So what. He had made a joke with the other guys. Guys made crude comments all the time. It was just bad timing that Hunter’s sister had heard him say Maddy had cut off Hunter’s balls. Shit, Angie was a Marine. She had heard worse. Hunter wouldn’t care. He had made the same jokes about marriage for years.
Drew would apologize and just hoped he hadn’t said aloud that she was as fierce as an Amazon when she was so incensed.
Putting on his most convincing smile, he turned toward the foyer in unison with Hunter. “From This Moment On” by Shania Twain was playing. And Angie, dressed in a knock ’em dead red dress and high heels showcasing her long, shapely legs, stepped into the living room.
The sight of the incredible woman was like a sucker-punch to his chest, leaving him staggering from the impact. The bouquet of red roses she held in her hands shook slightly. Her friends must have said something to her, because she laughed—a husky sound that carried throughout the spacious room. Her face softened, and she started to walk toward him.
And for some unfathomable, primitive reason, he was glad she was walking toward him. Drew glanced over at Hunter’s Marine buddies. They were definitely having the same male response hammering through their bodies at the sight of this sexy, beautiful woman.
Angie stopped and petted the Army dog sitting next to Hollie and her boyfriend. Drew would never have believed that dogs would be allowed at such a fancy wedding, but the Army dog wasn’t the only one. Dr. Walters’s poodle had been sitting next to her in the second row.
Hollie, the Goth, must have made a joke when Angie was bent over. Angie rolled her eyes and laughed again—a low, throaty sound that made his manly parts take notice. And he found himself, like everyone else in the room, smiling with her.
Drew took the two steps toward her, his heartbeat ratcheting up. And a startling possessiveness shot through him, a deep need to claim her.
She barely glanced at him. And instead of taking his arm so he could escort her, she walked to her brother. She wrapped her arms around Hunter and whispered. Drew first saw surprise on Hunter’s face and then a tender look as he squeezed her tight.
Angie then stepped to her spot, and he could see the tears pooling in her dark eyes. She glanced up at him, her eyes still open with love before she looked away. And some small part of the cold chill in his heart melted.
During the ceremony, he kept stealing glances at Angie, but she never once looked at him. She cried when Hunter kissed Maddy at the end of the ceremony. And she and Maddy embraced before the newlywed couple went down the aisle while friends pelted them with flower petals.
She watched wistfully while Maddy and Hunter paused along their way to greet their guests, and an unfamiliar urge to protect stirred within him. He wanted to take away her pensive look, to protect her from any pain. He never wanted her to be alone or to suffer. He didn’t want to think about what had happened to her in Afghanistan.
He tried to catch her eye when he offered his arm to escort her down the aisle. She kept her gaze averted. He whispered to her, “Smile, it’s a happy occasion.”
Her eyes were dewy and beautiful with unshed tears when she looked up at him. And he had the most insane need to kiss her. And she gave that same deep, husky laugh that caused electrical currents to race up his spine. “I thought you believed there was a lot of pain involved with weddings.”
Unable to speak, he stared at her sparkling, dark eyes, her red full lips, and the little dimple that formed on her right check when she smiled.
“Speechless,” she said, eyebrows arched. “Now that’s something new for the mighty soldier.” And, with a challenging smirk, she took his arm. “It must be because you’re almost finished with your painful duties.”
And at that precise moment, he changed his mind about the pain associated with weddings.
The End
Excerpt from
A Cantata of Love
by Jacki Delecki
to be released May, 2016.
A Cantata of Love is the Fourth Book in the Best-selling The Code Breaker Series!
Michael Harcourt, the Earl of Kendal, woke to the soft voice and the delectable smell of a woman. She smelled like wildflowers. And her voice was soothing and sweet. Last night must have been one hell of a night of dissipation since he remembered nothing. He dreamt about his French mother crooning to him.
