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Chapter 8
Chase carelessly packed his bag for
Two days she’d been gone. Two days since she’d called a cab, packed only a small bag and disappeared out of his life. And for two days he’d been a bigger grump than when Tori had been there creating havoc in his life and home.
“Honestly, Chase,” Sophie chastised him in her motherly way. “I don’t know
how you expected your clothes to arrive in
“Yes. And for business,” he replied, looking at her. “I need to stop by the office. Make my bi-monthly appearance.”
“Yep. Can’t let business go south, can we?”
He ignored her until she asked, “Planning on stopping by to see the Ambroses while you’re in town?”
Slowly he turned away and a muscle twitched in his jaw.
“Why should I?” he asked back.
Sophie shrugged. “Though you might be missin’ that pretty little wife of yours by now.”
“I don’t miss her,” he snapped. “She chose to walk out on me, don’t forget that.”
Sophie was one of the few who wasn’t frightened off by his terse tongue.
“And you didn’t push one tiny bit I suspect,” she drawled. “Yep, that’s the way men usually see it. If the woman leaves, it’s all her fault.”
“And if the man leaves it’s all his fault too,” he retorted. “Whoever does the walking should carry the blame.”
“You ain’t exactly Prince Charmin’, you know, Chase.”
He glowered at her but the older woman didn’t even flinch. She persisted in packing his few things, neatly folding and arranging and continued on with her words of wisdom. “You push too, hard too fast sometimes. And Tori, well, she was just a girl in a lot of ways. She needed time to grow up some, to find her footin’ here and you pushed, you didn’t give her time.”
“I never pushed her out the door,” Chase quipped.
“Maybe not.” Sophie placed the last of his things in his bag and closed it. Then she placed her hands on her hips and said, “I know what happened in that barn the other day. Tori confessed it to me the mornin’ before she left. I knew something had happened to change her. She was frightened and it showed. Now, you were doing a real good job at playin’ nursemaid to her, but what I think happened is that you got impatient with her and you wanted that spunky gal back that you were fallin’ in love with.”
“I wasn’t falling in love,” he refuted.
“Okay, that you were half in love with anyhow. And don’t argue that because we both know you’ve wanted nothin’ more for the past year than to find a wife, settle down and be happy. Love goes along with that and so I think you were tryin’ real hard to fall in love. But when things went a bit awry, when Tori got spooked because of what some dumb cowhand tried to do to her, you got impatient. If you had just given her a few more days…”
“She was becoming my shadow.”
“And that was so bad?” Sophie asked.
“She was afraid of the pool man, for heaven’s sake!”
Sophie nodded. “I can see how Colby could scare a gal with that
Chase rolled his eyes. Sophie just didn’t understand. Tori had left him. She’d reneged on their deal and run back to mommy and daddy and more than likely he would get a phone call any day now from Norton Ambrose asking for their contract to be cancelled. As things sat right now, he had half a mind to do that himself.
Yet as he drove towards
He couldn’t help it, however, if he was attracted to her, and he’d found it very difficult that day in her bedroom to resist her when she’d been kissing him and touching him and giving him the green light. But he’d stopped when she’d told him to and he’d backed off like he’d been doing for the entire two and a half weeks of their marriage. And still, he’d seen the accusations and fear in her eyes and he’d wondered how they could ever have a marriage if she feared him so.
So they’d argued and he’d pushed like Sophie had said and Tori had left. She’d rebelled against him like she had her parents for so many years and he realized he’d handled the situation all wrong. But what was he going to do about it? How was he going to make a mends with her? And the biggest uncertainty was…would he even try?
**
For the first day at her parents’ home, Tori had fibbed and told them she was simply visiting. She’d hidden the sadness in her eyes and pretended life was just grand at Chase’s ranch. They’d bought it…at first.
The second day, however, she’d made the mistake of lounging around the pool and her mother had come down to sit with her. It wasn’t unusual for Mary Ambrose to sit and read in the early morning sun watching her daughter swim. She loved to watch Tori dive and often asked her to do the same back flip over and over again, clapping with delight each time.
In high school when she’d been on the swimming and diving team, Mary had attended every one of Tori’s meets. Always, she’d sat in the front row, smiling with pride. As much pressure as her parents exuded on her to be like them, she couldn’t fault them for not loving her. They’d always loved her and as she hung on the edge of the pool looking up at her mother who wanted her to dive some more, she felt the need to be honest.
