Page 61 of The Mech Who Loved Me
"COR BLIMEY,IF it isn't Liam Kincaid, back from the dead!" a voice bellowed as Kincaid strode inside the WhiteHartpub.
Half a dozen heads turned, and Kincaid found himself swamped by big, burly men who clapped him on the back and ruffledhishair.
He mock punched Willie Lewes, a young mech who'd been under his command in the enclaves, and made his way through the crowd of men he'd once known—those who'd shared the same sentence he had. John Hayes, Jem Stanton, MichaelHargreaves.
And... XanderMcGraw.
His friend rested both elbows on the bar and watched him come. There was a twinkle in Xander's green eyes, but he also looked like he had a bonetopick.
"Back from the dead?" They clasped hands, and Kincaid thumped Xander on the back, squeezing his friend against hischest.
"Well, who'd have known otherwise?" the loud Scot demanded, shoving him in the chest. "Haven't seen your ugly face inmonths."
"Been busy." He slumped on the bar, raking a hand through his hair and looking around. He'd missed this life—these men. He was a different person here, sure of himself in ways he wasn't when he served the Company ofRogues.
"Too busy to come to my fucking wedding?" Xander asked, snagging a tankard of ale and glaring at him over the top of it. "Thought you were a friend,Kincaid."
Then Xander strolled away, leaving him standing there alone atthebar.
"Ignore him," said a cool, feminine voice. "He'llcooldown."
"Wise words." Kincaid shot a smile toward the owner of thevoice.
Maggie Doyle, the woman who'd helped him run the enclave with an iron fist, wiped down the bar, regarding him with a steady expression. She'd seen both the best and worst of him over the years, and there were few souls he could trust as much as her. "Long time,Kincaid."
"You look well. Marriage agreeswithyou."
Maggie found Xander in the crowd, and the faintest of smiles curved her lips. She'd softened since the revolution, he thought. She wouldn't have smiled before it. "Surprisingly, yes. Though I fought him to thebitterend."
Across the tavern Xander threw his head back andlaughed.
The pair of them shared a smile. "He doesn't know what the word 'no' means," Kincaid saidgruffly.
"He thinks it means 'try harder,'" she said, and poured Kincaid a shot of whiskey. "He wore me down with his courting. But he's angry you weren't at the wedding." Maggie lifted her snifter of whiskey. "Planned to have you stand up therewithhim."
Kincaid tapped his own whiskey against hers. "I was dodging vampires, if you'd believe. Heard itwentwell."
They both threw thewhiskeyback.
"Dodging vampires?" she asked, the second she got her breath back. "Real actualvampires?"
"Have I ever lied to you, MaggieDoyle?"
"Maggie McGraw," Xander corrected, slipping around the bar and slinging an arm over her shoulders. "And you won't like the answer to that,Kincaid."
Maggie rolled her eyes. "Behave—the pair of you." Grabbing a tray, she set four tankards of ale on it, then made her way around the bar with one last incinerating look at the pair of them. "If you destroy my bar, I'll make both yourliveshell."
Then shewasgone.
"You keep your eyes off my wife," Xander said with a smile, but his eyeswerecool.
"You've got nothing to worry about. Maggie always was too smart to fall for my charms," Kincaid replied, pouring a second shot ofwhiskey.
"Aye, well. Would have said the same, untilrecently."
They clinked glasses together. Xander owned the word “brash,” but there was an undercurrent of doubt beneath his dazzling smile. Kincaid frowned. "She wouldn't have married you if she didn't love you. You know that,right?"
"Took an awful lot of convincing," Xander grumbled. "She alwayslikedyou."
