Going to the Chapel Page 5

  “You’ve done that before, right?” he asked.

  “Nope. You have a great lead.” He shot her a doubtful look. “You do,” she insisted. “Plus I used to take ballet.”

  “Ballet? Now I’m totally impressed.”

  “You should be. I practically killed myself doing it, even though I was never very good.”

  “Somehow I doubt that.” Before she could respond, Ashley’s voice quieted the crowd and had them both turning their heads. “Looks like the bidding is about to start,” Sam said with a grimace.

  Claire shuddered. “I could use another drink.”

  “Trade places with me, and then we’ll see who needs a drink.”

  “You have a point. I’ll drink one for you, too.”

  She shot him a saucy smile and he grinned just as Ashley called his name. “At least I’ll get this over with.” Giving her a wink, Sam stepped onto the platform. The room vibrated with cheers and whistles, and Claire cringed for him. And for herself. She should have tried to talk Jillian into bidding for her. What had she been thinking?

  Ashley’s voice filled the barn as she introduced Sam, and the women went wild, cheering and whistling loud enough to almost hurt her ears. On an impulse, Claire gave a shout. Grinning, she yelled again, liking the feeling of letting loose.

  “Turn around,” the red-headed-woman she’d seen earlier with her brother yelled at Sam. The thought of Justin being bought by that woman, had Claire holding in more giggles. When Sam’s eyes landed on her, she gave him the thumbs up and a holler.

  The red-haired-woman yelled again for Sam to turn around but he ignored her, standing with his thumbs tucked into his front jean pockets and not moving.

  The auctioneer started the bidding. Every time a woman bid on Sam, the auctioneer raised the price, and Claire shot her paddle into the air. Before long they were up to three hundred dollars, and Claire’s nerves began to feel like a tightly strung guitar string that had just been plucked.

  She could not let someone else win Sam tonight, but how high would this go? Not that she didn’t have the money, but still. She was an accountant. She never spent her money foolishly. Come to think of it, she never did anything foolishly. She watched the red-haired-lady and some leggy brunette continue to outbid one another. When the bid stood at five hundred and fifty dollars with the red-haired-lady’s bid on top, the room went quiet, and Sam looked like he wanted to leap off the stage and run for his life.

  “Five hundred seventy-five dollars,” another lady hollered. The red-haired glared at her competition then shifted her gaze back to Sam.

  OMG, that lady was about to win Sam. Claire jerked her paddle up, hitting her glass of wine and dropping both the wine and the paddle. She dropped to the floor and grabbed her paddle, now covered in wine. “Six hundred dollars,” she heard someone holler. She tried to shove to her feet but slipped on the spilled wine, hitting her elbow hard on the floor.

  “Going, going… and sold,” the auctioneer yelled and banged his gavel on the podium.

  The air whooshed out of Claire as she struggled to her feet and watched Sam walk off the stage, all but wincing as the red-haired lady sashayed over to him and took his arm, leaning in close.

  Claire rubbed her elbow and held in tears as she grabbed a handful of napkins off a nearby table and began cleaning herself up as best she could. She couldn’t believe she’d fallen down and missed winning Sam tonight.

  Her spirits sank as he approached her with a scowl. “One minute you were there and the next gone. What happened?”

  “I dropped my paddle then fell trying to get it because the floor was wet.”

  “Wet?”

  She shrugged. “With my wine.”

  “So let me get this straight. I was bought by the dragon lady, because the ballet dancer turned into a klutz?”

  “Close enough,” Claire said, indignantly, trying to decide if she was going to laugh or cry.

  Sam’s shoulders shook as he tried to hold in his laughter, and she couldn’t help but join in. Before long they were both out of control. She grabbed his arm to steady herself. “I’m so glad you’re not mad. I heard her bid for you, but when I tried to raise my paddle, it hit my wine glass, and then I fell, and then I couldn’t manage to get up in time.”

  He shook his head. “One minute you were standing there fidgeting, the next gone. Vanished into thin air. And then the axe fell.” He sliced a finger across his neck. “But, hey, I’m tough. I can take it.”

