Promises Reveal by Sarah McCarty Read Free Book Online Page A

face taking every bit of sting out of the reprimand.
    “But she’s so pretty when she blushes.”
    The stroke of her husband’s finger down her cheek felt more like a warning. To shut up or to go along? It didn’t matter. Evie was no man’s pet. She bared her teeth in a smile. “He’s full of those practiced sayings.”
    “Which would make you a lucky woman,” Mara said, coming up on Evie’s side, her brown eyes alight with humor.
    “Only if I like hearing platitudes all day long.”
    “I would assume platitudes are better than curses.”
    “I guess that would depend on your personality.”
    “Trust me,” Brad interrupted with another brush of his finger. This time the gesture ended at the corner of her mouth. His knuckle pressed gently. “You wouldn’t like me in the mood that generates curses.”
    She parted her lips, opened her mouth, and set her teeth to his skin. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
    Unbelievably, he laughed and tapped her cheek. “You’d best come dance with me before you get yourself in trouble.”
    “We don’t have any music.”
    He lifted his hand. A small commotion began across the room. Chairs were pushed out of the way, tables pulled back. Cyrus pulled his fiddle from behind the door. She looked at Brad. “You can’t dance at a wedding.”
    He took her hand as Cyrus tuned up the fiddle. “Who says?”
    “God.”
    He cocked an eyebrow at her. His hair fell across his forehead, giving him that outlaw look that made her heart flutter. Her fingers twitched to push it back.
    “I work for him, and he’s never whispered that in my ear.”
    She tugged at her hand. “You know it’s not done.”
    He tightened his grip, dragging her along. “Then we’ll set a new tradition.”
    A high, sweet tune filled the room. The good citizens of town, her friends, fell to the side, making a path. She glared at Jenna, who rested back against her big husband’s chest, the sadness that had haunted her eyes for years no longer visible.
    “You should be protesting this.”
    Jenna’s smile was soft. Her shrug barely contained an apology. “But I want to dance.”
    Everything about Jenna was soft. She was the nicest woman Evie knew, the opposite of her hard-as-nails husband, but no one worried about Jenna when she was with Clint. The man adored his wife. She glanced at Clint’s dark hand, wrapped around Jenna’s. And she was beginning to think they didn’t need to worry about Clint anymore either. Jenna was good for him. She brought him smiles, normalcy, and family. She glanced at Gray, where he stood beside the couple, his baby sister in his arms. Neither were of Jenna’s or of Clint’s blood, but woe to whomever dared say they didn’t belong. They’d been lost, and Jenna, who wouldn’t say boo to a ghost, who’d known more horror in her lifetime than anyone should have to survive, had fought to the death to bring them home, given them a place, made them McKinnelys. And all four appeared content with the arrangement.
    Clint bent his head to brush his lips over Jenna’s smooth cheek. “Just one dance, sunshine. You’ve been on that leg enough for one day.”
    “I’m good enough for two.”
    “One.” It was said in a tone that brooked no denial.
    Jenna patted his hand. “We’ll see.”
    This time Clint’s lips brushed her hair, the fine strands shining against his dark skin. “One.”
    Evie bet there’d be two. Jenna truly was Clint’s sunshine, bringing him back from that dark place he’d fallen into. Clint caught her staring at him. He smiled. She blinked. Clint smiling really did take some getting used to.
    “Dance with your husband, Evie. You can trust him to take care of you.”
    Was there an underlying message in Clint’s order? Or was that wishful thinking on her part?
    “He thinks I tricked him into marriage. I’d be a fool to trust him.”
    Brad came up beside her. “But you will dance.”
    “It’s scandalous.”
    “You like scandal.”
    She jumped. How did he