Vengeful Vows

“Congratulations, you two,” Alice said warmly as she reached up and kissed Galen on the cheek then took Peyton’s hands in hers. “You look wonderful together. I’m sure you’ll be very happy.”

Peyton smiled, or was it a snarl with her nemesis standing right in front of her? She couldn’t be entirely sure. “Thank you,” she managed, her voice sounding stiff and unnatural.

“We’re a bit overwhelming en masse, aren’t we?” Alice said with a conspiratorial smile. “But you’ll get used to us. Everyone does.”

By decree of Alice Horvath, Peyton thought bitterly. Get used to them and play by their rules, or get out. She forced herself to hold that smile on her face and took in a deep breath of relief when Alice let go of her hands and turned once again to her grandson. Peyton watched, intrigued by the genuine affection between them. There was nothing stilted or fake about the fondness they showed one another. She let their conversation wash over her and surveyed the rest of the room. It almost looked like the celebration of a real wedding as people laughed and danced and ate and drank. And yet she felt completely separate from all of it. Had she bitten off more than she could chew by taking this assignment?

* * *

Galen sensed his new bride’s disengagement and hastened to end the conversation with his grandmother. It was important to him that Peyton feel she’d made the right decision. He was very good at making other people feel good—about their choices, about themselves, about him. He aimed to please, always, and it had stood him in good stead with his career choice and drew a lot of people to him. But he had the distinct impression that Peyton was not going to be an easy sell. He wouldn’t be able to simply waltz her off into this new happily-ever-after life. There was a reserve about her, even though she was going through all the motions and smiling in all the right places. And he was determined to break that wall down, brick by brick if he had to.

He stroked the curve of her waist but her body remained rigid. Maybe his touch was too much, too soon. He told himself to let her go but the thought of doing so held no appeal at all. He was genuinely attracted to her and mentally gave his grandmother a thumbs-up for their pairing. And he’d have bet that Peyton was attracted to him, too, though she was doing her best not to show it. As soon as this party was over, things would be different. They could all relax. He thought about the Horvath resort in Hawaii where they’d be heading by private jet tonight. Hopefully there, soothed by the balmy breeze and the lush beauty of the landscape, Peyton would unwind a little more and allow him to get to know her better.

“Nagy, could you give Peyton and I a little time alone? We’ll need to get ready to leave soon. Perhaps you could mind Ellie for me and we can collect her before we head to the airport?”

“Of course. It would be my pleasure. Ellie is such a delight. When you’re back from honeymoon, I’d love it if she could stay with me in Ojai for a weekend.”

His grandmother gave Peyton and him both a kiss on the cheek and went off in search of the nine-year-old.

“Ellie is coming with us?” Peyton asked with a surprised expression on her face.

“I hope that’s okay. She’s on spring break right now, so it made sense to me to include her and, as we weren’t permitted contact between one another before the wedding, I couldn’t exactly ask you.”

“No, it’s not a problem at all,” Peyton answered, looking more than a little relieved.

Was it because she wouldn’t be left alone with him, that they’d have Ellie as a buffer between them? Galen gave an internal shrug. Whatever; it didn’t matter as long as this worked out. Ellie already liked his new bride. She was a bright kid and knowing she liked Peyton was half the battle won. If they could cement that into something strong and lasting—a family unit that would make her feel loved and secure for the rest of her childhood—then he would have succeeded in fulfilling the promise he’d made to his two dead friends as they were laid to rest. Failure was not an option.

“Are you curious about where we’re going?”

“I’m assuming it’s somewhere warm. I was told to pack light clothing and swimwear.”

“It’s perpetually warm. We’re off to a Horvath resort a little over two and a half thousand miles east-southeast of here,” he teased.

“That would be your resort on Maui, right?”

“You’ve been doing your research on us,” he answered, surprised at her very specific response.

Her cheeks colored. “Research? What makes you think that?”

She sounded defensive. Definitely not what he’d been hoping for just before they left to change for travel.

“Let’s just say I’m not used to people being as well-informed about my business as you apparently are,” he said, attempting to soothe her.

