Wanted (Hostage Rescue Team Series Book 8) (21 page)

She walked slowly up the grassy aisle, oblivious of the others watching her. His whole team was here, even DeLuca, but she didn’t notice any of them, her attention on Clay.

As good as he looked in that tux, he was going to look even better out of it. Now that she’d had a couple days’ rest and there was no more cramping or bleeding, the doctor had given them the green light. All systems go.

As soon as they got home tonight, it was
on
.

She gave him a sultry smile that promised a memorable night together later, and his lips quirked in a knowing grin. By the heat in his eyes as he watched her walk toward him, he couldn’t wait to get her alone either.

Suit porn
, she thought with a mental shiver, her toes curling inside the black pumps decorated with crystal skulls. She couldn’t freaking wait.

Halfway up the aisle she managed to tear her eyes off him and give her cousin a warm smile. Tuck looked great too, standing up there waiting for his bride. It was so hard to believe her favorite cousin was marrying her best friend. Now Celida would truly be part of her family. Sometimes it felt too good to be true.

At the front Zoe took her place off to the left and turned to face the French doors. The bridal march began, sweet and a little haunting on the violin, and Celida appeared on Travers’s arms. A collective gasp rose up from all the women.

Zoe smiled at her friend as Celida started toward them, her eyes on Tuck. When Zoe snuck a look at her cousin, she blinked back tears when she saw his eyes were damp. Tuck was as tough and as alpha as they came, but he had a big soft spot under all that testosterone and the sight of his bride walking toward him had choked him up.

Travers gave Celida away and placed her hand in Tuck’s. The couple stood there smiling at each other for a long moment until the JP began the ceremony.

Zoe held her bouquet of roses in front of her and watched as they exchanged vows, a little pang hitting her in the chest when Tuck slid the white gold band onto Celida’s finger. Somehow she kept from looking at Clay, afraid her expression would give her away.

She wanted this too. Marriage, a sense of permanency with the man she loved. Security for their baby. And she was beginning to wonder if she’d ever get it.

A sudden, crushing sadness threatened to overtake her but she fought it off with pure stubbornness. She was stronger than that.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the JP said.

Tuck lifted the veil over Celida’s head, took her face in his hands and kissed her long and slow. In answer she tossed her bouquet over one shoulder without looking and wound her arms around her new husband’s neck to kiss him back, making everyone laugh.

Whistles and catcalls broke out, but neither Celida nor Tuck seemed to care. Finally they must have remembered they had an audience, because Celida pushed gently at his shoulders and eased back, a supremely pleased smile on her face.

“Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Tucker.”

The guests all cheered as Tuck and Celida turned to face everyone, hand-in-hand, and headed back down the aisle. Clay met Zoe at the bottom of the aisle, and offered her his arm.

She took it, smiled up at him, the feel of his thick biceps flexing against her hand making her tummy flutter. “I could just eat you up,” she told him.

Hunger flared in his blue eyes like a match strike. “We’ll see who eats who later on,” he murmured.

Laughing softly, she let him lead her back up the aisle, pushing aside the lingering sadness filtering through her. This was Tuck and Celida’s day. Zoe had nothing to be sad about. Hell, a couple days ago she’d almost died at the hands of her kidnapper. She should simply be grateful for being alive, that the baby was okay.

Not pining for something she wanted and might never have.

****

“Okay, seriously, where are you taking me?”

The suspicion in Zoe’s voice almost made Clay smile. It was the third time she’d asked him since they’d left the reception and hopped in his truck forty minutes ago.

He should get some sort of award for not stripping her out of that bridesmaid’s dress back in the B&B parking lot. The doc had given them clearance to get it on, and he intended to, just as soon as he got them to the fancy hotel he’d secretly booked them into for the next two nights.

He didn’t plan on leaving the room the entire stay. Room service, sex and sleep, as much of each as they wanted.

“You’ll find out soon enough, stop being so impatient,” he answered.

Zoe huffed and settled back against the passenger seat of his truck, cast him a sideways glance. “It’s not like you to be all mysterious.”

