She turned her steely blue gaze back to Hank and then up to Travis again. “Let’s talk about your intentions toward my sweet Veronica.”

“Ma’am?” Hank asked, and it was his turn to cease walking in mid-step.

* * * *

Travis caught sight of Veronica standing outside the tent, dabbing her cheeks with a tissue. She frowned as she looked at her phone and then quickly stowed it. Her attention paused here and there as she looked around the assemblage. Veronica was a people watcher, which probably came in handy in her profession.

He’d seen the same thing when she’d observed the gathering while Hank dealt with that nut job who’d showed up to protest the wedding. She’d been so wrapped up in watching the crowd that he hadn’t wanted to interrupt her. It didn’t surprise him that she’d gone on to be a writer.

Kate had mentioned to him and Hank that Veronica might benefit from the self-defense class Hank was teaching. Kate didn’t strike him as the type to say something like that unless she had a damn good reason. As they walked across the grassy lot, he tried to reconcile what Kate had told them about her being hurt by someone who had fancied himself a Dominant. The thought angered him and fired his protective instincts.

He’d been torn when he’d met her eleven years before. Fresh from graduating high school, she was still a baby compared to him. When he’d stopped in to see her after her follow-up call, it’d been a good thing that her family had been around because otherwise he might not have been able to contain the urge to kiss her.

“I hope she agrees to come to the Pony,” Hank murmured, his eyes glued to her. “You reckon she understands that we’re both interested in her, Fishcop?”

Taking no offense at the nickname, Travis glanced at him and grinned. “She looked like she was trying to wrap her mind around it when she got invited to the binding ceremony.”