Accidental Bride (Beaufort Brides #3) Read online

She couldn’t believe he’d even had the thought—not in connection to her.

  It immediately conjured up a question in her mind about what kind of wet dreams he really had.

  But she wasn’t used to thinking about Peter in the context of sex, so she pushed the thought from her mind immediately.

  “Okay,” she murmured, stepping up to put the dress on the counter, since the customer before them was finally finished. “I look good in it. We’ll go with that.”

  When she’d put on the dress, she’d felt like a new person. There wasn’t anything wrong with the person she’d been all these years, but maybe it would be fun to branch out, try something else.

  That was what she was going to do tonight.

  After all, what bad could really happen? She’d have Peter with her the whole time, and she trusted him with her life.

  Peter wouldn’t let her do anything truly stupid.

  Two

  Kelly felt strange and uncomfortable and half-naked as she, Heidi, and Veronica entered a glitzy bar, where they were going to begin their bachelorette celebration.

  Both Heidi and Veronica had raved about her appearance—hair loose, new dress, high heels—telling her that she looked gorgeous and she looked nothing like herself.

  She should have been pleased by the compliments, but they made it quite clear that she normally didn’t look gorgeous at all, which was true but wasn’t particularly encouraging.

  “You should take your glasses off,” Heidi advised, heading toward the bar as if she knew what she was doing.

  Kelly followed her friends up to the bar, prepared to order whatever they did, since she definitely didn’t know her way around mixed drinks. “Why?”

  “It would complete the transformation.”

  For most of her life, Kelly had worn glasses. Even in high school, when all her friends were changing to contacts, she’d kept her glasses. She was used to them. She didn’t look like herself without them. “I can’t see clearly without them.”

  “You don’t need to see. You need to be seen,” Heidi replied with a grin.

  “I don’t care. I’m not going to go around seeing blurs in the interest of being hotter. This is as hot as I get.”

  “You look great with your glasses,” Veronica said, leaning against the bar and waving the bartender over. “Half the guys here are leering at you as it is.”

  Surprised, Kelly glanced around the room. While Veronica had been exaggerating, she hadn’t entirely been making it up. There were at least a few men who seemed to be staring at her.

  She’d never experienced anything like it before, and it gave her the most unexpected flare of pride and pleasure.

  When the bartender came over, Kelly ordered the same thing her friends did, a pretty red drink that was sweet and fruity—nothing at all like the sips of beer she’d had before.

  She drank several swallows and decided there couldn’t be much alcohol in it. She could hardly taste it.

  They finished their drinks as Veronica opened the silly little gifts they’d gotten her, and then Heidi decided they should go next door to the “male revue” show. They had another drink there, and by that time Kelly was feeling more relaxed, so she didn’t even mind the rather tacky performance of men ripping off their pants and humping audience members.

  She laughed and cheered with the others as one of the dancers came over to Veronica, who was wearing a bride-to-be sash, and did his thing with her. At some point, one of the others must have ordered her another drink. It was still tasting good, and Kelly didn’t feel like she was going to be sick or pass out or anything, so she happily drank it.

  As they were leaving the male revue, all three of them were laughing hysterically. Kelly had had plenty of good times before, but she had never felt like this in her life—completely free, as if all of her normal little worries didn’t mean a thing.

  They were to meet up with the guys in the lobby of the hotel, before they all headed for the wedding chapel. When Kelly saw Peter standing with the others, looking relaxed and incredibly cute with slightly mussed hair, a gray suit, and loosened tie, she felt the strangest surge of ownership.

  Peter was her friend. And he was the cutest guy around—not to mention the smartest and sweetest and funniest and overall best. He smiled when he saw her approaching, his eyes running up and down over her body.

  He liked how she looked. He’d never liked how she looked before.

  She was flushed and strangely giddy as she made a beeline toward him, wanting to touch him, feel him, be close to him in a way she never had before.

  She didn’t know why exactly she wasn’t stopping herself, since it wasn’t something she did, but she wrapped her arms around his neck when she reached him, pressing her body against his. “Hello,” she said.

  Peter smelled like something strong, biting—whatever he’d been drinking. She didn’t know enough about alcohol to recognize it. “Hello,” he said, a smile in his voice. “Are you having a good time?”

  She was having a good time. She was having the best time she’d ever had in her life. “Oh yeah. We watched mostly naked men dance.”

  Peter frowned. His arms were resting around her waist. “And you enjoyed it?”

  In a weird little flicker of her mind, she realized that she normally wouldn’t act like this. And for some strange reason, she didn’t want Peter to recognize the difference. “It was okay,” she said, releasing his neck. “They all looked kind of fake, but it was funny to watch all the girls screaming.”

  This was evidently close enough to her normal behavior to satisfy Peter. He gave her his adorable little eyebrow arch. “I bet it was. So you didn’t do any screaming?”

  She had. If truth be told, she had. “I’m not the screaming type.”

  His eyes were focused on her face, with an expression somewhere between appreciation and questioning.

  She liked the appreciation better, so she smiled at him.

  His eyes warmed in a way she could recognize very clearly. She liked that.

  She really liked that.

  “How much did you have to drink?” he asked.

