Suddenly Spellbound Page 24

  The ruched silk bodice hugged me from my chest to my hips, exactly the way I remembered it. I fingered the row of clustered pearls at the dropped waist, where the floor-length tulle skirt flared out around me. My eyes met Chloe’s in the mirror. “I’m afraid to blink and have this all be a dream.”

  “It’s not a dream.”

  Jack.

  I spun around to see him standing in the open doorway in a fitted black tuxedo. His usually chaotic hair had been slicked back and to the side in a rather tame style that made him even more handsome, setting off a deep ache within me.

  Chloe squealed and ran to shield Jack’s eyes. “What is it with you Blake brothers? You know you can’t be in here!”

  I tried not to smile at his obvious disregard for the rules and failed. “Don’t you know it’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding?”

  Jack’s grin got wider. “Sweetheart, we’ve already had a lifetime’s worth of bad luck. I think the odds are finally in our favor.”

  “Where’s Jon?” Chloe glared at Jack, and I imagined a plume of smoke curling from her ears. “He’s supposed to be keeping an eye on you.”

  “He’s got his hands full with our mother. She isn’t thrilled with the venue or the short notice.” Jack stuffed his hands into his pockets and propped his shoulder against the doorframe, his feet crossed at the ankles—the poster boy for serenity. “But I’m sure you can tell I don’t care.”

  I shot a glance at Chloe, and she looked as horrified as I felt.

  “She’s not coming back here, is she?” The color drained from Chloe’s face.

  Jack laughed. “I don’t think so.”

  “Good,” Chloe and I said with matching shudders.

  Jack pulled himself away from the door and eased his way farther into the room. “Chloe, could I borrow Ivie for just a minute? I promise I’ll give her back as soon as I say what I came to say.”

  “Fine.” She huffed, but I caught her fighting back a grin as she shook a finger at him. “But just one minute. We’re on a tight timetable here.”

  As soon as Chloe closed the door behind her, Jack scooped me into his arms, careful not to wrinkle my dress. His lips feathered over the shell of my ear. “You look amazing.”

  One touch and he had me purring like a satisfied kitten. “You shouldn’t be looking.”

  “I’m sorry.” He kissed my temple and took half a step back to admire my dress. “No, I’m not. I just couldn’t wait.”

  Wiping the grin from my lips proved impossible. I glowed under his careful inspection. “We’re getting married in less than thirty minutes.”

  “I know. But I needed to do something first.” A serious expression washed over his face as he watched me for a moment.

  I tilted my head and analyzed him sideways.

  He shook his head as if to clear it then reached into his pocket and pulled out my engagement ring. The sun hit the stone at an angle, sending light dancing across the walls. “You left this at the house, and I thought you might want it before you walked down the aisle.”

  “Oh, Jack.” Tears sprang to my eyes, and I blinked them back.

  I held out my left hand, but he took my right, sliding it onto my finger. “For safekeeping. You can put it back where it belongs after I put the other ring here.” He picked up my left hand and kissed my bare ring finger.

  I choked back a sob. “I will.”

  He let go of my hand to brush a strand of hair from my eyes, his fingers lingering on my cheek. “You know, I thought I’d freeze to death the night we met. I knew you were just as cold as me, stomping through the woods behind a man you’d never met like this furious kitten. So determined but not a bit scared.”

  I leaned into his touch. “I was terrified.”

  “Well, you didn’t show it. You impressed me, but more than that, you took my breath away.” He drew in a ragged breath then blew it out, and I felt a shudder run through him.

  My heart kicked up a notch, my stomach dipping and swirling as I waited for him to go on.

  “I think I fell in love with you that night. And I’ve loved you every day since.” He rested his forehead against mine, his fingers slipping to my neck, where he slid them over my racing pulse point.

  My heart hammered so hard I could hear it. Or maybe that was Jack’s heart.

  He brought his lips within an inch of mine, and I could taste the mint on his breath. “I can’t wait to marry you. Thirty minutes seems too long to wait.”

  “I love you. So much.” My throat threatened to close up.

  Jack bent down to brush his lips to mine then checked the time on his watch. “Happily ever after in T-minus twenty-five minutes?”

  I nodded, and he kissed me again.

  “Nothing but good luck from here on out.” With a wink, Jack slipped out the door and headed back to the tent where we would be getting married in T-minus twenty-five… make that twenty-four minutes.

  Time seemed to stand still. Every passing tick of the clock felt like an eternity—an eternity where I stood in a former stable, afraid to sit in my beautiful gown, waiting for someone to come get me so the ceremony could start. I checked the time on my phone again. Jack had left me twenty-six minutes ago.

  Where is everyone?

  I tapped out a quick text to Chloe. Where are you? And waited for her reply.

  Twenty-eight minutes.

  My satin peep-toe Jimmy Choos—a wedding gift from Chloe—pinched my feet. I couldn’t wait to kick them off, but I wouldn’t, not until we’d walked down the aisle, making me officially Mrs. Jackson Blake.