“Tori, honey, that last one was magnificent. Do it again,” Mary said.
Tori sighed. “Mom, I’m totally beat! I’ve done at least twenty now.”
“But you’re so graceful in the water, dear.”
“Thanks,” she said and watched the water drip off her hand onto the concrete warming in the spring sun. “I have to tell you something, mom.”
“What?” Mary asked as she picked up her book, obviously resigned that Tori wasn’t going to dive more.
“I lied about coming here for a visit. I left Chase.”
Mary snapped her book closed and studied her daughter with narrowed eyes. “I knew it! I just knew it,” she said in triumph. “I told Norton the moment I saw you that you had left that rancher. I saw that bruise on your cheek and said…”
“No, mom. That bruise…it’s…”
But Mary wouldn’t let her finish. “And I see that scratch on your chest too, dear.” Mary placed her face in her hands and started crying. “I never thought…I mean, Chase McNamara always seemed like such a gentleman. A bit stubborn, but…oh dear, Tori. I’m so sorry he hurt you like that. Had I known, I never would have tried to push you into that sham of a marriage.”
“No, mother. He didn’t…I mean, it’s not like that,” Tori tried to explain desperately. “He never…”
Abruptly Mary stood. As usual, she never heard Tori’s words. She may love her daughter, but she never heard her. That was why Tori had always acted out. If she protested, if she rebelled and the police called her parents in the middle of the night, then they had to pay attention. And though she was admittedly growing too old for such antics, she still felt the urge to do something drastic to get her mother’s attention. But she halted herself knowing that tossing her mother into the pool was entirely too drastic and watched as Mary stood from her chair and started marching toward the house declaring, “I’m calling Norton this instant. We’re going to annul this marriage for you and tear up those contracts for your trust fund. I’m getting my baby out of this marriage. Don’t worry, Tori. You’re safe now.”
Though she enjoyed her mother’s protective instinct, Tori just knew this was going to create trouble with a capital “T.” Chase would be livid and he’d blame it all on her. And the most ironic thing was, she’d actually been missing him since she’d left.
**
She went only because she knew there was a chance Chase would be there and she couldn’t allow her parents to make a scene. She’d tried several times to deny the allegations that Chase had somehow physically hurt her, but neither Norton nor Mary would listen. Even as they sat in the back of the limousine on the way to the charity benefit, Tori argued desperately.
“You two have to understand. Chase isn’t a bad guy. We just had a fight,” Tori told them.
“Arguing, honey, is one thing. Fighting that results in bruising in quite another,” Norton insisted.
“Oh, come on, daddy, she probably deserved it,” Monica snapped and Tori shook her head.
“Nonsense,” Mary denied. “Even Tori’s usual distasteful behavior is no call for hurting someone. Especially hurting a woman.”
“My lawyers are in the process of tracking that no-good rancher down now to find a way out of those contracts, Tori. We’ll annul this marriage and forget we ever had the fool-brained idea of marrying you off to teach you a lesson. No daughter of mine will be taught that type of lesson,” Norton said stubbornly.
“Chase never touched me!” Tori finally cried out and though she’d said it several times that day, all she got was a condescending pat on her hand from her mother and the line of, “That’s what all abused women claim, honey.”
“Oh, my God,” Tori groaned. “Am I living in the Twilight Zone? Has nothing I said gotten through your heads? Yes, I walked out, but I did so more out of immaturity and rebellion than for any other reason. I like Chase. He’s generous. He’s not a bad guy. Just drop it.”
“We will most definitely not drop it,” Mary declared.
Tori sighed and stared out the window. Monica chuckled at her and Tori glared at her. Sitting next to her in his tux, his hair thinning a bit too much these days—probably due to pulling it out over Monica’s attitude--was Roger. He sipped at a tumbler of Scotch and pretended not to be listening. It was just his way and at least Tori was glad for the fact that he rarely meddled. He also never backed anyone up and if she even tried to appeal to him for help, he’d only shrug and kowtow to her sister and parents.
So when they finally arrived at the charity event for the children’s hospital and had the unfortunate timing of getting out of their limo at the same time Chase was handing off the keys to his Mercedes to a valet, Tori cringed.
