LITMIR.BIZ

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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,

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