Defending Destiny (The Warrior Chronicles) (25 page)

Magnus unfolded his arms and stood straight. “Call her
our
flower again, Butler, and I won’t care if your eyes are open, much less what’s occupying your hands.”

Gerry shook his head and smiled. “I’m beginning to like you, Alexander. Lord help me, I truly am.”

Magnus harrumphed and lost some of the tension that was riding him. The biggest object he had to overcome in his quest for Daisy’s heart was himself, past and present. It had nothing to do with Gerry Butler. Still, there were unseen forces at work and Magnus didn’t have a clue what they were. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Gerry Butler had a hand in more than just filming Lauren’s documentary on Kilmartin Glen.

“Your parents are in the kitchen, if you were wondering.” Gerry smiled again, and this time there was nothing in it Magnus could read except respect. “I see where you get your focus and that brooding, handsome thing you’ve got going on, but not your massiveness. Damn man, you must have all but killed that tiny doll of a woman coming out.”

“My mother’s stronger than she looks.”

“They all are, my friend. Every last one of them.”

Gerry was halfway up the stairs when Magnus answered. “That’s the first totally honest thing I’ve heard you say. But, Butler…”

Gerry stopped on the stairway and turned to look at Magnus before Magnus continued. “That doesn’t make us friends.”

Gerry stared at Magnus for the span of a heartbeat, but said nothing more. He simply made his way up the remaining stairs. Magnus turned and went into the kitchen.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

By the time Daisy made it down to the kitchen, Magnus was halfway through his breakfast. Mari and Shay were sitting with him, speaking in hushed tones. The atmosphere wasn’t as heated or uncomfortable as it had been earlier in Magnus’ bedroom, but that might have something to do with the fact that she and Magnus were now fully dressed and there was no bed anywhere it sight. Not that they needed one.

Daisy flushed then coughed to cover her flash of embarrassed heat. She couldn’t seem to stop thinking about places to make love with Magnus. Maybe if they had a chance to finish what they started this morning, she wouldn’t be sizing up the counter space in the galley portion of the kitchen. She could just touch the opposite side with her feet, she was betting, if they got her positioned properly on the edge. If not, she could always wrap herself around Magnus. The counters were exactly the right height for that.

Everyone stopped eating and stared at her.

Magnus gave a small smile as his gaze shifted to the countertop she’d been staring at. Thankfully the coffee maker was close enough that she could pretend she was jonesing for caffeine. “Hungry?” Magnus asked, imbuing the word with so much sensual promise she flushed again.

“Just dreaming about a strong cup of coffee. Thanks for brewing some.”

His smile widened. “Anytime.”

Shay grunted and set down his tea mug. Daisy knew it was tea, because she could smell the bergamot permeating the air even more than the scent of coffee. Shay looked at her and gave her a wink before he turned to Magnus, who ignored him and kept staring at Daisy. “Son, you’re as subtle as a snow plow in June.”

Magnus’ look turned downright predatory. “And here I was going for flamethrower in Iceland. Must be losing my touch.”

Daisy could take spilling the inner thoughts of her heart and mind to Magnus’ parents when she was on the offensive. This easy teasing had her ears burning hot. She’d seen it enough at home—this kind of teasing was common with her parents and aunts and uncles—she’d just never had it aimed at her before. So much for being all grown up.

Mari laughed softly and put one hand over Shay’s. “Your son does not require your assistance making his fiancee’s face flame.”

Daisy went from embarrassed to high alert in the space of a heartbeat. She eyed the block of steak knives as though her life may have depended on a couple of serrated blades. Shay jerked back in his seat and Magnus’ head whipped around to face Mari so fast that Daisy was certain he’d feel the effects as soon as the shock he was obviously feeling subsided.

Daisy had never heard Magnus raise his voice to his mother, or to any female besides her for that matter. He didn’t now, but his voice cracked when he spoke. “Mom? What are you saying?”

Mari just smiled a peaceful smile. When she turned that smile on Daisy, it became as predatory as her son’s, albeit in a completely different way.

