Dragon Warrior (Midnight Bay) (41 page)

Maddy could see that William was visibly shaking now, and for the first time since she’d met him, the pleading eyes he lifted to hers were filled with uncertainty.

“He’s been shouting his love to me, too,” Lois suddenly said, standing up.

“And me,” Charlotte said, vaulting out of her wheelchair. “Every day, in a hundred different ways.”

Samuel also stood up. “Even I can hear him, even without my hearing aids. Hell, they can probably hear him all the way to Oak Harbor.”

“Any fool can see the man’s got a heart as big as the ocean,” Janice said, clutching the back of Mem’s wheelchair.

“Because it takes a
huge
heart to love the bunch of us,” Mem added, her frail chin lifting defiantly as she glared at Mac.

“It’s more likely
you’re
the one lacking a heart,” Elvira growled at Mac.

“What we’re saying, Mr. Oceanus,” Elbridge said, walking to the bottom step of the gazebo, “is that everyone here, from nine to ninety years old,
objects
to your objection that these two big-hearted, loving people should get married. Now, can you find your own way out, or do you need me to show you to the door?”

Utterly confounded as he faced the residents, Mac suddenly gave them a bow. “Forgive me, please,” he said softly. “It seems I’ve made an egregious error.” He turned and held out his hand. “I’m sorry, William, for mistaking you for someone I knew . . . a very long, long time ago.”

It took him a moment, but William finally shook Mac’s hand.

“And Madeline,” Mac said, turning to her, “I wouldn’t have returned you within a week, because I would have stopped time itself in order to keep you.” His eyes crinkled in amusement. “I believe you’ll be needing a godfather in . . . oh, seven and a half months, so just tuck my invitation into a bottle and toss it in the sea, and I promise to be here for the baptism.”

Maddy gasped, grabbing William for support. “I am
not
pregnant,” she hissed.

Mac glanced briefly at her belly before lifting laughing eyes back to hers. “Really, Madeline, you think some flimsy scrap of plastic is going to stop a soul that’s wanting to be born?” He chuckled softly. “He’ll be quite an interesting young man, I’m guessing, considering his parentage.”

Since all Maddy could do was gape at him, Mac turned his attention to Sarah. “And you, young Miss Kimble—thank you for pointing out how a person might recognize love, for I confess it’s always been a mystery to me.” He touched one of her soft curls. “You are a very wise young lady, and although she’s a few years older than you, I believe you’ll be a great help to your new aunt in the coming months.”

Maddy felt William stiffen on a sharp breath. “What have ye done, Oceanus?”

Mac turned to him. “She’s my wedding present to you, William.” He shrugged. “I’d planned to bring her with me today, but the little magpie told me to tell you she’d get here just as soon as she finds her basket of ribbons.” He sighed. “What is it with little sisters, Killkenny? Do they think it’s their
duty
to drive their big brothers insane?”

“Are we having a wedding or not?” Charlotte called out. “Because that ice sculpture is going to look more like a frog than a dragon if it sits out much longer.”

Elbridge started to climb the steps of the gazebo, but Mac held up his hands. “I’m going, I’m going,” he said with a chuckle, backing toward the opposite staircase. He stopped and gave a deep bow to everyone, then straightened with a wink at Maddy. “You know how to reach me, Madeline, if this
big-hearted
Irishman becomes too much of a handful,” he said, nodding toward William. He held his arms wide. “So I believe I
will
give my blessing to this union, as well as my hope that you all live happily ever after for—” He grinned. “For a very, very long time.”

A stiff breeze suddenly swirled up the river from the ocean, engulfing the gazebo and all of the wedding guests in a blanket of blinding white fog. And when it just as suddenly cleared not a minute later, Maximilian Oceanus was gone—a cacophony of channel buoys tolling like laughter behind him.

Chapter Twenty-eight

M
addy leaned back against William’s chest, smiling at the rhythmic
clip-clop
of Rose’s hooves on the pavement as they exited the River Run parking lot and started down the moonlit street. “Did we just get married, Mr. Killkenny?” she asked, her smile widening when she heard him sigh.

“I’m afraid we did, lass.”

“So . . . do you feel like a husband?”

That got her a chuckle. “I’ll let ye know in the morning when I wake up and realize I no longer have to sneak out your bedroom window before your mother or daughter walk in on us.”

“Isn’t it funny,” she murmured, snuggling deeper into the warmth of his embrace, “how one minute it’s scandalous for two consenting adults to have sex, but after standing in front of a bunch of people and
announcing
their intention to sleep together, it’s suddenly okay?”

“’Tis obvious marriage was invented by a woman.”

Maddy canted her head back to grin up at him. “You missed that one by a mile, Willy. Marriage was invented by some poor, haggard
father
.” She faced forward again. “Is Mac really bringing Gabriella to this century, like he brought Fiona?”

William’s arms tightened around her. “It would appear that’s his intention.”

“But what did he mean when he said she wouldn’t come until she found her box of ribbons?” She looked up at him again. “Hiram told me you asked him to give your sister a message that had something to do with ribbons. Is Gabriella using them as an excuse to put off coming here for some reason?”

William kissed her forehead. “It’s more likely Gabby is planning a reunion that will involve my being the brunt of a devious stunt.” He both shuddered and chuckled. “God save us—the girl’s had a thousand years to plot her revenge.”

“Revenge for what? Did you steal her box of ribbons or something?”

“Oh, no, ye don’t,” he said, nudging her around to face forward. “I’m not about to tattle on myself—especially considering I’ll soon be the only male living in a house with
three
frightening females.”

