Piquant Chapter 3

I ignored him and turned on my heels. I heard her chuckle after me. I didn’t want to be the witness to this sorry excuse of a relationship. Everyone had a past. Everyone had a history. Some histories were better left unopened, but sometimes damaged people haunt you because you were once tied together. I knew that my story itself wasn’t pretty. I didn’t want Garrison to witness anything of it. Really, I was doing him a favor.

     When I got up to the room, I pulled on a sweater and walked out to the terrace that was connected to the master bedroom. The view was breathtaking. It was a painter’s envy. It would be the perfect place to create a masterpiece. My heart felt heavy and I wondered if I had done the right thing. Did I make the right decision to marry a man I hardly knew? I was now living in a foreign country where I had nowhere to go and no one I knew. My mother was thousands of miles away and although I yearned for her comfort, I knew I had to fight this battle on my own.

     I heard footsteps running up the stairs and then Garrison came charging through to the terrace. I looked up at him and saw the darkness in his eyes. His teeth were clenched and anger was spitting apparent on his face.

     “Why didn’t you listen to me?” he growled.

     I looked away from him. “Why should I stay and watch you and your lover brew over a broken heart? It’s more peaceful up here.”

     He grabbed my arm and turned me around. “She’s not my lover. She never was.”

     I laughed. “You mean to tell me that you have never slept with her? I mean look at her!”

     “I have looked. And that’s all I’ve done, looked. I’m tired of women like her. That’s why I found you. Have you forgotten? You’re the only woman I’ve ever chased.”

     Swallowing, I freed myself from him and turned away, until he wrapped his arm around me and held me. The comfort of his arms made me close my eyes. His touch warming my skin, making the dark thoughts disappear. How did he do that? How was he able to make everything disappear just by touching me? He turned me around slowly and captured my chin.

     “Peyton, I know that you and I are strangers in this thing called marriage. But I repeated those sacred vows and they mean everything to me. We may not have started out the way others did, but it doesn’t mean I haven’t taken this seriously. Inside of me, it burns for you when you’re not here with me. I nearly killed all the hotel attendants when I found you were gone in Jamaica. Did you honestly think I had those thoughts because you were a fling?”

     I shuddered and closed my eyes. It was an invitation to kiss me. He knew it and he did it. When he pulled away, I looked up to find myself in his eyes, as beautiful as the first time.

     “People who have been scarred like me, it’s harder to break through. I’m just afraid it’s all going to turn out the same way.”

     “Don’t ever think that. For one, I’m not him. Trust me enough that I can make this work.”

     I ran my hands up his arms and curled them around his neck. “I will trust you.”

Planning a wedding was harder than I thought. No, wait. Let me rephrase that. Planning a royal wedding was harder than I thought. First, who the hell knew I was going to be wearing a million dollar dress designed by the greatest fashion designer ever? When I saw the dress layout, I nearly died. It was going to be the most incredible dress ever to touch this body of mine. My mother would faint of envy. Second, did the wedding really require six hundred roses? Those poor flowers were going to be thrown away at the end of the wedding anyways. I felt bad. I kept reminding Garrison every moment I could about how this was too much. He always replied back with, “You’re married to me now. This is how things are done.” Third, the guest list! Oh, my God! I have never seen so many Sirs and Lords. Some of the names, I couldn’t even pronounce. The list itself was ten pages long. My first thought was will the mansion fit? And would I need to know everyone by name? I was petrified of my own wedding due to the fact that it was going to be the most talked about event of the year.

     In the days that followed Garrison’s promise to me, he assigned me two personal guards. At first I thought, I don’t need them. Then on my way home from the market, I was attacked by two crazed photographers trying to get a photo of me. Luckily, the two guards got to me before they were able to. I came home and cried to Garrison who held me and promised to make sure it never happened again.

     “Did you have the security with you?” he asked as he rubbed circles on my back. We were lying together in bed with the windows opened. The soft breeze came in and offered me peace while his fingers offered me safety.

