Six months later...

"If any of you can show just cause why they may not lawfully be married, speak now or forever hold you peace."

Regina smiled encouragingly at Bishop Vaughn.

The reverend returned her smile and opened his mouth to continue...before fixating on something in the pews over Regina's shoulder.

Regina heard it then, too. The footfalls sounded ever closer.

No...it couldn't be.

"I object."

Regina heard the commanding words fall like an anvil on her heart.

A sick feeling gripped her. She closed her eyes.

She recognized that voice-its tone bland but edged with mockery. She heard it a million times in her dreams...her most illicit fantasies-the ones that left her blushing and appalled when she woke. And when she hadn't heard it there, she'd had the misfortune of catching it from a distance at a society event or in a television interview or two.

There was a rustling and murmuring in the congregation. Beside her, Daniel had gone still. Bishop Vaughn looked quizzical.

Slowly, Regina turned. Daniel took his cue from her lead.

Even though she knew what, no, who to expect, her eyes widened as they met those of the man who should have be a distant memory to her. Robin Locksley, a co-counselor and the man who knew her most humiliating secret.

When her eyes connected with his, she felt longing and dread at the same time. Even under cover of her veil, she could tell there was challenge and possessiveness in his gaze.

He looked large, even though he wasn't up at the alter with her. His face was hard and uncompromising, his jaw square. Only even features and an aquiline nose saved him from looking harsh.

His hair was the same that she remembered and a several shades lighter than her own. Brows winged over eyes as blue as they were fathomless.

Regina raised her chin and met his challenge head on. How did one crash a wedding? Apparently the ticket was a blue business suit and black tie. She supposed she should be glad he'd at least settled on formal attire.

Then again, she'd hardly seen Robin the big New York lawyer in anything other than a power suit that did nothing to disguise his athletic build. Well, except for that one night...

"What is the meaning of this, Locksley?" her father demanded as he rose from his seat in the first pew.

Regina scanned the settles mass of New York high society. Her family seemed aghast, but other guests looked fascinated by the unfolding drama.

Her bridesmaids and groomsmen appeared ill at ease, even her friend Mary Margaret, who always seems self assured.

Off to the side of the church, her other close friend and wedding planner, Rose, had blanched.

"I say, Locksley," Daniel spoke up, irritated and alarmed. "You were not invited today."

Robin shifted his gaze from the bride to her intended, and his lips curled. "Invited or not, I would hazard to guess that my position in Regina's life entitles me to a say in these proceedings, wouldn't you?"

Regina was acutely aware of the hundreds of pairs of interested eyes witnessing the show unfolding at the altar.

Bishop Vaughn frowned, clearly perplexed, and then cleared his throat. "Well, it appears I'm compelled to resort to words that I've never had to use before." He paused. "Upon what grounds do you object to this marriage?"

Robin Locksley, with an edge of confidence, looked into Regina's eyes.

"Upon the grounds that Regina is married to me."

As the words reverberated off the soaring walls of the cathedral size church, gasps sounded all around. Behind Regina, the reverend began to cough. Beside her, Daniel stiffened.

Regina's eyes narrowed. She could detect mockery in Robin's expression. It lurked in the area around his eyes and in the slight edge of his mouth.

"I'm afraid you must be mistaken," Regina stated hoping against hop that she could prevent this scene from getting worse.

Still, Robin looked too sure of himself. "Mistaken about our visit to a wedding chapel in Las Vegas over six months ago? Regrettable, I must disagree."

There was a collective gasp from the assembled guests. Regina's stomach plummeted. Her face felt suddenly hot. She stopped herself from replying, for what could she say that wouldn't add to the damage?

Regina knew she had to move this scene to a place where she could face down her demons, or, rather, one demon in particular, in a less public way. "Shall we resolve this matter somewhere more private?"

Without waiting for a response, and with as much dignity as she could muster, she gathered up the skirt of her wedding dress in one hand and swept down the altar steps, careful not to make eye contact with anyone among the congregated guests as she held her head high.

She walked through beams of sunlight slanting through the air. Outside, Regina knew, it was a perfect June day. Inside, it was another story.

Her perfect wedding was ruined by the man whom she loathed the most in world right now. If she hadn't been wise enough before to think he was despicable, on that one night in particular, she certainly did now.

Robin turned and followed her across the front of the church and through an open doorway that led into a corridor with several doors. Behind Robin, Regina heard Daniel, her erstwhile groom, follow.

When she stopped in the corridor, she heard a louder rustling and murmuring break out in the church. Now that the principal parties had exited the area of worship, she assumed the congregants felt at greater liberty to voice their whispers.

She ducked into an unoccupied room nearby. Looking around, she concluded from the sparse furnishings and lack of personal belongings that the room probably served as a staging area for church functions.

Turning around, Regina watched both the groom and her alleged husband follow her into the room. Robin closed the door on the curious faces still looking at them from the main area of the church.

