“Father David! I am so very happy to see you, too!” she replied honestly. Should she apologize to him for not attending church over these last few months? She nervously fiddled with her bouquet as she tried to come up with something witty to say in this nerve-wracking situation.
“Shall we begin?” Luke said, then, saving her from overthinking all of this. Madelaine exhaled a small breath as she stepped next to the priest, facing her soon-to-be husband.
Luke looked dapper in his well-fitting black suit and crisp white shirt. He’d even trimmed his beard a little shorter, and he’d also omitted his beloved Stetson and instead combed his curly brown hair back, revealing his handsome face.
She couldn’t really read his expression when he looked her up and down in turn, but she did see a glint in his hazel eyes, which made her stomach flutter. The corners of his mouth lifted into a small smile, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw how gorgeous he looked in that moment.
As the priest began with the ceremony, everything seemed to happen very fast. Before Madelaine could blink, Evelyn handed Luke a ring, then Caleb handed her one, too. As the priest spoke, leading up to the actual vows, he read one passage that Madelaine personally loved very much.
“Trust in the Lord with all your hearts and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to Him, and He will make your path straight.”
They exchanged the rings Caleb and Evelyn had loaned to them for today, and, looking up at Luke’s face, Madelaine saw that it had softened.
“You may kiss the bride,” the priest announced then, and Luke didn’t seem all that surprised—but Madelaine was. She swallowed hard when Luke stepped closer to her.
Suddenly, she was all too aware of his tall, strong body, the way he was dressed so impeccably, his thick brown curls neatly combed out of his handsome face. Time seemed to stand still.
He put his finger underneath her chin and lifted it ever so gently, and when he looked at her, she could see golden flecks in his intense hazel eyes. Then he lowered his head, tilted it slightly, and softly pressed his lips against hers. As she closed her eyes, she could feel his breath on her skin, and her whole body seemed to tingle. She was engulfed by his masculine scent of leather and pine. Combined with the sensation of his lips on hers, it was a heady mixture.
When Luke pulled back, she almost missed his closeness, which shocked her to her core. She had never felt anything like this. Madelaine couldn’t even describe what she was feeling.
And then she realized something else.
Luke was now officially her husband.
Chapter Fourteen
Sheriff’s Office
A couple of days later
“Another ranch was attacked!” The young ginger-haired man storming into the sheriff’s office waved wildly, pointing back out the way he’d just come in. He was clearly upset.
It was early in the afternoon. Luke and Caleb were bent over the paper-laden desk, discussing several possibilities about the murder case they were still working on.
“What? When?” Luke enquired, stepping away from the desk, immediately walking over to the gun cabinet to grab his rifle and an extra box of ammunition. Caleb followed and took his shotgun, which he had propped up against the side of that same cabinet hours earlier.
“Sometime around sunrise,” the young man said. “I went to check on my brother because he didn’t show up for work this morning. When I got there, part of his house was burned. His wife said that he was so livid he went to follow them…”
Caleb groaned at that, and Luke silently cussed in his mind. This just made the whole situation ten times worse. Local residents should never put themselves in danger like that.
“She told me that they were still in bed when masked men started circling the house, yelling and shooting everywhere…”
“How many?” Luke asked, mentally taking note of all the details the young man provided.
“I don’t know!” the young man exclaimed. Luke could tell that he was extremely upset. “It must have been a whole lot of them because some were busy stealing all the horses while the rest of them tried to set fire to the house…”
Luke gritted his teeth when he heard the similarities to his own murder case.
“Is anybody injured?” he asked as he walked past the man, toward the front door, grabbing his winter coat. Caleb was right behind him.
“I don’t think so. I’ve brought my sister-in-law and her children over to my family’s ranch to keep them safe, but I have no idea where my brother is right now! When I took them, we heard more shooting in the distance, but I have no idea…” He broke off, visibly upset.
Caleb put his hand on the young man’s shoulder. “You did good coming here,” he said reassuringly.
“Can you lead us back to the ranch to show us where it happened?” Luke asked.
“Follow me!” The young man spun around and ran out the front door, closely followed by Luke and Caleb.