Nope, not unless it had to do with OPSEC or his feelings. But he was getting more and more comfortable spilling his guts to Zoe, and soon he’d be able to tell her things about his job that he couldn’t right now. “I thought I’d try something new.”

It was the perfect early fall night. Windy and clear except for some light clouds scuttling past the crescent moon hanging in the dark sky. A minute later he passed the sign welcoming them to Fredericksburg.

“What’s in Fredericksburg?” she asked.

He could all but hear the wheels in her head turning. That writer brain of hers never shut off. No doubt she was already puzzling it out, trying to put the clues together. “You’ll see. Now stop asking questions.”

She faced forward once again, stayed quiet while he followed the signs bearing Civil War flags to the historical site. The gates were closed but he’d anticipated that, and parked close to the entrance anyway. They wouldn’t be here long.

Zoe raised an eyebrow at him. “A Civil War battlefield?”

“Yep.” Before she could ask anything else he climbed out of the truck and went around to open her door. “You’ll need this,” he told her, shaking out the heavy Victorian cape she loved to wear when the weather got chilly and draping it around her shoulders. “Come on.”

She did up the frog at the front of the neck then took his hand, let him help her down. The moonlight illuminated her face, made the bright red hair on the right side of her head glow like fire. “Which way?” she asked.

“Up here.” Linking their fingers, he led her around the closed gate and up the trail to where the stone wall sat at the base of the hill, where the Confederates had fired on wave after wave of Union troops during the battle.

Zoe cast him a surprised look as they walked. “I knew you liked history, but not this much.”

He shrugged. “Some of it, I do. Only military history though.”

“Of course,” she murmured with a little smile.

“But I picked this spot for you, not me. Come on.”

That seemed to intrigue her. He led her up the path that wound its way to the top of Marye’s Heights and into the cemetery there. There were lots of old cemeteries in Virginia but this one had been close and he’d been here before, so he knew Zoe would love it.

Headstones and other markers covered the crest of the hill. In the center of it near the monument he turned her around and stepped behind her to slip his arms around her waist. Before them at the bottom of the hill lay the river and the old town of Fredericksburg across it, the lights glowing in the darkness.

“This is incredible,” she breathed.

Clay’s lips twitched. “I had a feeling you’d like it.”

“It’s just so…creepy and cool and dark, all at the same time.”

She said it with the same enjoyment most women would show for diamond jewelry. Just one of the many reasons why he loved his unique raven.

He bent his head to nuzzle the side of her neck, making her shiver. “You warm enough?”

She raised a dark eyebrow. “You’re not seriously wanting to fool around out here, are you?”

Grinning, he nipped her soft skin. “I could probably be persuaded.”

She shot him a shocked look. “That’s so disrespectful, wanting to do me in the middle of a cemetery.”

“You’d love it.”

She didn’t answer, but her saucy smile said it all. She would.

A gust of wind kicked up, carrying some of the first fallen leaves of the season with it. They had the whole hilltop to themselves, and it couldn’t have turned out more perfectly. And there was no point in stalling any longer.

“You know I love you, right?”

She nodded and set her hands on his forearms, squeezed. “Yes.”

Releasing her, he circled around to stand in front of her. She tilted her head back to gaze up at him. The wind teased a few tendrils of hair at the sides of her face, her golden eyes glowing like amber in the moonlight. God, she was so fucking gorgeous.

Clay took her face in his hands and bent to press his lips to hers. Claiming her mouth.

Zoe made a humming sound and leaned into him, wrapped her arms around his neck. He loved the way she reached for him, the way she never held back in her affection and need for him.

Her lips parted and he delved his tongue into her mouth, caressing softly. Just enough to light the fire. Then he nipped her lower lip and raised his head.

Her eyes smoldered up at him. “Tease.”

Oh, he’d tease her plenty later tonight, but not here. He had a blindfold and other props waiting at the hotel room, where he could tie her up and make her beg before he satisfied the need raging in that hot body of hers.

Getting serious, Clay took her hands in his. Then, holding her gaze, he lowered himself to one knee before her.

Surprise flashed across her face. Her breath caught and she stared down at him, unmoving, her hands frozen in his.