Regina threw her veil and rounded on Locksley. "How could you!"

Robin was close, and she was practically vibrating with tension, her heart beating loudly. Until now, Robin was the embodiment of her biggest secret and greatest transgression. She'd tried to avoid of ignore him, but today running was out of the question.

Outrage was, of course, not only the logical but also the easiest emotion to adopt.

"You have better have a good reason for your actions, Locksley," Daniel said, his face tight. "What possible explanation can you have for ruining our wedding with these outlandish lies?"

Robin looked unperturbed. "A wedding certificate."

"I don't know what alternate reality you've been living in, Locksley," Daniel replied. "but no one else is amused by it."

Robin merely looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Our marriage was annulled," she blurted. "It never existed!"

Daniel looked crestfallen. "So it's true?" You and Locksley are married?"

"We were. Past tense," Regina responded. "And only for a matter of hours, months ago. It was nothing."

"Hours?" Robin mused. "How many hours are in six months? Roughly about four thousand three hundred and ninety two, by my calculations."

Regina rued Robin's facility with math. She'd been stupidly enamored by it, by him at the gaming tables before their impetuous Las Vegas elopement. And now it had come back to haunt her. But how could it be true that they'd been married for the last six months? She'd signed the papers, it was all meant to be wiped away.

"You were supposed to have obtained an annulment," Regina accused.

"The annulment was never finalized," Robin responded calmly. "Ergo, we are still married."

Her eyes rounded. She was a person who prided herself on remaining unruffled. After all, she'd faced down the occasional recalcitrant client in her position as an attorney. But if her brief history with Robin was anything to judge by, he had an unparalleled ability to get under her skin.

"What do you mean by not finalized?" Regina demanded. "I know I signed annulment papers. I distinctly remember doing so." Her brows furrowed with sudden suspicion. "Unless you misrepresented what I was signing?"

"Nothing so dramatic," Robin said with enviable composure. "An annulment is more complicated than simply signing a contract. In our case, the annulment papers were not properly filed with the court of judgment, and important last step."

"And whose fault was that?" Regina demanded.

Robin looked her in the eye. "The matter was overlooked."

"Of course," Regina snapped. "And you waited until today to tell me?"

Robin shrugged. "It wasn't an issue until now."

She was flabbergasted by his composure. Was this Robin's way of getting back at her for leaving him in the lurch?

"I don't believe this," Daniel threw up his hands, his reaction echoing her feelings.

She hadn't wanted anyone to know of her incredible lapse in judgment. Now she regretted the decision not to proceed with her own legal counsel in her annulment with Robin. Not only had she not made sure her annulment had been properly finalized because she'd wanted to forget the whole sorry episode in Las Vegas as soon as possible, but as a result she'd put her trust in Robin to see the annulment through.

Robin's gaze swept over her. "Very nice. Certainly a departure from what you wore during our ceremony."

"Well when you're marrying the devil, what difference does it make what you wear?" Regina tossed back.

"You didn't act as if I were the devil at the time," he responded silkily, his voice lowering." In fact, I recall-"

"I wasn't myself," she bit out.

I was out of my mind. That's right, she thought feverishly. Wasn't insanity a basis for annulment almost every where?

"Insane?" Robin queried. "Already trying to create a watertight defense to bigamy?"

"I did not commit bigamy."

"Only through my timely intervention."

The man was infuriating. "Timely? We've been married six months according to your calculation."

Robin inclined his head in acknowledgment. "And counting."

She was incredulous at his audacity. But then she supposed that, as her spouse, Robin felt he took precedence over Daniel, an almost husband. And he'd be right, damn him. Even physically, Robin was more imposing. He was the same height as Daniel but more muscular and formidable.

She rued her continuing awareness of Robin as a man. Still, it was a situation she intended to rectify forthwith to the extent she could.

"How long have you known we were still married?" Regina demanded.

Robin shrugged. "Does it matter if I arrived in time?"

She smelled a rat from his evasive response. He'd wanted to create a scene.

Still, he gave nothing away.

"You'll be hearing from me in court," she stated.

"I look forward to it."

"We're getting an annulment."

"Not today, however. Not even the state of Nevada works that fast."

He had a point there. Her wedding day was well and truly ruined.

She stared at him in impotent fury. "These are grounds," she insisted, reassuring herself. "I clearly must have been insane when I married you."

"We agreed on lack of consent due to intoxication, you'll recall," he parried.

"I can't believe you delivered the new on my wedding day that you were derelict in filing our annulment papers." Regina said.

Maybe its all about timing," Robin said.

"What on earth are we doing to do?" Regina asked.

"Stay married?" he asked mockingly.

"Never!"

Regina turned to exit as her father and Bishop Vaughn barged in.

As she brushed past her father, she heard her relative demand, "I hope you have a good explanation, Locksley, though I can only imagine what it is!"

Apparently, all hell had broken loose in the hallowed sanctum.