     “They were.”

     “Were you hurt?”

     “No. Why haven’t you released in the press yet who you’re going to marry?”

     Garrison sighed and kissed my head. “They’ll know when they attend the wedding. I’ve given two of the top reporters front seats to cover the wedding if they stop following you around. I don’t want your face plastered all over the news. I vowed to protect you. I aim to please.”

     I lifted my head up to look at him. “I see them camped out front of the house all the time. They think I’m a house servant.”

     He looked at me up and down. “Because you keep wearing your own clothes. I’ve asked you to wear the ones I bought you.”

     “They’re too…neat. I’m afraid I might wrinkle them.”

     A smile spread across his face. “Well, if you’re afraid they might wrinkle, why don’t you just take them off?”

     I looked up at him and saw the glimmer of an aroused man. “Oh, you want me to, don’t you?”

     A wicked grin appeared. “Honey, around me, you don’t need any attire. They end up on the floor anyways.”

     “How about lingerie?”

     He cocked his head. “Those might be handy.”

     His hand reached inside my blouse just as a knock came on the door. I laughed as his face broke into anger. I pulled away and walked to open the door to find a horrified Mrs. Potter. She was twisting a rag between her fingers and her eyes were bright with tears.

     “What’s wrong?” I asked as I pulled her in. Garrison got off the bed and walked toward us as she closed the door. He came to stand beside me and his face darkened by the appearance of Mrs. Potter.

     “Tasha is downstairs, my lord. She won’t leave. I’m so sorry to bother you, but I had no choice.”

     Garrison growled and moved past us toward the door. But then he turned back around and grabbed my arm. Before I could utter a word, we were both running down the stairs together. We found her sitting in the couch as if she belonged with her perfectly tamed hair in a bun. She was wearing a very short red dress with heels that made her legs long for days. When she saw us, she stood, but her smile wasn’t present.

     “I asked to see you, Garrison, not her,” Tasha said.

     “She’s my wife. Where I go, she goes. I thought I told you to never come back here.”

     She crossed her arms. “Today is my best friend’s engagement party. You promised to go with me. If you don’t, I’ll be attending alone. You know how I loathe that.”

     Garrison laughed. “I’m not going with you. Leave.”

     She stomped her foot. “I’m serious, Garrison!” 

     I raised my eyebrows and tried as I might, the laughter bubbled out of me. She turned to face me and her hands fell to her sides in fists. Garrison placed his arm around my waist.

     “What’s so funny?” she asked.

     I cleared my throat. “Forgive me, but when I see a grown woman dressed like you stomping her foot, it draws up an image of a very immature child throwing a temper because Mommy didn’t buy her a damn lollipop.”

     Garrison chuckled beside me. She turned her eyes to him and walked toward me. Before I could predict it, her hand flew across my cheek. My head snapped back and tears burned my eyes. The blurred image of Garrison carrying her out was all I saw before my legs gave out on me and I fell to the ground. Mrs. Potter came to my side immediately.

     “Oh dear lord! Milady, let me see.”

     I removed my hand and she examined my cheek as Garrison came back. He almost shoved Mrs. Potter away as he got down on his knees and took my face in his hands. Concern burrowed on his face as he checked me thoroughly. I put my hands up to push him away and stood up.

     “I’m fine,” I said.

     Standing, he grabbed my arm. “Kiss me.” Mrs. Potter’s face reddened as she walked away. I frowned as I turned to him.

     “Why?”

     “Because I need you to calm me down before I go after her and murder her.”

     Sighing, I walked to him and placed my hands on his chest. The rapid heart beating began to slow and I saw his eyes return to its normal color. I stood up and placed my lips gently on his.

     “I’m ok.”

     “I want to kill her for doing that.”

     “You got rid of her. That’s all I need. Now how about you and I finish our conversation before we were rudely interrupted?”