Happily Ever Afton (22 page)
Read Happily Ever Afton Online
Authors: Kelly Curry
Cooper reached behind Afton’s head loosening the pins holding her now crooked veil in place, removing the lacy confection carefully, dropping it on the bed beside them before gently stroking the hair out of her face. ‘It was a
fascinating
place for me to visit as a boy – filled with history in every corner it seemed.’
‘That’s very nice and all, Cooper,’ Afton said, wondering if he was losing it, ‘but we don’t exactly have time for a history lesson right now – in case you hadn’t noticed, we’re kind of in the middle of a sticky situation.’
‘Hmm…’ he bent his head and landed another lingering kiss on her lips, ‘well the thing is Afton, Herbert Chillicutt – according to my grandmother – was quite a notorious cheat – had a string of mistresses stashed away all over town apparently.’
‘Is that so, why the dirty dog!’ Still mystified by his chosen topic of conversation, Afton decided to humor him while examining the aquamarine eyes closely for signs of impending lunacy, having heard that stress could bring that on.
‘Yes, and do you know how he got away with it so long – keeping it hidden from Mrs. Chillicutt?’
‘No, do tell,’ Her hand stroked over his brow with affection, pushing a coal-black lock of hair from his forehead.
Crazy or not she
loved
the fool!
‘He built a series of secret tunnels and escape hatches throughout the mansion that let him get outside and back in unnoticed by Mrs. Chillicutt or the staff,’ Cooper said with a grin as a spark of understanding lit up Afton’s eyes.
‘I found a few of them when I snuck off from the tour guides to explore the house as a very curious boy and do you know one of those escape hatches is actually right here in this bedroom – behind that bureau over there?’ He pointed across the room to a tall bureau positioned in the center of the wall.
Afton sat up quickly. Twisting her arms behind her back, she tried to reach the endless row of buttons, ‘well, what are we waiting for – help me with these buttons! We don’t have much time if Jason is already here!’
She scrambled to rise from the bed, but Cooper grabbed her arm tugging her back down next to him.
‘First we need to hammer out a new deal,’ he said quietly, ‘if I help you get out of here, Afton, you’ll have to agree to my terms.’
She frowned. ‘Which are?’
‘I want you to agree to stay with me –
forever
.’
Afton stared into the beautifully chiseled face inches from hers and hesitated, her lower lip caught between her teeth. ‘Cooper,’ she began cautiously, ‘I
love
being with you and I’m willing to take it as it goes…but… I’m just not cut out to be a rich society matron with a lifetime swanky country club membership, fancy yachts and a mansion full of servants…’
‘Neither am I!’ he cut her off.
‘But all your money, your high powered career and expensive Italian sports cars …the penthouse and lakeside home…it’s not me, Cooper…
none
of it…I wouldn’t fit in – I would feel so out of place…’
‘I’ll give it all away,’ Cooper said immediately.
Afton stared at him her eyes wide; searching his that shone with a shimmering blue intensity. ‘You
can’t
mean that…’
‘I do – I’m
not
like your father,’ Cooper told her, his voice low and passionate as her eyes closed tightly in remembered pain, dark lashes spiked with tears.
‘I don’t need it.
Any
of it. I need
you,
Afton! With you, I can do
anything
– tame the fiercest dragon, climb the highest mountain! I’ll ditch it all and find a job as a teller. It doesn’t matter to me as long as I’m with you. So what do you say, Afton?’
He held out his hand, his steady gaze locked on her damp eyes, ‘do we have a deal?’
She paused for an infinitesimal moment before she nodded with a watery smile, placing her heart and hand in his.
‘Deal.’
Epilogue
‘I’M SORRY, MRS. LANFORD
, I’m afraid Afton can’t come to the phone right now. She’s …er…in the bathroom. Yes, ma’am, I can
certainly
appreciate how embarrassed you must have been having to tell all the guests the wedding was called off.’
Cooper frowned over at Afton with a grimace on his face, standing holding the phone’s receiver slightly away from his ear to protect it from the strident screeching coming clearly over the line. ‘I’m
very
sorry to hear you bruised your hip when you fainted after you found Afton’s note on the bed saying she was leaving with me.’
Afton’s hand flew to her mouth to muffle the laughter burbling forth from where she sat cross-legged on the rumpled hotel bed watching him. Cooper, his lithe, long-limbed bronzed body clad in only a short white monogrammed robe supplied by the hotel, shot her a warning glare that promised retribution before he was required to speak again.