  “Not much,” she lied. “I didn’t even finish the one I had. I didn’t want to be sick for the wedding.”

  Kelly had no idea why she’d lied. She’d never lied to Peter before. She almost never lied to anyone. It just didn’t normally occur to her as something to be done.

  But the warm, happy fog in her mind was telling her that she would have a much better time if Peter didn’t know how much she’d drunk. He always tried to take care of her. He would try to stop her from doing all the things she wanted to do tonight.

  And she wanted to do a lot of things—things she’d never done before, things she’d always held herself back from.

  Despite her lack of practice, she must be a pretty good liar, because Peter believed her.

  His smile widened. “Good. You’ll have a better time if you’re not totally out of it.”

  “I’m not out of it at all, and I want to have a good time.”

  “Then that’s what you’ll have.” He was looking at her that way again, that warm way that also seemed hotter than usual, like he couldn’t get enough of looking at her.

  It made her feel incredibly gorgeous, sexy, but also a little worried. She patted her hair, which was hanging loose in a way she never wore it. “I need to brush my hair.”

  “No, you don’t,” he said, glancing over at the others, who’d been having their own conversations. “We need to get going soon.”

  “But I don’t want to have messy hair for the wedding.” She tried to smooth down the length of it—it was straight and fine and almost reached her waist.

  Peter’s face softened as he reached over to gently touch her hair. “I like it this way.”

  “Okay. I’ll keep it like this, then,” she whispered, wondering why she’d never seen him looking at her this way before. Maybe she should have made herself pretty and sexy before, so Peter would have been looking
at her this way the whole time.

  She liked it. A lot. She didn’t want him to go back to looking at her like a friend.

  She wanted him to always look at her in that particular way—like he wanted her, like she was everything to him, like he adored her.

  Kelly had never been adored before, and she didn’t want it to stop.

  She took his arm as they made their way out of the hotel lobby.

  She had no idea why everything was so different tonight, just because she’d put on a new dress. But Peter was hers, and she was going to keep him that way.

  ***

  A couple of hours later, Peter was feeling like all of his dreams were finally coming true.

  For the first time since he’d met her, Kelly seemed to want him—in a way that was a lot more than friendly.

  He knew she’d had a couple of drinks. She’d had one before they’d met up, and she’d had a glass of champagne at Gus and Veronica’s wedding. And then they’d all gotten more champagne afterwards to celebrate, but she’d been looking a little flushed so he’d ordered her water instead. She took a few sips from his glass, but it couldn’t have added up to very much.

  She was a little tipsy. That much was clear. Her inhibitions were down some, and she probably felt a little buzzed.

  But she hadn’t had enough to drink to really not know what she was doing.

  And she was all over him, like she couldn’t stop touching him.

  He’d had several drinks himself, and he couldn’t stop touching her.

  At the moment, they were all in a rounded booth, eating wedding cake and drinking champagne and laughing uproariously at a joke he couldn’t even remember.

  Owen was responsible for filling up glasses, so he topped them off whenever they got down even a little. Heidi had obviously drunk too much. She was singing to herself rather woozily. They’d have to make sure she got back to her room okay when they left. Gus and Veronica were making out in a way that really should have been kept to the bedroom.

  And Kelly…

  Kelly was leaning against him, smiling up at him sleepily. Her cleavage was on full display. Normally, he would have tried to be the gentleman his mother had raised him as, but tonight he couldn’t not stare down at her low neckline.

  She had gorgeous breasts—firm and curved in a deliciously subtle way. He wanted to see more of them. He wanted to see all of her.

  “Peter,” she murmured, as if she didn’t want anyone else to hear.

  No one else was paying attention to them anyway.

  “Yes, baby.” His voice was very hoarse. A little warning in the back of his mind told him that he’d drunk too much to make really good decisions in this, but the rest of him was roaring with desire, with affection, with such deep need.

  She rubbed one hand in circles on his chest. “Why have you never come on to me?”

  His breath hitched, his heartbeat accelerating until it might pound its way out of his chest. His face was hot. The whole world was hot. “I didn’t think you’d want me to.”

  She blinked up at him, her green eyes wide and deep and trusting. “Did you want to?”

  One of his hands was lifting, quite without volition, and cupping her cheek. “Of course, I wanted to. How could I not want you?”

  She was breathing in choppy, little pants. “Even when I’m not pretty and sexy like this?”

  “You’re always pretty. You’re always sexy. I always wanted you.”

  He couldn’t believe he was saying it. Very faint alarm bells were sounding off, but he silenced them by lifting his other hand so he could take her face in both of his hands.

  “Are you going to kiss me?” she asked, her hand fisting in his jacket lapel.

  “If you want me to.”

  “I do want you to.” Her free arm lifted to wrap around his neck.

  Her whole body was draped over his, and he was suddenly aware that he was fully aroused. No wonder he was so hot. No wonder he wasn’t thinking as clearly as he should be. A deep throbbing was centered in his groin and surging out to the rest of his body.

  With a muffled groan, he tilted his head down to kiss her. She responded eagerly, a little clumsily, opening her lips and sliding her tongue against his.

