Rancher Wants a Wife by Kate Bridges Read Free Book Online Page A

thoughts on the matter. However, that is not a lawful reason to stop this wedding. Unless he formally proposed to you?”
    Elise’s color heightened as she slowly shook her head.
    “Now, are there any just causes why this marriage cannot lawfully take place?” The gray-haired gent scanned the crowd.
    When Jack looked again at Cassandra, she seemed to be swaying. He leaped to catch her and her bouquet before both could collapse to the floor.
    Other people rushed to their aid.
    The front pew was cleared and Jack helped her sit. He knelt at her feet, the white folds of her gown billowing around them. “Cassandra,” he said gently.
    “I’ll be all right,” she said. “So sorry. I think it’s the heat and lack of sleep.”
    “There’s no need to apologize. It’s me who’s sorry.” And extremely concerned at her pale color. “Would you like to rest? Or would you like to leave?”
    Cassandra didn’t immediately respond. Hugh, however, slid in next to Jack, in the new gray suit he’d had fitted in his office yesterday. “Can I do anything?” His words sounded genuine, despite his earlier warnings to Jack to steer clear of marrying a mail-order bride.
    Jack shook his head.
    “Seriously, Jack,” said Hugh, “maybe I can help by talking with Elise.”
    Mr. and Mrs. Dunleigh appeared beside them and fussed over Cassandra. Jack stood up in the swarm of people and searched for Elise, but she was no longer there. Neither were her friends. Hugh shrugged his shoulders in frustration.
    The crowd hushed and watched. Jack held out his hand and Cassandra grasped it with renewed strength. He helped her to her feet. Whatever had happened, she had recovered. The warm white color of her gown accentuated the fresh glow in her cheeks. Dammit, every time he looked at her burn, he felt a flash of guilt. Especially today. No bride should have to feel self-conscious on her wedding day. He sensed the tension between them, as if they were more like strangers than a couple who’d once known each other and were happy to be standing before the altar.
    “I would like you to be my wife, Cassandra,” he said clearly, so there was no mistaking it in the crowd. “Would you do me the honor?”
    “I would like to, very much.”
    With relief, they turned to face the minister, and were wed.
    * * *
    She waited, but still there was no seductive kiss.
    “I now pronounce you man and wife,” said the minister.
    Jack briefly brushed his lips against hers. Cassandra wished for more, but gathered that he must be as apprehensive as she was, considering what they’d just been through with that combative woman. Why had she waited until that moment to speak out? She must have been seated in the congregation at least several minutes before Cassandra had arrived. Why not speak to Jack privately before the ceremony?
    It was as though she had wished to be as dramatic and confrontational as possible. Jack’s explanation seemed plausible to Cassandra, and when she’d known him in Chicago, he hadn’t been one to string along any women. Plus there hadn’t been one person in the congregation who’d corroborated the woman’s story.
    Cassandra was still trying to make sense of it when Jack whisked her outside and seated her in the buggy. To her disappointment, Mr. and Mrs. Dunleigh traveled with them. The butler took the reins, his wife sat in front with him, and Cassandra and Jack shared the rear seat. Cassandra desperately wanted to talk to Jack alone about what had happened, but considering that the Dunleighs were within earshot, she decided to keep her private thoughts to herself.
    A few people hollered in good cheer as they left the church, and Cassandra wished she knew some of the friendlier ones.
    The twenty-minute ride to the ranch was discouraging. She clenched her bouquet of wilting roses in her lap, looked out at the pastures and greenery, and wished that there wasn’t two feet of space between herself and her new husband. She wished he would at