One Bride for Five Mountain Men

“So you have already been compensated? For your… performance?”

My mouth is dry, my ears filled with a rushing sound like wind or water.

“Listen… I don't… I mean, I never thought that I would —”

The judge coughs delicately to cut me off, her eyebrows raised imperiously. She is done with me, and I can tell. I've seen that expression so many times on Kelsey's face, I know exactly what it means.

“Ms. Burke, I would suggest that if you would like to seek an injunction against, um… Head Monster, LLC, that you secure appropriate counsel, and bring that case before the appropriate jurisdiction.”

“Um…”

I can't say anything else. The gavel bangs against her desk and that's it. Case dismissed. In addition, I'm supposed to pay Britt’s fucking court costs. Can you even believe that?

I stumble out of the courthouse, shading my eyes against the bright New York sunlight. The Town Car rolls against the sidewalk and the shaded window slides down. R smiles at me from the dark interior.

“How did it go?” he calls out. “Victory dinner? I've got champagne here, just let me—are you all right?”

I don't know what to say. My legs have stopped working and I just stand there, trembling. He flings open the door and rushes to me, wrapping his arms around me and holding my body still as my core shakes so hard I'm not sure if I'm supposed to cry or scream or shatter into a million pieces.

We stand there for a long time as people walk by us. I don't even care anymore. I have no sense of shame left, no sense of privacy or personal space. Everybody can stare at me all the time.

Then I realize, it's because he's here. Because the only person who makes me feel safe in the whole world is standing right in front of me.

“It's all right. It's not over yet,” he murmurs as he rocks me gently back and forth, swaying where we stand. “I've got about two hundred more lawyers that I can get on this. Everything I've got, we will throw at her. When we are done with her, she'll have to sell the fillings in her teeth.”

I almost want to chuckle at the ridiculousness of that threat. He is trying to make me laugh. I flatten my palms against his chest to push him away slightly so I can meet his eyes.

“You know what, King, let's do that,” I nod.

His face is twisted with sincerity. I can tell how badly he feels for me, how he would give anything to make me feel better.

“And… I think I'm falling in love with you too,” I say.

Shock spreads across his features, then happiness.

“It really took you a long time to say that,” he says quietly.

“I wanted to be sure,” I explain.

“And you are sure now?”

“You stuck by me,” I whisper, saying things I've only barely been able to admit to myself. “You reached out to me when I was unreachable. You held me when I cried and told me it would be al

l right until I believed you. You've chased me back and forth across the planet. If there's one person in the world who has ever really proven that what they feel about me is real, it's you, King. It really is you.”

“I'm so glad you finally noticed,” he grins, pulling me up closer to him. When his mouth covers mine, it's like I can almost taste it too. He really does love me, and loving him back was inevitable. This may be the only love I've ever known, and now it's all I want.

Chapter 22

Raleigh

Jordan insisted that the other women on the streams have their identities protected, and I agreed. But when the police raided Britt’s tiny office in the back of a warehouse, I had Reggie go along and film the entire thing.

I wanted her to see that it was over. I wanted her to have proof. And it seemed only fitting that she would get to have that remote viewing pleasure with something that was so personally important to her.

When the cops burst through the door (really overplaying their hand by using one of those battering rams, but it did have a certain kind of dramatic flair, I admit) Britt’s expression was a perfect pantomime of shock and horror. She snapped her laptop closed, trying to rip the cords out of the back. Not that that would do anything, of course. She dropped her cell phone on the floor and crushed it under her heel, and that was a fruitless gesture as well.

Jordan liked the part where she was dragged out in handcuffs the best. I could see that it wasn't really in her nature to be too triumphant about someone else's bad day, but she was glad it was over. A small smile curled her lips as she watched the last few seconds over and over again, chuckling to herself. Britt mouthed the words fuck you toward Reggie's camera as the police dragged her past.