Her father’s face flushed red and he stormed toward Chase. Tori was about to halt him until she watched as a tall, leggy brunette slid out of Chase’s passenger seat and slipped her arm through his. A jealous rage shot through her and at that moment her father could eviscerate Chase for all she cared. Turning on her high heal she ran into the hotel and never knew just what passed between her family and Chase and didn’t care.
**
“Well, McNamara,” Paula Reed drawled as she gave his arm a friendly squeeze, “you certainly know how to make an entrance and we aren’t even inside yet.”
“Stop your griping, Reed, or I’ll make you walk back to your dingy side of town.”
Paula Reed, his dear old friend from school, smiled up at him and then gave his arm a punch. “Now, if you had consulted me before you ran off and married some high-priced socialite, I could have told you it would land you in hot water.”
“You were in
Chase stared after their forms as they disappeared further into the plush hotel and shook his head with disgust. So, the Ambroses thought he’d smacked Tori around? And she hadn’t been anywhere nearby to defend him. Granted, she was high-spirited at times, but he knew she was honest. Too honest. She never would have told her parents he’d physically hurt her. It wasn’t in her nature to lie so blatantly and devilishly. And yet Norton and Mary Ambrose had both just declared that their lawyers would be contacting him in the morning and that he was to stay away from their daughter.
“How dare you show up with another woman on your arm after what you did to my poor little girl,” Mary had cried and with way too much melodrama, she’d collapsed into her eldest daughter’s awaiting embrace. Monica had merely smiled at him with that catlike way of hers that said she was enjoying the show. He had simply stood dumbfounded and barely said a word in response. If Paula hadn’t been with him tonight, kindly showing support, he more than likely would have taken off in an angry tantrum and declared his marriage to Tori through as well. After all, who needed the headache?
“Tori wasn’t the voluptuous blonde who was devouring you with her eyes, was she?” Paula inquired.
“Uh, no. That would be Tori’s sister, Monica. And I have a feeling she looks like that at every guy but her husband.”
“So…how are you going to explain this one away, Chase?” Paula questioned.
“Well, if Tori’s here, I plan to talk to her.”
“And, try to win her back?”
Chase had told Paula about Tori and his marriage
on the drive over to the hotel. She’d called begging him for a ride when her
husband had said he’d be late at the hospital. She’d known Chase would be coming
to this event and since it was the only charity event she attended with the
“I don’t know,” he said with a sigh.
“Oh, come on. You’ve seemed out of sorts tonight. Even before the Ambrose ambush,” Paula declared. “You miss this woman. I can tell.”
“Really?”
“Chase, I’ve known you since we were ten and you put bugs in my lunch pail. I know you.”
“If that’s the case, why didn’t you marry me when I first asked?” he asked lightly.
“Maybe because we were twelve and it was so obvious then we were all wrong for each other. And then Dale came along when I was fourteen and that was that.”
Chase laughed remembering the old days and then sobered. Maybe it was the same with him and Tori. Maybe they were all wrong for each other too.
**
It was bad enough that her parents wouldn’t listen. It was worse yet that they wouldn’t shut up about what they thought Chase had done to her. And it was literally eating away at her insides to see that gorgeous brunette hanging on Chase’s arm.
Oh, how had things gone so awry? How had her heart gotten tangled in this mess along with everyone else’s opinion? And she could just imagine what her parents had said to Chase outside the hotel. She hadn’t stuck around to listen, but she could easily picture how cruel they’d been to him.
Of course, as she continued to eye the “happy couple” across the room, she thought that perhaps Chase deserved those awful words from her family despite the misunderstanding they represented.
As she sulked at a table, she finally could take no more of sitting alone and being miserable. Abruptly she stood and stalked out to the ballroom’s balcony where the guests were few this early in the night.
She wasn’t alone for long. Chase was standing behind her not two minutes later and Tori felt his presence in her bones before he even spoke.
“Tori, we need to talk,” Chase said firmly.
She waited a beat before responding and when she did her words were short and clipped.
“Talk? About what? An annulment?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. We need to talk about that stupid fight we had so we can clear the air and you can come home.” Chase discovered that he stunned himself with his declaration but after watching her across the ballroom for the past twenty minutes, he had to admit he wanted her back.
She turned away from the balcony railing as she let a sardonic chuckle fly.
