Page 42 of Every Rose

She had no idea whether Matt would turn up or not, but she didn’t want her brother to be stuck standing alone in a room full of people he didn’t know. In a very short time she saw Matt striding her way, a glass of wine in one hand and a beer in the other.

He smiled when he saw her brother, passed her wine and then shook James’s hand with his now free one.

“Good to see you, James. Glad you came.”

“It’s a nice party.”

Matt turned to her. “Your brother here was the highlight of the stag. He’s not only a great teacher when you get him on the rifle range but he got rid of two drunk assholes who were getting loud and obnoxious so smoothly they never knew what hit them. Seriously, it was poetry in motion.”

James shook his head, grinning. “I got them on the bus by letting them think we were all getting on with them. They were so busy arguing they probably drove ten miles before they noticed they were the only two apart from the driver. He got them both home and came back for us. Simple.”

“Well, as the guy who organized the stag I can tell you I wouldn’t have got rid of them so quietly. So thanks.”

“Anytime.”

Kimberly walked by. Actually, she looked more like she was creeping, stepping lightly so as not to wake someone up. She was still holding her bridesmaid bouquet and it was shaking. She was still pale. She stood, irresolute and Rose said, “I’ve got my eye on Kimberly. I think she’s coming down with something. She’s trembling and very pale. I thought it was nerves but the wedding’s over.”

“You her doc?” Matt asked, also gazing at the bridesmaid with a professional eye.

“No. Interested bystander.”

“She’s not sick,” James said. He’d followed Rose’s gaze and had been watching the young woman too.

“How do you know?”

“She’s terrified. You may know illness, but I know fear. Excuse me.” And he strode off in the direction of Kimberly. She hoped, now that he was out of uniform, that he wouldn’t terrify the poor woman as he had the first time they’d met. As Rose watched, he joined the small group where she was standing, introduced himself around as though he were simply a wedding guest being friendly. When he got to the supposedly terrified woman, Rose watched the gentleness with which he spoke with her.

“I didn’t know your brother was the bridesmaid whisperer,” Matt said.

“Neither did I.” in fact, there was a lot she didn’t know about her brother James. “He’s always had a soft spot for anything wounded, though.”

“Is he right?”

“I don’t know. She didn’t have a fever when I checked earlier, but her pulse was elevated. But what’s she got to be frightened of at her cousin’s wedding?”

“I don’t know. But now he’s got his eye on her, I can have you all to myself.”

Her gaze flew to his. “Do you want me all to yourself?”

He smiled at her in a very disturbing way. “Yes.”

Corny lines like that did not make Rose all gooey and fluttery.

Usually.

For some reason, she felt both at his completely honest answer.

When he reached for her hand, she let him lead her out of the crowded library to a quiet alcove that had probably been a pantry or parlor or something back in the mansion’s heyday. “Have you heard that bridesmaids always want to get laid or something?”

He appeared shocked. “No. Do they?”

He was ridiculously cute. And they weren’t at work and it was a party. She sipped her wine. “I haven’t made an exhaustive study, but I have attended a few weddings in my time. This is my third stint as a bridesmaid.”

“Third?”

“Mmm. Anyway, I have certainly witnessed some unlikely hook ups which, I think, had a lot to do with alcohol consumption and the air of romance and happily ever after that surrounds a wedding.”

“From your tone it sounds like you don’t believe in happily ever after.”

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