Chapter Six

The captain narrowed his eyes at her declaration. “Please, we can protect you. Tell the truth.”

“I am. This man is my husband.” Jayde walked over to stand next to Tyson placing her smaller body in front of his as if to protect him.

“Forgive me but why then are you in separate hotels?” He seemed smug.

Jayde didn’t miss a beat. “Well, that’s easy. We are recreating our first meeting. It was so romantic.” She sighed dreamily before continuing. “I was sitting at a table along the beach and then right there before my eyes he stood. I got up to leave and ran right into him. I guess you could say it was love at first sight. I mean it wasn’t here, but I like to travel. It’s just a little harmless role-playing. We check into hotels under separate names; I use my maiden name; and then we meet all over again. Keeps the spark alive.”

Tyson was amazed. Not knowing what to expect, he hadn’t begun to hope for this kind of help from her. Despite the seriousness of the whole situation, he found himself smiling at her gumption.

The captain scowled even more. “Then why didn’t he just say that three and a half hours ago?” he ground out in his grating voice.

Tyson could feel her body tense even though he couldn’t see her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she drawled. “Are you saying y’all have had him in your custody for over three hours? Did you arrest him? Did you read him his rights?” Not even waiting for the man to answer, she launched into a tirade.

“So, you violated his rights! Do you know how much trouble you are in? You don’t get to do that to an American on a hunch—much less without letting him call his lawyer!” Jayde even took a step toward him.

“And I suppose that is you?” The captain asked.

“No, my father has his own law firm. He would be the one to deal with international law. He is very good at his job. And don’t think I didn’t notice the blood on his head, if y’all injured him…”

The captain blanched. “I am still not sure all is as you say it is.”

“And?” she tossed at him, her curvaceous body trembling with anger at their treatment of the man be-hind her.

“We will leave you alone, after one thing.” Tyson knew the one thing the captain didn’t want was snooping lawyers. Nosy Americans were not good for business; his bosses wouldn’t like that.

“That would be?” Tyson asked.

“You renew your vows here, with one of our priests, and then just sign another certificate and we will leave you alone.” Tyson guessed Captain Alvarez expected Jayde to refuse to get married. All they knew Tyson was he worked alone; so if he really were married, they were making a big mistake.

“You want us to renew our vows?” Jayde questioned, Tyson hearing the slight panic in her voice.

“Of course, it will just be a little thing.” With a wave, Captain Alvarez sent one of the men off. “I think it will just ease my mind a bit.” He smiled evilly. “Consider it our way of saying we are sorry for the misunderstanding.”

“Sure. When?”

“Now,” the captain said with a frown, clearly not liking how easily she agreed.

Tyson heard Jayde inhale sharply. He touched her back in silent support. “Honey, we don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.” He offered her a chance to back out, knowing full well that the certificate would be proof they were legally married. “I know renewing our vows under these conditions was not what you had in mind.”

With a gentle, yet forced smile, she turned to face the man she’d known for less than twenty-four hours. “What difference does it make what the situation is? We are just renewing what has already been said.”

“Good!” the captain exclaimed. “The priest will be here momentarily.”

“Just a minute!” Jayde screeched. “I am not, I repeat, not doing this in my robe! So you have to leave so I can change.” At his hesitation, she glared at them.

The captain took Tyson with them, “so you can’t make plans,” he said. As he was shutting the door Jayde yelled, “Flowers! I want flowers also!”

Twenty minutes later, Tyson stood next to Jayde in front of a Catholic priest reciting her vows in her hotel room, holding a bouquet of mixed flowers the captain had brought for her. Tyson looked down at the woman who’d just saved his bacon. She wore a knee-length fuchsia skirt and black silk blouse, no shoes, and her hair still damp around her shoulders. Her brown skin was makeup free and he smelled the faint scent of baby powder. She’d removed her earrings but the necklace was still in place. He heard her mutter-ing under her breath the word “rose.”

