Madison's Life Lessons (14 page)

“I love you too, Micah.” She dashed away the tears when he finally settled her on her feet. He popped open a jewelry box. “Good lord!” Smaller diamonds encircled the biggest one she’d ever seen. Hands shaking, he had to clasp her palm to slide the ring on her finger.

“If you’ll agree, I don’t want a long engagement.”

Madison agreed.

***

Daddy went brittle when she and Micah told her parents of their new engagement. He congratulated them with a grim smile and an hour later walked Micah to the door with a mild-mannered “goodbye”. No way Micah didn’t see Daddy’s very obvious displeasure and disapproval.

Madison was headed upstairs to her bedroom when Daddy called, “A word, Madison.”

She followed him into the den where Momma had begun to read a horror book. Always with a smile on her face as if she enjoyed the bloody torment she found within the pages. Momma looked up when they entered.

Daddy wasted no time getting straight to the point. “You’ll not marry that man.”

Madison bristled at his order. “Funny. I thought I said yes.”

“You’ll call him in the morning and tell him you changed your mind.”

“I won’t.” In a month she’d be eighteen. She did not need his permission to marry Micah.

“Bruce,” her mother spoke, her voice placid. “Do you mind detailing your problem with Micah?”

“I’m her father and I don’t need to detail my issues with him. All she needs to know is that I don’t like the man.” He pointed his finger at her. “And I do not trust him. He’s shady.”

Temper soaring into the heavens, she enunciated her words, “I. Don’t. Care. What. You. Think.”

“You’ll do as you’re told!”

“Enough!” Momma slammed her book on the table. Daddy flinched. Madison didn’t blink, but continued to glare at him. “She’s eighteen in October. You cannot forbid her to marry.”

“A father knows what’s best for his daughter. Trust me, if you marry him, it’ll be the worst mistake of your life, Madison.”

They glared at one another for a long while. She thought Daddy truly meant what he said. But she hadn’t believed he held her best interest in mind for a long, long time.

Micah stared at Madison’s father, amused by Bruce’s obvious disgruntlement. The other man eyed the two-fingers of Scotch in Micah’s glass with clear detestation. He glanced at his brother, Elias, who reclined in a chair at the end of the conference room table. His feet were propped on the table, fingers laced together over his belly and he perpetuated an amiable persona. It was a ruse. Elias was rarely amiable. Micah could feel the marauder coiled within his brother waking. His desire to inflict injury on the Baptist preacher transparent in the fine lines around his eyes. Elias wouldn’t allow his yearning unless Micah granted him permission.

“Want a drink, Bruce?” Micah saluted the preacher with the glass and tipped it to his lips, draining the liquor in one swallow.

“No.” Bruce clipped the word out. “It’s the devil’s playground.”

Micah laughed. The devil’s playground indeed, because Jesus never turned water to wine.

Bruce watched as Elias rose from his seat and stomped to the mini-bar. A nervous swallow bobbed the preacher’s Adam’s apple. His brother had a way of unnerving people without trying. It was a gift.

The Scotch decanter hit the rim of a glass and a loud bing warbled in the room. Bruce dismissed Elias and faced him.

“I’m assuming there’s a reason for this impromptu visit?” Micah fluttered a pen across his knuckles, drawing Bruce’s gaze to the movement.

Elias returned and perched on the edge of the table. He slammed the glass down in front of Bruce, jerking the godly man’s attention back on him. “Drink up, preacher man.” He flicked the rim with his fingernail. “It’ll take some of that starch out of you. Loosen you up for the best fuck of your life.”

Bruce sputtered. His brother wasn’t talking about a literal fuck.

A distraction was needed before the situation escalated. “Why are you here, Bruce?”

Madison’s father glared at Elias and snapped his spine straight. “I request a private word, Micah.” He faced Micah while Elias shot the Christian with his pretend finger gun.

“You may talk frankly in front of my brother.”

Bruce cleared his throat, adjusted his tie and shifted in his seat. This should be good if the man was this edgy.

“You should’ve come to me before asking for Madison’s hand in marriage.”

The pen stilled and he curled his fingers around it. “Why?” He frowned at his brother, as he stood and moved to stand behind Bruce, the predator flashing in his eyes. “You’d have denied my request, Bruce, and I’d have done as I pleased anyway. The outcome would remain the same.”

“It is the right thing to do.” The man’s haughty demeanor rankled across his skin like the sting of a thousand Hellhounds clawing at his flesh. “I know what’s best for her.”

The pen cracked in his hand and broken fragments pierced his palm. Behind Bruce, Elias stilled, jaw hardening as he readied to attack. He answered his brother’s desires by executing a jerk of his head to one side. If anyone assaulted Bruce, it would be him.

Micah ground his molars, weathering the demon inside that demanded he launch across the table and murder his soon to be father-in-law.

Take him out now and he can no longer harm what’s mine
.

He recognized it as an illogical thought and it was the sole reason why he didn’t react with violence.

Controlling the tenor of his voice hurt his throat and he hoped his eyes didn’t betray his volatile mood. But if they had, Bruce wouldn’t still be sitting there slashing him with his upstart preacher glare. “You wouldn’t know what’s best for her if you choked on it.”

“I know you’re not best for her.”

“What
is
best for her, Bruce?
You
calling her a whore?”

His jaw dropped. “She told you?” Bruce took a deep breath, puffing out his chest. “That was taken out of context.”

Micah tapped his chin. “Are you denying you said it?”

“No. But—”

Bruce flinched when Elias placed his hands on his shoulders and rasped near his ear. “Then you didn’t say it?”

Madison’s father jerked forward, dislodging Elias’s hold. “I’d kindly ask you to keep your hands off my person.”

