Eimear laughed and opened the back door of her SUV parked out by the curb, hanging the dress up on the rack there. She drove Bronagh back to the house she shared with several other roommates and let her out, blowing her a kiss as she made her way down the sidewalk toward the inside before heading back in the other direction to go home.
She was glad to see that Fergus wasn’t home. It would make it easier to get the dress past him without him seeing it. Taking it to the bedroom, she hung it up on the door of her closet and admired it for a moment before pulling a large black garment bag over it so it wouldn’t be visible. She moved it to the back of the closet and hung it there, running her hands down it thoughtfully.
“Soon, dress. Very soon,” she said, leaving the bedroom and making her way down to the main floor. She sat on the sofa and looked out the large glass windows that made up one side of the room. The view was breathtaking here, and she often found herself just sitting and watching the city below as people went about their daily lives.
The door opened behind her, and she turned to see Fergus coming inside. She looked at him and smiled. That view was breathtaking too, and she found herself just sitting and watching him, unable to believe how much she still wanted and desired him after all their time together.CHAPTER THIRTY-ONEFergus
Fergus had never been so nervous in his life. Here he was, the Alpha of a Bear Clan, and he was as scared as a little girl learning to ride her first bike. It wasn’t about Eimear. She was wonderful and beautiful, everything he ever could have asked for in a woman. A man was hard-pressed to find someone so beautiful, smart, strong, and adventurous. Somehow, he’d managed to find the one woman on the planet that was perfect for him, and he was still scared shitless.
“Are you going to make it through the ceremony?” Olcan laughed, straightening his bowtie nearby.
“I don’t know. What if something goes wrong?” he asked.
“What could go wrong? You’re marrying a fantastic woman. I mean, other than the fact that she has shiteful taste in men, she’s nearly perfect.”
“Aye. She is, but I just have a bad feeling. We have so many enemies. Is it fair to drag her into this life? She’s not like us. She’s a good person.”
“Aye, but she knows what you do and she’s accepted it. If she didn’t want to be here, she wouldn’t be.”
“There are people that would hurt her given half a chance. I keep thinking about Mom and the way she died. It broke dad. He was never the same after that. It changed him.”
“Aye, it did, but maybe change was what the auld fella needed to start again, to build another life. Had it not happened, the four of us boys would still be turning potatoes in a field and living in that old block bungalow that sat on the edge of the mountains.”
“Was it such a bad life, Olcan?”
“I don’t know. We were young. Maybe not then, but perhaps after a lifetime, it might not have been so nice.”
“We wouldn’t always be looking over our shoulders.”
“No, but we weren’t looking over our shoulder when we should have been. We didn’t think the O’Hannon Clan would attack us either, but they did. Dad thought we were at peace and we weren’t looking when we should have been. It doesn’t matter where you go, the world ‘round. There are evil people, and you either beat them at their own game or you become the defeated.”
“You’re right. I’m just afraid with my being the new Alpha and her being my bride, someone will seize the opportunity to take her from me.”
Olcan smiled and walked over to put his hand on his brother’s shoulder, leaning down and speaking to him in a soft voice. “What are the odds of a woman being abducted twice right before her wedding? Look around you, Fergus. We’re in the church. In less than thirty minutes, you’ll be standing in front of Father Mulvaney pledging your love to one woman for the rest of your life. You know what that means?”
Fergus looked at him, his eyebrows raised. “What does it mean?
“More pussy for me.”
Fergus shoved him away with a little laugh, but he knew he was right. He was just nervous because, for the first time in his life, he felt like he had something to lose. He couldn’t imagine life without Eimear, and the mere thought of it was sending him into unfamiliar emotional turmoil.
“Take a deep breath and let your balls drop back down into your kecks. It’s all going to be fine.”