Rock Wedding (Rock Kiss #4) - Nalini Singh Page 0,116

face.”

“That’s why I sent someone you knew.” Abe lifted her off her feet with his hug. “I got you a room so you can rest a little.”

“Forget that. I’m ready.” His mother adjusted her jaunty yellow hat. It went with her stylish skirt suit. “Where’s Sarah?”

Abe gave her the suite number, watched her go up to join Sarah, Lola, and the other women. Around him, his friends were in the charcoal-gray suits they’d worn to Fox’s wedding, while Abe wore a slightly darker suit Sarah had chosen for him the last time they’d gone shopping. Dark gray shirt inside but no tie, because she liked him without a tie.

Not wanting Sarah to guess what he was up to, he hadn’t brought the suit with him. David had picked it up, brought it over. Abe had changed in the room he’d booked for the drummer and Thea, and now he, Fox, David, and Noah stood at the bar just off the check-in area. “Thanks for coming,” he said to his friends.

“Don’t make us hurt you,” Noah said without heat, then slapped Abe on the back. “This is awesome. No fucking reporters, just family and friends.”

Abe looked at Fox. “You and Molly have trouble shaking them off?” The other couple, Noah, and David were the ones who’d distracted the media so Abe and Sarah could make their getaway, with Thea playing informant and feeding certain pieces of information to the right sources.

Kit and Lola had been backup.

Now, Fox groaned. “Christ, it was like trying to shake off an army of rabid rats.” Running a hand through the chocolate-dark strands of his hair, he said, “I finally had to park my SUV in a mall parking lot and duck inside with Molly, come out a side exit and get into Kit’s car. Lola managed to pick up Noah and David in an underground parking garage—the media doesn’t know her car, so it was easy for her to drive out.”

“They totally bought it.” Noah’s eyes gleamed. “Oooh, news hot off the press, the members of Schoolboy Choir at one another’s throats over some unknown woman—total public meltdown. David even threw a punch at Fox after we shouted down the restaurant.”

Abe glanced at David. “Thea?”

“She says it’s great publicity, especially since it’ll be obvious by tomorrow that we were fucking with everyone. Of course, if Sarah had said no, you’d be in the shit.”

“Worth the risk.” Abe couldn’t imagine his life without the woman who was about to become his wife again. “Sarah’s worth every risk.”

David’s phone buzzed. “Thea,” he said, after reading the message. “Their limo is here.”

“Then we’d better start walking.” Abe had chosen a chapel not far from the hotel, one with the requisite Elvis impersonator.

If he and Sarah were getting married in Vegas, they were getting married Vegas style.

Walking out with his best friends into the light and color of Sin City, Abe wanted to whoop with joy. Somehow managing to keep it together, he took several deep breaths. Soon, he told himself. Soon Sarah would be his again. All official and public and permanent. Very permanent. No way was Abe messing this up a second time around.

They arrived at the chapel to find it more tasteful than could be expected.

Ten seconds later, a white-jumpsuit-clad Elvis hustled them to the head of the aisle and took up his position with an “A-ha-hah” and a hip swivel.

“Right,” Abe said, settling his suit jacket when it didn’t need to be settled. “Shit, why am I so nervous? I already married Sarah once.”

David was the one who answered. “It’s because this time around you know exactly what’s on the line, how precious it is.”

Yeah, he did.

The sound system came on, filling the chapel not with the wedding march but with the song Abe had written for Sarah. He’d recorded it alone two days earlier, given the CD to Elvis’s assistant. Around him, he felt his friends go still as they recognized his voice.

Then he saw Sarah enter on his mother’s arm, Lola, Kit, Thea, and Molly following. Everything else receded. His Sarah had chosen a strapless gown in a rich emerald green that made her skin glow. The fabric gathered together in a kind of a knot between her breasts before waterfalling to the ground. It was stark and simple and stunning.

She’d left her hair in wild curls about her head, tucking only a vivid red rose behind her ear. Her sole pieces of jewelry were the ring he’d put on her finger and