‘Yes, ma’am, Afton and I plan to
each
write Jason long letters of apology for humiliating him in such a manner. What’s that? Oh, yes, my name is Cooper, ma’am… er Stewart Carrington – the third.’ A moment of silence, ‘no, ma’am, Cooper is actually my
first
name.’
Afton could not contain herself any longer and loud hoots of laughter burst out until a soft throw pillow from the couch hit her in the head, thrown with pinpoint precision by the man making steady apologies on the phone. Afton grabbed the polka-dotted orange pillow and bit down hard into it in an attempt to stifle her mirth.
‘Where are we now? Well, ma’am, we’re actually in Vegas. Yes, Las Vegas, ma’am,’ Cooper took a deep breath clearly summoning up courage before speaking into the phone again, ‘well the thing is, ma’am…Afton and I – we actually got
married
last night at a twenty-four hour chapel here. You see, ma’am; she knocked me over with her motor-scooter outside a coffee shop a few months ago and…well, we fell in love.’
He held the phone a foot away from his ear at the loud shouts that emerged as Afton fell backwards rolling helplessly from side to side on the bed with uncontrolled spasms of hilarity. When he deemed it safe, Cooper put the phone back up to his ear.
‘What’s that, ma’am – what do
I
do?’
He paused, looking over at Afton with gleaming turquoise eyes between thick black lashes and she sat up silently staring back at him, still slightly stunned this
gorgeous
man was now her husband – for eternity.
‘I handle funds… at a bank.’ A pause, ‘no, ma’am, not a teller – I’m actually Managing Director and Partner at one of the largest investment banks in the state of Washington. Yes ma’am, that’s right – I’m an investment banker.’
A smile began to curve the sculpted lips, ‘why yes, ma’am – I would
love
to call you Mom.’
Cooper exchanged a few more pleasantries over the phone with his new mother-in-law, but his eyes remained glued on his new bride. They caressed over her beautiful glowing face and the delectable body, clad now in only a short white terry cloth robe that matched his, the sparkle in her hazel eyes matching that of his grandmother’s diamond ring now on her finger –
permanently
. He was still in some disbelief this
stunning
woman was now his wife – for eternity.
‘I really have to go now. Afton and I have a flight to catch in a few hours…we’re actually going on our honeymoon to Katmandu. What’s that, Mom?’ He paused distracted as Afton gazed mistily at him causing his heart to expand and contract when she mouthed the words –
‘I love you’.
‘Kat–man–du,’ he repeated slowly into the receiver, ‘what’s there? Mount Everest – we’re going to climb the highest mountain in the world –
together
.’
Husband and wife shared a special smile across the room.
‘Yes, ma’am, I promise I’ll take
very
good care of her and we’ll send you a postcard. Bye, Mom.’
Cooper dropped the receiver back into its cradle on the table, his gaze never leaving Afton’s, swiftly untying the belt of his robe dropping it to the floor as she breathed softly, ‘v
ery impressive.’
He strode over to the tumbled bed where he’d carried his new wife late last night after lifting her over the threshold of the penthouse suite, murmuring over and over how much he loved her until her hand had pulled his head down so his lips could cover hers.
He stepped now over the crumpled white peasant dress lying on the carpet beside the tossed down bouquet of colorful roses and wildflowers she’d carried at their wedding ceremony, hands going impatiently to the belt of her robe untying it quickly so he could stand surveying her with a flaming hot gaze.
‘I don’t know why you were laughing so hard, Mrs. Carrington,’ he murmured huskily, clasping her by her slender waist and pulling her flawless form up against his rigid arousal. ‘Remember you have to call
my
mother. Don’t forget – we had a deal!’ He bore her back down on to the mattress beneath him.
‘Criss–cross!’
Afton started to protest, but Cooper stopped her by pressing his hungry mouth against hers. When he lifted his head long moments later, he issued a final, hoarsely muttered caveat, ‘but you can wait to call until we get to the airport. I can think of
much
better ways to spend our last few hours before our flight.’
Afton’s arms wound around his neck. ‘You’ve got yourself a deal, Mr. Cooper Stewart Carrington –
the third!’
She eagerly agreed to all his terms sealing the deal with a long, sweet kiss.
When they finally left for the airport, Cooper took Afton’s hand in his and led her off on what would be just the first of
many
exciting adventures in their happily-ever-after romance.
* * *
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