Think, think, think—his heart thumped against his chest and he turned to Evie. “Do you have—?”
The black light clicked on and shone against the panel. Evie’s wide, guileless, gut-clenching smile appeared. The smile that never failed to make him think of rumpled sheets and sweat-covered bodies. Her body.
“Great minds,” she said.
He reached out and slid his hand into her free one. “Ready to free the damsel and take down the villain?”
“As long as you’re by my side.”
Lifting their clasped hands, he kissed the back of hers. “Always.”
Anticipation pulsed through the room as Evie ran the light over the large wall until it illuminated a set of five letters in the center of the square.
“Enter,” she whispered.
“Yeah, but how,” Grif all but growled.
“Maybe it’s a spring lock.” Britt stepped forward and pressed his palms against the wall in various places.
Reid joined him.
Nothing.
They all stood there, staring at the wall as if sheer frustration would make an opening appear. “Evie,” Joan said into the void of inspiration. “Did you try knocking?”
“It couldn’t be that easy,” Carlie Beth said.
“No, Mama,” Evie said.
Deke released her hand. “Can’t hurt to try.” He glanced at the countdown timer. “Ninety-three seconds to go.”
She drew in a deep breath. “Won’t be the first time I’ve made a fool of myself.” Closing the distance, his brave girl raised her fist. It hovered there for a full two seconds before her knuckles rapped out the universal open sesame knock.
The wall snapped open.
4
Evie’s heart jolted like a spooked horse.
The silence behind her deepened, then Reid said, “You gotta be kidding me.”
At her look of disbelief, Joan nodded toward the secret entrance. “Go on.”
Deke positioned himself between her and the opening. “I’ll go first.”
She should let him do what he was so good at doing. Protecting. Despite her suspicions about the clues, she understood this was a game, not some Hollywood horror flick. A strange, eerie, freaking bizarre game, but a game.
Her life wasn’t in danger. She wouldn’t be thrown into a dark hole—
No!
She shoved aside the nightmare. She wouldn’t let her ordeal rule the rest of her life.
She would not.
“Thanks,” she squeezed Deke’s arm as she assumed the lead position again, “but I got this.”
Concern coated his features. Somehow it magnified how damn good-looking he was. She had never come across anyone else with the same piercing ice-blue eyes. They were works of art. If he would let her, she would have them painted, framed, and hung on the ceiling of the MedMobile so they were the first thing she woke up to in the morning.
Good looks aside, nothing turned her on more than when he put her safety above his. It was the ultimate commitment, a commitment he’d demonstrated in small ways as far back as she could remember. He had always put her first, and she loved him more than all her romance books put together.
“We should move in together,” she said.
Someone gasped behind them.
Deke’s gaze dug into hers, no doubt trying to determine if she was attempting to lighten the mood in the room or if she’d just altered their lives forever.
With a wobbly smile, she asked, “Bad timing?”
The corners around his eyes softened, though an intensity took hold of his body. The hand resting on her waist tightened.
“Eddy,” Deke called over his shoulder.
“Yes?”
“May I have your daughter’s hand in marriage?”
Marriage? “Deke, I said—”
“Do you promise to love and protect her, always?”
A muffled sob came from the vicinity of where Joan sat.
“Yes, sir.”
“—move in together.” Oh, Lord. Did he misunderstand her?
“She’s spirited. Are you going to try and change her?”
“No.”
“Deke, please—”
“Break her heart?”
“Never."
“She comes with a boatload of family. They can be a bundle, at times.”
“Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Yes, son, you have my”—Eddy smiled at his wife who was vigorously nodding her head—“and her mother’s blessing.”
The idiot grinned down at her as if everything had not gone completely off the rails.
She peered around his big body to find everyone’s eyes—some misting, some smiling—zeroed in on her. “Can you give us a moment?” Grabbing his arms, she repositioned them so that her back was to her spectator-family.
“Deke,” she said in a low, urgent voice, “I asked if you wanted to move in together. Not”—she whispered—“get married.” With a sizable lump swelling in her throat, she waited for the lightbulb to click on, both anticipating the moment and dreading it.
But nothing clicked. His smile never faltered. It remained steady, unwavering. Much like the man.
“Did you hear what I said?”
“You didn’t have the question quite right, so I spruced it up a bit.”
“A bit?
“Too much?”
No! “Don’t you want to live under the same roof for a while and make sure we won’t kill each other first?”
“Evie Renee Steele,” he brushed the backs of his fingers along her jawline, “I know all of your flaws, quirks, and strengths. I love and accept every one of them.” His attention dipped down to her mouth, to where his thumb traced the outline of her lower lip. “Do you accept me?”
A tear spilled over and raced down her cheek. She batted it away and managed to croak out a reply. “Y-yes.”
“That’s my beautiful, brave girl.” He held his hand out, palm up, to Britt.
Her brother dug into his pocket and produced a small sapphire velvet box.
Deke dropped to one knee and wrapped his warm hand around her suddenly cold fingers. “I had planned to speak with your father tonight and ask you to take a walk with me tomorrow. Alone.” One corner of Deke’s beautiful mouth lifted into a smile. “But this will do.”
