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CHAPTER 6
Damien’s uncharacteristic urge to curse like a sailor was starting to irritate him. As he snatched one of the cookies Junee had left cooling on the kitchen counter, he contemplated the grim facts.
His lawyer hadn’t found a way around the legal knots Theodore had tied. There wasn’t evidence to have him declared mentally unstable. He was, but then he’d always been a crazy son of a bitch. If being or acting like a son of a bitch could be considered a mental condition.
And any legal proceedings to steal guardianship of his mother would take too long. Damien wasn’t willing to take a chance on his mother’s health and well-being. He owed her too much. She had suffered too much.
So, his bad mood was justified, but when Damien found himself stomp
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TO HAVE AND TO HOLD CHAPTER 7
Arguments? He had a few, but none that were effective. Excuses? A whole hay wagon full, but none he dared utter in the face of the threat to his mother’s well-being. Other women? Damien could think of many a delectable armful over the last ten years, but none interested in anything as dull as marriage. He’d stayed far away from the home-and-hearth type.“No,” Damien conceded, then stepped aside to let her pass. “I don’t think I could pay my assistant enough to move to the middle of nowhere and put up with me 24/7.”“It’s hardly the middle of nowhere,” Regina said with a light tone as she scooted past, brushing the far wall in an attempt not to touch him again. Which was just as well.“We might not have the culture of New York City,” she continued, “but there’s stil
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD CHAPTER 8
Regina enjoyed reading to Iris. Sometimes she would indulge in short verses from a book of poetry, magazine articles, or a cozy mystery. Today the words from a story set in a small town like theirs eased over them both until muffled bumps and bangs erupted from the adjoining room. She cocked her head, hearing more thumping sounds. A quick glance reassured her Iris was okay, so she set the book down and hurried through the dressing room. The noise grew as she approached the door that led from Iris’s dressing room to Regina’s bedroom. ‘What was going on?’ Opening the door, she found herself facing a... wall? A mattress wall? Going back through Iris’s suite to the other exit into the hallway only gave her time to get good and angry.
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD CHAPTER 9
Almost a week after making his pledge to his mother, the marriage license arrived and Damien was royally screwed. Oh, he would go through with it, that was for sure. In his gut, he knew this was the last thing he could do for his mother, one thing she could be proud of him for. She’d made her home here, been highly involved in the community, and she’d want him to care for it, too. He couldn’t promise her he’d stay. But he could get her safely settled and make sure the town remained secure. Still, his confrontation with Regina on the stairs taunted him. And the fire with which she’d argued with him in her bedroom, soon to be their bedroom, tempted him to enjoy everything she might have to offer. Which made it imperati
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD CHAPTER 10
Suddenly, Damien appeared in front of her, blocking everything from view but his silvery gaze.“Regina,” he murmured again, those moving, sexy lips drawing her attention down, making her wish this was all real, even though she knew she shouldn’t.“Are you okay with this? Do you still want to go through with it?” The furrow between his eyebrows deepened.“I mean, we don’t have to do this right now, if you don’t feel like it.” Oh yes, they did. Before the nausea in the pit of her stomach got the best of her. The slight hope in his eyes made her sad. His face wavered for just a moment. She knew she had to do it… It was Iris’s future in this house at stake. Regina closed her eyes for a moment and nodded.“No, Da
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD CHAPTER 11
“Now, explain to me one more time why we’re at a bar on your wedding night?” Lucas might be a hotshot who had every woman in this bar sneaking a peek at what the tabloids described as his ‘dreamy’ eyes, but all Damien could think of at the moment was shipping him back to where he came from in his souped-up sports car.“Apparently, my wife thinks being here will keep her from having to face the new bed I moved into her room.”“Dude, if you’re having to track down your wife, then this is going to be one long, rough wedding night. Are you sure this marriage is real?”“Oh, it’s as real as your sorry ass being here, with me.” And more tempting than Damien wanted to acknowledge. “And it’s only temporary, but that doesn’t change the requirement
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD CHAPTER 12
His little brother was right… It was time to solve this matter before starting to take care of the situation at the Kennedy Mill. He needed Regina and her influence over the people in town. Regina was still standing at her table, talking and trying to have a good time without him. She was behaving like nothing happened that day between them… like she wasn’t his wife. Damien couldn’t help feeling jealous of other people she was talking to, or laughing with… He wanted her to do that with him and only him. She hadn’t noticed him. He’d chosen this spot especially to watch her without detection. Give himself a feel for what she was really like, the side of herself she wouldn’t show him. Now Dam
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD CHAPTER 13
Regina stared at the cabin she had completely forgotten existed. The last time she’d been this far from the house, shoulder-high weeds had curbed any exploration. But the adult Damien had been hard at work on the little cabin Iris had ordered built for him when he was a teenager. The immediate vicinity had been freshly cleared and lengths of unfinished two-by-fours had been used to replace the sagging porch. Old-school rock blared from inside. As she came around the corner, she saw a brand-new AC unit blocking the side window. So, this was what was holding Damien’s attention the past few days. Regina had been avoiding her husband, and memories of that embarrassing confrontation in the bar, for almost a week. Nights had been even more
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD CHAPTER 14
By now, she was sampling the textures with both palms. She could imagine Damien working on it, chipping away, studying the angles until he found just the one that worked for him. Which was the same way he approached life. He wasn’t the type to listen and work with an outside element. She smirked, her hands stilling. Of course, this was an element he had ultimate control over. Suddenly, Regina was aware of that masculine heat at her back, blocking her in. Damien’s hands slid down her arms to cover her fingers where they curved around the rock. His breath accelerated, stirring the hair lying heavy against the back of her neck.“Damien…” she whispered, not sure if she was begging him to stop or to continue. He said nothing, his fingers caressing hers. Tingles of fear and e
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