Read Online Kidnapping His Bride by Karen Erickson - Free Book Online Page B

situation could be described that way, though.”
    “Yes, it does sound old fashioned,” she agreed, her voice so soft he could barely hear her. “My friends, they used to make fun of me. Many of them didn’t believe me when I told them I was engaged. They all thought I was a liar. I was only fourteen or fifteen when I started bragging about marrying you, so I guess I can’t blame them.”
    He thought of a young, pretty Catalina telling her friends she would marry him one day. How he did ignore her because at the age of eighteen, nineteen, the very last thing on his mind was the uninteresting, way-too-young-for-him teenage girl he was being forced to marry. He’d much rather screw the endless string of girls his own age he’d chased after back in those days.
    God, he’d been such an ass. Still was.
    “My sister said I should’ve kept my mouth shut.” Cat clamped her lips together, looking miserable. “After a while, I finally took her advice and stopped talking about it. About us. The more I ignored it, the more it felt completely unreal. It still feels unreal, you know? And here I am, standing with you. Looking right at you.”
    “It’s real. We’re real,” he said, keeping his voice low for fear he might make her upset. Or worse, make her run. “Very real. So real you told me you didn’t want me any longer and rejected me outright.”
    A tiny smile curved her lush lips. “You won’t let me live that down, will you?”
    “No.” He smiled faintly in return, enjoying the sparkle that returned to her eyes. “You may think you’re not worthy or whatever it is that you believe, Catalina, but you were quite brave, telling me you didn’t want to marry me after all. All that determination took me by surprise.”
    “That had always been my plan, to take you by surprise,” she confessed with an impish smile.
    Impressive. “Well, then, your plan worked.”
    “I didn’t mean to hurt you.” She reached for him, clasping his hand in hers. “I thought you didn’t want to be with me. That us being together was a mistake.”
    “You were wrong.” He threaded his fingers through hers right before she let his hand drop, trapping her in his grip.
    “It’s hard for me to believe any of this when you say things like that.” She tried to pull her hand from his, but he tugged her forward, bringing her closer to him. “You ignored me for so long. It’s pitiful that I’m admitting this to you, but I’ve been ignored almost my entire life. Annalisa always outshone me. She was the oldest, the one they put all the expectations on, the intelligent one with a head for business. I was the baby, the quiet one, the not-so-smart one, the girl who wanted nothing more than to look pretty and go shopping. The biggest expectation they had for me was marrying well, and I couldn’t even seem to manage that when they thought I should.”
    Guilt assuaged him. He’d pushed off marrying her, fearing he wasn’t ready. Then she’d put their marriage off over the last year supposedly because she wasn’t ready. But what had been the real reason? Had she been trying to prove herself to her family? “I don’t like that your family did that to you. It’s pretty unfair, don’t you think?”
    She shrugged. “Life is unfair. Besides, families do that. They can’t help themselves. Doesn’t your family have different expectations for everyone? I’m sure what they expect you to do versus what they expect from your older brother are two very different things.”
    “You’re right.” And she called herself the not-so-smart one. “They still shouldn’t have made you feel less than others or compared you to your sister.”
    “It happens. I’m sure you’re compared to your brothers all the time.” She blew off his statement with a flick of her free hand. “So tell me. What are we going to do today?”
    He smiled. “Whatever you want.”
     
     
    “I’m…I’m not sure what we should do.” The last thing Cat wanted to