Alana tilted her head, frowning.“Why would I do that?We’re getting an annulment.”
Once again, her words struck Chase in the gut.The more time he spent with Alana, the more time he wanted to spend with the woman who was dead set on ending their marriage.
“That might take longer if you don’t stay in Mexico to take care of it,” Gina pointed out.
Chase almost smiled at Gina’s words.Maybe going to Hawaii before the annulment would buy him more time with his reluctant bride.
Alana grimaced.“On the other hand, I won’t need an annulment if I’m dead.”
Chase frowned, his gut clenching at the thought.His jaw hardened.“We’re not giving Delgado that option.Ready?”
Alana nodded and stood back while Chase opened the door.
“Alana, girl!”a deep, familiar voice boomed from the hallway.“You don’t know how hard you were to find.”An older man with a shock of graying-blond hair and a shadow of a beard stepped through the doorframe.Another man, possibly a bodyguard, in a dark suit and sunglasses waited in the hallway.
Alana ground to a halt, and her jaw dropped.Her father wrapped her in a giant bear hug.
“Daddy?”she said.The single word came out barely above a whisper and then strengthened into a demand.“What are you doing here?”
The older man paused inside the suite and stared around at the others with one eyebrow cocked.Then he turned to face Alana.“I came to bring you back to Maui.I’ve spoken to Vance.He sends his regrets and is ready to go through with the wedding.”
“Are you kidding me?”Alana crossed her arms over her chest.“I wouldn’t marry Vance if he were the last man on earth.He cheated on me, Daddy.Did he tell you that?”
“All men can be led astray at different points in their lives,” her father said.“Vance just got an earlier start than most.”
“I’m not going back to Maui.”Alana scooted closer to Chase.“And I’m not marrying Vanishing Vance.That’s over.I never should’ve agreed to marry him in the first place.We weren’t meant to be together.”
“You agreed to marry him.He’s ready to go through with the ceremony to live up to his side of the promise.”
Anger burned in Alana.She loved her father, but he could be obtuse and obstinate at the same time.“He broke that promise for good when he didn’t show up for the wedding, because he was too tired from boinking the wedding planner.”
“That’s over,” her father said with a dismissive wave of his hand.“He’s waiting for you to come back.We can hire a JP to perform the ceremony and have you off on the honeymoon of your choice by the end of the day.”
“Daddy…” Alana cupped her father’s cheeks between her palms.“I love you, but I’m not marrying Vance.In fact, I’m already married.”
“What?”Her father’s cheeks burned a bright red, the color extending all the way out to the tips of his ears.“What the hell?”He glanced at the occupants of the room.“Will someone tell me what she’s talking about?”
Alana held up her left hand.The one with the plain wedding band on her ring finger.“I got married last night.It’s too late for me to marry Vance, even if I wanted to.Which I don’t.He’s not the man for me.”
“But how?”Her father looked around at the faces in the room.“How did you know this person you married?You were set to marry Vance yesterday.It doesn’t make any sense.”
“It made sense to me.Didn’t you marry Mama after knowing her for only three days?”
Her father’s frown deepened.“That was different.We didn’t have two nickels to rub together.”
“I don’t have much more than that,” Alana said.“And what difference does it make?Sometimes, your heart knows what your head is afraid to admit.”She hooked her arm through Chase’s.“Daddy, this is my…husband…Chase Flannigan.”
Her father glared at Chase, then shot an equally wilting glance at his daughter.“Please tell me this is some kind of joke.”
Alana lifted her chin and met her father’s glare head-on.“No, this is not a joke.We have the marriage certificate to prove it.”
“How can you be married to this man when you were engaged to marry Vance?”her father demanded.
“Daddy, you aren’t listening.My engagement to Vance ended the moment he decided to run off with the wedding planner and leave me waiting at the altar.”
“I was there.Youdidn’t make it to the altar.Who knows, Vance could’ve shown up, had you walked all the way down the aisle and waited for him.As it is, he’s come to his senses and has agreed to fulfill the promise he made to marry you.”
“Ha!He was nowhere around.How much more pathetic would I have been had I continued down the aisles and stood there waiting for a groom that obviously wasn’t coming?”Alana snorted.“I wouldn’t marry Vance now if he were the last man on earth.Besides, like I said, I’m already married.”She tightened her hold on Chase’s arm.“To this man.Chase, this is my father, Dwayne Neal.”
