Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 37793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Kage turned to me. “I’m sorry the wedding is on hold until we can get these prisoners moved, but I assure you, men are on the way to take custody of them.”
“I understand. I’m sure Kurt will as well, but I do need to let him know.”
“Of course, and so you’re aware, Doyle is actually in his suit, unlike Mancuso here.”
With everything going on around me, that had completely escaped my notice. Everyone else, from Dante to his husband, Noah, to Jing and Hawthorne, were all dressed.
“Could you please go change?” I asked Chris, who glanced around the room.
“He means now,” Colter suggested.
Chris threw up his hands and went to the door but stopped. “I’d like to point out that a cartel still has Dante on a hit list, in case anyone forgot.”
“Aw, Chris, you care,” Dante baited him.
“Because I vacation with you, and I’d rather not do it behind bulletproof glass or riding around in Darius’s armor-plated SUV.”
Colter turned to look at Hawthorne. “You have an armor-plated SUV?”
“Of course I have an armor-plated SUV,” he groused at his friend. “Don’t you?”
“The fuck would I need that for?”
Chris clapped his hands. “Focus.”
“I’ll take care of the cartel issue,” Hawthorne apprised him, then looked at Kage. “I don’t want to be disrespectful to you or your position as a marshal, but…”
“I have no problem with you protecting your friend. I would do the same.”
Hawthorne smiled. “I look forward to meeting your daughter and hearing about why Chris needed to save her.”
“It’s a good story,” Kage told him. “Made good, of course, by the fact that with George and his friends, she is always protected.”
“Does she need constant guarding?” Colter sounded concerned.
Kage nodded. “She, much like her father, my husband, is a trouble magnet.”
When Colter glanced at me, I nodded vigorously.
“Really?”
“Oh yes,” Kage told him. “So much so that George has a tracker on her.”
All eyes on me. “I have to. Hannah Kage is danger girl.”
“You’re sure you’re not overdoing this a bit?”
It was good to hear Kage laugh.
Fifteen minutes later, I knocked on Kurt’s door, and Thomasin opened it a bit, enough for me to catch a sliver of the ivory silk dress she was wearing and a small portion of her face.
“I wanted to let Kurt know that we’re waiting for marshals to show up and take some men into custody, but that the wedding will proceed close to the time we were supposed to start.”
“Everyone will be drunk and full of charcuterie by the time this thing gets going,” she assured me.
I tipped my head back and forth. “That seems highly probable.”
Huff of breath. “Why are there marshals en route?”
“There were some people here we didn’t anticipate, but I don’t want you to think that your family was ever in—”
“I know you would never allow my family to be placed in danger, George. Even if you weren’t aware of a problem, once you found out about it, you would keep us safe.”
She had such faith in me. Not that it was entirely undeserved. There was last Christmas to consider, after all.
“I would, and I will. Always.”
“Why were these people at the B and B?”
“They were looking for Mr. Cerreto.”
Apparently, she’d been around me enough already that she could now take that answer in stride. No gasp, no immediate volley of questions, instead solely concern. “But Mr. Cerreto is lovely, and so is his husband. Will he be safe once the marshals remove the threat? Will more people arrive?”
“Yes, to the first question, no to the second.” Lee Tae San was on his way to put the fear of God into the cartel. He would convey that there would be swift and deadly consequences if there were any other attempts on Dante Cerreto’s life. And for his part, Dante would not be back. Lee would promise that as well.
“That’s good,” she said, eyeing me.
“Is there any way I could talk to Kurt?”
“Mmmm, I don’t think so.”
“And why is that?”
“Because he’s a bit upset at the moment,” she informed me, opening the door wide. “He went for a walk, which I encouraged. He needed to clear his head.”
“But it’s a really short delay, and then—”
“That’s not it,” she soothed me. “He got a call from your friend…Ethan—Evan? Edward? Efrem?—no, that’s Mr. Hawthorne’s husband—but it’s an E name for sure, and he said he would be here, after all, but wouldn’t make the wedding, just the reception. Apparently his plane was scheduled to land at the same time the wedding started.”
“It’s Errol. But why did he call Kurt and not me?”
“Because Kurt’s number was on the invitations for the RSVP. In case you were deployed.”
Right. “But why would talking to him upset Kurt?”
“All I know is that your friend was relating an incident that occurred on your last deployment, which, I inferred, was a bit dicey.”