He dashed that thought. As tempting as it was to consummate their marriage as soon as possible, Lydia deserved a hell of a lot better than that. Case couldn’t give her a midnight flight to Paris and several weeks in the world’s finest hotels, but he was pretty sure that between the two of them, they could come up with abed.
Lydia agreed: “We can go back to the house. I’ll break some speed limits getting there.”
That sounded pretty good. But it wasn’t goodenough.He could get them a couple of steps closer to Paris than that.
As they came out of the courthouse into the cool late afternoon, Case said, “What would you think about getting a hotel?”
Lydia bit her lower lip. “I don’t know if we even have one.”
“If there’s not one in town, there’ll be one within easy driving distance.”
He was reasonably sure of that. Mountainview might have gone through a couple of economically rocky years, so maybe it hadn’t been getting too many tourist dollars, but the landscape around here was stunning. There was no way that someone hadn’t taken advantage of that and set up a resort.
There had to at least be a Holiday Inn.
Case could work with either option, honestly. He just wanted it to feel special. Like the red dress, like the macarons: it didn’t matter if their honeymoon looked like how it was “supposed to,” it mattered that itmattered. That it was different enough to feel like part of a celebration.
“Let me call home and make sure it’s okay for me to stay gone that long.” Lydia made a face at her own words. “I know that sounds like I’m asking for permission, but it’s more like ....”
She trailed off, her wince turning into something more pained. Case didn’t need her to finish anyway. He understood. It wasn’t about asking for permission, it was about wanting to make sure her grandmother would still be alive when she got home. That was more than reasonable.
He knew their relationship was complicated and that Ruth Willmore had played a big role in making Lydia someone who held back from pursuing her own happiness because she thought it was always selfish. But Ruth was still family, and Lydia still loved her. She wanted to be there for her if there was a real chance of things going wrong.
Case put his arm around her, pressing his lips to her temple. Her hair was so silky right there. “I get it. If we can’t, we can’t. But it’s worth asking about.”
She gave him a slightly shaky smile that steadied as he gave her another kiss.
She called and clearly reached the nurse first:
“Hi, Andrea? Case and I tied the knot—”
There was a staticky burst of cheering from the other end of the line, and Lydia laughed at it even as she had to hold the phone away from her ear for a second because it was so deafening.
“Thanks. We’re excited too. Actually, we were hoping we could get away for a night. Take a room somewhere and have a little bit of a honeymoon.”
There was a slight tension in Lydia’s face then that was, to Case, almost heartbreaking. She was asking for so little, and she was still ready for her faint hopes to come crashing down.
He’d meant what he’d said about how they could come back to the house if they needed to, and he wasn’t going to take it back—but at the same time, he wanted to spirit her away. It was good to have a place to belong, but no town or family should ever close around someone’s ankle like a bear trap. Lydia needed a home, but she needed freedom too. She at least needed to be able to ask for it without flinching.
Luckily, whatever answer Lydia got from Andrea made her brighten up.
“Oh, that’s great. Yeah, I’m sure we’ll have a great time. –Wow, thank you, you’re the best.” She glanced at Case with a sexy, mischievous glint in her eyes that derailed all his thoughts for a moment or two. She said to him, “Apparently Andrea actually threw some clothes and spare toothbrushes into the back for us, just in case we needed them.”
God bless Nurse Andrea.
Lydia turned back to the phone. “I’m really glad she’s doing well. Can you put her on the phone for a second?”
Case, watching Lydia stiffen up again with anticipation, surreptitiously crossed his fingers that this part of the conversation would go well too.
“Hi, Ruth. Yeah, it’s official. We’re going to—Iknowwe don’t have to get a hotel. We want to.” Her voice grew tight, and when she reached out for Case’s hand, he took it and held it back just as tightly, sensing she needed a lifeline. “We’ll come home tomorrow, and we’ll get back into all of it—introducing Case to the rest of the pack, practicing for Reeve’s challenge, everything. But we’re taking tonight for a honeymoon.”
His frown deepened, and she pressed her lips together.
She held the phone out to Case. “She wants to talk to you.”
Ruth Willmore was his alpha, but Case hadn’t been a wolf long enough to believe that meant she was above being questioned or challenged. He wasn’t afraid of telling her that Lydia needed a night off.
“Ruth,” he said evenly. “I’m glad it sounds like you’re having a good day.”
