Touched By The Devil (Devil's Riders 7)

I gave Kaylie a worried look and saw that she was fighting back laughter. Everyone was.

Oh, crap.

“We are gathered here today to watch this exquisite creature shackle herself to this outlaw, this disreputable and lawless sinner, who must have sold his soul to the devil himself to get such a beautiful bride.”

Preacher looked at Mac, giving him what I could only describe as ‘the stink eye.’

“Did you? Did you traffic with Satan to ensure this glorious young woman who is clearly way too good for you?”

Mac shook his head.

“No, sir. I did not.”

A loud burst of deep laughter made everyone turn to the side. Jack was standing there with his hand clapped over his mouth, trying to stifle the laughter that shook his body. Everyone looked shocked, and then they started silently laughing too.

“Hmm,” Preacher said, seeming to accept Mac’s answer. “Maccabe Donahue, do you take this beautiful, perfect, very fertile-looking young woman to be your wife? To have and to hold, through good and bad, until death do you part?”

“I do.”

I stole a glance at my soon-to-be-husband. He sounded so sure, so proud to make me his wife. He looked at me, and I saw all the love in the world in his eyes. I turned back to Preacher.

“Suzanna Adams, do you take this man, who is said to be loyal and faithful, to be your lawful husband? I know we all like Mac, but it doesn’t mean you have to marry him. There are other fish in the sea. Older fish who know what they are doing between the sheets.”

He leered at me and I stared at him.

“Was that a question?”

The crowd exploded in laughter. Preacher scowled at them all. I giggled nervously. I wasn’t sure if he’d asked me whether I wanted to marry Mac or not.

“Don’t worry, he’ll get to it. He likes to posture a bit,” Kaylie stepped in to whisper. I nodded with a nervous smile. Finally, the laughter died down. I turned back to see Preacher taking a huge swig of tequila. He offered the bottle to Mac and me but we both declined.

He set the bottle down again and cleared his throat.

“Suzanna, do you take Maccabe Donahue to be your husband, to have and to hold, through good times and bad, until death do you part?”

“I do.”

“You can always change your mind, darlin’,” he whispered to me. I shook my head and he sighed dramatically.

“Well then, I have no choice but to say, under the eye of our benevolent and vengeful God, that I now pronounce you man and wife. You can kiss the bride” —he winked at Mac— “right after I do.”

He grabbed me and leaned me back, kissing me hard and long. He did not try and slip me the tongue, which was a relief because I was pretty sure that I would have been instantly drunk from the fumes.

He set me back on my feet, grinned at Mac, and scooped up his bottle again. Mac pulled me close with one arm and used the other to shove Preacher off the dock and into the lake.

“You need to cool off, old man.”

Then he laid one on me. I was already confused. Mac’s kiss made me legitimately dazed. All the passion, the love, and the promise of what would happen when we were alone was in that kiss.

I stared at him in a stupor when he finally lifted his head.

“You all right, Suzanna?”

I nodded.

“He moves pretty fast for an old lech.”

Mac threw back his head and laughed.

“I would be more pissed if I didn’t have the same overwhelming urge to kiss you.”

The music started. Pictures were taken. And the party began in earnest.

I was whisked off to drink Champagne with the girls when it got really quiet. I turned to see that the band was taking a break. In the center of the deck, Mac sat on a stool holding a guitar. Sally was on a stool beside him with hers.

I stared at him. Mac… played the guitar? I took a breath, suddenly feeling nervous. His eyes scanned the crowd until he found me. He smiled a little and nodded to Sally.

“I wrote the first verse of this song when I met Donnie. I wasn’t sure how to finish it. Mac helped me by writing the second verse. This is for you, Suzanna.”

They started to play. The melody was beautiful but somehow sad. Sweet, melancholic, haunting. And then she began to sing.

Another rainy morning after another night alone. Another day of dreaming, longing for a home. And then you came on busting in, making lots of noise, another time, another place, you might be the one.

I wrapped my heart in cellophane, afraid that it might break. Someday, I might unwrap it. But someday never comes.

And then Mac started to sing. My heart flipped over in my chest. His voice was beautiful. His hands on the guitar were sure and steady and true.