Tucker’s lip curled as he looked back and forth between them. “How long has this been going on?”
“Excuse me?” Lily’s mouth dropped. The nerve shocked her.
“My mother was right about you,” he spat. “Was this going on the whole time? While we were engaged? While my mother was planning our damn wedding?”
Amber’s heels clicked forward, her eyes glacial. “You’re not on the guest list, Tucker. Leave. Now. Before you make an even bigger fool of yourself.”
“You bitch,” he said, turning back to Lily. Bitterness twisted his mouth. “You made me look like a fool.”
Before she could react, Rush stepped between them. “That’s enough,” he said sharply.
The room went dead silent.
“So what? You’re her bodyguard now? Be careful, Lil. Everyone knows his track record with saving women.”
The room went dead silent.
Rage and heartbreak tore through Lily’s chest, making it hard to catch her breath. How dare he. How dare Tucker take Rush’s rawest, deepest wound and fling it at him like it was aweapon.
Rush didn’t physically react. If anything, his face went even stonier.
Tears sprang to her eyes, and she wiped them away, impatient with herself. “Don’t you say another word,” she said fiercely. “Don’t you dare.”
Her voice cracked, but it didn’t matter—she put every bit of her disgust into it, and it hit Tucker right where she wanted it to as shame flickered for the briefest moment on his face.
“You’re done here,” Rush said calmly enough, but the muscle was ticking in his jaw again, and Lily saw the lethal fury in his eyes. “Leave. Now. Or I’ll help you.”
Tucker sneered, “You don’t get to tell me?—”
Rush cut him off. “Good choice.”
Rush moved too fast for Tucker to see him coming until Rush’s hand clamped around his wrist and the broken glass was gone. With his other hand, Rush pressed a firm palm to Tucker’s shoulders and steered him backward, making it look easy.
Theo, Davis, and Ben appeared, looking ready to drag Tucker out themselves if Rush hadn’t already handled it. The crowd parted silently as Rush guided him toward the front door without breaking stride. He opened it, and they disappeared.
Amber was the first to reach her. She pulled her into a hug around the curve of her belly. “He’s the worst. I’m so sorry you had to deal with that, honey.”
Allie hugged her from the other side. “You okay?”
Then the aunts descended, and all hell broke loose.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
The cold airfelt like a sucker punch to her lungs, making them instantly wheezy, when Lily followed Rush outside, but she ignored it. She’d slipped past her family, grabbed her coat from the rack, and flown down the steps after Rush, her pulse drumming as hard as her heels against the pavement.
Rush stood at the end of the driveway with Theo and Davis. Even in the soft glow of the Christmas lights, Rush’s face was set in harsh, no-nonsense lines. Tucker was nowhere in sight, but Rush was clearly still in sheriff mode.
It was hot. Very, very hot.
Theo, looking very debonair in his dark suit, spotted her first and stepped forward. “I’m sorry, Lily. I don’t know how he got in. He wasn’t on the guest list.” Theo glanced at Rush. “Grant always said you were solid under pressure. He was right.”
Lily blinked. “Grant…”
Theo’s brows rose. “My brother. You met him at the wedding, remember?”
Her stomach swooped. Grant Clairmont. Rush’s buddy in the Marines—the one who’d pulled him to Northfield in the first place. She’d met him at Amber and Theo’s wedding,of course, but somehow she hadn’t connected the dots when Rush mentioned him.
She shook her head quickly. “Right. Your brother. I did meet him.” She managed a quick smile. “But this wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known.”