What was wrong with him? He had been in bed with a French woman and he thought of his mother. His head ached as if horses had trampled over him. He tried to remember her name—Yvette? Or was it Mimi? He cracked open one eye. Big blue eyes the color of cornflowers stared down at him, and a pink lush lower lip was pouting. How could he have forgotten this angel’s name? Yvette. Definitely Yvette. “Yvette?” Or maybe Mimi? “Mimi?”
He needed her again to refresh his memory. He raised his arms to pull her against him. He grabbed for her, but his arms felt weak. Thank God the rest of his body wasn’t that tired. She yelped when he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her on top of him. “Yvette, darling. Don’t fight me. I need you.”
Yvette gasped and tightened against him. He rubbed himself against her slender body. Not his usual type he noted. Clearly not an opera dancer by the slender frame. What had he drunk last night that he couldn’t remember this delicious handful?
“Let go of me.” She hissed.
He whispered against her soft, tender neck, kissing her ear. “Were you this feisty last night?”
“Let me go, you brute.” She shouted next in his ear, causing his head to feel as if it were cracking wide open. She jumped back, tripping on the bedclothes and knocking the water canister from the side table. The loud crash reverberated in his head.
Women didn’t fight him. He was a generous lover. Obviously he had overlooked something about last night.
Michael looked at the disheveled, beautiful woman glaring at him. Her blond hair sparkled in the morning sunlight, but her bright eyes were now dark and stormy.
Damn, damn. She looked way too innocent and way too marriageable. What had he gotten himself into?
He rearranged the bedding to hide the obvious, then lifted himself to the head of the bed.
The mademoiselle didn’t look so much offended as just plain pissing mad. Her eyes had narrowed and her face glowed a deep red. She had the look of a woman who might impale him with the fireplace poker.
The door to his bedroom swung open, knocking against the wall. The pain behind his eyes pounding like a son of a…
Denby, his valet, stormed into the room, swearing under his breath. “What the hell? Are you okay, Mademoiselle Gabrielle?”
She gestured with her hands and spoke in rapid French to Denby. Had she just called the Earl of Kendal a “stupid, horse’s ass?”
Denby took the irate woman’s arm. “I’ll clean up the mess. Now that he’s awake, you should prepare yourself to leave. We’ve a long journey ahead of us.”
With no word of farewell, the Mademoiselle Gabrielle huffed and left the room.
Denby chuckled “Barely awake and already causing problems.” He bent to pick up the water container. “It is good to see you back, my lord. You scared the hell out of me. If it weren’t for Mademesoille Gabby’s nursing, I’m not sure…”
“I’ve been sick?” He did feel a bit weak after his rustle with the young woman.
“You developed a fever right after we escaped from Paris.”
The memory of fleeing Paris and Fouche’s men brought him totally awake. “All I remember is leaving Paris dressed as a nun.”
About the Author
Jacki Delecki is a Best-Selling, Romantic Suspense writer. Delecki’s Grayce Walters Series, which chronicles the adventures of a Seattle animal acupuncturist, was an editor’s selection by USA Today. Delecki’s Romantic Regency The Code Breaker Series hit number one on Amazon. Both acclaimed series are available for purchase at http://www.JackiDelecki.com.
To learn more about Jacki and her books and to be the first to hear about giveaways j
oin her newsletter http://eepurl.com/FK_p1.
Follow her on Twitter (@jackidelecki) and on FB—facebook.com/Jacki.Delecki/.
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Thanks for Reading!
Table of Contents
THE GRAYCE WALTERS ROMANTIC SUSPENSE SERIES
Copyright
AN INNER FIRE
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Epilogue
WOMEN UNDER FIRE
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Epilogue
MEN UNDER FIRE
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
MARRIAGE UNDER FIRE
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Epilogue
A CHRISTMAS WEDDING CEREMONY
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Epilogue
Excerpt from A CANTATA OF LOVE
About the Author
The Grayce Walters Romantic Suspense Series Page 75