Where her face just seconds ago had been hot, it now felt cool as all the blood drained from it. Apparently her rapidly beating heart required it more than her extremities.

The men seemed to sense that there was more going on than they were privy to, and like smart men everywhere, stuck between two strong women, they shut up and waited to see how the tête-à-tête played out.

“Daisy knows my meaning. Don’t you, love.” It wasn’t a question.

Lord and Lady, she was beginning to hate that particular endearment. It wasn’t the endearment per se, it was more the tone her sweet and once
future
mother-in-law used. Daisy had been well and truly had by not one, but two, Alexanders today. She felt angry. She knew she should.

Anger didn’t quite cover it, though. What she felt bubbling up within her was far different than that. The primary emotion, if she had to name it, would be a kind of defeated relief tinged with just the slightest hint of hysteria.

It was probably the hysteria that had her shaking her head as uncontrollable laughter bubbled up. It started slowly. Just the merest shake. Then it turned into the kind of euphoria Daisy experienced when something funny struck her as ten times funnier than anyone else around her thought it was. And then
that
was so funny she couldn’t stop laughing until her sides hurt and tears were running down her face. That really shouldn’t have been one of those moments. The men’s dubious expressions told her that, and that to her was funny too.

Finally, Daisy put her hand over her eyes and forced herself to look inward in an attempt to control herself. She honestly never thought Mari would ever marry Shay. No one who knew them did. Too much time had passed. She’d turned him down too many times. And now, today, after securing Daisy’s promise, she decided marriage was a good idea.

Damn. You’re good. You got me. Folly, thy name is mother-in-law.

Daisy decided she’d never underestimate an Alexander again. That was for sure.

She stood up straight, took a deep breath, and looked at Mari. Mari’s smile turned into something so beautiful, that Daisy couldn’t even be upset with her. Always an attractive woman, Mari looked at Shay and there was so much in that smile that it positively radiated beauty.

It was time to let love in and truly live. For both of them, it was time to take a chance.

Daisy spoke, drawing Mari’s attention. “Do you want to tell them, or should I?”

Mari glanced at Daisy, nodded once, then looked back at Shay. Shay looked so serious and knew that something vitally important had just taken place, but did not have a clue what it was or how he should react. Mari took his hand and brought it to her cheek.

“Shannon O’Shay, will you marry me?”

Magnus dropped his mug.

Everyone ignored it.

Shay got preternaturally still. “Is this a joke?” he asked, his voice quiet, unbelieving.

Mari kissed the back of his hand. “No, my love, it’s no joke. Please forgive me for not accepting your offers earlier. I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life by your side. Marry me. Please.”

Shay didn’t even blink.

Magnus did.

His gaze shot from his parents, who were now in their own universe, to Daisy. His eyes narrowed and he looked almost as unbelieving as his father. Daisy looked back, not even trying to hide what was happening. He cocked his head at her, not ready to believe it could be so easy. Since it had been so many years brewing, “easy” wasn’t a word Daisy would use to describe their path to this part of their destiny.

In the second or so it took for her to exchange looks with Magnus, Shay seemed to regain his senses. He pushed away from the table and scooped Mari up in his arms. He grinned at her, laughed, and then kissed her senseless.

Mari wrapped her arms around him, content to stay in his arms. Shay gave her another quick kiss that had Mari giggling and Daisy smiling. It was good to see them happy.

Shay looked at Magnus, who looked pleased for his parents and a bit confused by what just happened. “The pendant is on the table. We’ve got to go.”

Magnus smiled and kissed his mother’s forehead as he hugged his father. “Are you going to put her down so I can give my mother a hug?”

Shay pulled Mari tighter as she tried to get loose. “Not until she says ‘I do.’”

“How are you going to drive to the airport?” Magnus asked, raising his eyebrows. He seemed to be enjoying his father’s sense of urgency more than he should.

