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His hands massaged her bottom, pulling her tight against the hard evidence of his arousal. ‘Well, now,’ he said, the sensual tone turning her knees to jelly. ‘Give me a minute and I’m sure I’ll think of a fitting punishment.’
But as his mouth lowered to hers and her fingers curled into his hair…
Daisy burst through the door.
They jerked apart.
‘Mac, you can’t come barging in here. Juno’s not ready for this,’ she panted, shooting Mac an accusatory look. She turned to Juno. ‘I’m so sorry, Ju. I was at the deli picking us up some lunch. I didn’t know he was here. Are you okay?’
Juno was momentarily speechless, never having had the chance to feel like a naughty schoolgirl before.
‘She’s fine. In fact, she’s ecstatic,’ Mac announced crossly as he hauled Juno back into his arms. ‘Now scram, sis.’
Juno let a giggle slip out at Daisy’s astonished expression.
‘Oh, my goodness.’ Daisy clapped her hands, her eyes shining with glee as her brain finally processed what she was seeing. ‘You two made up! This is phenomenal.’
‘It’ll be a lot more phenomenal when you get lost.’ Mac’s disgruntled reply sounded for all the world like an annoyed big brother.
Daisy lifted up a hand in surrender as she scurried backwards out the door. ‘I get the picture. I’m scramming. In fact, I was never even here.’
The door closed on a muffled thump, the sharp click of the lock echoing in the small space.
‘Now where were we?’ Mac murmured, lowering his head for a second time.
Juno pressed a finger to his lips, struggling to grab hold of a little sanity amid the tidal wave of joy. ‘We can’t make love in here,’ she gasped, the thrill racing up her torso making it hard for her to breathe. Let alone resist. ‘It would be …’ What? ‘Really impractical.’
‘Darlin’,’ he drawled, nipping her fingertip, ‘that practical nature of yours was the first thing I fell in love with.’ He chuckled, his questing fingers flipping up the hem of her dress and slipping beneath the waistband of her knickers.
‘But you’ll have to trust me on this.’ He cupped her buttocks. ‘Sometimes impractical works every bit as well.’
Twenty-five glorious minutes of pure pleasure later, and she had to concede he had a point.
EPILOGUE
‘HERE, let me.’ Connor took the flower out of Mac’s trembling fingers in the musty quiet of the church’s antechamber. ‘Calm down, man. You look as if you’re about to be shot, not marry the woman of your dreams,’ he said as he threaded the flower stem into the buttonhole of Mac’s wedding suit. A smile curved his lips as he pinned the flower into place. ‘I thought no Hollywood star worth a damn got stage fright.’
‘Ha, ha,’ Mac said, not amused by the smug tone. He brushed damp palms down the fine linen of his suit, the nervous gesture doing nothing to ease the apprehension tying his guts in knots. ‘I don’t get stage fright.’ Or at least he hadn’t until now. ‘That’s for amateurs.’
But he was an amateur at this, he thought miserably. He’d had seven months to prepare for this moment and he still felt scared to death. What if he wasn’t any good at being a husband? Being a father? As he’d watched Juno’s small, delicate body ripen with his child over the months he’d been on a merry-go-round of pride and excitement and bonenumbing terror. How would he live with himself if he failed at the only thing that would ever really matter in his life?
He took a shallow breath, tugged on the shirt collar that was threatening to cut off his air supply.
‘So what’s the problem, then?’ Connor said quietly, the smug tone gone. ‘You’re not having second thoughts, are you?’
Mac gave a half-laugh. ‘Are you kidding? I need her so much it hurts.’
And that was the problem, right there.
At Daisy’s insistence, he’d had to spend the night without Juno in his arms for the first time in seven months and he hadn’t slept a wink. He’d tried to sneak in and see her this morning, but Daisy had shooed him away from the château suite with some rubbish about it being bad luck. And now here he was a nervous wreck for the first time in his life. He wanted to put his fist through a wall but knew it wouldn’t help.
The only thing that would calm his nerves was seeing Juno walking down that aisle towards him and knowing he deserved her.
‘What if I muck it up?’ he muttered, more to himself than Connor.
‘All you have to do is stand there and say I do,’ Connor replied easily. ‘Just be glad you’re not the one has to wear the frock and walk down the aisle in five-inch heels. And, rest assured, I’ll give you a good solid kick if you forget to speak at the relevant moment.’
Mac forced a half-hearted smile, grateful for Connor’s attempt to lighten his mood, even if it wasn’t working.