  Claire looked around. “Where is she?”

  “Don’t look for her,” he ordered. “I took her number, pried her loose, and sent her on her way. Said I’d call,” he added with a grimace.

  “You have to call her, Sam. She paid six hundred big ones for you.”

  “Don’t remind me.” He bent his knees and looked her straight in the eye. “You would have paid that? I mean, if you hadn’t been sprawled in a puddle of wine.”

  “Absolutely.”

  He grinned and straightened. “That’s my girl. Now come show me what you baked tonight, so I can buy it.”

  Claire led him across the room to a table full of all things yummy. “The pecan pie is mine.”

  “Looks delicious.” He pulled out his wallet. “Thank God it won’t cost me six hundred bucks. I had no idea I’d pull in that kind of money. What’s wrong with people?”

  “Too much wine?” Claire offered. Something about being with this man made her sassy. Or maybe it was the wine. “I might have overdone it with the wine tonight,” she admitted. “And my elbow hurts like a son-of-a-gun where I smacked it.”

  His lips quirked up as he took the arm she cradled, and rubbed her elbow. “It was good to see you having fun, even if you hurt yourself.” He handed his money to the lady behind the table of goodies and took the pecan pie. Draping an arm over Claire’s shoulders, he nodded toward the ongoing auction and grinned. “Looks like your brother is up next. Want to watch?”

  Claire glanced at the red-headed-gal, who waved her arms and cheered as Justin stepped onto the platform. Her brother scowled and some of the other ladies laughed, but it didn’t seem to faze the obviously inebriated woman.

  “How many men does she intend to buy tonight?” Claire groused, giving an eye roll.

  “No kidding. Maybe I should work on my attitude about her,” Sam said. “She must be loaded.”

  Claire elbowed him in the ribs, and he grabbed her, tugging her to him with one hand while he held the pie with his other hand. “You’re pretty full of it for a lady who was wallowing around on the floor when she was desperately needed.”

  “I’d rather be wanted than needed,” she said flippantly.

  His raucous laugh was music to her ears. She wasn’t used to flirting. In fact, she felt pretty rusty at it, a good indicator, she supposed, of how much of a rut she and Chris had been in. “Excuse me,” she said. “I’m going to the lady’s room. Be right back.” She straightened her shoulders, on a mission she wasn’t at all sure she could pull off, but she kept walking toward the restroom, then veered over to the red-haired-lady and tapped her on the shoulder.

  The woman turned around, a scowl on her face. “You lost. Don’t bother me.”

  Claire barely managed not to cringe, but she wasn’t backing down. “You saying you’re not interested in the thousand dollars I was about to offer you to bid for that guy on the platform?” God, Justin would kill her when he found out about this.

  The lady stared at her. “Are you drunk?”

  Claire barely held in a snotty reply, but who was she to feel indignant? She really had gulped down too much wine tonight. “No, I’m not drunk, but I want your date with the man you just bought. I’ll buy him back from you for a thousand dollars, and you can use the extra money to make sure you get that guy,” she said, nodding at Justin.

  “What’s wrong with you? No man is worth that kind of money.” She rolled her bloodshot eyes at Claire. “You have a lot to learn about men, but I’m more than willing to take y
our money.”

  Claire pulled the thousand dollars out of her purse and handed it over. “Will you remember this and not get furious when he doesn’t call you?”

  The woman looked her up and down. “Like I said. You have a lot to learn about men. He’ll call me alright.” With a dismissive flick of her hand, she turned back to the stage and held up her paddle.

  Claire ignored the woman’s jab and fought the urge to do a happy dance. God knows, she didn’t want to fall on her fanny a second time tonight. She hurried to the ladies room to freshen up. After washing her hands, which were sticky with wine, she headed back to Sam, feeling elated with herself.

  “Does your brother have a shy bone in his body?” Sam asked, when she sat beside him.

  “Afraid not. I got all the shy genes.”

  “You could have fooled me. At least this evening. Hope that means you’re having fun, aside from falling on the floor when I needed you the most.”

