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He needed to tie this woman to him with everything he had, in case she realized she was far too good for him and ran away.
“Can we get on with it?” The vicar had been brought down from Invertary for the wedding at Betty insistence. Callum didn’t even want to think about why Betty needed the old codger around for the after party. That sort of thinking made a man’s balls shrivel and die.
Callum led Isobel over to stand in front of the ancient vicar.
“About bloody time,” the man grumbled.
Callum looked down at Isobel. “You ready?”
“Yes.” Her eyes sparkled. “I am completely ready to start the rest of my life with you.”
A surge of pure possession tinged with relief rushed through him as he turned back to the vicar. “Keep it short and get on with it.”
And, thankfully, the vicar did just that.
Kirsty and Lake Benson
This story takes place just before Ransom.
Lake watched his wife from the shop window of his security store. His eyes ate her up as she walked across the cobbled street, the midday sun glinting in her long red hair. Today she wore a green pencil skirt that hugged her curves, a soft pink blouse that begged a man to touch, and a pair of pale pink stiletto heels. Damn, but he was almost drooling just from looking at her.
“I thought things cooled down once you’d been married for a few years,” Ryan Granger, who was up from the London office for a meeting, commented from the door to the back of the shop. “You’re looking at her like you’re a starving man and she’s a juicy steak.”
“If things cool down in your marriage, you’re doing something wrong. You might discover that for yourself one day.” He cast a glance at the younger man. “Meeting’s just been pushed back an hour.”
“Yeah, I figured that.” Ryan shook his head, as though Lake’s behavior was a mystery to him. “Guess I’ll go for a walk then.”
“Text my receptionist and tell her to extend her lunch break, will you?”
“Sure.” He dug his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll let her know just how busy the boss is.” With a wicked grin, he let himself out of the shop, saying hello to Kirsty as he passed.
“Where’s he off to?” Kirsty said when she entered the store. “I thought you two had a meeting in a few minutes.”
“We did, but I saw you coming this way and rescheduled.” Lake reached behind his wife, turned the lock, and flipped the Open sign to Closed. “Now, I have a meeting with you.”
“If you shut the shop, you’ll lose customers,” she joked.
They both knew the shop made a minuscule amount of money compared to Lake’s security company. Two things stopped him from closing the shop for good—it kept him in touch with the community, and his wife’s business was just across the street. Which meant his wife was just across the street. Something he very much enjoyed.
“I think I can afford to lose one or two sales,” he said as he stepped closer to her.
“You do, do you?” She playfully backed away. “Do I need to remind you that we’ve got an expensive trip to the Amazon coming up?”
“No, but you might need to remind me why Joe and Julia decided it was a good place to celebrate their marriage.”
He’d been to the Amazon. It was hot, humid, and full of stuff that could eat you. It wasn’t his idea of the perfect honeymoon destination. But what did he know? He was just an ex-army boy trying to make a living doing what he loved—keeping people safe.
Taking his wife’s hand, he gently tugged her toward the back of the building and the stairs that led up to his office.
“I don’t have time for a meeting. I left Betty minding the shop because there was no one else to do it. If I don’t get back there soon, she could burn the place to the ground. Or worse, redesign my summer collection.”
“That’s worse?”
“You’ve seen Betty’s idea of fashion.”
Lake chuckled as they reached the door to what had once been Kirsty’s apartment. His business had quickly outgrown the space, and the rest of his Scottish team were now stationed in a building on the street behind the shop. But he’d never give up his office over the store. Not as long as Kirsty worked across from him.
“I only came over to tell you I’m booking our tickets to Peru and was wondering if you’d mind going via Miami. There’s a lingerie fair that fits perfectly with our time frame. We could go to it on our way to the wedding.”