“I know I’m not the most romantic guy. I know I can be gruff and moody sometimes. But there’s never been a day since we got together that I haven’t been grateful to have you at my side.”

She blinked rapidly a couple of times, her eyes bright with tears.

He released her right hand to reach into his tux pants pocket and pulled out the black velvet box.

She gasped and put her hand to her chest. “Oh, God, Clay…”

Pulling the top open, he turned it toward her and held it up so she could see the blood garnet he’d had set in a black-filigreed titanium ring. “I love you with everything in me, Zo. I’ll always have your back and I’ll keep loving you until the day I die. Marry me?”

She pulled her left hand out of his grip, both hands flying up to cover her mouth and nose. When she lowered them a moment later her eyes were wet and her lips trembled ever so slightly.

But that wasn’t pure joy on her face. And there was a sadness in her eyes he didn’t understand. The first stirrings of unease hit him.

“I don’t want you to do this because of the baby,” she said in a rough whisper.

His heart squeezed at her admission. He never wanted her to think he’d do that.

He caught her left hand in his, squeezed as he spoke. “I’m not. I’m asking because I want you forever, and it’s just a bonus to me that our baby will have the security that comes from both of you taking my name. I’ve had the stone for a couple months now and I already knew what kind of ring I wanted made. I’d commissioned a jeweler to design something a few weeks back.” Long before they’d found out about the baby. “I wanted something as unique and strong as you are, so I had it set in titanium.”

A tremulous smile spread across her face. “Really? You’ve been thinking about this for that long?”

“Longer.” He brought her hand to his mouth, kissed her knuckles softly. “So whaddya say, raven? I’ve already knocked you up. What more do I have to do to get you to make an honest man out of me?”

Laughing, Zoe held out her left hand. “Fine. Put that gorgeous thing on me.”

Clay grinned and did exactly that, sliding the ring onto her third finger.

She started to kneel down too, but he stopped her by grabbing her hips. Holding her there, he leaned forward and rested his lips against her abdomen. His eyes stung as he thought of their baby tucked deep inside her, safe and warm.

“I love both of you,” he murmured, and pressed a firm kiss there. A vow, to love and protect both of them for the rest of his life.

Zoe slid her hands into his hair, holding him while her fingers stroked gently. “We love you too. Forever.”

Swallowing the sudden lump of emotion lodged in his throat, Clay pushed to his feet, got lost in her radiant smile. The woman took his breath away and probably always would.

Cupping her jaw in one hand, he leaned in to kiss her. Her lips were soft and warm against his, opening for the stroke of his tongue, hers caressing just as eagerly.

Before things got out of hand and he was tempted to go back on his word about not taking her here in the middle of the cemetery, he eased back.

Zoe raised her hand to stare at the ring. “Oh, it’s so gorgeous,” she murmured, admiring it for a moment before smiling up at him, her eyes a little moist again. “This was so romantic and unexpected, I don’t even know what to say. Thank you.”

“Thank
you
, for saying yes. I didn’t know what the hell I’d do if you said no.”

Laughing, she wrapped her arms around him and leaned her cheek against his chest. “Like there was ever a chance of that.” She sighed, the feel of her warmth and weight resting on him soothing him on the deepest level. “I’m so freaking happy.”

“Me too.” He’d never dreamed he could feel this way, be this happy. Zoe had made all kinds of miracles happen since she’d come into his life.

She cocked her head and regarded him with those glowing amber eyes, so vivid against the black liner and shadow. “I bet I know how I could make you even happier.”

That sounded promising. “Yeah?”

She leaned back to look up at him, that familiar heat in her gaze sending a jolt of arousal through him. “Yeah. Remember the last time we did it in your truck?”

He grinned. “Vaguely.” A total lie, it was burned into his memory for all time. That had been one of the hottest things he’d ever experienced in his life, Zoe unable to keep her hands off him until they got home.

One finely arched black brow mocked him. “Oh, really? Well, I guess I’ll just have to refresh your memory then. Because there’s something I didn’t take the time to do then that I want to do to you now. In the worst way,” she added in a sultry whisper, sinking her teeth into her scarlet red-painted lip.