It seemed like Reverend Taylor was wrapping up, and then the vows would be exchanged. Her insides thrummed. The vows were always her favoritepart.
“Should we just tell the world, ‘To heck with ya,’ and have our own wedding? The two of us, husband and wife?” Zane’s breath on her neck made her senses come alive, but his words cut through her and her always-brewing feelings of near contempt for him.
“You and I get married?” she shot back in a whisper. “That would be an absolute train wreck off the Cliffs of Insanity.” She offered a grunt, but it lodged in her throat, causing it to burn.
He placed a hand on his chest. His voice was garbled and, frankly, a little too loud. “You cut me like a knife, Mabel.”
She stared at him.Shecuthimlike a knife?
Shaking her head, she shushed him and pointed to his dad. Reverend Taylor was nearly finished, crescendoing to the most poignant ending, and she’d missed too much of his speech.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Zane begin to smile as he looked at her. And then, she made a mistake: she turned to meet his gaze.
His eyes, achingly tender. His mouth, a smile that was wistful and shy. He swallowed, and his Adam’s apple went down and back up.
Her mouth grew dry, and she had to lick her lips. She couldn’t tear away from his gaze, even though she should have wanted to.
He grasped her wrist as his expression changed to something stronger and raw.
“Come here.” It was still a whisper, but almost a hiss. He stood, pulled her up with him, and held her hand as he began to stalk out of the wedding.
Not quite grasping what was happening, she caught a glimpse of heads from the front row starting to turn in her direction. Her strappy heels suffocated her feet as she struggled to keep up with him.
He came to himself after three steps in the manicured grass, letting go of her hand as if it had scalded him. His face went pale, and he didn’tlook at her but kept walking. Mabel thought she heard his father pause his speech, but she wasn’t sure.
She struggled to match his pace. Then, seeing a screen of greenery, she motioned toward it with her head.
If he was going to get up and leave during the middle of a wedding, she should at least have some privacy to ask him why.
He joined her behind the tangled vines that shielded them from view.
“What is wrong with you?” Now her words were a hiss.
He breathed rapidly, pacing like a wild beast. His beachy white shirt and pants strained against him like he was Hulk—ready to tear out of them in anger. He was both bear and tiger. Large, growly, lithe.
Zane wouldn’t look at her. “I’m sorry. I was out of line to drag you from the wedding like that.” The back of his hand swiped against his mouth. A rattly breath went in and out.
She glanced back toward the wedding and smoothed down her dress. Her voice was softer now. “Are you okay?”
His gaze raked over her as his face started getting some color back. “No. I’m not okay. And you know exactly why.”
Chapter 2
Zane’s lungs felt as though they just might collapse in a blast of hot, humid Jamaican air.
Had he really just said what he thought he said?
No. This wasn’t real. He didn’t just drag Mabel Butler from their friend Anjali’s weddingin the middle of the ceremonyto…to…do what?
Pledge his undying love?
A grunt of a laugh came from him, bubbling up in a sorely uncharacteristic way. Oh great. Was he on the verge of losing it to peals of laughter while Mabel stood there in a yellow dress, her best color, the skin of her slim, tanned arms and legs beckoning to him, with a look of shock on her face?
Shock and a death wish. If he didn’t pull it together and nip the laugh fest that was a-comin' in the bud, that stare of death would grow even more serious.
This was all so…unlike him. What had just happened? Maybe he was taking losing all of his best friends to marriage in the past two years a little too hard. Had everything hit him all of a sudden and he’d fallen off his rocker and pulled poor Mabel out of the wedding because he couldn’t stand the thought of being alone for the rest of his life?
Refusing to dig that deep at this precise moment, he steadied his breathing. Maybe he’d think aboutthatin ten years or so.