“I can take care of that for you,” Merlin said as he walked into the room. Daisy noticed her sword was nowhere in sight. She’d ask him about that later.

Daisy crossed her arms across her chest at the same time Magnus went to her and put his arm around her shoulders, drawing her to his side. “You certainly have a knack for showing up at the most opportune moments, Merlin.”

He grinned at her. “That I do. It’s a gift.”

Is that what it is.

His grin just got bigger. “Yep. A big-ass gift.” Merlin paused to look at Mari and Shay. “One I trust the two of you could use, if I heard correctly while I was eavesdropping from the hall.”

Shay nodded at him, more serious now. “Does that online certificate cover marriage ceremonies performed out of the country?”

Merlin nodded solemnly. Apparently one didn’t joke about the legality of marriage ceremonies performed by online-certified ministers. “I have the power to marry anywhere in this world under the auspices of the new-age order of Ovates and Bards.”

It was an odd way to say he was licensed to provide certificates of marriage anywhere in the world, but that was Merlin. He never said anything clearly that could be said obscurely. Daisy let it go.

“Isn’t that a Druidic order?” Magnus asked.

Merlin nodded.

“I don’t care if you’re licensed through the order of the flying fairies of fae land as long as you can legally get the deed done. Now,” Shay said.

Mari Alexander became Mari Alexander O’Shay seconds later. That wasn’t enough for Magnus’ father, who sent a text about four hours later from international airspace. He had the co-pilot
, a sometime reserve judge from Wisconsin, marry them again on the plane. He also had Peter, the pagan minister and painter-in-residence at Potters Woods, waiting at the airport in Milwaukee. Shay wanted to hear Mari say “I do” one more time before he agreed to let her get off the private plane.

After the three-minute ceremony in the kitchen, Mari and Shay left for the airport. Magnus and Daisy went back upstairs to finish what they’d started that morning. They started, finished, then started and finished twice more before they received Mari’s text that Shay finally let her feet touch the ground, after they were married for the third time in nine hours.

Magnus rolled on top of her, looking into her eyes with what Daisy had come to learn was his especially serious face. “Wanna tell me what that was all about between you and my mother?”

Daisy rubbed against his wrist with her cheek. She loved the way the muscles in his arms rippled when he held himself up. He was always so careful not to let his weight bear too heavily on her. He was her gentle giant and her fierce Highlander all wrapped into one incredibly compelling package.

She bit his forearm, then licked the salt from his skin before blowing on him. She smiled naughtily up at him. When he didn’t smile in return, she batted her eyelashes at him and tried to reach his chest with her breasts.

He was having none of it. He didn’t smile. He didn’t move. He stayed right where he was, apparently content to wait her out.

Daisy looked into his sterling-silver eyes with their charcoal ring and thought again just how beautiful he was. Strong and vital and so bluntly masculine there was no softness in his features at all. Until she looked into his eyes and saw the kindness he couldn’t hide any more than he could hide the sensual curve of his lips. Magnus had a face that would grow more handsome and more dear every day. It was a face she could wake up to every morning and kiss every night with a prayer of thankfulness to the Goddess for providing a man who, simply by smiling at her, could turn her insides to warm jelly.

He wasn’t smiling at her now, but Daisy’s insides were warm as she took all of him in, grateful to Mari for letting her do what she secretly wanted to do since that first kiss the day they arrived in Kilmartin.

“I gave Mari my word that I’d marry you as soon as she married Shay.”

Magnus’ eyes narrowed, his pupils becoming smaller. His mouth tightened. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking, he’d turned himself inward, but he was holding himself far more rigidly now than he’d been a second ago.

Unsure of herself now, Daisy decided to tell Magnus the truth and not hide behind the indifference she’d perfected over the years to shield her heart from him. It hadn’t occurred to her until after she thought about the photos that he might be shielding part of himself from her as well. He always seemed so strong, so in control. Even now there wasn’t even the slightest hint of vulnerability in his gray eyes. It was almost as if he was waiting for her to run him through with one of her blades.