More Than She Bargained For
by Ginger Leigh
Chapter 6 – What a Difference a Day Makes
Jarrod set their luggage down and scooped Rebecca up, startling her, at the threshold of his San Francisco townhouse.
“Mr. Barkley, please!”
“Please what, my dear? This is our place. Would you mind turning the doorknob, so we may enter?”
Anxious to be on the ground again, Rebecca did what he asked. Once they were inside she asked, “All right. We’re in. Would you please put me down?”
“Why, Rebecca, darling, you are such a luscious handful. What, pray tell, is your hurry to escape my arms?”
“Well, Mr. Barkley, it just isn’t . . . it just isn’t proper!”
“Isn’t proper!” Jarrod laughed aloud.
“Rebecca Louise, you are my wife!”
“I know that!” She responded indignantly. “Be that as it may, I . . . we just don’t know each other that well yet.”
Yesterday at this time, Rebecca Louise Lord was attending dinner at the Barkley Ranch with her father. Today she is Mrs. Jarrod Barkley; married to a man she has known for approximately 34 hours.
Jarrod set her down. She went to rearrange herself and straighten out her dress but Jarrod interrupted her. He took her face between his hands and kissed her deeply. When he removed his lips from hers, he still held on to her now flushed face as he spoke huskily to her.
“Rebecca, my bride, we will know each other very intimately before this night is through.”
She blinked her eyes and swallowed hard. Jarrod Barkley was so different from any man she had ever known. He was the consummate charming gentleman, yet, there was a core to him she couldn’t control the way she controlled other men. Just look at the way he commandeered the situation at the dinner table last night, telling his family and her father that the two of them, indeed, would be married this morning. She wasn’t sure what to make of it, stranger still; something about his authoritative nature excited her in some odd physical way that was completely new to her.
She pushed those thoughts away and tried to put him off as well after he removed his hands from her face and smiled at her, his blue eyes seemingly deeper blue than she remembered.
“Mr. Barkley . . .”
“Jarrod,” he interrupted, seriously. He refused to let her keep her distance.
“Jarrod,” she relented. “I am tired. I wish to retire and get some sleep. We can become more . . . acquainted . . . tomorrow.”
“Now, darling, there is no time like the present. You will feel better after you freshen up. If you like, you may take a look around the place while I attend to preparing you a nice, hot bath.”
He kissed her cheek, took their bags, and headed up the stairs wearing a broad smile she couldn’t see. She stared after him, perturbed that he had dismissed her stated wishes and issued his decree without waiting for a rebuttal. It was as if he expected her to comply without question, the nerve of the man! Well, she told herself, I see we are going to have to get a few things straightened out around here!