“Come home? Come home! Why in the hell should I return to your ranch when you have the gall to show up here with another woman? I haven’t even been gone more than two days and already you’re….” She couldn’t even finish her words. She just shook her head with disgust and glanced away from the devastating sight of him in a tux.
Sourly, Chase drawled, “Well, you did give me permission to see other women now, didn’t you?”
He had her there. She had done precisely that not more than three weeks ago. She shrugged unable to refute those words.
“But I’m not seeing anyone else,” he continued after waiting a moment to allow her old words to sink in. He didn’t know why he was standing out on this balcony arguing with Tori. He’d never been caught doing this with another woman before. Usually, he had cared little to fight for a relationship. Rarely had that occurred. Of course, that was before he’d been married. Before he’d made a serious commitment and before….damn Sophie…he’d fallen half-way in love with the pixy in front of him.
“Gee, then that must really be a man you’re escorting around the ballroom tonight,” Tori quipped and Chase had to laugh.
When she turned ice blue eyes on him, Chase explained, “Tori, Paula’s an old friend of mine. I gave her a ride here. Her husband is running late.”
“Oh, so you date married women too!”
“My goodness, you are as bad as your parents when it comes to jumping to conclusions. And speaking of your folks, just what in the hell did you tell them about us anyhow? Seems they’re under the impression that I’m not very nice to you. Now granted, we’ve had our arguments, but I have never once touched you in a way that hurt you.”
Tori felt the jealous monster in her gut lessening over his explanation about his “date” and as that anger left, her frustration over the misunderstanding with her parents resurfaced.
“I know,” she agreed. “And…I didn’t say anything other than I left and they saw the bruise and the scratches and…I can’t make them listen.”
Chase stared at her thoughtfully. What a beautiful sight she made in the moonlight dressed in a sweeping black velvet dress that clung to her firm curves and dipped just low enough in the front and back to show off her smooth shoulders and the valley of her cleavage. He noticed she wore his mother’s pearls and he smiled at that. Before he could halt himself, he was reaching out to run a finger along the strand of white gems at her neck.
“I find it difficult to believe that you couldn’t make someone listen to you,” Chase argued.
“I tried to make you listen to me the other day and you didn’t. I tried…”
“I know. I’m a tyrant.”
“You are.”
“I’ll try to be more patient…if you come home.”
Tori twisted the rings on her left ring-finger. She hadn’t the heart to take off her wedding rings despite the fight she’d endured with Chase. Though she felt at times that she had been forced to marry him, other times she found herself thinking about the freedom she’d had at his ranch to be herself. He’d left her to do what she liked to do. He’d given her a wide berth and not expected her to be a certain way. It was just his pushy ways that sometimes got to her. Granted, most of the time he was right when he pushed, so how could she fault him for that? How could she walk out on this marriage now when she’d actually missed him for the past two days? And how in the hell could she continue to pretend she didn’t want him when just the touch of his finger on her neck made her insides turn to molten fire?
Before she could say anything back to him, her mother’s shrill voice broke the silence that hung between them.
“Get your hands off my daughter, Chase McNamara!” Mary insisted and swiftly moved out to the balcony to stand between them, slapping his hand away from Tori’s neck. “Haven’t you put your hands on her enough already?”
Mary grasped Tori’s face and pointed to the thumb-size bruise there. “Just look! Look at that mark you left. And that was just after two and a half weeks on your ranch. I just knew I never should have left my little baby girl in your hands.”
“Funny, you seemed to adore me when the marriage arrangements were being made, Mary,” Chase drawled and Mary gasped.
“That was when I thought you were a gentleman.”
“Now you know. I’m not some fancy gentleman who’s going to hang on your every word at the country club over a tennis date. But I’m also not the kind of man to hurt women. Any woman. You are completely wrong about Tori and I.”
“Am I?”
“You are.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Then perhaps you’ll believe your daughter.”
He looked down at Tori then and she immediately spoke up, “Its true mother. I’ve tried to tell you all day. Chase never touched me.”
“Oh, you’re just saying that because he’s here intimidating you. But darling, I’m right here. He can’t touch you. He can’t hurt you.”
Chase sighed with frustration. No wonder Tori had taken the arranged marriage to him as a way out of her parents’ house. He would have gladly taken execution as a means to escape Mary Ambrose!
“He never hurt me,” Tori reiterated.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mary insisted in the same way a mother would talk to their five-year-old child who thought monsters lived under the bed.