The priest asked for her full name and the captain interrupted, saying he wanted to hear it from the groom. So Tyson answered, “Jayde Rose Porter.” She smiled widely in return. Oh, she was good. The captain was looking on her identification card and frowned as he saw Tyson was correct.

When it was Jayde’s turn to supply his name, Tyson panicked. How would she possibly know? But without missing a beat she said, “Tyson Randolph Kincade.”

Too soon it was time for the rings. Tyson produced two from his pocket, the simple bands made of tita-nium. He slid the ring over her ring finger on her left hand as he said his vows.

“I, Tyson Randolph Kincade, take thee, Jayde Rose Porter to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse…” he began with a wry smile, “for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, honor, and cherish. Forsaking all others ‘til parted by death. This is my solemn vow to you.” By the time he finished talking, the ring was sitting snugly on her finger. The sango-ma’s words echoed in his ears again as the ring fit her perfectly.

Jayde repeated the same thing as she slipped the ring on his finger. She was shaking, so Tyson laced their fingers together and gave her some of his silent strength. Somehow it was enough for he felt her relaxing.

When the priest smiled and said they were now husband and wife, Tyson noticed his new wife was still in a state of shock, and he kissed her sweetly, cheering when she eagerly leaned into him, taking all of what he gave her.

When Tyson pulled away, both of them were breathing hard. The priest shoved the certificate at them and took one copy for himself after they signed it. Then everyone else left the newlyweds alone.

The door shut and the room was silent as Jayde and Tyson stared at each other.

Tyson saw the rant forming on her lips and stopped her with a finger across his mouth and a silent head shake. Warily, she stayed silent, for about five seconds.

“Well, honey,” she started. “Not exactly how I anticipated our vow renewal to go. But I suppose anoth-er year, another surprise.” She arched a brow at him, crossed her arms, and tapped her bare foot on the floor, bringing his eyes to her lapis blue toenails.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “This isn’t exactly what I had planned, either.” He turned on the stereo system to find some romantic music and adjusted the volume to cover their voices. Taking a hold of her arm, he steered her gently towards the bed and sat beside her as she turned angry eyes on him.

“Start talking,” she seethed. Her face was flushed with anger, her eyes sparkled, and Tyson realized again just how truly beautiful she was. “I would almost think you had this planned; where did you get the rings?”

“Look, I am so sorry about this whole thing. I didn’t mean to get you involved.” He paused at her look of disbelief but then continued. “I am currently—or was—working for a counterterrorism unit for our government. Those men are drug runners who supply, buy, and sell information to terrorists. When I got injured, they put me on leave and I ended up down here. I noticed two of those guys at dinner watching me. After I got back to my hotel room, they showed up with two other men and took me with them. To be questioned.” Tyson watched as she narrowed her eyes further.

“I know it was wrong of me to bring you into this, but it seemed to be my only option.” He paused again. “The rings belong to me. I wish I could tell you more but I can’t. Please trust me. I am not a spy; they didn’t want you to trust me. Just for a little longer, trust me. I am one of the good guys.” He didn’t want to tell her the rings sealed their fate together, for all eternity—that might just freak her out.

Jayde just shook her head. Tyson hoped she knew he wouldn’t have put her in this situation unless ab-solutely necessary. “Okay, Tyson, I will go along with this for a while. For some reason I do trust you; not sure why, but I do.” She reached out and touched his arm and desire filled him. “So, where does this leave us?”

Tyson released a huge breath that he didn’t realize he’d been holding. She was going to go along with him on this. She trusted him. A proud smile grew on his face. “Well, I have to place some calls to some people in the States and then I think I owe you more explanations.”

She nodded as she stood. “I think you do too.”

“Thank you for trusting me.” His eyes were gentle as they looked upon her dark beauty. Damn, I have never seen a woman like her before in my life. Although a world traveler, he’d never known a woman to affect him this way.

“Well,” she said with a forced lightheartedness, “if a wife can’t trust her husband, then who can she trust?” Then she turned and walked into the bathroom, shutting herself off from him.