Mara McBain by McCade's Way Page B

Let’s go find our seat.”
    Relaxing, she offered Cole a smile and allowed him to guide her into the sanctuary with Rose and a rigid Wade trailing them.
    “You keep looking at him like that and his ego is going to be impossible to live with,” he whispered.
    Gen’s head snapped around to look up at her grinning brother-in-law.
    “How was I looking at him?”
    “Like he’s ten foot tall and bulletproof,” Cole chuckled.
    “He’s pretty near,” she whispered, her gaze going to her husband’s broad back.
    “You’re starting to sound like a woman smitten.”
    “Your brother is a good man, Cole. He has given me a life that I could barely dream of before. Would it be so horrible if our marriage became something more than just an arrangement, even if the feelings are only one-sided?”
    “Oh, I don’t think it’s one-sided if that glare is anything to go by.”
    Trey had stopped and was looking back at them. A frost had lightened his blue gaze and his lips were pressed into a firm line behind his goatee. He motioned her into the pew, but planted a hand on Cole’s chest with a solid thump that stopped him in his tracks. Gen looked back worriedly, but Trey slid in behind her. Cole stood to the side letting Rose and Wade precede him, but his shoulders shook in what looked suspiciously like laughter.
    Rose tried to take Lilly from Trey, and a squeal shattered the quiet murmur of the sanctuary. Lilly spun to cling to his jacket. He grimaced as a sharp knee found tender territory.
    “Shh, Lillian,” Rose chastised, trying to pry the child’s arms from around Trey’s neck. “Come to Mommy. Don’t pull cousin Trey’s hair or he will be mad.”
    “Get out of the way,” Wade snapped, pushing his wife down into the pew and grabbing their daughter.
    Lilly’s squeal this time threatened to shatter the stained glass windows.
    Trey pulled his head back to frown at the child and growl, “That’s enough.”
    The noise stopped and she stared at Trey wide-eyed.
    “Act like a little lady,” he ordered, and the child shyly tucked her head under his chin. “If it’s okay with you, Wade, she can sit here if she behaves herself. It’ll give you a break.”
    Wade glared and Gen held her breath. Trey waited. Gripping his daughter’s arm, Wade wrung a whimper from the child.
    “You behave for your cousin, young lady. Don’t embarrass me again today,” he snarled, before straightening his jacket and dropping back into his seat.
    Trey rubbed the little girl’s arm with his thumb and turned her around to sit on his right thigh, closest to Gen. He glanced at his cousin’s wife.
    “Are you okay?”
    “Yes of course. Thank you for your assistance,” Rose whispered gratefully. 
    “What’s family for?” Trey asked as the pastor stepped to the pulpit and greeted the congregation.
     
    Gen stood at a gentle, but prodding, pat from her husband’s hand as the rest of the congregation rose from their pews in a wave. She glanced down the row. Her stomach knotted. Rose’s fingers were trembling as she picked up her bible. Wade still looked furious. Trey had been stiff with Cole earlier, and his ever stoic face remained unreadable throughout the church service. Was he mad? Surely Cole didn’t count in the list of men she was not supposed to talk to. She bit her lip and second guessed herself in a brief bid of worry. What if he did?
    Her thoughts were cut short as Trey seized her hand and wound his thick fingers through hers in a secure grip. Much like before, her husband shouldered his way through the crowd with a surprising amount of grace and ease. However, their progress was stopped short outside. A swarm of people loitered at the bottom of the steps, and as soon as they descended, the cluster closed in like a pack of hungry wolves.
    Pressing close to her husband’s back, Gen squeezed his hand. He pulled his Stetson back on, the brim shadowing his face. The pastor seemed undaunted as he shook Trey’s hand and clapped