Lucas sighed, shaking his head as he stepped in to save his new bride. He’d known that he’d have to tolerate a certain amount of nonsense when he’d called Nick and asked him to stand up for him. Ian should have been here, too, but, as was often the case, it had been impossible to track him down.
“That’s enough, lover boy.” Lucas tapped Nick on the shoulder. Nick mumbled something, but kept his mouth firmly secured to Julianna’s. Judge Winters’s frown deepened, and the court secretary’s eyes opened wide.
Strangely disturbed by his friend’s antics, Lucas took hold of Nick’s collar and yanked. Julianna stumbled backward, her hand pressed to her mouth.
“Get your own woman, Santos,” Lucas said tightly, surprised at the sharp tone in his voice.
Nick beamed. “Just being brotherly, Lucas. We’re family now.”
Lucas started to tell Nick exactly what he’d do to him if he was any more brotherly when the door to the judge’s chambers burst open.
Face red, eyes crazed, Mason Hadley exploded into the room.
Julianna couldn’t move. One moment she’d been caught in an amorous, though playful, embrace by Nick Santos, the next moment her father was flying at her.
“So this is what you’ve been sneaking around for these past three days,” he yelled. “So you could marry this no-good half-breed. You ungrateful bitch.”
She froze, watched him come at her, hand raised, expression furious. The hard slap stung, sent her reeling backward. She thought she might have cried out, but wasn’t certain. And then everything happened so fast. She heard a roar, a wild, savage growl, and suddenly Lucas had her father pinned against the office wall. Nick moved beside her, steadied her with his arm while he murmured something gentle. She felt Nick’s tension, his anger, but it was Lucas she couldn’t take her eyes off. Lucas, whose expression of fury terrified her.
“Lucas, please,” she managed, though her voice shook. “Please, let him go.”
She thought that he hadn’t heard her, or her plea meant nothing to him, but after a moment he loosened his hold and let her father slump back against the wall.
“You touch my wife again and I’ll kill you,” Lucas said with dead calm.
Mason looked at the judge, who stood by, his face solemn. “Did you hear that, Martin? He threatened me. I want this man arrested.”
Mrs. Talbot, who’d run out the side door when Mason had come storming into the judge’s chambers, hurried back in with a deputy at her side. The judge nodded to the officer. “Karl, escort this man out, please.”
Julianna gasped when the deputy moved toward Lucas.
“Not him,” Judge Winters said with disgust. “Mr. Hadley.”
Mason’s jaw dropped open. “How dare you! You’d still be shuffling papers in that flea-bitten law firm you started in, if it weren’t for me and my influence. I’ll have you impeached, Martin.”
“If he gives you any trouble, Karl,” the judge said, leveling his angry gaze on Mason, “lock him up.”
Mason shook off the deputy’s hand, then straightened his jacket and glared first at Julianna, then Lucas. “We’re not finished, Blackhawk.”
“As a matter of fact, we’re not,” Lucas said tightly. “You’re still living in my house. If you’re not out by the morning, I’ll enforce my court order and have you thrown out.”
A vein bulged at Mason’s temple, then he turned and stormed out of the room with the deputy right behind. There was a long, tense moment before anyone spoke.
“Well.” Mrs. Talbot pushed her glasses up on her nose.
“Yes, well,” Judge Winters repeated.
Julianna sagged against Nick.
Lucas moved in front of her, his gaze sweeping across her face. His hands tightened into fists. “Are you all right?”
She wanted to crumble, to fall into his arms and weep. She did none of those things. Instead, she straightened, squared her shoulders and met his cold stare. “I’m fine.”
He nodded stiffly, but said nothing. Tension coiled in the room.
“Well, okay, then,” Nick said at last and slipped an arm around Julianna and Lucas. “Let’s say we go celebrate.”
The best restaurant in Wolf River was Adagio’s in the Four Winds Hotel. Reservations were booked weeks in advance, but the maître d‘ greeted Lucas warmly, then showed them to a table already set for three without so much as a question. Champagne chilled in a silver bucket and crystal flutes shimmered in candlelight. Pale pink roses dressed the center of the table.
So lovely, Julianna thought.
Looking at everything—the champagne, the flowers, the candles—it almost felt like a real celebration. Obviously Lucas had told the maître d‘ it was a wedding dinner, she assumed for appearances, but she had no idea what Lucas had told Nick Santos. The truth? Would he be that cruel? she wondered. Would they have a good laugh over the whole business, throw back a few drinks and gloat in their male superiority?
She’d been surprised when Nick had shown up for the ceremony. But then, she and Lucas had barely communicated over the past three days. She’d been busy packing what few things she’d wanted to take with her, and had come into town only once to apply for the marriage license and tests. Lucas had left a message for her with the clerk, telling her what time to be at the courthouse. That had been the extent of their premarital relationship. She hadn’t told anyone about their marriage, and most certainly not her father.
She had no idea how he’d found out. Most likely someone in the courthouse had seen her come in today with Lucas and called. Everyone in town knew her and her father. Just as they all knew that Lucas Blackhawk was back and that he had ruined Mason Hadley.
She felt the eyes on her and Lucas as they settled into the corner booth. Everyone was watching, waiting to report even the tiniest detail of the town’s newest, and most scandalous, couple.
The maître d‘ poured three glasses of champagne, and Nick raised his glass in a hearty salute. “To the newlyweds,” he said loud enough to turn the heads that weren’t already watching. “May your days be filled with love, your nights with passion.”
She nearly choked. Cheeks hot, she looked at Lucas. He was watching her, a hungry look in his eyes, a half smile on his lips. When he raised his glass to her, she knew he was taunting her.
Her wedding night. Dear God.
She downed the glass in nearly one gulp.
When Nick refilled her glass, Lucas frowned and leaned in close. “Easy, darling. You wouldn’t want to get a headache, now, would you?”
His hot breath fanned over her ear, and she shivered at the thrill that ran through her. She wouldn’t think about later. She couldn’t. She’d never make it through this dinner if she did.
“And now, by proxy, a toast from Killian Shawnessy.” Nick cleared his throat. “May you never forget what-is worth remembering, or remember what-is best forgotten.”
Lucas raised an eyebrow, but sipped from his glass. “You’ve heard from Ian?”
“Unreachable,” Nick replied, and at the look exchanged between the two men, Julianna had the feeling that “unreachable” meant more than it implied.
In high school, Lucas Blackhawk, Nick Santos and Ian Shawnessy were the bad-boy threesome. Other girls whispered and giggled about just how “good” they were at being “bad.” Not that Julianna had ever been included in those conversations. Her shyness and her father’s money had always set her apart. She’d never fit in anywhere, with anyone. Nor had she tried. She’d chosen a cool facade, a casual dismissal of her peers,