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But feeling his hands on his throat, tying the cravat, his face so close, Thomas couldn't help but flush. He guessed he would always be a shy Southern farm boy, but that was okay. That's what Marcus wanted.
"So are you going to give Marcus that auction piece you bought out from under him?" Lauren teased. Tyler stepped back, eyed the cravat critically, nodded. Then shot Lauren a look. "I made a photo of it," he said in a rich Southern drawl. "It has a very nice frame. "
Tyler's wife stood at the door. She reminded Thomas of the other side of the entrance to an Egyptian pyramid. A pharaoh and his queen. The way her gaze moved over Thomas told him she was a Mistress. Josh had told him that, but it still boggled the mind, two Dominants married.
When Lauren saw his gaze shifting between the two of them, she tugged his sleeve.
"Don't try to figure it out," she murmured. "It fits, is all. It works for them. " Apparently it did, for as Tyler came to her side, the woman with moonlight-colored hair and pale blue eyes yielded to his arm sliding around her waist. He pressed her against the door with his body for a simple brush of her lips that, though brief, was full of heat.
"Newlyweds," Lauren rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, thank God we're past all that," Josh said. He'd arrived in the opposite doorway and now stood watching them. "I see you have enough company to keep you from bolting. But I'll be happy to distract them if you're having second thoughts. Not many artists are brave enough to marry their pain-in-the-ass manager. "
"I thought you were in the other room to keep Marcus from bolting," Thomas said dryly. Julie chuckled, moving under his arm to wrap her arms around his waist and give him a hard hug. Thomas smiled down at her, squeezed her shoulders.
"I was. " Josh shifted. "His mother and brother are here. That's why I came to get you. Tradition and all, but - "
Thomas was already past him and out the door, moving down the hallway.
The door to the other dressing area was ajar. Thomas stopped in the opening and surveyed the three people facing each other in an awkward triangle. Marcus' mother had worn a pretty pink dress that managed with some artful tucks and gathers not to hang too obviously on her too-sparse frame. It helped soften the harsh lines of her worn face. Her other son had a reassuring hand at her elbow even as he kept his gaze fixed on Marcus.
Thomas rapped his knuckles lightly on the frame, all uncertainty melting away in the face of Marcus' speechless, pale expression.
"Connie, thank you for coming. You look beautiful. " Thomas took her free hand briefly. Coming to Marcus' side, he touched his back, an obvious protective and reassuring gesture. "John. We're so glad both of you could come. " He looked up to see Tyler and Josh at the door, Lauren and Julie just behind.
Reinforcements. Friends who cared.
"We're going to start in a few minutes. I'm going to ask Tyler and Lauren here," Thomas nodded, turning Connie and putting his hand out to direct John, "to take you out and get you settled. I think we'll break tradition, such as it is," a ghost of a smile touched his features, seeming to surprise them both, "and have you seated with my mother and sister. Mom's about as overwhelmed by all this as I'm sure you are, and you'll be an anchor for her. "
Tyler stepped forward on cue and offered his free arm as Lauren guided Marcus' brother. Thomas turned back to Marcus when they ushered them away. Josh, Marcus' best man, did his part and quietly closed the door.
"Marcus?"
There was a muscle twitching in his jaw, one hand clenching. Thomas reached out, closed his hand over a rigid biceps. "Hey. You okay? I invit
ed them. I didn't tell you because. . . well, I didn't want them not coming to ruin it. I hoped, but hell, it shocked me to see them, just about as much as it did when Mom told me she and Les were coming. "
"Goddamn it. " Marcus turned away, drew a deep, shuddering breath. "You know you're every fucking miracle in my life, right? Everything that's told me I ever did anything right?"
Thomas' throat closed up and he simply put his arm around his lover, the man who was his Master and would soon be his spouse, always. "And you've always been my best friend, from the beginning. Helping me to be everything I could possibly become.
So let's go get married so we can screw legitimately. " Marcus coughed on a snort. "I think there'll be some disagreement with that. "
"Fuck them. I love you. Want to see what Les made us as a gift?"
"You're opening gifts without me?"
Thomas laughed and went to the table. "Shut up and look. " This changing room had become a temporary storeroom for the earlier gifts.
Thomas took Les' out now. It was needlepoint, a framed print. At one time, he would have worried that Marcus would laugh at something so provincial, but now Marcus took it and a smile spread across his face, dispelling the shadows. It made him such a sexy picture in that tux it almost took Thomas' breath. He had to look down at the picture as well so he wouldn't make a fool of himself.
It was a rendering of the country mouse and city mouse folk tale. She'd stitched a city skyline behind the country mouse, a rolling field and black-and-white cow behind the city mouse. Each mouse had features of Thomas and Marcus. At the bottom she'd carefully stitched the wedding date and the modified quote: What therefore God hath joined together, let no one put asunder.
"She wasn't sure if we'd like it, but. . . "
"It's perfect, like her. " Marcus said, obviously moved by the work she put into it, the sentiment it conveyed. "And what's this - "
Thomas tried to get it back, but Marcus snatched the note Rory had included.
