Free Going to the Chapel by Debra Webb Page A

step closer when he knew he
shouldn’t. She was out of the vehicle already. He should just go
inside the house and forget this night ever happened.
    But he didn’t.
    “ Like what?” he demanded,
taking yet another step in her direction.
    She backed up, only to be
halted by the Jeep. She blinked, then squared her shoulders as if
suddenly regaining her courage. “I don’t know what, but you won’t
like it. You’re not my father or my husband.”
    There was that word again.
God, he hated that word and all it stood for in Caroline’s case.
The sound of Tristan Rodger’s polished voice echoed in his
head.
    “ You had no right to drag
me back to your house like some sort of...of caveman.”
    Chase took another step.
He’d lost his mind. That was a given. But every fiber of his being
cried out for her, yearned for him to be closer. To touch her. “I
took the right,” he rasped, the words low and thick with the lust
exploding inside him.
    Her breath caught when he
closed the final step between them. Her breasts, clearly delineated
by the silky devil red fabric, rose and fell with her every breath.
He could see the pulse fluttering at the base of her delicate
throat. All that creamy, porcelain skin. All that thick black
hair.
    “ Don’t you dare come any
closer,” she warned, her voice faltering.
    Her gray eyes were wide
with expectation. Her lips trembled when his gaze lit there. And
the battle was lost. He kissed her. Threaded the fingers of both
hands into her hair and held on tight as he kissed her with all the
mixed up emotions whirling inside him...with all the fury he’d felt
since he laid eyes on her just over twelve hours ago.
    She resisted at first, then
she relaxed. Her lips grew pliant beneath his. She tasted every bit
as sweet and hot as he remembered. More so, maybe. Her fingers
fisted in the cotton of his shirt. And he kissed her harder. He
plied her lips open and delved inside her soft, welcoming mouth.
She tried to pull him closer, he obliged, pressing his hips firmly
into her soft belly. Wishing he could bury himself inside her. He
wanted to hold her to him, make love to her until she cried for
mercy and then he wanted...
    Chase stilled. She
whimpered.
    This was a wrong on way too
many levels. He pulled away from her, feeling like the heel that he
was. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand in an attempt to
dispel the feel of her, the taste of her.
    “ I shouldn’t have done
that,” he murmured thickly.
    Her eyes glittering with
renewed fury she shoved against his chest. “Well, now that you’ve
gotten that out of your system, maybe you can get on with your
life.” She stalked toward the porch.
    A new kind of outrage burst
inside him. Did she think that he wanted her back? That he’d been
waiting for the opportunity to have her again?
    Chase clenched his teeth
and planted his hands on his hips. She could just think again. He
didn’t need her. His life was just fine without her. He’d already
gotten on with his life.
    And, one way or another,
before she left Lucy’s Branch again he’d prove it to
her.
     
     
     
     

Chapter Five
     
     
    It was just like she
remembered. Caroline surveyed the friends and neighbors gathered to
repair Garrett County’s famous—or infamous, depending on how one
looked at it—wedding chapel. Growing up in Lucy’s Branch she had
watched the townspeople rally together in times of need. Whether it
was a devastating act of nature or simply a barn raising, all
turned out to do their part.
    Though Caroline no longer
belonged here, Henri had insisted that she come. It was, after all,
Julie’s wedding at stake. If the repairs weren’t accomplished in a
timely manner, the wedding would have to be postponed yet another
week. Feeling immensely guilty about the whole situation, Caroline
had readily agreed to help out. She would, however, have given her
right arm not to have to spend the afternoon with Chase.
    Her face reddened at the
memory of that kiss. She