“Information is my business,” she said smoothly, her demeanor relaxing slightly.

“And your business is?”

“I’m a reporter, freelance.”

“A travel reporter? We’ve been featured in quite a few magazines and blogs. Maybe you’ve been our guest before?”

She shook her head. “No, not travel. Didn’t you say we needed to go and change?”

Her subject switch was about as subtle as dropping an old typewriter from the top of a tall building onto the pavement below. But he wasn’t slow to take a hint and he had plenty of time to get to know her better.

“We do. A chopper is taking us to SeaTac in about an hour.”

“It doesn’t take me an hour to get ready,” Peyton answered with a gurgle of laughter. “Do I look that high-maintenance?”

Her laugh was intoxicating, the first sign of unfettered emotion he’d seen in her so far. He knew he wanted more of it, more of her being natural, being herself.

“Well, we might be able to go earlier, provided we can say goodbye to our guests without too many holdups. It won’t change our departure time from SeaTac, though—the flight plan has already been filed. We’re taking one of our company jets.”

“How the other half lives, huh?” she said, softening her words with a smile.

“You’re a part of that now. Flight time is about six hours once we’re wheels up.”

“How late will it be when we arrive?”

“Hawaii’s three hours behind us, so, all going smoothly, about seven p.m.”

“It’s going to be a long day for Ellie.”

“She’ll be okay. She was used to traveling with her parents and can sleep on the flight if she wants to. You can, too.”

She shook her head. “Sadly, I’m one of those who can never sleep on a plane.”

“Always vigilant?”

“Something like that. Well, I guess we’d better get on our way, then?”

“Let me see you up to your room,” he said, taking her arm. “Did you want to throw your bouquet first?”

She shrugged. “Sure.”

“Give me a minute to get it organized.”

“I’ll go get the bouquet.”

He watched as she glided across the room toward the main table where she’d left her flowers. The gentle sway of her hips totally mesmerized him.

“Nice wife,” his brother, Valentin, said as he approached.

“It’s a good thing you have your own, or I’d be making you keep your eyes off mine.”

“And I wouldn’t trade her for the world.”

Galen heard the intense emotion in Valentin’s words. He and Imogene had been married once before, and until Nagy had reunited them in a Match Made in Marriage wedding, they’d both been unhappy. Now they were together again, for good this time, and Galen felt a glimmer of envy—wishing he, too, could experience the kind of relationship they had. But his bed had been made for him when he’d agreed to be Ellie’s guardian and then signed up to find a wife so Ellie could feel safe again. He wasn’t expecting romance and roses. What he needed for his best girl was stability, and hopefully, he could achieve that with Peyton.

“Peyton’s going to toss her bouquet soon. I need to let the emcee know so he can make the announcement.”

“Watch out for the stampede of cousins.” Valentin laughed, but then his expression grew serious. “Galen, I just wanted to say a few private words.”

“And they are?”

“We only get one shot at life, so we need to make the most of every minute. You’re going to hit some roadblocks in this marriage, that’s a given, but you need to be prepared to work through every one of them.”

“I’m not afraid of hard work. You know that.”

“Yeah, I know. I wish you a lifetime of happiness.”

Valentin wrapped his arms around him in a fierce hug and Galen gave him back as good as he got. “Thanks, Val,” he said, his voice suddenly thick with emotion. “I’m going to do my best.”

“You’re going to need to. Marrying someone you already know and love isn’t always easy, but marrying a stranger...”

Galen looked across the room to where Peyton had been corralled by some of his aunties. “Yeah, but what a stranger, right?”

His brother slapped him on the back with another laugh then left him to find the emcee.

Valentin hadn’t been wrong about the stampede. All their female cousins together with several women he’d never met before tonight, mostly Peyton’s guests, jostled for the moment she released the bouquet. The scramble was both undignified and highly amusing, but Galen was shocked when he saw his nerdy IT expert cousin, Sophia, emerge triumphant at the end. He took advantage of the ensuing chaos to take Peyton by the hand and, calling out a good-night to everyone, lead her away.

“Ellie knows we’re coming back for her, right?” Peyton looked worried.