  The arousal deepened until he was afraid he was going to completely lose it, right here in the booth.

  He forced himself to lean his head back, parting their lips. His mouth was so dry that he lifted his glass and swallowed down the last half of his champagne. He had no idea how many glasses he’d had tonight—not to mention the whiskey he’d had with the guys earlier.

  He needed to stop drinking. Right now.

  Kelly didn’t fight the end of the kiss. She just leaned her head on his shoulder. “I want to be with you forever, Peter,” she sighed.

  His heart was about to explode right out of his body. He’d never experienced anything like it before. “Me too. I want that too.”

  “Good.” She was smiling as she lifted a hand to stroke his face. He had a slight five o’clock shadow, and her palm scratched deliciously against it. “But what if, tomorrow morning, you change your mind about wanting to be with me.”

  “I’m never going to change my mind. I’ve wanted you for a really long time, baby, and that’s never going to change.”

  He couldn’t believe he was saying this. Something wasn’t quite right about it. But he couldn’t help himself, and he loved how her expression became awed as she heard the words. “Really?”

  “Of course, Kelly.” He couldn’t stop himself from leaning down to kiss her again, very gently. “What can I do to prove it to you? I’ll do anything you want.”

  She straightened up and twisted her body so she could rub against him like a cat. She was smiling in a pleased way, as if she had a little secret.

  He loved the expression. He loved all of her expressions. He wanted her to always be happy, always be everything she wanted.

  She leaned forward until her mouth was less than an inch from his ear, and she whispered, “I’m going to tell you what I want.”

  ***

  Less than two hours later, Peter and Kelly were stumbling into a hotel room together, unable to pull out of a hot embrace.

  Peter had gotten them another room in the hotel. This one was very expensive, decorated in crisp white and red velvet, with a huge, lush bed in a prominent position.

  Peter was hard again. It felt like he’d been hard for the last three hours, although he knew that couldn’t be true. But he was all fired up now—hot and fuzzy and thrilled and disoriented and desperately eager to claim Kelly at last.

  They were clawing at each others’ clothes, and they stumbled toward the bed. Kelly was even more disoriented than he was, so he took off his suit jacket, belt, shoes, and socks before he grabbed her and pulled her into bed with him.

  “Peter,” Kelly gasped, raising herself up on her knees. She was deeply flushed, her hair a tousled mess, and she still had that sweet, groggy look in her eyes. “Help me with my dress.”

  He groaned as he found the zipper and pulled it down, watching as the fabric slid down her body.

  She was long and slim and perfect, her breasts high and firm, her rosy nipples beautifully tight. She had on a little pair of underwear, so he slid those off too.

  He groaned helplessly at the sight of her naked body. His whole body was throbbing in a dangerous way.

  “Do you like it?” she asked, looking down at herself.

  “Oh, God, yeah.” He pulled her back down so she was lying on her back, completely naked now, laid out for his gaze, for his touch.

  “I want to see you naked too,” she murmured, fumbling clumsily at the buttons of his shirt.

  He couldn’t wait for her to get it off. He pulled off his clothes in a hot rush and then pulled her into his arms.

  “I like this,” she whispered, almost shyly, her hands sliding down to take his erection in his hands. “I like being with you like this.”

  He moaned as she stroked hi
m. “I do too.”

  Her eyes seemed to be closing. She was licking her lips. Her hair was all over her face. She was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen in his life. And she was touching him. Caressing him. Exactly the way he’d always wanted.

  Before he knew what was happening, he felt a wave of pleasure tightening in his body. Tightening so fast and so hard that there was no way he could stop it.

  Her hands were all over him, running up and down the length of him, slipping even lower to rub his balls. Tightening. Squeezing. Turning the whole world into a rush of heated pleasure.

  “Oh fuck,” he burst out, just as climax hit him without warning. His body shook as he released himself in her hands, against her belly.

  “Oh, fuck, oh, fuck,” he muttered, as his body relaxed, the pleasure followed by a blurred wave of uncomfortable awareness. “I’m sorry.”

  “What for?” she asked with a smile, still stroking him, staring down at him in pleasure, as if she couldn’t believe she’d brought him to climax. “It was wonderful.”

  She stretched up to kiss his chest, and then she reached down to grab his left hand, bringing it up so she could kiss it too, just over the simple gold band he wore.

  She’d bought it earlier from a shop attached to the wedding chapel, using the leftover money she’d gotten from her sister.

  He hadn’t needed to buy a ring for her. He’d given her the signet ring with the Blake family crest he’d always worn.

  It was on the ring finger of her left hand now, a little loose but he could fix that later.

  She was wearing his ring. She was his wife now. That was all that mattered.

  She nestled against him, looking not remotely disappointed that they hadn’t even managed to have sex.

  “I guess I had too much to drink,” he muttered, wrapping an arm around her, pulling her tightly against him.

  “That’s okay.” She looked like she was about to fall asleep. Her eyelids couldn’t stay opened. “I’m very happy with my husband.”

  He hoped it was true. He would make sure it remained true, no matter what he had to do to keep her happy.

  It was like a miracle had occurred and the world had turned itself around, finally giving him what he wanted.