He thought about telling her that, about telling her what she could do with the agreement.. . and then he thought of what it would be like, once they were married, to make her admit that only place she belonged was in his bed.
It would be easy.
His body hardened at the thought. She responded to it. Her breath had quickened; her skin was turning hot. He could take her now and she would let him, despite the silly prenup, despite what she claimed. He could take her and plunge deep inside her ...but he wouldn't. He wanted time for a slow seduction, that kind that would, at last, rid her of the power she held over him.
Cole let go of her. "I'll sign it," he said calmly, and reached for the paper.
Moments later, both prenups had been signed and properly witnessed. With what seemed terrifying speed, Faith found herself on a private jet headed for Las Vegas. Cole had made all the arrangements, including asking Alice to spend the night at the house so she could baby-sit Peter.
A handful of hours later, Faith stood before an altar hung with artificial flowers while a stranger in a shiny blue suit said the words that made her Cole's wife.
CHAPTER TEN
FAITH wondered if she'd broken some kind of record.
She'd been married twice, each time to a man named Cameron. She hadn't wanted either marriage, though it had been easier exchanging vows with Ted. Maybe it was because she'd felt affection for him. Or maybe it was because Ted hadn't been any sort of threat.
Cole was.
He'd signed her version of a prenup but she didn't trust him. He'd given in far too easily and then there was that unsettling moment when he'd taken her in his arms and insisted that kissing her throat, drawing her against the hardness of his body, wasn't sex. Perhaps it wasn't, by a dictionary definition, but what he'd done had made her ache for more.
Yes, he was a threat. No, she didn't trust him. She didn't even trust herself. She thought about that when he slid a plain gold band on her ring finger. Looking down, she'd half expected to see "Property of Cole Cameron" engraved on the polished surface.
"By the power vested in me by the State of Nevada," the man who'd married them said, and it was done. She was married to Cole.
He didn't waste time on niceties. She was grateful for that. No smile, certainly no attempted embrace. He shook the justice's hand, took her elbow and led her to the limousine that had taken them from McCarran Airport to the wedding chapel.
"I've told the pilot we'll head straight back to Liberty," Cole said. "I want to get there before Peter wakes up, so we can break the news to him before he hears it from anyone else."
Faith looked at him. "Who could possibly know?"
"By now? Probably half the town. I explained the situation to Alice and asked her to keep quiet but I suspect she won't honor the request."
"She won't honor it at all, if it concerns me." "What?"
"Nothing." Faith took a deep breath. "You told Alice we were getting married? Before I'd agreed?"
"There was never any question." He looked at her, his smile filled with arrogant self-assurance. "You just needed time to accept the inevitable." Then he picked up a newspaper, opened it and began to read.
Angry tears stung Faith's eyes. Two wedding ceremonies, and she'd wanted to weep through both. It had to be a record, just as she had to be the only woman in the world forced into loveless marriages twice by the same man.
They reached Liberty just as the town began to stir. The ride to Cameron House in Cole's Jaguar was a continuation of the silence that had fallen between them since the ceremony, hours before. When they arrived, Cole stepped from the car, opened Faith's door and held out his hand. She thought of running past him, up the porch steps without looking back. Maybe then all of this would go away. It was stupid, she knew, but she'd clung to the desperate hope that once they were back in Georgia, he'd tell her that the charade was over, that he never expected her to live up to the agreement she'd signed and that he was returning to wherever it was he'd come from...
"Faith?"
She looked up. His eyes burned into hers.
"Yes," she said, and she ignored his hand, got out of the car and made her way to the porch. Alice opened the door before she could take out her keys.
"Good mornin', Mrs. Cameron."
Faith nodded as she stepped into the foyer. "Good mornmg.
"Makes it easy on everybody around here, don't it? Not havin' to call you by a different name, I mean."
Faith felt her face fill with heat. I ought to be used to it, she thought. Alice had always been condescending. Ted had told her to ignore it and she'd done her best, but the situation had never been comfortable. Now it would be even worse.
"Now that you mention it," Cole said pleasantly, "I guess it does." He stood beside Faith, his arm around her waist. His body, his touch, were a strong, comforting presence. "And that's what we all want, Alice, don't we?"