Galen was touched at her concern for a child she’d only just met. “Of course. Her suitcase is already in the chopper. She knows I won’t leave her behind. Ilya, my cousin, and his wife, Yasmin, will bring her to the helipad just before we’re due to depart. For now she can party it up a little with my younger cousins.”

“You do have a big family,” Peyton commented.

“Yeah, I do. And you? Brothers? Sisters?”

She shook her head. “Just me...and my dad,” she added.

“He couldn’t come today?”

Her lips firmed into a straight line. “It’s difficult—we barely talk. I’d rather not discuss it.”

He wanted to press for more details, but one look at her face made him file that away for another time. Bit by bit, he was learning there were going to be a hell of a lot of layers to peel through to get to the core of what made up his new wife. It was probably a good thing that he was a patient man.

Three

Peyton pushed her hair off her face for the hundredth time. The onshore breeze delighted in tangling her hair at every opportunity, but it wasn’t all bad. At least the wind was warm and gentle, not damp and biting cold like it so often was back home in Washington. After their arrival last night she’d been bone weary and had barely paid any attention to their luxurious surroundings. She didn’t know what she’d expected exactly, when Galen had said they’d be honeymooning at a Horvath resort, but this certainly hadn’t been it. It wasn’t a hotel, although there apparently was one here somewhere in the many sprawling acres of the complex, but a large and airy house that faced the water and was full of dazzling sunshine. She’d been relieved to discover they each had their own bedroom, too, along with their own private beach, where Ellie was busy digging holes and creating roads and moats and tunnels, and squealing happily at the rising tide as it demolished her hard work.

“Can I braid your hair for you?” Galen asked from the sun lounger beside her.

“You?” Peyton was surprised by the offer.

“I’ll have you know I’ve become quite adept at styling long hair. I don’t even have to use a vacuum cleaner hose to get Ellie’s ponytail perfect anymore.”

“A what?”

“Check it out online. I tell you, YouTube is king when it comes to learning new skills.”

She couldn’t help but laugh at the idea of Galen even knowing how to use a vacuum cleaner, let alone having the skills to use a vacuum cleaner to tie Ellie’s hair in a ponytail. But she was always up for a challenge and, heck, let’s face it, she was curious to see how he proposed to tame her tangled locks.

“Okay, then. Show me your talents,” Peyton said, sitting up on her lounger and turning her back to him.

“Now, there’s an invitation I don’t get every day,” he said, his voice dropping an octave.

She couldn’t help it; her body reacted with a shimmer of desire. She had no words to describe it, this stupid reaction to a tone of voice, but suddenly she was hyperaware of the man as he moved closer behind her. She dug into her beach bag for her hairbrush.

“You might want to use this first,” she said, passing it back to him. “There’s a hair tie on the handle, too.”

He took the hairbrush, and the next moment his fingers were working their way through her hair, touching her scalp and skimming the back of her neck as he eased the hairbrush through the knots. She’d never in her life believed that having her hair brushed by a stranger could feel erotic. But there was something deeply sensual about the way Galen followed each stroke of the brush with the touch of his fingers on her scalp. It made her want to sigh with pleasure.

When he was done, she was on the verge of becoming putty in his hands. She felt a moment’s relief that she was facing away from him so he couldn’t see the way her nipples had become taut peaks against the thin fabric of her one-piece swimsuit in response to this most innocent of touches. But then he started to run his fingers through her hair again and every muscle in her body clenched.

“You okay? I’m not hurting you, am I?” Galen asked.

He was so close she felt his breath on her shoulder and shivered a little.

“I’m fine,” she said in a voice that was tight with control.

He was simply doing her hair, for goodness’ sake. Not seducing her. How this normal, everyday act could be playing such havoc with her senses was beyond her but she needed to get herself under control. She focused her gaze on Ellie and for a moment envied her the freedom of not caring who she was or what she looked like or what hurts had been visited upon her. Instead, she could just be carefree and in the moment. Industrious one minute, lying flat out on the sand the next, then laughing as she got to her feet and plunged into the water to wash off the sand five seconds later.

Galen began sectioning her hair.

