The Sheikh's Convenient Bride
afterward? How you kissed me?”
“Oh, man,” Sean said unhappily, “I don’t want to listen to this.”
“Then don’t,” Bree said. She put an arm around Megan’s shoulders and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. “Sean and I are leaving.”
“No,” Sean said, “we are not. I told you, I’m not going anywhere until—”
“I love you, Megan,” Caz said, his voice cutting across Sean’s. “And you love me.”
“I don’t. I can’t. Hakim said—”
“Hakim lied.”
“No. He told me the truth.” Tears rose in Megan’s eyes and spilled down her cheeks. “They’ll take revenge,” she whispered. “Alayna’s people.”
“Nobody wants revenge, sweetheart. The old ways are gone. Hakim just couldn’t accept that.” Caz’s mouth thinned. “When I told Alayna’s father there’d be no marriage, he was relieved. He loves his daughter. He would have reneged on the agreement a long time ago, but he was afraid to defy me.”
“Oh, Caz. Caz…”
Caz looked at Sean. “You need to get out of my way,” he said politely. “Decking a brother-in-law I’ve only met eight hours ago isn’t a good start, but so help me, I’ll do it if you try to keep me from my wife a moment longer.”
Sean opened his mouth, then shut it. He looked at Megan, whose eyes glittered with tears but whose smile spoke of such joy it made his heart ache.
“You’d better take good care of my sister, pal,” he said gruffly, “or you’re gonna have to deal with me and two other goons who love her as much as I’m starting to think you do.”
Caz grinned and stuck out his hand. “Deal.”
“Deal?” Megan said, trying to sound indignant. “You two make like—like a pair of Mr. Machos, then you shake hands and say you’ve got a deal, and nobody even thinks to ask me what I want?”
Caz moved past Sean and came slowly toward her. “I’m asking you now, wife. What is it you want?”
Megan looked into her husband’s eyes. “You,” she whispered. “Oh, Caz, I want you. Forever, with all my heart.”
Sean jerked his head toward the door. Briana wiped her eyes and nodded. The door swung shut behind them, and Megan flew into her husband’s arms.
Mary O’Connell Coyle wanted to make the wedding at the Desert Song Hotel, in Las Vegas.
“Ma,” Megan said carefully, “Caz and I thought…”
“If that’s what your mother really wants, that’s fine, kalila,” Caz said. He winked at her and pulled some photos from his pocket. “Mary? You want to take a look at these?”
Mary stared at the photos of his palace by the sea. Then she smiled and batted her lashes at her new son-in-law and said one of the best things about being female was that you could change your mind any time you wanted.
It was, of course, a wedding straight out of a fairy tale. The sea, beating softly against the shore. The palace, gleaming white against the perfect blue sky. The gold-tipped spires, the marble walls and silk carpets…
“Isn’t it wonderful, Dan?” Mary whispered to her husband, just before he took his stepdaughter up the aisle. “My girls look like princesses.”
They did, he agreed.
Briana and Fallon were both Megan’s maids of honor. Matron of honor, in Fallon’s case.
“Very pregnant matron of honor,” her adoring husband said proudly.
Cassie and Marissa, Megan’s sisters-in-law, were her bridesmaids. Cullen, Keir, Sean and Stefano were Qasim’s groomsmen. After some initial verbal sparring designed to assure themselves he loved Megan enough to suit them, the entire male contingent of the clan had welcomed Caz with open arms.
Everything went smoothly. Even the O’Connell babies stopped squalling and watched Megan as she reached the altar on her stepfather’s arm. He kissed her, gave her hand to Qasim, and the look on Qasim’s face when he smiled at his bride made Mary weep.
She reached for Dan’s hand when he sat down beside her.