“She knows I meant it,” he said, rationalizing his choice despite the voice in his ear that whispered Ella was right.
“It would have gone a long way with her, and him, to have heard those two words from you.”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass what he thinks of me.”
This time Ella laid a hand on his arm, forcing him to stop with her. “The thing is, Liam, this isn’t about you or your decisions or your wants. This is about her—her future husband and the life they’re about to build together.”
The skin across Liam’s shoulders grew tight. “He’s not good enough for her.”
“That’s not your decision to make.”
Her words, so softly delivered, set him back a step. “I want what’s best for her.”
“And you don’t trust her to know what that is?” Ella countered.
“I’ve seen that man’s true character, Ella. He has repeatedly talked over and around my sister. He has disrespected her in front of me, and I won’t have it.”
“How is what he’s done so different from what you just did?”
“I love her!” he bit out.
Ella reached out and took one of Liam’s hands, squeezing gently. “It would seem Mike does, too.” She dropped his hand and then strode forward to catch up to the couple.
Liam stood there for several seconds, his mouth hanging open like a fool’s. Ella was absolutely right. He was no better than Mike. Liam had been presumptive, domineering, controlling and brash—all traits he’d criticized in the other man.
Could Ella be right? Could Jenna have found her miracle in this man who professed to love her? Could it be possible that he’d so severely underestimated Jenna’s choices?
It seemed that he had.
Shaking off the stupor the truth had wrought in him, he strode toward the couple and their event coordinator. His lover. The woman who wasn’t afraid to tell him the truth no matter the cost, and he vowed he’d make this right.
It dawned on him as he reached the steps to the garden that what they were about to encounter was as wrong as wrong could get. And he had no way to stop it.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ELLAWASHALFWAYup the stairs when the scream hit her. She tripped up the last step and stumbled to a halt at the garden’s back wall. Something pink darted left. Something darker pink darted right. And there, fifteen feet away, stood Hollywood’s it girl, Jenna Williams, screaming as if an ax murderer was closing in. But it wasn’t an ax murderer. It was...a peacock? No. It was apinkpeacock.
Two.
Three.
Four pink peacocks ran amok, long tails flowing behind them.
And one, presumably the appropriately named cock, strutted toward Jenna, his red eyes sinister, his cotton candy–colored tail on full display, his head bobbing to and fro as if to mesmerize Jenna before slaying her.
Mike wrapped Jenna in his arms and looked about wildly.
Ella lurched forward as Liam crested the stairs and ran smack into her.
“What’s going on?” she demanded.
“Where the hell did the peacocks come from?” Mike shouted, partly from obvious fury and partly to be heard above the bride’s screaming and the birds’ squawking.
Liam rushed past her and reached for Jenna, but Mike swung her up into his arms and carried her toward the nearest exit at a swift jog.
“Mike?” Ella called, following after them.
“She’s terrified of birds, Ms. Montgomery,” Mike bit out. “Actually diagnosed as ornithophobic. That’s why the paperwork said ‘Absolutely No Birds.’ And why the hell did you dye them pink? Jenna is an animal activist, very vocal on animal rights and environmental preservation.”