Page 87 of Healing Kiss

The preacher turned to Lillian. “Will you have Tristan to be your husband? Will you love him, comfort, and keep him, forsaking all others remain true to him, as long as you both shall live?”

“I will,” she said, gazing into Tristan’s eyes, her voice clear and loud enough to be heard by the entire congregation.

Tristan smiled, as the preacher turned to him and asked him the same question. He squeezed Lillian’s hands, and an electric current seemed to jump from his heart to hers. “I will.”

“Lillian and Tristan, by the power vested in me by God and man, I pronounce you wife and husband. You may now kiss the bride.”

And then Tristan tilted his head down and Lillian tilted her head up, and their lips met somewhere in the middle. And the sparks that had been igniting along her skin turned into a fiery blaze.

ChapterThirty

Epilogue

Three Years Later

“What’s the story with the hot bodyguard?” Hannah asked from where she lounged by the pool.

She set her knitting down to fan her cheeks and hoped Lillian put it down to the sun and not the heat in her belly. Brian Townsend was the most striking man she’d ever met. He was also one of the most mysterious. And since he’d been on some secret assignment for one of his clients the past year, Hannah hadn’t seen him since her sister’s wedding.

Her sister put her hand to her forehead to shield her eyes and looked across the patio at the men, who were tending the grill. “There’s not much to tell as far as I know. Why are you asking?”

“He’s not happy.”

“He seems happy enough to me,” Lillian said.

Hannah’s gaze returned to Brian. Tristan was gesturing, and Brian was laughing at whatever he said. He was shirtless, his skin and hair a golden brown, his hands propped against lean hips. If there was a definition for casual male beauty, Brian possessed it in spades.

“When he’s not grumbling, he’s joking; that’s just the way he acts.”

“He jokes to cover the pain, Lil.”

Brian shifted his stance and turned his head, and his unusual eyes caught Hannah’s, as if he knew he was the subject of their discussion. Her heart thudded in her chest, but she refused to look away until his gaze returned to Tristan’s.

“What’s his issue then?” Lillian asked.

“I can’t quite put my finger on it.”

Her sister’s mouth dropped open.

“Why are you acting so surprised? I’m empathic, not a mind reader.”

“Because in the twenty-five years since you were born, I’ve never heard you say you couldn’t figure someone out. Are you sick?”

Hannah made a face. “No, I’m not sick. He’s challenging, that’s all. He’s not what he seems.”

“Crusty on the outside, soft on the inside?”

She stared at Brian. “I’m not sure. He’s scarred in some way I can’t fathom. What has Tristan told you about him?”

“Not much, really. He’s a chick magnet and moody. He likes his privacy.”

“He must have told you something more than that.”

“I know they went to high school together. Tristan said Brian was a star athlete and smart. I guess he took home about every award there was to take home and received several football scholarships. He turned them all down to join the military. Tristan lost touch with him for a few years, but when Brian got discharged and started his own security firm, Tristan was one of his first customers.”

“No woman in his past who broke his heart?” Hannah found her gaze returning to Brian.

“Not that Tristan mentioned. Why do you keep staring at him with that puzzled look on your face? Are you interested? I can do some investigating of my own. He’s cute in a lumberjack sort of way. I can see why women like him.”

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