With a frustrated groan, Tori pulled away from her mother and marched toward the entrance to the ballroom. People were still mingling inside, the party had barely gotten started, but most everyone had arrived. With a twinkle in her eye she paused long enough to ask back, “I don’t, do I?” and then marched straight across the ballroom to the stage where the band was playing soft music for the start of the evening.
Chase moved to the doorway, not wanting to miss this, and watched as his fearless wife said something to one of the band members. The music stopped and Tori grabbed the microphone from its stand, tapped on it to be sure it was on and then began her speech.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I am so sorry to interrupt your evening like this and I have no intention of taking more than a few minutes of your time. But for those of you who know me, you understand that this is no surprise for me to create a disruption,” Tori said with a smile and many people laughed.
“Oh, Tori, no,” Mary moaned from behind and moved past Chase into the ballroom to find her husband.
Another presence came up next to him and slid a hand down his arm. He thought for a moment it might be Paula, but when a body pressed against him, he knew it wasn’t his old friend.
“Chase,” Monica whispered to him. “I don’t mind if you’re a little rough. Why stand here and listen to my sister make a spectacle of herself? Come on, I’m bored.”
He turned his head enough to glare down at the woman with the plunging neck-line of the sequin gown. Certain parts of her anatomy were indeed more noticeable than others and he recalled Tori’s words to him the other night in the bath tub and he laughed. Yanking his hand away from her he said, “Find your damn husband, Monica, and leave me alone. My wife is speaking and I’d like to hear it.”
The woman’s face turned red and she asked back, “You find Tori more interesting than me?”
“I do.”
She shook her head. “My goodness, the girl hasn’t got a single thing going for her. She’s a flake.”
Chase merely turned and walked toward the stage as Tori continued her speech.
“But I don’t have any protest planned this evening that would embarrass my family,” Tori said simply. “I would never degrade such an important event as charity for children, but I needed my parents’ attention for just a moment and I’m afraid this is the only way I could get it. See, I was married just a few weeks ago, and like all newlyweds, we’re still trying to work a few things out. Unfortunately, my parents are under the impression that my husband is not behaving as he should. But let me assure my mom and dad and everyone here tonight that my husband is indeed a perfect gentleman and I have no doubts that he always will be.”
Tori looked pointedly at her parents and she grinned when her mother buried her head in her father’s shoulder. They were embarrassed, but they were at least listening.
“So, mom and dad, I’m sorry to put you on the spot once again in front of all your society friends,” Tori said sincerely, “but you just weren’t listening to me. I don’t want to burn any bridges here with you, but I want you to know that you have nothing to worry about. I’m fine. Really, I am, and you have no cause to worry.”
Tori replaced the microphone and the band merely went back to their music. Chase couldn’t stop the grin that was forming on his face as he moved to the stage and reached out for his wife to help her down. She came willingly into his arms and he slowly slid her down his body until her feet touched the floor.
“Come home?” he asked her with a hopeful smile.
Tori nodded. “Did I embarrass you horribly?”
“Not a chance, darlin’.”
Tori laughed, hugged him tightly, then together, hand in hand they walked through the staring and smiling crowd and headed toward the exit.
They didn’t make it out before her parents halted them. Both of their faces were still tinged with pink from their embarrassment and Chase almost felt sorry for them. Almost.
“McNamara, you haven’t heard the last of this,” Norton threatened.
“Dad, don’t,” Tori insisted. “Unless you want me to go grab that microphone again.”
Norton looked appalled at such a thought. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Oh, you know I would,” Tori said with a sweet smile.
“But Tori,” Mary said desperately, “your face?”
“Yes, I got hurt in an…accident in the barn. But don’t blame it on Chase. He’s never been anything but kind to me.”
“Then why did you leave?” Norton questioned.
“Because I was rebelling like I usually do. But…” She smiled up at Chase. “I don’t know, I kind of like him now. I think I might just give this marriage a few more weeks and see what comes of it.”
The pink tinge was gone from their faces and Tori hoped that meant they had finally listened to her. Because regardless of what her parents did or said, she was going home with Chase. The firm grip he kept on her hand now and the proud smile that had adorned his face while she’d spoken told her that she owed it to him and herself to give it another shot.
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Reluctant Bride – Chapter 9