“Do you want under or over?” he asked.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Your braid. Under, so it sits flat, or over, so it sits on top?”

“I never knew there was a difference.”

“Your mom never did this for you?”

“My mom was sick for a long time, and my dad, well, let’s just say he didn’t have the benefit of online videos when I was growing up.”

She swallowed against the surprising wave of emotion that choked her. There’d been days when her mom could meet her at the front door of their rented home with a smile and then there’d been others when she couldn’t even raise a hand to wipe a tear from her cheek. The disease that had plagued her had taken its toll on everyone, and the fiercely guarded memories of those times always shook Peyton to the core.

“Anyway, does it matter?” she said a little more sharply than she’d intended.

“Over it is. And tomorrow we can go into the intricacies of the herringbone braid. Now, be still. I need to concentrate on this.”

He fell silent as he worked. When it was over, he rested his hands on top of her shoulders. His palms were warm and his fingers gentle, but to her they felt like brands on her bare skin.

“Admiring your handiwork?” she asked with a note of sarcasm.

“Something like that. Did you know that you have these really soft curls of baby hair that grow at the nape of your neck?”

She shivered as he touched them, winding one around a finger. His knuckle brushed the back of her neck, sending her body into sensation overload. Who knew the back of her neck was so sensitive? Then her whole body went into shock as she felt the imprint of his lips right there at her nape. She bolted up from her lounger in an instinctive attempt to create more distance between them and adjusted her sunglasses on her face as she turned around and looked down on him.

Galen looked up at her unashamedly. “Sorry, couldn’t help myself.”

He flashed her another of those devil-may-care grins and rose from his lounger before jogging along the beach to where Ellie was fashioning a turtle sand sculpture. Peyton watched him join his ward with an enthusiasm she envied. Even in the short time she’d begun to get to know him, she recognized he had a knack for making everything look so uncomplicated. No doubt he was the life and soul of every party he attended, she thought with a touch of venom. The charmed billionaire who never had a care in his privileged world. He’d never had to come from school to a quiet house and wonder if today would be the day that he’d discover his mom dead in her bed. Or that the next knock on the door was from the sheriff to evict them from another home.

And then again, he’d known loss, she reminded herself with an effort to be fair. Ellie’s parents’ deaths had obviously affected him, and her research had uncovered he’d lost his own father when he was in his early teens. That must have been hard. Maybe his carefree act was just that. An act. She shrugged, picked up her sarong and knotted it at her hip before pushing her feet into a pair of crystal-studded thongs and walking along the beach to supervise the sculpting. Whether it was an act or not, it didn’t matter to her because she wasn’t here to enjoy Galen Horvath’s company. She was here to do a job and she needed to remember that.

* * *

It was midnight, and Galen was mentally worn out and physically uncomfortable. There ought to be a law against suits and ties in tropical climates, he thought as he unknotted his tie and entered the villa that was home for the duration of their honeymoon.

“Good of you to come back.” An acerbic voice came from the depths of the overstuffed couch facing the moonlit water. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d left us for good.”

“Did you miss me?” Galen said, refusing to rise to Peyton’s bait.

The woman had been so intent on keeping her distance from him that he’d almost begun to wonder if she’d even miss him when he had to work. Of course, working on honeymoon was not ideal, but the resort was on the verge of signing an agreement for a major expansion with an overseas partner, and certain things needed to be dealt with right here, right now.

“Ellie missed you,” Peyton said, rising from the couch and facing him with her hands on her hips.

Galen’s throat went dry as he took her in. She was silhouetted in the light behind her, exposing the slim, lean lines of her body beneath the sheer cream on the lemon-patterned sundress she wore. He’d seen her in her swimsuit and, yes, she was incredible to look at. But like this? She was mystery and mayhem all in one package. The sharp sound of her voice dragged him into reality.

“I was beginning to wonder if you’d married me just so you could have a babysitter. I have to say, if that’s your parenting style, I feel sorry for Ellie because she deserves better than that.”

Deserved better than him, too, perhaps? Galen felt his anger rise but, as ever, he pushed a lid down firmly on it and deflected her words with a smile. “Ellie knew I would be tied up all day.”