Maddy pulled his hand down to her belly. “According to Mac, you won’t be the only male in seven and a half months.” She snorted. “Apparently you knocked me up, Mr. Killkenny,
before
you made an honest woman of me.” But then she sighed. “After the lecture I gave Sarah on the proper order of marriage and babies, now how in hell am I supposed to persuade her to do as I say, not as I do?”

“Do not worry yourself; I will make sure the girl is wedded and bedded in the proper order, even if it means locking her in our tower until she’s thirty.”

Maddy smiled into the night again. “Have I ever told you I love you?”

He squeezed her so tightly that she squeaked. “A hundred times a day, lass, in a hundred different ways.”

“Oh! Now that we’re finally alone, I have something to give you,” she said, sitting up to reach under the high collar of her mother’s wedding gown. She’d wanted to change into more comfortable clothes after the reception, but the women had all ganged up on her, complaining that she would positively ruin her fairy-tale wedding if she didn’t ride off into the sunset wearing her beautiful gown. “Damn,” she muttered. “Would you unbutton the collar of my dress?”

He gave a hearty chuckle. “An eager bride, are ye?” he whispered against her ear—which made her shudder sensuously. “I believe I was fourteen the last time I tried to
go parking
on a horse,” he continued as he attempted to undo the buttons. “But if ye can’t wait until we get home, then I’ll see if I can remember how it’s done.”

Maddy turned to blink at him. “You actually did it on horseback?” She eyed him suspiciously, even as her hormones—the same ones that had gotten her pregnant before her wedding—started doing their infamous little happy dance. “How?”

William suddenly draped her over one of his arms, lifted one of her legs across his chest, and spun her around before she could even squeak in surprise. And damn if her hormones didn’t go into full riot when she found herself clutching his shoulders, facing him, intimately straddling his thighs.

“Well, now,” he whispered, his hands gathering up the hem of her long dress, “I believe it involves one of us having a nimble body, the other good balance, and an obliging horse.”

Maddy glanced over her shoulder, wondering who was driving Rose. “Um . . . William,” she said, although it came out as a squeak when his wandering hands stopped on her hips.

Which were naked, since she wasn’t wearing panties.

Well, she
was
an eager bride, and having planned to pounce on her groom the moment they reached Dragon Cove, she wasn’t risking another lovemaking debacle like the first time she’d attacked him.

“Wait. No. Stop!” she squealed when he pulled her even more intimately against him—revealing exactly how eager
he
was.

Her petition was answered by a groan. “Ye can’t let me know you’re not wearing underpants and then ask me to stop.” He rested his forehead against hers. “Even if someone should see us, your dress will shield the fact that I married a wanton woman. You’re already with child, and we announced our intentions in front of a priest, so there’s no reason for us to stop. And ye needn’t worry about Rose, either; she’s not one to carry tales back to her stall mates. Now, do ye have any other concerns?” he growled, pulling her against him again.

She cupped his handsome face between her hands but stopped short of kissing him, because she really, really wanted to give him her gift before they made love the first time as husband and wife. “Don’t worry; Mr. Killkenny,” she whispered, her lips brushing provocatively against his—making
him
shudder. “I have every intention of going parking on this horse, if for no other reason than to see if it really is possible. But I want to give you my wedding present first.”

“I believe I’ve been trying to let you give it to me for the last five minutes.”

That made her laugh, and she reached up to undo the buttons at the nape of her neck. “No, I have something else I want to give you first.”

Only he lifted his hands to catch her when she started to lose her balance.

Which also lifted her dress.

Which in turn exposed her naked bottom to the cool night air.

Maddy threw herself forward with a gasp, trying to push her dress back down.

They might have been okay if Rose hadn’t suddenly stopped walking.

Maddy grabbed William’s shoulders to right herself just as he lunged forward in an attempt to catch her. “Christ almighty, will ye quit your squirming.”

“William, we’re falling!”

Stating the obvious did not keep it from happening, however. William wrapped his arms around her as they went tumbling off Rose, twisting so that he took the brunt of their fall as they landed on the library lawn.

Hearing his grunt come out as a
whoosh
, Maddy scrambled off him, only to hear him grunt again, this time several decibels louder and quite a few octaves higher.

“Omigod, William!” she cried, reaching for him. “I’m sorry!”

Apparently thinking that she was attacking him again when her feet got tangled up in the train of her dress, William caught hold of her shoulders to guide her fall, spun her around, and pinned her to the ground. “Maddy, darling,” he growled. “Let’s say we just lie here for a while and enjoy the evening air.”

“I’m sorry, William,” she whispered. “Are you in much pain?”

He lifted his head. “I don’t suppose they taught you what to do for such injuries in nursing school, did they?”

She grinned up at him. “Actually, they did.” She cupped his cheeks. “First, we’re supposed to give the patient mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and then, once we’re confident that he’s breathing heavily and his heart is racing, we’re supposed to . . . um . . . examine the wound and decide if further action is necessary.”

“And if it is? What sort of action would ye take?”

She traced his perfectly groomed goatee with her thumb. “If I remember correctly, the textbook said we should surround the injury with lots and lots of heat.”

“And just how would ye go about doing that?”

“Well, the prescribed method would be to get the patient into bed, but in this case, I believe a horse would work equally well. Then the textbook said we should use our own body to surround the injury and apply just the right amount of pressure, and then slowly—very, very slowly, it said—start moving up and down the injury until we feel the patient is recovered enough to take over from there.”

William lifted his head and looked up and down the lawn.

“What are you looking for?”

He smiled, even as he continued looking around. “A nurse.”

She gave his shoulder a shove, pushing him off her so she could sit up. “You are
married
to a nurse,” she sputtered in laughter, reaching up to undo her collar. “And I intend to administer
intensive
care just as soon as I give you my gift.”