Free His Heartbroken Bride (The Brides of Paradise Ranch - Spicy Version Book 4) by Merry Farmer Page B

home, and you went and married someone else ? After everything we shared?”
    Libby stepped further behind Mason’s back. Her forehead touched Mason’s shoulder. He didn’t need to get a look at her to know she was terrified down to her toes. Terrified by a man who claimed she was his fiancée? Who declared she was carrying his child in front of witnesses? It was all very, very wrong.
    “You heard her,” Mason snapped, raising his voice. “She married me. Now I’m beginning to understand why.”
    “You don’t understand anything,” Hector spat. “You don’t understand that that woman was meant to be mine for a long time. She is mine. She’s carrying my child to prove it.”
    “Get out.”
    “She may be a whore, but she’s my whore, and I won’t rest until she knows that.” He raised his voice, confirming that Libby had hidden herself so thoroughly behind Mason’s back that Hector couldn’t see her.
    “Son, you need to get your ass far, far away from here before something happens to it,” Pete spoke up, marching into the aisle toward Hector, Luke and Freddy with him.
    “Yeah,” Travis echoed, Cody coming forward with him. “We don’t take too kindly to strangers showing up in town accosting good women.”
    Libby flinched behind Mason’s back. Mason didn’t like that either. Hiding? Flinching? She couldn’t actually believe Hector’s accusations, could she? He pivoted so that he could scoop her into his arms and hold her against his chest in a protective embrace. All the while, he glared at Hector over Libby’s head.
    Between that, the looming presence of Pete and Libby’s brothers, and the threat of Travis and Cody, Hector saw he was outnumbered. He shifted to a defensive stance and attempted to stare down all four men.
    “If you don’t believe me, that’s your fault,” he said. “I’m simply stating what I know, what I’ve experienced to be true.” He turned and started back down the aisle toward the door. “I’m going to check into the hotel now. You and I will sort this out later.” He pointed to Libby—who huddled against Mason’s chest—then strode out into the bright, cold afternoon with his head held high.
    “I’ll kill him if you want me to,” Cody blurted into the silence that followed.
    His foolish threat broke the spell. Everyone rushed forward to comfort Libby at once.
    “What a horrible, horrible man,” Josephine said, reaching for Libby.
    “And a liar too,” Muriel added. “He was lying, wasn’t he?”
    Before Libby could answer her, Matthew shot forward and threw his arms around Libby’s legs, burying his face in her skirt. Petey shuffled up behind him, looking like he wanted to hug his ma but thought he was too old.
    “I never liked him,” he said instead.
    That set off another warning bell in Mason’s mind. Children often picked up on things that adults didn’t.
    “He’s gone now,” he said, putting a hand on Petey’s head.
    Petey glanced up at him with a grateful smile. That smile reminded Mason that more than just Libby needed him now.
    “Let’s head back to the house,” he said. “I hear tell there’s a feast to be had there.”
    Slowly, awkwardly at first, everyone began to move.
    “I’ve got chicken and biscuits that you can’t shake a stick at,” Josephine said with false cheer, though her brow was creased with worry. “And Muriel set the table and made everything look lovely. Why, Mr. Gunn even sent over a chocolate cake from the hotel as a wedding present.”
    At the mention of the hotel—the place where Hector had gone—hush spilled over them all again. As a group, they’d made it halfway back down the aisle, but suddenly Libby stopped.
    “You must all be so ashamed of me,” she said. “I’m utterly ashamed of myself.” She buried her face in her hands.
    All around, their friends and family exchanged anxious looks of confusion.
    Mason took Libby in his arms, tilting her chin up until she faced him. “I’m not ashamed of