Page 4 of The Angel and the Agent

“Maybe both. I’ve never been a husband before,” Ridge admitted.

“And someday after that you’ll be a daddy,” Ethan added helpfully.

Ridge grimaced. “Are you trying to make me puke? I’ve haven’t been this jumpy since my SEAL test.”

Ethan guffawed. “You know there’s a simple solution here: don’t get married.”

“That’s not an option,” Ridge said.

“Maggie got you over a barrel with ultimatums?” Ethan guessed.

Ridge gave him a quelling glare. “You think I’m nervous because Maggie’s making me do this? Nah, son, you got it all wrong. I wanted to marry her almost from the minute I met her. I just don’t want to mess it up. I don’t want to let her down.”

Ethan had no reply to that. He had known a lot of women and never been tempted to make it permanent with any of them. As for letting someone down, that was how Ethan lived his life. Hewas a screwup, at least when it came to relationships. A trail of broken, wounded hearts littered his past and, truth be told, he didn’t much care. That was how it was, how it was supposed to be. He was the catch that couldn’t be pinned down, but he was up front about it, never fooling a woman into thinking they had a chance at something permanent with him. Not his fault if they got too attached.

“You were made for marriage,” Ethan reassured him in a rare, serious moment. “You’re that steady sort, LT. Husband material, Grade-A.”

Ridge blew out a breath and turned away from the mirror. “Tell anyone I was this nervous, and I’ll snap your neck.”

Ethan grinned. This was more like the man he knew. “Good thing I got it all recorded on my phone.”

“I know people who can make you disappear,” Ridge warned.

“I know the same people, and I’m pretty sure they like me better,” Ethan rebutted. The door opened and they were joined by Ridge’s older brother. Calhoun Ridge was the sort of man who entered a space and made everyone else shut up. Even Ethan was intimidated by him, and he wasn’t intimidated by much. But the man owned approximately half of south Texas and was likely a millionaire, after having played pro ball and marrying a beauty contestant.

“How’s the little guy holding up?” Cal asked, squeezing the back of Ridge’s neck. Ridge was nearly six two, but his older brother had a good two inches on him, making him seem small in comparison. The two brothers were six years apart, a mercy that kept them from being as competitive as they might have been. Ridge was a nice looking guy, a practically perfect physical specimen, former SEAL, and high-ranking government operative. And yet he paled in comparison to his seemingly perfect older brother.

“Good, I’m good,” Ridge insisted, shooting Ethan a challenging glance in case he might get any ideas about sharing the details of their conversation.

“We were talking about learning curves and changes,” Ethan offered. Before Ridge could reach for him and make good on snapping his neck, he hastened to add, “I started a new job recently. LT was talking me through it.”

“Ah, good stuff,” Calhoun said, not really listening. His affection for his little brother was genuine, but he didn’t seem to care about any of the other people in Ridge’s life, with the possible exception of Maggie. For a moment Ethan worried about Maggie, wondering what her life would be like as the younger sister-in-law of Calhoun Ridge and his beautiful wife, Isabel. But the concern only lasted an instant. Maggie had a way of warming even the coldest heart; she’d be fine.

The wedding coordinator opened the door and shoved her head inside. “Ready, boys?”

No one had called him a boy since he was a boy, but Ethan didn’t mind when the plump and pleasant little old lady did it. She was some distant cousin or friend of Maggie. It seemed like everyone in Maggie’s world was friendly and charming and he liked them immensely, at least the ones he had met. Everyone on Maggie’s side of the aisle seemed warm and cuddly compared to the SEALs, agents, and Calhoun and Isabel on Ridge’s side.

The music began. Ridge and Calhoun took their place at the front of the church, leaving Ethan and Maggie’s brothers, Darren and Johnny, to walk their bridesmaids down the aisle. Darren was as quiet and bookish as Johnny was friendly and outgoing. Ethan had never known anyone with Down Syndrome before, and if they were all like Johnny, then he hoped to know several more people in the future. Now, as he stood in the back of the church waiting for his turn to walk his bridesmaid down theaisle, he was so excited over the prospect of being a groomsman that the wedding coordinator had to hush him twice.