“You can kindly ask all you like….” Micah ran his finger along his jaw as Elias slammed his hands back down on Bruce’s shoulders and jerked him against the seat. “Doesn’t mean I’ll accommodate your request.”

“Micah,” Bruce said between clenched teeth, “tell your brother to release me.”

“I have no control over Elias.” The damned truth. “I’m fairly certain he’ll release you once you answer the question straight.” He tossed Elias a questioning glance and his brother shrugged as an answer. Maybe Elias wouldn’t release Bruce, he could be wrong.

“Yes, I said that. I did so to curb her appeal to men. The way they look at her, like they want sex with her in my aisles in front of God and all his glory.” Micah gagged at the back of his throat. Fuck the Father’s glory. “She’s drawn rabid, indecent attention since she was fifteen.” Micah crushed the pen into pieces. “Only Satan could have a hand in such whorish ways.”

“Jesus consorted with whores.” Elias white-knuckled Bruce’s shoulders. “Does Mary Magdalene ring a bell, preacher man?”

Bruce grimaced, attempted to pry Elias’s hands off him and failed. Micah suspected he’d wear bruises tomorrow. He deserved worse.

“Of course, I’m familiar with Mary Magdalene. She changed her ways after finding her savior.” Elias snorted, but Bruce wasn’t finished. “I endeavor to alter Madison’s wicked behavior so her soul doesn’t burn in damnation.”

Drivel. Nothing but hate spewing from her father’s mouth. Where was that love the Good Book preached?

Micah had heard all he intended to listen to. He rose calmly to his feet and stalked to the door. “Release him Elias.” He jerked open the door. “Leave, Bruce, before I inflict bodily harm on you.”

“The kind you won’t recover from.” Elias lifted his hold. He took only one step backward, crowding Madison’s father.

“Is that a threat?” Bruce went chest to chest with Elias, the best he could considering there was ten inches difference in their height.

Elias grinned, the one he reserved for moments like these. It said he wished Bruce would challenge him. If he proved so stupid, only one of them would be walking out of this room alive and it wouldn’t be Madison’s father.

“Elias doesn’t issue threats.” Micah buried his hands in the pockets of his slacks. Either that or wring Bruce’s fucking neck. “He delivers icy justice. No mercy and no warning.”

Bruce jerked to face Micah and stared at him for a long, tense moment, before run-walking toward the door. He halted next to Micah and nodded toward Elias. “Delivers justice? What are you and your brother involved in? I won’t have Madison caught up in some sinister mafia-like crime ring. For her protection, the engagement is over.”

Micah slammed the door shut and rammed Bruce against it by his throat. Anger surged, eliminating all practicality. Reacting without thought could cause him trouble. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, refocusing his fury.

“Your eyes….” Bruce choked out.

His lids lifted and he stared at the man who claimed the same DNA as his fiancée. “What about them?”

His future father-in-law, clawed at his wrist without success. Micah released the pressure on Bruce’s throat enough for the man to speak, but not enough for him to catch a decent breath.

“I thought they…burned,” Bruce rasped out the words. “I was wrong.”

“Here’s a threat for you, Bruce.”
Breathe in, breathe out and do nothing to endanger Madison
. “Try to step between my relationship with Madison or call her another foul name and I
will
bury you.”

“Bury isn’t a euphemism for fuck you up,” Elias added his commentary from Micah’s shoulder.

“I’ll bury you in the graveyard,” Micah clarified.

A flash of fear crinkled the corners of Bruce’s eyes. A brief nod. “Understood.” The single word surfaced as a whisper. The terror in the other man’s expression did nothing to alleviate Micah’s wrath.

Micah released him. His fist opened and closed as he watched the preacher scramble out of the room. Not once did he look back.

He wasn’t sure who’d angered him most where Madison was concerned. Bruce or Celeste? Celeste for being a fucked-up piece of work sexual deviant with no mothering skills, who offered Madison no sanctuary from Bruce for tearing down her self-esteem one word at a time. Or Bruce for being a pious bastard who failed to practice what he preached. Damn deviants, both of them.

“Please tell me you want me to follow him.”

“No.” Micah kicked the door shut and punched the wood, or would have if Elias hadn’t caught his fist in his palm an inch from the door. He looked at Elias.

“You’ll heal quickly, but why suffer for a piece of shit like him?” Elias released his hold on Micah’s fist. “Revenge is more your style. Classier. And what better way to do that than marry his daughter.”

“I’m marrying her because she’s
mine
.”

“I’m aware of that.” His brother rolled his eyes, before moving to the mini-bar with feline grace. He poured a glass full of Scotch. “Don’t lose your sense of humor in this plot, brother.”

Elias offered the tumbler to him. Micah accepted.

“A toast.” Elias lifted his goblet. “To a future calculated with hellish ambitions.”

Micah would drink to that.

Madison’s hands trembled as she ran them down her stomach and across her hips. She was about to be married to the man of her dreams. Any moment she expected fate to rip all of this away, because good things normally didn’t happen to her. Except Micah. He’d been a good event in her life from the moment he entered it and only good things had happened since.

She fingered a gemstone on the bodice of her wedding gown and studied her reflection in the full-length mirror. The strapless dress showcased her cleavage and the silk encased her in a snug fit, ballooning outward below her hip. Feeling like a princess, she smoothed her fingertip over a pearl—diamonds and pearls, all of them the real deal because Micah insisted on the best.

“You look beautiful, sweetheart.” The sneer in her mother’s voice suggested she either lied or jealousy nipped at her heels. “But I knew you would. Micah spared no expense for this day. Your wedding will be the talk of town and envied by everyone.”