Honor, Inc

Chapter 1
A Jeep Cherokee blasts toward my silver Lexus. I steer the wheel that isn’t steering, pound the brakes and try to avoid the tree with naked branches, but I’ve never been good at multitasking. I close my eyes before I hear a sickening crunch and a scream I think came from my own throat. My neck turns to the right and left so fast I’m not sure it moved and my eyes fly open. The car skids a few feet. White satin bunches up against the door. How will I find time to steam it? Irrational thinking, I know, but who’s rational at a time like this? My car careens toward the ditch. My heart jumps out of my chest as I swing the steering wheel but my sweaty palms slip. I have no control. No control. I scream again but no one can help me now. The body of the car rocks to the side and the tree is getting closer, more personal. I’m going to hit it, I think with surprising calm. I’m going to hit the tree and die or worse, be maimed for life. The car screeches and shudders. I wait for the crashing sound.

I don’t hear one.

I sit for a few seconds in stunned silence. My Lexus must have stopped inches short of the birch.

The silence reveals the pounding of my pulse. I unclench my hands. Shards of glass shimmer on my dress. I look for blood, dark and pulsing but somehow don’t see any. No sharp edges. Safety glass. Cold air hits my neck and shoulders. The front windshield and side window are gone. I shake wishing I hadn’t been so vain and worn my down ski coat. Good thing Gary has the funds to fix my car.
The Jeep. The other vehicle. The thought frees my immobile legs. What’s wrong with me? Here I sit in dazed selfishness not considering the Cherokee had a person or people in it too. Oh dear God, please don’t let anyone be hurt.
I open my door and step out onto North Traffer Parkway. Deserted, slick. At least, I have a few inches of road to step on, somehow my car didn’t land in the gully and turn over. Somehow I’m still alive. My phone’s discordant ring breaks the icy stillness. Ring. Ring. I don’t want to converse with anyone. My throat tightens and closes. Ring. Would someone pick that up? Oh yes, it’s mine. I grab it and punch the green button just before my high heel sloshes through a piece of gray sludge.

Yuck. Are my shoes ruined forever?

Gary Lauder’s name flashes on the screen.

“ Honor?” Gary says as I sprint to the back window of the Jeep. If a kid is there, he would be in the back seat. I have to know if there’s a kid inside before I can talk to anyone.

“ Honey, what’s going on?” Gary in my ear again.
I focus on the back. No car seat. No kid. I let out my breath realizing I’d been holding it. A tall man sits in the front but I can’t see his face. Is he okay?

“ I’ll call you back, Gary. I can’t talk now.” I hang up and take a step to check out the driver’s window. The door opens and I come forehead to chest with Rand Sanborne.

I want to scream but I don’t. I stand as poised as possible, something I’m usually good at.

“ Honor.” His voice sort of squeaks. We obviously hadn’t recognized each other’s cars. I blink. I don’t need to be out here with Rand looking at me like this. I should be in the warm foyer decorated with sprays of lilies accented with poinsettias. Gary and Gary alone. I loved my almost husband more than anything but an entirely different man stood in front of me.

“ Rand,” I choke out. Is that my voice? This is ridiculous. I’m practically a married woman.

The look in his eyes goes to my toes. He pulls me into his arms. His magnetism tingles into my inner core. Something warm falls across my shoulders. His coat.
“ Let’s get you inside.” He puts me away from him but his gaze holds me. “What in the world are you wearing? A wedding dress? Don’t explain until I get you warm.”
Something wells up in my throat as Rand picks me up and carries me to the other side. I try to clear the lump but can’t. He settles me into the seat and then gets in his side. The Cherokee sits lopsided so we do too. I notice the deployed airbag.
“ I’m so sorry about the airbag, Rand. I heard it’s a pain to get that fixed.”
Rand shrugs. “Don’t worry about it. I didn’t see you in the intersection. I called 911.”

I rub my neck and catch his look. He always noticed everything. This used to charm me but I’d gotten tired of it. He wanted me to take weekends off, stop doing so much overtime, as if overtime is an option for a business owner. My fledgling cosmetic company, Honor Inc., needed constant babysitting.

“ Where and when is the wedding?” His words are low. I feel warmer though wedding dresses probably weren’t meant to be worn outdoors on December 12 or any day in December.

We hear distant sirens and our eyes lock. “Grace Church.Ten o’clock.”

We look at the radio. Nine.

“ Looks like you might miss your own wedding then. Something I would’ve never expected of you.”

“ I suppose they’ll have to wait for the bride.” I’m sure Gary is at the church staring this minute at his watch. He’s more intent on being on time than I am and that’s a scary thought.

Rand lifts a brow. “Can I call someone for you? Your groom perhaps? The person you haven’t introduced to me?”

Ring. Ring. I stare at the phone frozen in my hand.

“ Just a minute,” I say weakly. Rand gives me a half smile.

“ Honor, are you okay? You said you’d be here by nine. Your mother’s frantic.”
I hear Constance Corpeland telling Gary to ask me where I was and how long it would be before I got there.

“ Listen, Gary, I’ll explain everything in five. I promise.”

Rand winks. “Is that your fiancé?” My cheeks warm.

“ Honor, who is with you? Is that a man’s voice?” Gary’s tone is loud, adamant.

“ I’ll call you.” I hang up and catch Rand’s gaze.

“ I’m sorry, Rand. I never told you. I wanted to but….”

Rand shook his head. “I can picture your Mother right now.”

“ She’s pacing. I can tell you that.”

Rand reaches over and grips my hand. My fingers curl around his and hang on.

Police lights flash a few hundred feet away.

I look at Rand, really look at him, his presence fills me against my will.
“ It isn’t like you to marry for business.”

I suck in a breath. This man has no right.

“ I love Gary.”

But Rand knows. Even my 3,700 hand sewn seed pearls (I’d counted) can’t hide the truth.

The officer appears at Rand’s door.

Rand clears his throat. “I’ll tell him to take you to the church.”

I can’t answer, only nod. Nothing should stop Honor Inc., the least of whom is Honor herself.

Rand exhales. In that sigh I see any relationship we could have had teeter toward the ditch.

Could have had.

I have to get away from him, from the hazel eyes flecked with gold, from everything.

Somehow I hadn’t counted on a police escort to my wedding.