Have Yourself a Marine Christmas (Always a Marine) Read Free Page B

waited until they’d eaten a few bites before tapping the table.
    “So, you wanted to know about the wedding.” Capitulating to a tantrum wasn’t in her nature, but whatever bothered the sergeant went far beyond a pissy mood. “Two hundred guests, all people I knew well. Joseph married his high school sweetheart, so it doubled as something of a high school reunion.”
    Rebel’s gaze fixed on her and she crossed her eyes. His mouth inched toward a smile. “The good kind I hope?”
    “Eh. More like the who-can-remember-the-most-embarrassing-thing-about-you kind. Mama, bless her heart, sat me at a table with not one eligible bachelor, but five. Overkill, you think?”
    His humor vanished. “Five?”
    Spooning up some potato before addressing the question, she shrugged. “I’m twenty-nine. Mama wants grandbabies so she’s pulling out the big guns. Fortunately, Joseph’s marriage means she’ll be really focused on him for a while. But he’s my younger brother, you know.”
    “By three minutes.” The clipped tone went chillier.
    Pleasure spasmed in her belly. He’d paid attention. “True, but younger is younger. I should know. I never let him forget who the eldest in the family is.”
    For the barest of seconds, it looked like he might smile again, but he shook his head. “What happened with the guys?”
    “We ate chicken.” She scraped some of the potato away from the skin and then switched to a knife and fork to cut the potato into more digestible chunks. “I think we danced the Macarena and at least three rounds of the chicken dance before they gave up on me and found ladies who were looking to score.”
    Relief slid across his eyes and his shoulders relaxed. “Good. You should have taken a date.”
    “I would have.” She pointed her fork at him. “But that would have caused more problems. Because then everyone in the family would have done the interrogation thing.”
    Rebel grunted. “Still would have saved you being put on display like a piece of meat.”
    “Did I mention I was wearing frills?” That got his attention. “Lace, frills, and a hat the size of Texas?”
    “Why?” Shock drew him further away from the dark cave in which he huddled.
    “Bridesmaid.” Switching her attention to her coffee and washing down her last bite, she pulled out her phone and thumbed through the photos until she could show him the Gone with the Wind-esque monstrosity Joseph’s wife had roped her into wearing.
    “Holy crap, that’s pink.” The corners of his mouth twitched, but he tried to cover it up. When his shoulders started to shake and laughter escaped—she had him.
    Victory .
    “Oh yes, she had this dream of a Steel Magnolia-style wedding, which meant we hosed it all down in Pepto Bismol.”
    “Oh, God.” He didn’t even try to disguise the laughter.
    She didn’t begrudge him the humor; she’d wanted that exact reaction. Returning her phone, he shook his head. He exhaled a hard breath, trying to give her a merry look of apology, but the country music channel the store tuned into switched over to play I’ll Be Home for Christmas and he sobered.
    Damn it .

 
     
     

Chapter Two
     
     
    Kicking himself didn’t seem to serve much purpose, but he wanted to do it all the same. The black clouds of his mood had put a damper on their lunch and, try as he might, he couldn’t seem to drag out from under it. Noel let him get away with it—right up until they pulled into the parking lot. She put the car in gear, but instead of shutting off the engine, she folded her arms.
    Tightening his grip on the oh-shit handle, he fixed his attention on the trees in the distance. Gone was the sunny weather they’d walked out into, the skies having turned lead gray. When the silence continued to stretch out and Noel showed no signs of moving, he sighed. “We should go inside before it rains.”
    “Yes, we should.” The very agreeable tone flashed warning red to his senses.
    Wrenching his attention away from the