He covered her hand where it had landed on his chest. “It’s not a good experience. Ready to go?”
“More than ready.” They started to turn and Julie paused. “Should I say something to Judge Moore?”
Luke stared down at her, his eyes heavy with concern. “If you want to, we will.”
We. She liked that ‘we’ right now. She shouldn’t. It was dangerous but she just couldn’t get herself to care. Her gaze lifted to where the judge still sat in his seat, unmoving like stone. Giving her condolences seemed appropriate, but she suddenly realized she wasn’t here for Judge Moore. She was here for his dead wife and she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t go off the deep end and confront him. That would be bad. Very bad.
Decision made, Julie shook her head. “I want to go.”
Approval lit his eyes and he took her hand to lead her out of the tent. Julie collided with someone. She pulled back, started by the impact, only to find herself sucking in a breath at the sight of Elizabeth Moore.
Chapter Seven
The woman who was Elizabeth Moore, but wasn’t Elizabeth Moore, slid her hand into Julie’s. “Thank you for coming to pay respect to my sister,” she said, and then she was gone. Stunned, Julie realized the woman had pressed a piece of paper in her hand.
Discreetly, Julie turned to face Luke. She reached down and put her hand in her coat pocket. “Let’s go now, please.”
“It’s raining hard,” he warned.
Her gaze swept the terrain outside the tent and indeed, it was pouring rain. “I don’t care.”
He gave her a keen look and took her hand. “I’m in for cold and wet if you are.”
They darted into the rain and he helped her into the truck. When he finally climbed in, her teeth were chattering.
“My heater is a furnace,” he said, cranking the engine. “It’ll be warm in a minute.” He glanced at her. “I didn’t know Elizabeth had a twin.”
Julie shoved her wet hair from her face. “Me either. It was a shock. They’re identical.”
Suddenly, he pulled her close and kissed her and all that ice and dread inside her thawed. She needed that warmth, his warmth, more than she needed to breathe right now. And while she was melting from the wicked heat of his tongue, he reached into her pocket and pulled out the note.
He leaned back and held it up.
Feeling defensive, she quirked, “I would have told you if you’d have given me the chance.”
His lips thinned in obvious doubt as he read the note. “We have to talk.” He glanced up at her. “That’s it and a phone number.” He shoved it in his pocket. “I’ll take care of this. After the wedding.”
“You’re being obnoxiously domineering,” she said. “I don’t like it.”
“And I like you better alive,” he said. “So if you want to be mad at me, I’ll take the anger.”
“What if someone else is in danger, Luke? What if–”
He kissed her again, and damn it, she managed to resist a whole two seconds before she all but moaned from the feel of his mouth on hers. The man was making her crazy, taking control of her life. “Don’t do this to yourself,” he ordered softly. “I’ll have someone find out more about her sister right away. I promise. You just focus on the wedding.”
“You promise?” she confirmed. “Because if anyone else ends up dead, I’ll never live with myself.”
“I promise and I never break a promise.”
She swallowed against the sudden dryness in her throat, because not only did she trust him, she realized she trusted Luke as she never had any other man. “We should go.”
Julie scooted out of his arms to face forward, confusion filling her. He acted like a big brother with kissing privileges, and avoided every chance he’d had to get her na**d and in bed. She didn’t understand. Did he want her or not? And why did it matter to the point that it hurt thinking that he might not? What else explained his quick hotel departure, or leaving her apartment where they’d been alone with barely a kiss? Or suggesting he sleep on her couch not in her bed with her?
***
Several hours later Julie had donned a pale blue dress the color of the wedding theme. She’d headed to the church, where she’d spent the entire rehearsal avoiding eye contact with Luke, feeling every touch of Luke’s hand as they practiced walking down the aisle. She didn’t know what she was feeling or how to deal with it. She just didn’t know.
Avoiding eye contact at the dinner afterward proved more difficult. The group of twenty sat in a private back room of Eden, a favorite Walker restaurant. It lived up to its name with vines, flowers, and spectacular plants covering the ceilings and the walls.
Julie sat on one side of the long triangular table, to the left of the bride, while the groom was to her right. Luke had chosen a seat directly across from Julie, and beside him was Blake. Every time Julie looked at Luke she was struck by how delectable he looked in a royal blue button-down. Which was why, among other reasons, she kept her attention on Lauren. But she could feel Luke watching her, feel the tingle of awareness that touched every place his gaze landed.
Julie leaned in close to Lauren and discreetly indicated to her recently divorced father, a retired senator, chatting away with her soon to be husband’s mom. “Someone should warn him she’s seeing someone.”
“Oh good grief,” Lauren said. “Royce and my father are only just now starting to get along.” She slid out of her seat and headed over to her father, squatting down beside him.