  “I am. Tonight’s been great. Except for the floor sprawl,” she tacked on.”

  He grinned, then got serious. “Maybe it’s good your fiancé broke things off with you. If you can’t have fun with your fiancé, something’s wrong. Didn’t you ever wonder about that?”

  She felt her cheeks sting with the truth of his statement. “Chris and I enjoyed one another’s company and rarely argued, but I’m beginning to realize neither one of us was truly happy. Content maybe.” She thought for a minute. “Change that to comfortable.”

  “Comfortable’s a powerful emotion. Most people don’t realize how powerful. My last relationship was like that.” He shook his head. “Not good enough.”

  “Two months ago I wouldn’t have agreed with you, but now I have to say you’re probably right.” Claire took a bite of pie and thought about the feelings she had whenever she was with Sam. They barely knew one another, so comfortable certainly wasn’t what she felt around him. Excited? Definitely. She swallowed her bite of pie and smiled at him, shoving away her thoughts, and allowing herself to feel the excitement and anticipation that thrummed through her every time she was with this man.

  And he hadn’t even kissed her yet.

  He leaned close and her heart skipped a beat. “You didn’t win me tonight, but how about we go out next weekend?” he asked. “Make our own special date?”

  “That sounds wonderful. What do you want to do on this date?” she asked, about to burst to tell him she had, too, won him. She’d merely won him behind the scenes.

  “Be with you,” he answered without hesitation. “What do you want?”

  “Spend the day in bed with you,” she said dreamily, then slapped a hand over her mouth. His eyes widened, and her heart raced like a runaway horse. “I can’t believe I said that,” she admitted, mortified.” She doubted she and Chris had ever spent more than thirty minutes making love, and that was usually at bedtime. Chris had always fallen asleep immediately after, and she’d laid there wishing they could cuddle and visit—tell one another about their life goals, their fears and hopes. But that had rarely happened. When she’d asked him about it once, he’d looked shocked and told her they knew each other so well they already knew what the other wanted.

  But obviously that hadn’t been true.

  Sam’s voice brought her back to the present. “Maybe we should plan our date when you haven’t been drinking wine all evening,” he whispered in her ear.

  His remark hurt. And deepened her humiliation. “I didn’t say it because I’d been drinking, but I’ve changed my mind, so quit looking at me like that.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like you think I’m crazy.”

  “After what you said, I’m not thinking at all.”

  Her face heated up. “How about we go for a nice horseback ride and have a picnic?”

  Sam arched his brows. “You’re just full of surprises tonight.” He wrapped a piece of her hair around his finger, let it fall back down onto her shoulders, his gaze never leaving her face.

  She forced herself not to look away. “I keep surprising myself, too,” she admitted. And scaring myself. This thing she had with Sam was supposed to be an experiment, something she did and got out of her system, but she was beginning to think it might not be that simple. She hadn’t realized she would enjoy his company so much, want to hear about his hopes and dreams—and she had no doubt Sam McGinnis had plenty of hopes and dreams. He winked at her and she blinked hard.

  Scooping the last bite of his pie onto his fork, he held it up to her mouth. She took the piece, never taking her eyes off of him and barely aware they were surrounded by a crowd of people.

  “Your pie is delicious,” he said with a smile.

  “Thank you,” she responded, her voice raspy. She took a quick sip of water and glanced toward the bidding war for her brother. The red-head raised her paddle and the bid went to five hundred seventy-five dollars. “Looks like Justin’s about to raise a bunch of money, too.”

  “He doesn’t look too happy about it. Can’t say I blame him.”

  “Yeah, me either.” Guilt seeped through Claire. “See that brunette wearing a red shirt?” Sam nodded. “She looks pretty frustrated. Maybe she’ll keep bidding.” But no one would bid enough to go over the thousand bucks Claire had bought Sam back with.

  “Can I hear six hundred?” the auctioneer shouted.

  The room got quiet, and Justin shot a quick glance toward the brunette. She raised her paddle, and the auctioneer rattled off six twenty five.

