Marriage by Contract Part 2. Sandra Steffen

a traditional wedding once. That time she’d done everything according to custom, wearing her mother’s lace, her grandmother’s pearls, even a penny in her shoe. This wedding would be as simple and true as the reason for its occurrence. For Christopher.

      “Here,” Jenna said, pressing a tube of lipstick into Beth’s hand. “For someone who knows exactly what you’re doing and the exact reasons why you’re doing it, you’ve chewed off an awful lot of your lipstick.”

      Leaning closer to the mirror, Beth reapplied the pink gloss. Jenna was right. She was nervous, but whether Jenna believed her or not, it had nothing to do with superstition. She’d been this way ever since Kitty Garcia had reported someone lurking around the nursery a few days ago. Beth had read articles about babies who had been stolen from hospitals, and it stood to reason that a baby who’d been abandoned would be a prime target. The thought of someone taking Christopher tore at her insides. Hospital security had been stepped up, but she wouldn’t rest easy until he was safe in her arms once and for all.

      The beginning strains of music filtered up the stairs. “That’s our cue,” Jenna said. “Are you ready?”

      Before Beth had finished nodding, Jenna tossed her long black hair over her shoulder and spun around. “All right, then. Let’s go. But watch your step. You might not believe in bad omens, but I’m superstitious enough for both of us.”

      Beth took the single pink rose Jenna handed to her and slowly followed her friend. Whether it was luck or poise, she didn’t trip on the way down the stairs or falter as she placed her hand in the crook of her future husband’s elbow. She might have held her breath at the width of Tony’s shoulders beneath his dark suit and at the expression in his eyes. She ached just a little because she no longer believed in living happily ever after, but she could hardly blame that on luck, good or bad.

      They strode to the front of the room, where Father Carlos was waiting. Side by side, she and Tony listened as the old priest began to read from his frayed book. She answered the questions with the appropriate responses, telling herself there was no reason for her heart to feel too large for her own chest. She was prepared to marry Anthony Joseph Petrocelli. She wasn’t, however, prepared to fall in love with him. Their marriage wasn’t going to last forever, anyway. Why, then, did she cross her fingers for luck moments before Father Carlos declared them husband and wife?

      Raising her face for Tony’s kiss, she realized that she might have been the tiniest bit superstitious, after all.

      * * *

      Tony ran his finger between his neck and his shirt collar, even though it wasn’t really his collar that felt too tight. His eyes were trained on the newest member of the Petrocelli family. Beth was standing on the other side of the room, cornered by three of his four sisters. Her dress was a pale shade of blue and bespoke of a woman with good manners and exquisite taste. It fit her to perfection, stopping several inches above her cream-colored shoes. All in all, her entire outfit looked elegant. Her hair was another matter, waving past her shoulders, unruly and just enough out of control to entice a man to want to touch it, to harbor thoughts of taming it. He flexed his fingers at his side, wondering how much longer he had to wait before he and Beth could leave.

      The wedding had come off without a hitch, unless he counted his mother’s and grandmother’s tears, the squabble between two of his brothers-in-law, a little spilled punch and the sour notes Gina had hit on the piano while Beth was descending the stairs before the ceremony began. It was strange, but the instant Beth’s eyes had met his, everything else had receded, until there was only her, and him, and the rousing jolt that went through him as he’d waited for her to place her hand in his.

      “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”

      Pulling his gaze from Beth, Tony reeled in his thoughts and glanced at the raven-haired woman standing next to him, watching him with eagle eyes. Oh, boy. Jenna Maria Brigante was all he needed.

      She peered up at him, chin raised, hands on her hips, her gaze unwavering. A lot of people thought Tony was unobservant, but he wasn’t. He’d always kept to himself, that’s all—his feelings, his thoughts, especially his emotions. He was a private person, and he wasn’t comfortable with people traipsing through his thought processes, especially when the woman doing the wandering claimed she was a bona fide Gypsy.

      Holding her gaze with a firm look of his own, he said, “Are you having a good time?”

      She shrugged. “You know what they say. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.”

      “Do you want me to try to set you up with one of my associates at the hospital?”

      Coal black eyebrows rose slightly as she said, “I think you and I both know that wouldn’t be a very good idea.”

      The image of a black-widow spider eating her mate flashed through Tony’s mind. He didn’t know why he smiled, but in all honesty, he didn’t dislike Beth’s friend. She’d done a wonderful job as Beth’s maid of honor. A light had been dancing in her dark eyes all afternoon. Now her gaze was strangely direct.

      “I did want to talk to you about something, Tony. I’m just not sure this is the right place.”

      Glancing down as two of his nephews streaked by, he said, “If you were thinking about giving me my sex talk, don’t. I’m still waiting for my father to do the honors.”

      Apparently, she didn’t feel like dignifying his remark with a comment of her own. She simply stared at him, her expression so serious that Tony felt inclined to say, “This is a wedding reception, Jenna. Not a funeral.”

      Glancing away, Jenna said, “Yes, I know. Beth’s happy today. I’d like to keep it that way.”

      “And you don’t believe that’s possible?” he prodded.

      “She has her heart set on adopting Christopher. I don’t know what she’d do if something went wrong.”

      Tony followed the course of her gaze to the other side of the room. Beth chose that moment to look up, a smile stealing across her lips. He wondered if she had any idea what that smile of hers was doing to him. He was well schooled in what to do and what to think about to keep his desire from becoming obvious, but today it required all his concentration to accomplish such a feat. A need had been building in him for months, and there was only one way to satisfy it.

      Without taking his eyes off Beth, he said, “If you’re trying to tell me not to hurt her, don’t bother. I intend to do my best to make her happy. Besides, what could possibly go wrong?”

      Jenna sputtered something he couldn’t understand, then finished her tirade in English. “There’s nothing more frightening than a nonbeliever begging for trouble.”

      “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said sardonically, “while I try not to step on any cracks in the sidewalk or break any mirrors. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I believe it’s time to take my wife home.”

      * * *

      “The wedding was lovely, wasn’t it?”

      Tony’s answer was a deep, mellow hum, just as it had been the first two times he’d answered the same question. If Beth had been alone, she would have pressed both hands to her face. But then, if she’d been alone, she wouldn’t have been repeating herself in a frantic effort to hold her nerves at bay.

      This wasn’t the first time she’d taken the winding street that led to Tony’s house. It was, however, the first time she’d taken the route as Mrs. Anthony Petrocelli. Therein lay the problem.

      Although today was the sixth of September, the day was still summer warm. People everywhere were sitting on porch swings and lawn chairs, lazily passing a pleasant afternoon. In contrast, Beth’s nerves were scrambling. When she and Tony had first left his parents’ house, she’d concentrated on taking one slow, easy breath, and then another. When that had failed to calm her, she’d tried to fill the quiet with inconsequential talk of everything from the weather to a bumper sticker that read Don’t Blame Me. I Voted Republican.

      She’d