  A ceremony that should’ve started four minutes ago. I chastised myself for wondering what my father’d done to cause another delay. After waiting another ten minutes and sending several unanswered messages to Chloe, I set out on foot.

  The sound of violins floated through the air like delicate flower petals, the music getting louder as I approached the giant white tent. I peeked inside to see a small crowd had gathered, waiting… like me… for the ceremony to start, but no sign of my parents… or Chloe and Jon… or my groom.

  I marched toward the farm office where Jack should have long since finished getting ready, my shoes scraping the skin off my heels as I went.

  I’d almost reached the door when it swung open, and Liam stepped out. My heart thudded to a stop. The insane attraction I’d felt toward him just over twenty-four hours ago had evaporated, leaving nothing but a warm familiarity behind. “Liam?”

  “Ivie.” He breathed out my name like an apology and scrubbed his hand over his unshaved face. He looked a wreck, like he hadn’t slept since I last saw him. And the faint odor of skunk clung to his clothes like cheap cologne.

  Seeing him on my wedding day felt all kinds of wrong. “W-what are you doing here?”

  He took a tentative step toward me with both hands out in surrender, and his silky voice cracked. “I tried to stop her, Ivie. I swear I did.”

  “Where’s Jack?” An icy finger slid down my spine as I pushed past him to enter the office. “Jack?”

  “Baaaaaahhhh.”

  I whipped around toward the source of the bleating and… laughed. A solid-brown billy goat the size of a large dog sat on the floor facing me. He had a large bouquet of lilies in his mouth and a crooked black bow tie around his neck.

  Despite the inappropriateness of the situation, I gave Liam a slow round of applause. He’d gone to a lot of trouble to prank me on my wedding day. And I knew he couldn’t have done it alone. “Okay, you can all come out now. Ha ha. Very funny. Chloe? Jon? Jack?”

  The goat jumped to its feet, its little hooves clicking like two pairs of expensive heels against the floor, and I held up my hands, palms facing the animal as I backed away. “You stay right where you are, Mr. Goat. I’ve spent entirely en
ough time with your kind.”

  “Ivie.” Liam’s voice came closer, and when I turned around, I found him standing directly behind me.

  Ignoring the tortured look in his periwinkle eyes, I balled up my fist the way my dad had shown me all those years ago and gave him a halfhearted punch to the arm.

  The goat bleated again, this time more insistently, and somewhere in the back of my mind, reality threw darts at my fragile bubble. “So was this your idea? Or Jack’s?”

  “I don’t think you understand.” Liam reached for me, but I pulled my hands away and took a quick step back, shaking my head the whole time. I couldn’t let him touch me, not when I was so close to losing it.

  “It’s a good prank.” I gulped in a lungful of sweet air. Jack’s clean, outdoorsy scent clung to everything around me. “I almost fell for it too. I mean, a blue-eyed goat? Genius.”

  The goat rubbed its head against my leg, and my heart skittered to a stop before taking off again. Just as I decided to flee to safety, something plinked against the floor at my feet.

  It only took a quick glance down for the entire room to shift, tilting to the side like a carnival funhouse. Black spots swam across my vision.

  I must have swayed on my feet because Liam reached for me and called my name. “Ivie…”

  Without even looking at him, I waved him off and bent down to pluck the diamond wedding band from the dusty old floorboards.

  As I crouched in front of him, the goat inched closer until he’d almost rested his forehead against mine. My head snapped up, but before I could bolt, I caught his familiar blue gaze. I took a deeper look, and he almost seemed to smile at me. It can’t be. Can it?

  “Baaaaaaaahhhhhh!”

  “J-Jack?”

  Dear Reader,

  We hope you enjoyed Suddenly Spellbound, by Erica Lucke Dean. Please consider leaving a review on your favorite book site.

  Visit our website to sign up for the Red Adept Publishing Newsletter to be notified of future releases.

  Other Books by Erica Lucke Dean

  Red Adept Publishing Books

  To Katie With Love

  Suddenly Sorceress (An Ivie McKie Novel)

  Ashes of Life (with Laura M. Kolar)

  Splintered Souls (Flames of Time: Book 1)

  Cinnabar Silk Books

  Craving Caine (with Elise Delacroix)

  Diamond Duplicity (with Elise Delacroix)

  Ruby Ransom (with Elise Delacroix)

  About the Author

  After walking away from her career as a business banker to pursue writing full-time, Erica Lucke Dean moved from the hustle and bustle of the big city to a small tourist town in the North Georgia Mountains, where she lives in a 90-year-old haunted farmhouse with her workaholic husband, her 180 lb lap dog, and at least one ghost.

  When she’s not writing or tending to her collection of crazy chickens and diabolical ducks, she’s either reading bad fan fiction or singing karaoke in the local pub. Much like the main character in her first book, To Katie With Love, Erica is a magnet for disaster and has been known to trip on air while walking across flat surfaces.

  How she’s managed to survive this long is one of life’s great mysteries.