“It doesn’t mean she didn’t miss you. She gets really anxious when you’re not around. Did you know that?”

A shaft of guilt struck him in the chest. The last thing on earth he ever wanted to do was cause Ellie any distress. “What do you mean exactly?”

“She sounded tense at dinnertime, asking when you’d be back. I tried to distract her. Let her beat me at cards.”

“Let her?” He cocked a half grin. The kid was a demon at cards.

“Okay, so she thrashed me. But when you weren’t home by bedtime she got really upset. She was terrified something had happened to you, no matter what I said.”

Galen nodded, accepting that he should have reached out to let her know he wouldn’t be home until very late. Even though she’d been in his care for several months now, he was still adjusting to the responsibility. But they’d already been here on Maui for three days and Ellie had seemed equally happy to be with Peyton as with him—he’d been certain she’d be okay. Clearly, he’d been wrong.

“I’m sorry. I’ll talk to her about it tomorrow.”

“Would that be before or after your next business meeting?”

A kernel of warmth sparked to life deep inside him. Peyton might be angry at him but she was very firmly in Ellie’s corner and that was what he’d hoped for all along—that he’d marry a woman who’d be comfortable in a maternal role with Ellie.

“There won’t be any more business meetings. I promise. Not while we’re on honeymoon, anyway.”

“Until the next emergency arises and you need to offload your responsibilities again?”

He fought to keep his features neutral as he replied. “I don’t make a habit of offloading anything. I’m sorry if caring for Ellie was such a burden to you.”

Color flamed in her cheeks and her eyes grew bright. She looked like she was about to light off like a firecracker. Before she could respond, he put up a hand.

“Look, I’m sorry—that was uncalled for. I shouldn’t have assumed that you’d look after Ellie when I couldn’t.”

“You don’t even know me,” Peyton said, a grimace twisting her beautiful face.

Galen walked closer to her and took one of her hands. “You’re right. I don’t know you, yet. I do, however, know you’re trustworthy. We wouldn’t have been matched if you weren’t.”

Peyton nodded ever so slightly. “She was upset tonight, Galen. I hated it.”

Compassion flooded him and he squeezed her hand gently. “You feel so helpless, don’t you?”

The anger that had been holding her rigid dropped out of her just like that.

“Yes, and I didn’t like it. I’m sorry I took it out on you. But don’t think I’m letting you off the hook.”

“I know, and I’ll make it up to both of you. I am a man of my word, Peyton. No more business on this vacation.”

“Thank you.”

She pulled her hand free and started to gather up her things, including some handwritten notes and a laptop computer.

“You were working?” he asked.

“Not until Ellie went to bed, which was only a couple of hours ago because she was so upset.”

“I didn’t mean it like that—no need to be defensive.”

She raised her brows at him.

“I didn’t. I’m merely interested. Is this a new article you’re working on?”

“I don’t discuss my work until it’s published.”

Peyton hugged her things to her as if hiding them from his gaze. Fair enough, but she was making it very difficult for them to find common ground for discussion and to get to know one another. So far both family and her work were off-limits. So what did that leave them? Not a lot.

“I can respect that. Your work is sensitive, then?”

“Usually, and this is particularly so. I’m not being obstructive. It’s just the way I work. Okay?”

“Like I said, no problem. Hey, would you like to put your things away where my prying eyes can’t see them and come and join me on the patio for a nightcap?”

She hesitated. He was beginning to brace himself for a flat no, when she nodded and said she’d be right back. Galen shrugged out of his jacket and yanked the tail of his tie through his collar. Valentin had been right. This marriage thing wasn’t easy, especially when you were married to a stranger.

The other day, brushing her hair, he’d felt as though they’d reached a new level of closeness. But apparently going to work today had thrown all of that out the window and he was back to square one. He had to make this work, for Ellie. He felt a pang of guilt as he threw his things on a chair and went down the hallway toward Ellie’s bedroom.

Since her parents’ accident she’d been sleeping with a night-light and her door slightly ajar. He entered her room and settled gently on the edge of her bed. Ellie’s eyes flashed wide open in an instant.