“Good thing Coen isn’t here,” Reid said. “He’d be experiencing a déjà vu.”
“Quiet,” Brynne whispered.
Evie traced the edge of Deke’s hairline. “I ruined your surprise.”
“You saved me from hours of worry.”
“Worry?” She raised a brow. “Is this part of the real reason you’ve been so uptight? Did you think I’d say no?”
“You have a lot on your plate. Adding a wedding—”
She used his bent knee as a stool. “Yes.” She ran her fingers over his solid shoulders before tunneling them into his hair.
“Yes?”
“Yes.” She kissed him with all the passion and longing and joy and love she’d harbored for this man. Perhaps now she could stop punishing herself for all the lost years they could have spent together rather than dancing around their feelings.
They would now have a lifetime at each other’s side.
Evie ended the kiss, realizing she had wrapped Deke in a cocoon of her legs and arms. With an audience of eight people unabashedly watching the show. When she disengaged herself and stood up, she expected Deke to rise. But he remained kneeling, gripping her left hand.
Understanding dawned.
Her vision blurred.
“Evie”—he opened the jewelry box to reveal a shimmering princess-cut diamond set in a white gold band braided with a row of smaller, round diamonds—“will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
A second tear rolled down her cheek. “Yes.”
Deke slid the ring onto her finger and kissed her hand like a knight honoring his lady before getting to his feet.
Joy, bright and too painful to contain, fill
ed her heart. She threw herself into his arms.
The room erupted in applause.
“For the love of God,” a muffled voice growled. “Would you open the damn door and finish the game so we can get out of this stifling hellhole.”
Her laugh caught in her throat and every eye in the room swung toward the paneled wall.
Rising, Deke pulled open the secret door to reveal a command center full of computer equipment. The wide displays captured images of Evie and the rest of the players from different vantage points. All of the surveillance equipment surprised her far less than the room's occupants.
“Way to go, Little Sis.” Micki winked.
Behind her sister sat Gage, Jonah, and Tessa, all wearing headphones and huge, unrepentant grins.
She stared at the evil twins. “I should have known the two of you were behind this.”
“But you didn’t.” Jonah ruffled her hair as he squeezed past her. “Great job, Mama and Daddy.”
She whirled on her parents. “You were in on this?”
Pocketing her damp tissue, Joan reached over and twined her fingers with her husband’s. “A few family history reminders to nudge you along.”
Remember that time when Grif used my mother’s crystal bird vases as target practice for his new slingshot?
We picked up a fetish just like it for Britt years ago when we visited the Cherokee Indian reservation.
For four Halloweens straight, I had to make Reid a different turtle costume.
The first female PM, the same year our sixth child was born.
Did you try knocking?
“And to add a bit of suspense,” Eddy said with one of those small smiles that acknowledged the humor of the situation and also revealed that he knew what it felt like to be the butt of an elaborate joke.
Joan smiled at her eldest child. “While prepping for the game, we found your bear fetish tucked into a small zippered pocket in the hunting jacket you keep at the house.”
One side of her brother’s mouth lifted upward while he shook his head. Knowing he would refuse the keepsake again, Evie made a mental note to drop it off at his house. After the shock wore off, he would be glad to have it.
Gage emerged from the room and squeezed Evie’s shoulder. “You’ve got a good nose for danger, kiddo.”
“I’ve got a good thumb for hypodermic syringes full of Ketamine, too.”
His eyes widened at the implied threat to his continued consciousness. He rushed away to join Jonah. The two pranksters went around the room, accepting congratulatory fist pumps or bro hugs from her brothers.
Her eyes narrowed on the dude love-fest, glad to find Deke absent among them.
“Guys are such dogs, sometimes,” Tessa said on a long-suffering sigh. “Sorry, Evie. The whole woo-woo part went a bit too far.”
The riot of anxiety, embarrassment, and irritation roiling in her chest disappeared on the heels of Tessa’s kindness. The psychologist always found the right note to deescalate a situation.
Evie released a breath. “It was kinda brilliant.”
Tessa leaned closer and whispered, “We’ll keep that detail between the two of us. We don’t need to increase the size of their massive heads.”
Evie returned her soon-to-be sister-in-law’s grin and watched her say hello to Carlie Beth and Brynne.
She glanced around, wondering where Deke had run off to. Probably to the suite to use the bathroom or grab some alone time to decompress so he wouldn’t kill the jokesters. His danger radar had been on high alert for hours.
“Nice way to dampen our Big Reveal,” Micki said, pausing beside her. “Did your let’s-live-together proposal come out of nowhere or is that the amount of planning you do for big, life-altering events?”
Heat tracked up her throat. “The words just...came out.”
“It was beautiful,” Micki said in a low, thick voice before enfolding her in a hug.
Her sister’s uncharacteristic show of emotion made her own throat tighten and her nose sting. She squeezed her sister hard, greedy for any intimate connection with this woman who was a stranger to her not so long ago.
Micki cleared her throat and pulled away. Her signature eat shit and die smile in place, despite her red-rimmed eyes. “And highly entertaining.”
