The Man's Outrageous Demands Page 0,64

with them.

He ran his fingers through his hair yet again and turned away from her. “You don’t need to know the details. You’ll just have to trust me,” he said, but he was getting frustrated himself. He didn’t know how to share information with people. Every instinct in his body was telling him they were getting closer to the stalker but they just couldn’t pin the guy down. Until then, Sam wasn’t willing to let her go out in public. The man had threatened her life and he loved her too much to let anything happen to her.

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about, Sam. What details? I do trust you. I know that if you think something is wrong, then there is really something wrong. A few weeks ago, that wouldn’t have been the case. I thought you were just mean and ornery. But after getting to know you, I understand that you take each piece of information and pull all the details together to form a bigger picture. But you don’t trust me with any information, thinking I might faint if given the gory details. You don’t know me well enough to understand that I’m made of tougher stuff.”

He walked over to her and took her hands in his. “Marabeth, we’re getting married. Do you understand?” he said, his intense blue eyes looking into hers, willing her to bow to his commands.

“No, Sam. We’re not.” She pulled her hands free and walked to the doorway. She was about to open the door when his next words stopped her.

“You want to read the details? Come look,” he said and pulled a file out from under a stack of papers.

Marabeth turned and looked at his face. This was going against everything he believed in and her heart melted at that realization. It took a lot for him to give in but he was doing it.

She took the file and started reading. It was packed with information on someone who had apparently taken a violent hatred of her about six months ago. It had been a psychotic kind of love initially, but according to the man’s letters, his feelings had changed unexplainably about three months ago. He was furious with her for some reason.

Marabeth sat down on one of the chairs in front of Sam’s desk and read through all the pieces of paper, all the notes the man had written and somehow gotten into the palace. There was no postmark on any of the envelopes so they had to have been delivered personally.

She heard Sam speak to Jerry outside his office but she didn’t pay him any attention. He must have told Jerry to cancel his meetings or something since Sam paced his office the whole time she read through the information.

It took almost forty five minutes, but by the time she was finished, her fingers were shaking. “Okay, well that was frightening. But thank you for letting me know what is going on. I understand now why you’ve put in place so many extra precautions. Some of the questions Manny was asking me make more sense now.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have let you read the notes,” he said harshly. “Next time, you’ll accept my word when I tell you that you won’t like it.”

Marabeth shook her head and stood up. “You will not. You’ll bring me the information as soon as you get it and trust that we can work things through together.”

Sam breathed a sigh of relief at her words. He pulled her close. “Tell me you love me,” he said.

“I love you. More than I want to at times, but I love you.”

“Tell me you’ll marry me,” he said, smiling at her words.

She was silent for a long time. Sam pulled back and stared down at her face. “Marabeth, you will marry me,” he commanded.

She smiled up at his face. “Will you promise not to hide things from me?” she said.

He looked at her face, struggling with feelings inside himself. Finally, he nodded. “I’ll try,” he said.

Marabeth started to pull away and shook her head. “Not good enough,” she said. “I want complete trust.”

“Why don’t you trust me to take care of this for you?” he asked, gripping her upper arms and shaking her gently.

In response to the battle she could feel warring within him, she put her arms around his waist and hugged him. “I do trust you. I know that you’ll do whatever is needed to keep me safe. But I don’t want to be kept in the dark about anything between us. I’m tired of living in a one sided world. I grew up with a very dictatorial father. I don’t want that in my marriage,” she said. Then shook her head, “I won’t have it in my marriage.”

He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. “Give me time. I’m not used to taking orders from someone half my size and weight.”

She pulled back, instantly offended. “I can take you down, buddy,” she laughed. “You’ve taught me yourself,” she reminded him.

“Just try it,” he growled and bent down to kiss her gently. “Tell me you’ll marry me,” he demanded.

Marabeth ignored the command in his voice and said the words he wanted to hear. “I’ll marry you, but you’ll have to marry me back. That means a partnership, not a dictatorship,” she said, sighing as his hands caressed her shoulders and back, making her shiver in anticipation.

“Fine. But you’re still not leaving the palace until we find this guy.”

She looked up into his eyes and smiled. “I’d be happy to stay in your bed until you find this guy,” she laughed.

Sam needed no other prompting. He bent down and picked her up into his arms, then walked quickly out of his office. “Cancel my meetings this afternoon,” he said to Jerry, who looked confused at first, then grinned widely as he watched the Minister and the Princess walk down the hallway towards the living quarters of the palace.

Epilogue

Marabeth smiled up at the tall man standing next to her in dove gray morning clothes. “I do,” she said, her voice strong and confident. Sam’s fingers tightened over hers.

“I now pronounce you, husband and wife,” the minister said, his voice ringing out over the church filled with over one thousand guests. Sam turned to Marabeth and pulled her into his arms, kissing her thoroughly as the rest of the congregation laughed and applauded.

The pipe organ burst into the wedding march and Marabeth smiled broadly, waiving to the crowd.

Sam led her through the church and out onto the balcony where a crowd of Cordova citizens were eagerly awaiting the announcement of the wedding vows. Sam had directed that they would make the announcement themselves, instead of sending a messenger to deliver the news. Marabeth had figured out who was stalking her and the man had been arrested. He’d admitted everything and was now safely tucked away in a mental institution.

Now that the threat was over, Sam was eager to show off his new bride, proud of her heritage and her dedication to the people of this country.