  “I’ll pay a thousand dollars,” the red-head yelled.

  “Going, going and sold.” The auctioneer’s gavel came down with a smack and the crowd cheered. Justin jumped off the platform and the lady who had bought him—with Claire’s money—headed his way with an unsteady gait.

  “She’s probably a nice lady when she’s sober,” Claire said, hoping that was true, because when Justin found out what she’d done he’d be furious, and she had no doubt the lady who just snarfed him up would spill Claire’s secret.

  Grabbing the remainder of the pie, Sam stood. “Come on, Miss Softy. Let’s get our coats and go for a walk until the dancing starts back up. You staying at the ranch tonight or heading back to Nashville?”

  “Staying. Pretty soon I’ll have to make a reservation to do that. They’re getting really booked for spring weddings.” She thought about her cancelled wedding, but it didn’t depress her like it usually did. She pulled herself back to the present and smiled at the man she yearned to crawl into bed with and discover what she’d been missing all these years.

  After gathering their coats, Sam led her out to his truck and set the partially-eaten pie in it, then took her hand and led her toward a corral where several horses stood, heads hanging low. They raised their heads as Sam and Claire approached. Sam leaned on the fence, and the gray horse nickered and started toward them, stretching its neck out for a pat. Sam stroked the gelding’s shoulder.

  Claire couldn’t help but wonder what Sam was thinking about as he petted the sleek animal.

  He finally turned to her, taking her hands in his. “It hasn’t been long since you and your fiancé broke up. You think you’re ready to start dating?”

  His question brought her up short. “I’m certainly enjoying being with you tonight.” He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed the top of it. Goosebumps skittered up her arm. “You make me feel alive in a way I’ve never felt,” she admitted, her last few words barely audible. Something about this man made her want to spill her guts to him.

  Except for confessing what she’d done at the auction. Oh well, she might as well come clean. “Ah, Sam, I need to confess something.”

  He looked taken back. “I’m listening.”

  “I bought you back from the red-head, so she’d give up her date with you and have enough money to buy Justin.”

  Sam drew back, his eyes wide. “Say that again.”

  Oh God, what had she done? Sam didn’t look pleased at all. “I gave her more money than she spent on yo
u, so I could have her date with you,” she explained.

  Sam pulled his cowboy hat off and ran a hand through his hair, then set his hat back on. “What happened to the shy lady I met a few weeks ago?”

  Claire looked down. “She’s still here, but I wanted that date.”

  “I’ve already asked you out for next weekend.”

  “But I didn’t know you would ask me out,” she said, straightening her shoulders and looking at him.

  A slight smile lifted the corners of his mouth. He caressed her cheek with his thumb. “Didn’t you know that you would have had a date with me, no matter what?”

  “I hoped, but I didn’t know. Plus, I didn’t want you to go out with her,” she admitted. “I didn’t think you wanted to go out with her either, but I could have been wrong, and you certainly can if you want,” she said without taking a breath.

  He laughed. “You are something else, and I’m relieved I’m not taking that woman out. Your brother, on the other hand, is gonna be rip-snorting mad at you.”

  She grimaced. “You can say that again.”

  He leaned closer, his warm breath caressing her face. “You can hide out at my place. Spend all day in bed with me. And all night if you want.”

  “Now you’re teasing me, right?”

  “Maybe.” Sam pulled her close, and she melted into him, loving the feelings coursing through her. After a few minutes, he stepped back. “There’s nothing I want more than to take you to bed, Claire. But the thing is, in only a few more weeks your wedding date will be here. It’s going to hit you hard, and we should take this slow.”

  Her spirits plummeted. That was the last thing she wanted. She’d waited all her life to feel this way. Until she’d met Sam, she hadn’t really believed in mind-blowing chemistry. “I don’t want to go slow. I’m about to die for you to kiss me,” she finished before she chickened out.

  His gaze landed on her lips. “You’re killing me here. I’m fighting to be a gentleman and not let you get into something you’re not ready for.”