Page 137 of Hot & Heavy

Especially when he's carrying that sword. He said, 'There is going to be a Viking wedding. By Odin, I swear it will be so.' What could we do?"

A Viking wedding?

A sword?

Ian groaned.

"My father! I should have known!" Maddie shrieked. "Let me go out there. I will tell him what I think of his highhanded methods. Yea, I will. How dare he! E'er did he treat me like a child, even when I was married."

Just in time, Ian put his hands on her shoulders to hold her back. They needed to think this out and be calm… before they kicked ass.

"I don't have my dress whites. They're at the dry cleaners." What a pitiful excuse for not having a wedding!

"No problem," Cage said with a wide smile. "Geek picked them up yesterday."

"The city will never let us have a wedding on the beach."

"Slick knows somebody who knows somebody. It's all taken care of."

"How long have you been planning this?"

"A week."

"How many of you were involved in planning this… nightmare?"

Cage pretended to be counting on his fingers, then announced, "Twenty-five."

"Twe-twenty-five?" Ian sputtered out.

Maddie had seemed to be in shock, but now she spoke up. "I cannot get married here. I have naught to wear."

What a pitiful excuse for not having a wedding!

"Well, actually," a feminine voice said from the doorway, where Maddie's sister Kirsten stood. She and Dagny brought in a very unusual dress… in fact, it appeared to be identical to the one she was wearing in the portrait at Blue Dragon.

Maddie started to weep. For a woman who never cried, she was doing an awful lot of that lately.

"It's out of our hands now, honey," Ian said, squeezing her shoulder. But into her ear, he whispered, "We have our own special secret that we are not sharing with anyone. Let them have their fun. We have this."

She put a hand over her belly and smiled at him, gloriously.

With a final laugh, Ian walked off to help plan the biggest blowout wedding he and Maddie never wanted.

A SEAL farmer? I… don't… think… so!…

In the end, Madrene and Ian had to admit it was the best wedding any couple could have ever asked for.

When Madrene walked down the red carpet, through an archway of swords held by the SEALs and the men of her Viking family, everyone sighed at the romantic picture she made. The way she carried herself, some said she looked like an ancient princess. She said the only prince she wanted was standing beside her.

Ian's father came up to Ian at one point and said, "I am proud of you, son." Before a stunned Ian could say a word, his father pulled him into a fierce bear hug.

JAM, who had somehow renewed his license, married them… again.

Torolf gave Madrene an extra hug near the end of the day. He would be taking a leave from the SEALs shortly and departing for Norway and the site of long-ago Norstead in hopes of returning to the past and ousting Steinolf. Madrene understood his need to do so, but in some ways she hoped he failed.

Sometimes it was best to put the past to rest, she thought.

When they had all eaten their fill, and danced till they dropped, and the musicians had gone home, Magnus came up to his daughter and his new son-by-marriage. "I have a little gift for you, child," he told Madrene and handed her a document. Madrene gave it to Ian to read.