Scorched

Chapter Four

Rafe paced the small room while he waited for his family. It was supposed to be his wedding day, the day Ari would become his wife, the day he’d have her for all time. He didn’t deserve this day — but, miraculously, Ari had said yes, and she was going to be his.

Though not today.

Instead, his tuxedo was rumpled, his tie cast aside, the top buttons of his shirt undone, and fury rolled off him in waves. How dare Adriane take Rachel! The man would pay for this betrayal.

“She’ll be fine, Rafe.”

His heart calmed at the gentle sound of Ari’s voice, and at her sweet touch as she wrapped her arms around him from behind and smoothed her hands up his stomach, resting them on his chest.

“I’m sorry our day has been ruined, Ari,” he said softly as he turned, pulling her closer to cradle her head against his chest.

“It’s not ruined — just postponed. I could marry you wearing cutoff shorts and a tank top in a grungy courthouse in front of a hung-over justice of the peace. It’s not the wedding that matters, Rafe. It’s having you as my husband for eternity,” she said as she lifted her head and looked deep into his eyes. “Or at least the next eighty years.”

“I’m so grateful you saw through the bad, Ari, so happy that you have forgiven me. I love you beyond the limits of speech, and I will have you as my wife. Thank you for putting the needs of Rachel above everything else. Most brides wouldn’t be so accommodating,” he said as he leaned down and ran his lips across hers in a brief kiss.

“Rachel is one of my best friends, and she would do the same for me. I could never have a wedding without her being there, even a courthouse wedding. I honestly don’t care where we marry as long as the people we love are with us. Let’s make sure she is well, and then we will become husband and wife.”

Rafe ran his fingers through her silky hair, his eyes trying to convey to her all the emotions bottled up inside him. How he loved this woman.

“Son?”

Rafe turned to find his mother and father standing by the door, their eyes dimmed with worry, and everything was brought back into focus. Being in Ari’s arms soothed him, but right now, he didn’t need to be soothed, he needed to find answers, and seeing the strain on his family members’ faces prompted him to find those answers fast.

“I’m sorry, Dad, for springing this on you. We had no idea what was going on until Ari and Lia came to check on Rachel and found her gone. Here’s the note that was left by Adriane. I’ve done business with him for years, and he recently ascended the throne after his father passed. I was unaware that he’d ever met Rachel,” Rafe said with disgust, and he handed the note over to his parents.

After a brief pause, his father looked up, almost shell-shocked.

“Why…what…I don’t understand,” Martin said, the note hanging limply from his fingers.

“I don’t either, Dad,” Rafe said, helplessly. It wasn’t like him not to have the answers. He was always the one on top of every situation. To be put in this position of weakness now infuriated him all over again.

“Let me try to explain,” Ari said, releasing Rafe and leading the group to a sitting area. She felt slightly awkward telling Rafe’s family what was going on with Rachel, but since Lia wasn’t back yet, she had to shoulder the burden.

“Please do, darling,” Rosabella said as she sat down.

“Rachel met Adriane, knowing him only as Ian, about three months ago while she was in Florida. They…uh…clicked,” Ari said cautiously.

“Clicked?” Rosabella asked.

“I don’t think you really want details,” Ari said, completely mortified and instantly blushing crimson.

“No, cara. I think that would be a little too much for me,” Rosabella agreed.

“They got along really well, and they spent the week together. Then Rachel left and started her job in Italy, thinking she was never going to see him again. Well, it turned out that Adriane had discovered a…um…well, a…broken condom,” Ari choked out, the red on her cheeks turning an even deeper hue.

Rafe scowled at her and she just shrugged. It wasn’t her fault that she was talking about condoms. If he had a problem with it, then he really needed to take it up with his sister. Ari was just the messenger, and she was filling them in on the essential facts with as little detail as possible.

“Yes, well, it turned out that the man who she thought was Ian was actually Prince Adriano, who now is King Adriano, though he goes by Adriane Graziani when in the States. That he has so many names is a whole other matter,” she said with a faint smile before continuing. “When he discovered the…um…unfortunate accident, he didn’t want to take a chance that a child might be created and he wouldn’t know about it. He apparently had Rachel watched. After she went to the doctor and had a positive pregnancy test, he showed up on her doorstep,” Ari said, speaking as quickly as possible to get through all the information that she had.

“He had my sister followed!” Rafe roared.

“Seriously? That’s what you’re focused on?” Ari asked. Of all the information she’d just given, she’d have thought he’d be a bit more upset with some of the other details.

“He should have come to me the minute he knew she was my sister,” Rafe bellowed.

“I hate to break this to you, Rafe, but Rachel is twenty-six, not a five-year-old toddler. She’s an adult and can therefore make grown-up decisions. She doesn’t need your permission to date,” Ari reminded him, feeling affronted for her friend.

Rafe shot an indignant look Ari’s way, but when she didn’t back down, he sat back and kept silent so she could continue. Ari rubbed his arm, trying to ease his temper, and yet to let him know that she disagreed with the way he treated his sisters — like adolescents.

“So, Adriane told Rachel she was carrying his heir and that they must wed at once. As you all know Rachel, you can imagine how well that went over,” Ari said with a chuckle.

“You’re laughing?” Rafe asked incredulously.

“I’m just picturing the poor man’s face when he got a hint of Rachel’s temper,” Ari replied with a slight trembling in her voice as she struggled to suppress her mirth.

“I wish he had gotten the full force of her knuckles,” Rafe muttered.

