A Tutelarius Love - Page 103/111

She sighed. "I have to admit that it has some appeal. So, when did you plan for us to go?"

His gaze came back to hers, no doubt encouraged by the fact that she was neither hysterical nor shooting his idea down. "We've got a three day weekend coming up. We could fly out there and drive the car back."

His short notice should have come as no surprise. This was the guy who declared his love shortly after they started dating. She must like his impulsive decisions, because so far they had all sounded good enough to her. In fact, it wasn't the sudden marriage that troubled her nearly as much as the hasty honeymoon.

She frowned. "A three day honeymoon? We'd spend almost all of it traveling."

His smile was mischievous. "If I had suggested a cruise, we would be traveling all the while."

She wrinkled her nose at him. "Yeah, but someone else would be driving, and we could be in our room…" She paused, her face growing hot. "Or enjoying activities on deck."

He chuckled as he reached for her. "Let's get married Thursday and spend our first night here. We could catch a flight Friday morning and be out of here before the media had a clue."

"Thursday? Justin, that's only two days from now. I don't even have a wedding dress yet. I'd have to take some time off work and..."

He took her shoulders in his hands and gazed down at her. "We can have a big wedding later. Just wear a nice dress."

Of course. She was trying to make a big production out of a simple convenience wedding. Simple wedding...wasn't that an oxymoron? To be honest, the formal wedding wasn't that important to her, but it would be to her parents. Would it matter to them if they had a formal ceremony after they were already married?

She placed a hand on her forehead. "I don't know. Let me think about it."

He released her shoulders and stepped back. "I was afraid this was how you would react. Sometimes I wonder if you like the idea of being engaged more than you like the idea of being married." He held up a hand when she started to protest. "I know. You like to think a thing to death. I just want to get it over with." He paused and frowned. "That's not what I meant."

She met his frustrated gaze. "Yes, that's exactly what you meant, and I don't blame you, but…Mom and Dad would be so disappointed. It would be like eloping."

He ran a hand through his hair, his expression becoming distant in thought. "It would be eloping, I guess. It's not like it has to be a secret." He looked at her. "This isn't about your parents. It's about us." He shook his head and released a deep sigh. "Of course, if you want to send out announcements and wait a few months so that we can do it all proper…" He concluded with another shrug. "I'm flying back to Arkansas this weekend to get my car. I thought it would be nice if we went together, but I didn't think it would look good for us to travel together like that unless we were married."