Page 106 of Exacting Vengeance

“Nervous, bro?” Jack handed him a tumbler with two fingers of whiskey.

“No.” He was as un-nervous as a man could be.

This wasn’t his first marriage, but he was older now, wiser, and crazy in love with his fiancée. He glanced at the doors through which Victoria would soon come through.

Warm light streamed in through the arched windows, bathing the room in a glow of sunshine. Truthfully, he could care less what the weather was outside. It could be cloudy, raining, snowing, a blizzard could move in, and he still wouldn’t care, because he was marrying the woman he loved.

Mike clapped him on the back. “You’ve been waiting a long time for this.”

He nodded. “No reason to wait any longer.”

A flash of ivory caught his attention as Gina wended her way down the aisle.

“You know,” Deke said, elbowing Kyle in the ribs, “I’ve never been to a shotgun wedding before.”

Jack snorted.

“Be nice,” Kyle warned. Though his brothers knew the circumstances of how Victoria had become unexpectedly pregnant, he wouldn’t allow them to disrespect her. If anyone else had said that besides Deke, they’d be lying on the floor with a black eye.

“I just never expected you to get married again before Jack,” Deke replied. “No disrespect intended to Victoria. She’s great. You’re a lucky bastard to have her.”

“That I am.”

“What’s this about a shotgun wedding?” Gina asked, giggling when Jack hooked his arm around her waist and planted a kiss on her mouth.

Jack nodded to his brother. “Deke was explaining in his typically tactless way how, technically, this is a shotgun wedding.”

“Well, my love,” Gina said as she gazed up adoringly at Jack, “you can never have too many shotgun weddings.”

Jack skewered her with a look that told Kyle his brother knew his fiancé was up to something, and Kyle had a pretty good instinct as to what that something was. “What are you getting at?” Jack asked.

Using both index fingers, Gina pointed to her belly. “I was going to tell you this in private”—she grinned at him—“but I just couldn’t wait any longer. Don’t ask me how it happened, but it did.”

Jack swept her up in his arms, smiling like Kyle had never seen before, and damn, were those tears leaking from his big brother’s eyes? Yep. They were.

“I know how it happened,” Deke muttered. “Do any of you guys know the meaning of the word protection?”

They all laughed.

One of the best things to happen to him in the last month was the fact he and Victoria hadn’t used protection.

When Jack released Gina, Kyle shook his brother’s hand. “Congratulations.”

“Yeah, congrats.” Deke shook Jack’s hand and kissed Gina on the cheek. “But me, just saying,” he continued, pointing to himself, “I’m buying stock in condoms.”

“You just wait until you hold your little baby in these big muscled guns of yours.” Gina poked Deke’s biceps. “You’ll change your mind about that in a heartbeat.”

“Don’t count on it.” Adamantly, Deke shook his head. “I’ve got no plans to be a daddy. I’m happy to let you guys give Ma all the grandchildren she wants. Lance, too, if he ever shows his face again.”

Gina parked her hands on her hips. “He better show up for my wedding. I will not have one of my bridesmaids groomless.” She uttered an exasperated breath and turned to Kyle. “By the way, Victoria’s ready. See you all in a few minutes.” She winked, then went back down the aisle.

Kyle’s mother took her seat in the front row with Tracee’s daughter, Ruby, sitting beside her. Margo, Kinsey, and Annabelle took up the rest of the row. The smile that had formed on his mother’s lips the moment he and Victoria had delivered the news she was going to be a grandmother still hadn’t left her face.

“Did I just hear the bride is ready?” Father Sergei tapped the thick, leatherbound bible already positioned on the lectern. “Gentlemen, please take your places.”

The small orchestra began playing an elegant, subdued version of Mendelssohn’s Wedding March.

Deke stowed their glasses behind the arch.