“Beat it,” she said, “or I’ll follow through on my poison ivy threat.”
Her sister’s laugh followed her all the way to Gage’s side.
Georgie entered the drawing room carrying the basket of their devices, yanking his tasseled cap off and removing the hidden earpieces. A large, transformative smile split the boy’s face as he handed the basket to Jonah, who fist-bumped him in return.
Every single encounter since entering the B&B had been a ruse. She shook her head. The brainiacs had indeed outdone themselves.
Searching for Deke again, her attention caught on her mom and dad. The former blew her a kiss and the latter gave her a nod before they returned to their checkers, still holding hands.
She wanted a love like theirs. One that lasted through the birth of six kids, through the difficult decision to put their family’s safety above their own desires, through the passing of decades and one’s youth.
She wanted—
A large familiar presence warmed her back a moment before Deke’s arms surrounded her.
“I thought you might be planning a few family members’ deaths.” She rested her head on his broad chest.
“The thought had occurred to me,” he said, brushing his lips over the crown of her hair. “But I have something much more satisfying in mind.”
An hour’s worth of adrenaline had finally started to ease from her body. At the vengeful quality of Deke’s voice, her muscles filled with energy again. “What did you do?”
“Wait for it.”
Blood rushed through her veins, and she scanned every corner of the room and its participants like a hawk soaring over an open field, searching for its next meal.
She opened her mouth to ask for a clue when Nora glided into their midst. The innkeeper stood there until the gathering’s laughs stopped and their voices faded into a curious silence.
Deke stiffened behind her as if the innkeeper’s presence caught him off guard, too.
“You all did very well,” Nora said. “But the game is not yet done.”
“Um,” Jonah chuckled, “I’m pretty sure it is.”
A dinner bell chimed, and everyone’s attention swung to the nearest display. The same “live” feed of a black-hooded woman wearing a pale pink shirt and ripped jeans, sitting in a chair, appeared.
“What the hell?” Gage said, verbalizing what was so clearly written on all four pranksters’ faces.
Tessa glanced from Micki’s pink T-shirt to the feed, back to Micki and the feed again, as if wondering how Micki could be in two places at one time.
“Our captive cannot yet be freed until you solve one final clue.”
Micki stared at the screen before settling a rather terrifying look on the innkeeper, who seemed unphased by the visual attack. “Which is?”
Deke’s hands shifted beneath Evie’s where they rested at her waist. Evie didn’t know where to look next until the dinner bell rang again.
In what year did the brainiacs learn to stop crapping in their diapers and use a toilet instead?
Mom and Dad roared with laughter. Others joined in as the clue’s meaning began to register.
Astonishment, followed by a high degree of perplexity, etched the twins’ features.
Deke leaned down, slid something hard into Evie’s hand, and whispered in her ear, “Enjoy your revenge, m’lady.”
She peered down to find he’d given her his phone. The small screen displayed the latest clue. She lifted her head in confusion and met his smiling, beautiful eyes. “How did you—?”
“Game on, Squirt.”
She caught a rumble of laughter deep in her chest and turned her attention to terrorizing her brother and sister, but not before whispering, “Ga
me on, my heart.”
Want the next installment of our Christmas Capers? Click here or on the cover for your next heartwarming, holiday adventure!
Read on to enjoy an excerpt of Not So Silent Night.
Not So Silent Night
by Kelsey Browning
The holidays—a joyous time for regular folks—often sucked ass for medical professionals and first responders like Cash Kingston. Because all that regular people joy turned into stuff like eggnog-fueled ditch surfing, domestic dustups over which bowl game to watch, and all around festivity madness. Add in co-worker vacations and mid-winter sick days, and it landed a guy on the seven-to-seven shift when he’d planned to be setting up a stellar surprise for the love of his life.
Instead, Cash was unloading a loaded college co-ed from the back of his rig and rolling her into St. Elizabeth’s emergency room. His partner tonight, Libby Arceneaux, was sharp and incredibly competent, and normally, he’d be thrilled to work with her.
As they hustled for the ER’s sliding glass doors, she shot him a smirk over the supine body of the blonde girl who was babbling about… lash extensions? “Kingston,” Libby said, “you look like Santa shoved a rotten carcass into your stocking.”
Well, hell. Apparently, he hadn’t done a bang-up job of covering his frustration at being called in tonight. “Sorry. It’s just that—”
“You had other plans.”
“Yeah.”
“I get why the newbies are working extra shifts, but you’re one of the—”
“Do not call me one of the old guys.” He narrow-eyed her as the doors whooshed open and they pushed the stretcher inside the vestibule and through a second set of doors.
“I was going to say one of the people with seniority. I mean, you’re on the local SWAT and you don’t pull enough weight to get out of D&D scoops? That’s just wrong. And it means there’s no hope for me.”
“Everybody pulls their weight this time of year.”
“And a fine weight it is.” Libby gave him a once-over from the waist up, a look that might’ve seemed flirtatious if she and everyone else who worked with him didn’t know he was head over heels for Emmy McKay.
Jingle Bell Rock Tonight Page 4