Free Take This Man by Kelli Maine Page B

told you I’d have my share of the rent on time.”
    I took her hand. “I’ve always trusted you. Thanks for being here with me today.”
    “Like I’d be anywhere else.” We smiled, holding hands for a moment. “Okay,” she said, shaking her hand away. “This is getting weird. Next thing you know we’ll be weaving friendship bracelets.”
    I threw my head back, laughing. Nobody made me laugh like Shannon.

Two
Merrick
    One hour.
    I’d practically paced the lawn bare behind the guest house. The Weston Plantation was dressed up like a wedding cake with flowers bursting around its white columns.
    “Stop pacing, man, you’re making me nuts.” Beck put a hand on my shoulder. “It’s going to be fine.”
    “What if it doesn’t work? What if she knows already?”
    “How would she know?”
    I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
    Across the lawn, Joan—my old assistant and Beck’s girlfriend—bossed around the hired help for the reception. She was making them move a ten-foot table about three inches to the left, perfectionist that she was. The ceremony was to be held on the front lawn, which was currently empty since Rachael only had a view of the back of the property.
    “If we pull this off, it’ll be a miracle,” I said, turning to Beck.
    MJ pushed through the door of the guesthouse, two short rocks glasses full of amber liquor in his hands. He shoved one toward me. “Drink this. You’re coming unglued.”
    I took it and knocked it back. “All three helicopters set?”
    “For the fifth time,” MJ said, sipping his drink, “yes.”
    “And the hired pilot is set to take off in”—I looked at my watch—“fifteen minutes?”
    “He’s ready and waiting.”
    I set the glass down on a patio table and rubbed my hands together. “Okay. This is it.”
    Beck stared at me with one eyebrow hitched.
    “What?” I asked.
    “If I’m ever like this over a woman, feel free to kick the shit out of me.”
    MJ and I looked at each other. Beck seemed to be the only one who wasn’t aware of how gone he was over Joan. She’d burrowed right through his tough guy exterior. It was obvious to the rest of us. “Will do.”
    I checked my pocket for Rachael’s ring. It was there. What else could I do for the next quarter of an hour to keep my nerves at bay?
    I’d never been so nervous in my life. Not over multimillion-dollar acquisitions. Not even the night I kidnapped Rachael and took her to Turtle Tear for her own good. Not ever.
    Beck’s hand came down on my shoulder as he nodded toward the corner of the big house. “There’s Shannon. Rachael’s alone. Let’s do this.”
    Panic kicked in hard. “It’s not time!”
    “Hey,” MJ said, putting a hand on my other shoulder. “We’ve got the plan down. We’re all ready. Let’s get going.”
    I took a deep breath. I could do this. I’d done it before under more dire and, to be honest, illegal, circumstances. I could do it now.
    I shook out my arms, releasing tension. “Okay.”
    “Give us ten minutes,” MJ said, and he and Beck left me standing alone watching them go.
    *     *     *
    The ladder was right where it was supposed to be, lying on the side of the big, white house. Rachael was in the corner bedroom. If I knew her, and I did, she’d be watching, dreamily out the back window, waiting for her mother to fetch her when it was time for the bride to make her appearance.
    I lifted the ladder and propped it against the house, directly under the side window to Rachael’s room. I could see that the window was open a few inches.
    Beck and the hired pilot took off in their helicopters as my foot hit the first rung. I paused to watch them lift into the air and disappear before continuing, hoping Rachael wouldn’t be tipped off that something was going down she didn’t know about. She was a stickler for plans and would start to panic.
    I climbed up the ladder. The closer I got, the more the nervousness faded. This was
our
day, and I only needed