Daring Brides by Ava Miles

looking like herself. The time alone had been a rare quiet moment in the chaos leading up to the wedding.
    “Come inside,” she told her family and led them into the main salon of the suite.
    Mac had given her the best one they had in The Grand Mountain Hotel. Outside, it was snowing lightly, and the carpet of white gave Dare Valley a delightfully picturesque feel. She hadn’t expected to marry in winter, but neither of them had wanted to wait, so they’d simply said poo to the cold weather and set the date. The location had been an obvious choice, particularly since Rhett’s only other suggestion had been an Elvis chapel in Vegas…and he’d later admitted to “funnin’ with her” by suggesting it.
    “How about a drink?” she asked them.
    “You don’t have to serve us, Abbie,” her brother said. “It’s your big day. How about we have a family toast?”
    “Me too?” Dustin said with more glee than she cared for.
    Mac cocked an eyebrow in her direction. “Ask your mother.”
    “Half a glass,” she said as Mac stepped behind the suite’s bar to pick out a fabulous bottle of Dom Perignon she’d seen in the cooler.
    The cork flew across the room when he popped it, and Peggy handed him four crystal flutes from one of the glossy mahogany cabinets. Then she poured sparking water into a glass and handed it to Keith.
    “Someday, I’ll be big enough to have champagne,” Keith said wistfully.
    “Yes, you will, but not today,” his mother said. “You have to be twenty-one.”
    His brow furrowed. “But Dustin isn’t twenty-one. Are you going to arrest him?”
    Her son gulped, and Abbie almost laughed.
    Peggy gave him a pointed glance. “I think Dustin and I understand each other. This is a special occasion, and he won’t be driving.”
    “No, not driving or anything,” he assured her with an emphatic nod. “In fact, I’m barely going to take a drink.”
    Like she believed that one. “Is the driveway to the hotel clear? You plowed all the new snow, right?” she asked Mac when he handed her a glass. The yeasty smell tickled her nose.
    “Abbie,” he said in that same indulgent tone he’d used with her all her life when she fretted. “I told you everything would be perfect.”
    And it would be. Mac knew how to make everything perfect.
    “Okay, I’m just a little nervous.”
    “Chill, Mom,” Dustin told her, raising the glass to take a swig.
    Mac stopped him with a gentle hand. “We toast first, kid.”
    “Sorry.”
    Extending his glass to her, Mac simply said, “To my sister, Abbie, one of the best women in the world. I am so happy to see you marrying one of my closest friends. May you always be as radiant as you are today.”
    She dabbed at her eye with her free hand. “Oh, Mac.”
    He hugged her close, and they had a moment. For so long, they’d been partners both in business and in the raising of her son. Now all of that was changing. He was living with Peggy and Keith, and she and Dustin would be living with Rhett.
    “Here now,” he murmured and set his champagne glass aside untouched so he could fish out a monogrammed pink handkerchief that matched his silk tie and vest.
    The handkerchief did the job, but she was afraid she’d have to touch up her makeup before they headed to the suite where she and Rhett would say their vows. After planning her wedding, she’d talked Mac into making one of their suites available for weddings since there weren’t too many event spaces for such occasions beyond the churches in Dare Valley.
    She finally took a sip of her champagne, savoring the taste and the feel of the bubbles on her tongue. Keith was staring at his sparkling water and tugging on Mac’s jacket.
    “How do they get those bubbles in there without a cork?” he asked with narrowed eyes.
    “Good question. We’ll look it up on the computer after the wedding.”
    “Cool! Maybe I can do my science project on it.” He took a big sip of the water and coughed. “It doesn’t taste like