Page 85 of Jack of Hearts
Before they’d left the gravesite, she’d told her dad about Alex. Her mother still had doubts about him, considering what little she knew—mainly that he was a co-owner of a biker bar. What would her mother think when she learned the truth about him? The afternoon ahead, and how Alex and her mother would get on, had been on her mind when she and Angelina had come home, walking arm in arm, happier than they’d been in a long time as they talked about the lunch menu they had planned.
“Hello, ladies,” Jose had said, waving a freaking gun at them when they’d walked into the house. He’d gone to Angelina, pulling her into his arms and kissing her cheek as the gun stayed trained on Madison. Why hadn’t she stayed in bed with Alex this morning?
Her first thought had been to fish her phone out of her purse so she could text Alex, but her uncle had taken their purses away before she could sneak her phone out. What he’d hoped to happen, she didn’t know. Alex had arrived right after them. Her FBI-trained lover was ignoring the message she was sending with her eyes, begging him to leave. He glanced at her and winked. Winked! As if this were all a game.
He walked behind her, kicking her chair out from under her, sending her to the floor, and before she could suck in another breath as she watched from under the table, he twisted his body in some martial arts kind of way she’d only seen in the movies, his feet splintering the pantry door. If she’d blinked, she would have missed the speed with which he’d produced a knife from God knew where, sticking the point into the back of her uncle’s neck.
“You move one inch, you’ll end up a paraplegic,” Alex said to her uncle, and she didn’t doubt he meant it.
She only hoped Jose got how serious Alex was. And holy sweet Mother Mary, her man was jaw-dropping badass. The sound of booted footsteps filled the air, and she peered at the pairs of legs running into the kitchen.
“Dammit, Alex, I told you to wait for us.”
Madison recognized that voice. His brothers were here. Court pulled her up, and the first person she looked for was her mother. Nate had his arms around Angelina, holding her safely against him. The next person she looked for was Alex. He had Jose facedown on the floor, his knee pressing into her uncle’s neck. She stumbled to her mother, and they hugged each other as Nate pushed them out of the room.
“Are you okay?” she asked, pulling Angelina into the downstairs bathroom and locking the door.
“My brother was dead to me the minute he pointed a gun to your head.” Tears streamed down her face. “Oh, Madison, I was so afraid for you.”
They hugged again, and Madison inhaled her mother’s familiar gardenia scent, grateful the situation hadn’t turned tragic.
“If you won’t live with me, then marry me,” Alex said, glaring down at her, his hands fisted on his hips.
“Now isn’t that the most romantic proposal ever?” They were both on edge after the events of the afternoon. She turned her own glare on his brothers at hearing their dual snorts from where they were propping up the wall. An FBI SWAT team had arrived and carried her uncle away. After the house was cleared out, the Gentry brothers had sworn her mother to secrecy and then had confessed all. Angelina had taken the news of who they were in stride and even seemed charmed by the three men.
Sitting next to her, Angelina squeezed her hand. “Your father was just as insistent I marry him. It worked out wonderfully.”
Had she walked onto the set of a romantic comedy? “Get out. All of you.”
“Not you,” she yelled, standing and grabbing Alex by the back of his shirt.
He gave her a wicked grin that turned her knees to jelly. “That fiery temper of yours is a real turn-on, Mad.”
“Don’t be an ass. If you want a yes to your question, do it right.”
The man she loved with every fiber of her being backed her up, put his hands on the wall behind her, and kissed her hard. About the time she was ready to climb up his body, he leaned away, locking eyes with her.
“You have to marry me.”
“Do I?” He’d pretty much kissed her senseless, and it was hard to think.
“Yes. I’ve decided I won’t shame your mother by living in sin with you. Make an honest man of me, Madison.”
“So you only want to marry me to make my mother happy?” She let out an exaggerated sigh. “And here I thought when I married it would be for love.”
“Silly girl.” He pressed against her, letting her feel his arousal. “Even in your sainted mother’s house, where I should be behaving, just being near you does this to me. Marry me for love, baby.”
“For love then.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “And to make an honest man out of you. Don’t forget that part.”
“So that’s a yes?”
She nodded. “It’s a yes.”
“I love you, Madison Parker, soon to be Gentry.” And with that, he kissed her long and hard, until she really did forget her name.
EPILOGUE
Kinsey Landon stood at the edge of her mother’s open gravesite as hot tears streamed down her cheeks. “I love you, Mom,” she whispered, dropping a bouquet of lilies—Wanda Landon’s favorite flower—into the gaping hole. They landed on the middle of the casket with a soft thud. Two cemetery workers stood off to the side, waiting for her to leave so they could pour dirt on top of her mom, the only family Kinsey had ever known.
