It Must Be Your Love (The Sullivans #11)(24)

“You’re joking, right?” Lori said. “I love my husband to pieces, but I’m not dead.”

“It’s true,” Megan murmured. “Ford is pretty darn gorgeous.”

Mia watched with shock as one after the other, each woman, including the level-headed Valentina, agreed that Ford was a special exclusion to their usual rule of not noticing other men. Of course, her tension passed through to the baby in her arms, because right then Jackie abruptly woke up, looked into eyes that weren’t her mother’s, and her face scrunched up into a pre-wail.

“Uh-oh,” Sophie said, quickly standing and lifting her little girl onto her hip, “looks like someone’s hungry. Which means her brother is probably about to give the boys trouble, too. I’ll be back soon.”

With no bundle of joy on her lap, Mia felt stripped naked in front of her family, with all of her stupid emotions out in the open. Which was the very last place she wanted them.

Lori turned to Brooke as she walked up to the group. “You’re a Ford Vincent fan, aren’t you?”

Brooke immediately made an angry face. “No. I hate him.”

Everyone’s eyes got huge, and Mia realized she needed to do some major damage control—and fast. “What Brooke means is that she hates how hot he is when she’s only supposed to be thinking about my brother now.”

Brooke gave her a confused look before it suddenly dawned on her that she’d very nearly given something away to the group.

“He’s coming to the wedding this weekend,” Mia told Brooke.

She tried really hard to keep the bitterness out of her voice, but when Brooke grabbed her arm and said, “Could you help me with my dress inside? There’s something weird going on with the zipper,” Mia knew she hadn’t succeeded.

No doubt everyone was wondering what was wrong with the two of them, but both Mia and Brooke continued to act like nothing was amiss until they were back inside the house and behind the locked door of Marcus’s home office.

“How can he even think of intruding on Nicola’s wedding like this? I don’t care if he was invited, he should know better than to ruin this weekend for you.” Brooke, who was one of the sweetest, gentlest souls Mia had ever known, looked like a general preparing to go to war. “I simply cannot wait to tear that man to pieces and then sic all of your brothers and cousins on him.”

“No, please don’t do that. If anyone finds out what happened between us, it will become a whole huge thing. And I’ll never forgive myself if I let him ruin Marcus and Nicola’s wedding.”

But Brooke was right. Showing up at the open house was one thing, but coming to a family wedding was another entirely.

“I’ve had enough of his little surprises. As soon as Ford gets here, he and I are going to have a rational, adult discussion about things in private. And by the time we’re done, I’ll make damn sure he understands that everything that was once between us will be firmly, and totally, in the past.”

Chapter Ten

Though Ford was desperate to make up for lost time with Mia, he didn’t want to ruin Nicola’s big day, which was why he planned to slip in just before the ceremony started. Not that he thought he was all that anymore, but he’d been in enough similar situations to know that people tended to go a little crazy around musicians, even at the most inappropriate times.

He wasn’t much for suits, but Nicola deserved his taking the time to scrub up and throw on a tie. He knew Mia would think he’d deliberately changed his schedule this weekend so that he could continue to be in her face, but while that was an awesome cosmic bonus, he truly had been hoping he could shift his packed schedule by just a few hours so that he could witness his friend make her vows.

In Ford’s experience, real love was pretty damned rare. And when two incredibly busy and successful people like Nicola and Marcus were actually able to make it work, he thought that deserved to be celebrated in a major way.

Billy, his bodyguard, was already waiting for him in the passenger seat of the black Tesla they’d rented for the day. When Ford slid in behind the wheel, Billy said, “I love you,” into his phone, then slid it back into his pocket.

“Nice suit and tie, sir.”

Ford grinned at the sarcastic compliment. “Hoping to impress a lady today and figured it was time to pull out the big guns. How’s Susan doing?”

Billy rarely had to use any force as a bodyguard simply because he was so big and looked so scary that people didn’t dare try anything with Ford. But being asked a question about his wife softened his features until he was almost approachable. “She’s pretty ready to have the kid, now that we’re only four weeks out.”

Ford had already picked out a great baby gift for Susan and Billy. The highest safety rated vehicle on the road would be waiting for them in the hospital parking lot right after she gave birth to their mini-me.

A few minutes later, Ford pulled into the back entrance to Sullivan Winery. Nicola had prepped the valet for his arrival so they were waved right through. A guy in a blue suit was speaking into a headset as he walked up to their car. “Welcome, Mr. Vincent. Ms. Harding wanted me to let you know that the ceremony will begin in five minutes. Please head in via that side door.”

Giving both valets a healthy tip, Ford put on a dark hat and kept his head down just in case any of the guests were still milling around outside as he and Billy made their way across the gravel lot. Nicola and Marcus would be saying their vows in a huge converted barn, painted red and renovated with enormous windows that looked out over the rolling acres of vines.