A Highland Werewolf Wedding - By Terry Spear Page 0,11
I was. I won’t have you dictating where I’ll sit. Not when you forced me to come here in the first place.”
So that was what this was about—showing off her alpha spirit. He could understand that. Alphas truly didn’t like to be dictated to. Certainly not by a stranger. He also wondered if she had a deeper reason for not wanting to sit next to him. A reason that had to do with their meeting in the past.
When he didn’t respond, she changed tactics, saying in a hushed voice, “Oh, I see. You sorely missed me.”
“Hardly.” He gave her a dark look, hiding the smile that was trying to surface. “I didn’t want you forgetting your duty in the event any of those,” he said, his voice couched low as he motioned toward the now disgruntled Kilpatrick brothers, who were watching them and not the wedding, “distracted you too much. Besides you didn’t look happy with the company you were keeping.”
She didn’t respond for several moments, which meant he’d thought right. Then she folded her arms and asked, “How long is this going to take?”
“Hours. We’ll attend the reception afterward.” He’d only meant to wish Calla well at the reception and leave, but something about Elaine made him want to prolong his being with her. He couldn’t fathom exactly why. Maybe deep down it bothered him she was in a strange country and hadn’t connected with whomever she was supposed to be meeting.
Yet…
Looking down at her, he seemed to recall he had tried to rescue her before. It wasn’t just a meeting that they had had. He just couldn’t remember when. Or why.
“No way. I’m not staying that long,” she whispered, tilting her head to the side with a pointed look. “Don’t you have any friends here who could give you a ride?”
“Not here.”
Narrowing her eyes, she stared at him. “Wait. You’re not a wedding crasher, are you? I’m not exactly what you’d call an invited guest either, you know.”
He shrugged. “I’m a friend of the bride’s. She did invite me. I doubt anyone else is happy to see me, though.”
She snorted. “Most likely not even her, right about now.”
He couldn’t help but give her a wry smile.
The minister again spoke, this time garnering Cearnach’s full attention. “Does anyone have an objection to the marriage?” The minister looked straight at Cearnach and Elaine, his voice elevated, sounding half annoyed with them.
Everyone in the congregation turned around to stare in the direction the minister was looking. A few of the men seated on the groom’s side had their hands on the hilts of their swords belted at their waists. The bride’s guests and family waited with bated breath.
Elaine finally prodded Cearnach in the ribs. Prodded him! A Highland warrior! He glared at her.
Frowning, she looked up at him. “Well?” she whispered, when he said nothing.
Everyone was so quiet that he heard a fly fluttering on the other side of the kirk.
When Cearnach didn’t say a word to either the minister’s question or Elaine’s prodding, two of McKinley’s older brothers stood, ready to do battle, and headed toward the back of the kirk, just to the place where Cearnach and Elaine were sitting.
The eldest one motioned with his thumb for Cearnach to leave.
Vardon.
The McKinley had never forgiven Cearnach for having kissed Vardon’s mate first. Vardon hadn’t even known the lass at the time. Apparently Cearnach’s kiss had made an impression on the lass, and she had shared what had gone on between them. Still, one kiss shouldn’t have mattered. Add that to the years of battles between their kin, and now with Cearnach being at Vardon’s brother’s wedding…
The problem had been that the lass’s kiss hadn’t done the same for Cearnach. He looked at Calla one last time as she stood so regally next to the groom. He decided she had made her choice, and that she knew he had come to see her wed as she’d asked. He could do no more, and not wanting Elaine involved in any kind of melee with the groom’s family, he motioned for her to leave the pew. “We’ll leave now, lass.”
“I thought you were staying for the reception.” She sounded surprised. Then she saw the two hulking Highlanders headed in their direction, and she moved so quickly that she started dragging Cearnach toward the door.
He hadn’t wanted to walk that fast, not when he was trying to show the McKinleys they weren’t chasing him off, but he didn’t want to frighten Elaine further by