Ari ignored his comment. “She pretty much told him to shove it. I guess he didn’t appreciate that, because here we are now. I don’t think Rachel’s in any danger. She can certainly hold her own against Adriane, or King Adriano, but still, I’m sure we’d all like to talk to her, make certain she’s fine,” Ari said, trying to defuse the bomb waiting to go off in Rafe’s head.

“Of course we’re going to see her. Adriane can’t just come in here and abduct my sister. And this isn’t like Rachel not to talk to me.” Rafe stood up and started pacing again, too restless to continue sitting.

“Remember that she is pregnant, Rafe. Her emotions are all scattered right now, and she may not be making decisions she normally would make. Perhaps she has decided it best to try to get along with Adriane, try to make a go of things for the sake of the baby,” Ari told him.

“Why would you think this?” Rafe asked.

“Because from our discussions before, I know she really liked this guy. Yes, she was ticked that he had come back demanding marriage, but if you’d seen the look in her eyes when she talked about him, you’d realize there is more to their story than a weeklong affair. I wouldn’t be surprised if we do end up going to a wedding.”

Rafe was silent, taking in all that Ari was saying to him. Everything inside him shouted that this was wrong — he had to rescue Rachel right now.

“My little girl is going to have a baby.” They all turned to see the look of wonder on Rosabella’s face.

“Mom?”

“I know everyone is worried. I am, too. But, have any of you stopped to really think about this? Rachel, my youngest child, is going to be a mother. I’m going to be a grandmother. This may not have been how I wanted it to happen, but I can’t help but be filled with joy,” Rosabella said as a tear slipped from her eye.

“Oh, my. I’m going to be a grandpa,” Martin said.

They were all silent as they thought about the new baby. They’d been so focused on the shock of Rachel’s apparent abduction that, until Rosabella’s reverent words, none of them had paused to think about the blessing of a new family member in their lives.

“I haven’t had time to think about that,” Rafe admitted, his own tone far more tranquil as he considered his sister’s pregnancy anew. It wasn’t just an unwanted pregnancy as he’d been thinking of it, but his sister was actually carrying a child inside her. That would make him an uncle.

“Yeah, it’s pretty amazing,” Ari said, her gaze connecting with Rafe’s. The two of them hadn’t discussed children, but she wanted a dozen of them. Well, maybe not quite that many, but she certainly wanted a couple of kids tearing around their house.

The thought of a little boy with Rafe’s beautiful eyes staring back at her made her heart leap. She would enjoy carrying his child even if she were sick every day of her pregnancy.

“Yes, I want a lot of babies with you,” Rafe said as if he could read her mind. Ari’s heart was filled to overflowing, though she hadn’t imagined she could feel any happier than she had that very morning.

“Nothing would please me more, Rafe,” she said, smiling at him as he crossed the room and sat back down next to her, pulling her tightly against his chest.

“Sorry I keep snapping. It’s not at you, I promise. It’s just that I have always felt the need to protect my sisters, even when they don’t need or want protecting. I hate that Rachel is going through this alone, or that she feels that she is alone in her decisions, and I hate that I can’t be there to take care of her.”

“She knows how much you love her, Rafe, and that is what will help her to get through it. She’s frightened, but if you stand by her side, accept that she made a mistake, not dwell on it, and be her big brother, not another parent, she will trust you and lean on you. She’ll gladly let you help take care of her,” Ari said, hoping he would get it.

Rafe paused for several moments as he absorbed her words, let them sink in.

“How did I make it through life without you, Ari? How do you put up with me? I shouldn’t question you, because then you might come to your senses and walk away from me again, but I am just so surprised that I not only found you, but also managed to hold on to you,” he said, his lips turned up in a crooked smile.

“We both have our faults, but I think that, overall, we make each other better people. I love you,” she said in answer. “And in our case, love was enough to conquer all that stood in its path.”

“I wish Rachel had just trusted me,” Rafe said.

“If you want your sister to trust you the next time, then you have to be understanding and not berate her for something she already feels terrible about.”

“I wouldn’t do that!” he insisted.

Ari just lifted an eyebrow, and waited.

“OK, I might have given a small lecture,” he admitted.

Ari knew she wouldn’t get him to confess much more than that. She gave him a hug and was glad that he was at least willing to listen to her. They would be able to help Rachel, but if he went in there in all his furious glory, it would only make the situation worse.

“Let’s try and get ahold of Rachel before we just jet over there. Maybe she wants to be with Adriane,” Ari said. She knew she should try to be the voice of reason.

“I need to see her, Ari. What if she tells me that she’s fine while we’re on the phone, but that’s because a sword is being held to her throat? I need for her to tell me in person that she is where she wants to be,” Rafe insisted.

“A sword, Rafe? Such melodrama! Adriane is a modern European king, you know, and he does have the civilized world to answer to. I do understand your feelings, however, and I’m sure Rachel is very glad to have such a loyal big brother, but I really think you ought to give this a little bit of time.”

Rafe held her close as he struggled with what he wanted to do and with what Ari was asking of him. He couldn’t just sit idly by — it went against everything he stood for.

“Ari…” he said, forcing down the man inside who wanted to come out, the man who would just do whatever he wanted to do.

“All I’m asking is that you give her a little time — a week. That’s not much, is it?”

He froze in her arms. He couldn’t do this. No way. If he went against Ari, though, he feared she would think he hadn’t changed at all.

To go or not to go. That was the decision he needed to make quickly.