Page 75 of Beehives and Broken Heroes

Allie shrugged her shoulder. “I mean, when you know, you know, right?”

It was all Brandon could do from bursting out laughing. As it was, he had a painful stitch in his side.

“You’ve only been together two weeks?” Rick asked.

Allie raised her brows.

Rick and Maryanne turned to Brandon. He smiled.

Then Allie burst out laughing. “I’m kidding! Family parties are going to be fun.”

Rick and Maryanne breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Zoey gave Allie a look of what Brandon could only call appreciation. “She’s cool.”

Rick clapped Brandon on the shoulder and looked back at the line. “We can pick this up later. It’s good to see you, brother.” He grinned and shot a quick look at Allie. “And congratulations.”

Maryanne walked by next, holding her belly. “I like her,” she said; then she winked. She stopped in front of Allie. “Take good care of him. You might not believe it, but we’re quite fond of him.”

Allie released his hand and wrapped her arm around his back, then glanced up at him. “Thank you. I like him, too.”

Several guests later, Hunter and Maverick were up—the last of the Westbrooks through the line.

“Congratulations,” Maverick said.

“Thank you.” Brandon squeezed Allie’s hand.

Hunter stared through the crowd, his gaze glued on Zoey. “Zoey’s even prettier in person.”

Brandon and Allie chuckled. “Better ask her to dance, then,” Brandon said.

Hunter nodded and looked like he was steeling himself. “All right, I will. Good idea.”

The Westbrooks moved along.

“Did he seem nervous?” Allie asked, surprised. Hunter was one of the toughest guys they knew—he had to be to ride the way he did.

“A little.” Brandon chuckled.

Allie reached up and grabbed Brandon’s shoulder. “My feet are killing me.” She stepped out of her bright aqua heels, then picked them up. She went up on her toes and whispered in his ear, “Want to ditch the line?”

He glanced over the heads still there. They had at least an hour to go. He so wanted to ditch, but he didn’t want to be rude. He stared at their faces and frowned. Who were these people?

Allie let out a peal of laughter, turned, and ran off out into the fields.

Brandon blinked after her. Runaway bride . . . oh boy.

“Come on, you big, hunky baby!” Allie yelled over her shoulder.

Jo leaned over to him and whispered, “All our close friends have already gone through. The rest are mostly curious town folks, some from Charleston, who sneaked in and want free food. And if you’ve seen one twin, you’ve seen them both.”

Brandon glanced out after his wife. Allie had picked up one of the lanterns Lark’s had placed around the venue as decoration and was running up a row of lavender into the darkening night. He looked back at Jo. “I don’t want to abandon you.”

Cash stepped up behind Jo. “You assume we don’t have our own escape plan.” He winked.

Brandon chuckled. “In that case . . .” He stepped out from under the archway and searched for Allie. She was back by an old building with a rounded roof, peering in. He went after her in a jog, up the row of lavender adjacent to the one she’d gone up. He stopped parallel to her, and she spun around to face him.

“There you are, my husband.” She gave him a sexy little grin. “I was starting to wonder if you were going to come after me.”

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