“Ethan, can you believe we’re part of the wedding?” Johnny asked, grasping his bicep as he shook Ethan’s hand for the fourth time that day.

“It’s like living in a dream, Johnny,” Ethan said, patting Johnny’s shoulder. “You’d better get back in line; your turn is coming in a few minutes.” Dutifully, Johnny found his place in line and pressed his lips together, bouncing excitedly on the balls of his feet. Smiling, Ethan faced forward and held out his arm to his bridesmaid, a college friend of Maggie’s whose name he kept forgetting. The wedding coordinator opened the door and shooed them through, and then it was Darren’s turn with his bridesmaid, and finally Johnny and his bridesmaid.

When the maid of honor walked down the aisle, Ethan tried hard to catch her eye, but she seemed to look everywhere but at him. The omission was purposeful, Ethan knew, and he had it coming. When he first met Amelia, Maggie’s little sister, he had been immediately and sizzlingly attracted to her. She had all the same warmth he enjoyed about Maggie with a higher dose of stylish sophistication. Where Maggie was all doe-eyed soft and sweet cuteness, Amelia was outright hot. The first time Ethan met her he’d been smitten, so much that, after a few minutes of flirting, the two of them wound up having a steamy makeout session in Maggie’s pantry. She gave him her number. He promised to call, but of course he hadn’t. They hadn’t seen each other until yesterday, six months later. Last night Ethan avoided her, and she made it easy for him to do so. Now, seeing her in her strapless bridesmaid dress, he wondered what the chances were that they could find another pantry.

He zoned out during the wedding. Yes, it was nice and sweet and blah, blah, blah, but it was so far outside of his comfort zone that he couldn’t tune in, couldn’t grasp what they weresaying. Promising to love only one person forever—what was that about?

When the wedding was over, it was time for pictures, a task made less tedious by the fact that separate pictures had already been taken. Now they only had to take the together pictures, and then it was off to the reception hall. Ethan tried to place himself next to Amelia in the limo, but she kept herself busy arranging Maggie’s dress and hair. She tried to make it seem as if she weren’t purposely ignoring him, but he could tell that she was, and it gave him hope. If she had no attraction to him at all, she wouldn’t have worked so hard to ignore him. She was younger than he was, only twenty two, and she was his friend’s new little sister, thanks to today’s vows, but that only made her more tantalizing to Ethan. He always wanted what was off limits, what he couldn’t have.

When at last the requisite groomsman duties were over and the meal had been eaten, it was time to dance. Ethan decided to play it cool. If he rushed over to Amelia and asked her to dance, she would have the advantage. He would hang back, give it a while and then maybe he would get around to asking her for a dance. But as he hung back, admiring his brilliance and cool reserve, another man darted to the forefront and asked her to dance. The man looked familiar, and at last Ethan recognized him as Piedmont Bonvoy, a DC area lawyer famous for getting giant corporations out of sticky situations. He was young, wealthy, locally famous, and considered one of DC’s most eligible bachelors. Ethan watched with distaste as he and Amelia danced together, talking and laughing like old friends. And then, as they danced a second and then third song together, Piedmont’s hands smoothed up and down Amelia’s waist and Ethan had the dawning realization this wasn’t their first meeting, that perhaps Piedmont was Amelia’s date, that perhaps they were actuallytogether.

He glared at them, gobsmacked. How dare she move on from their flirtation when he was just getting into it? And with Piedmont Bonvoy, no less. Ethan was a confident man, perhaps even cocky, but even he found Piedmont Bonvoy slightly intimidating. The man was a genius, a literal genius who graduated law school at the age of nineteen. And, unlike many young geniuses, he had the charm to back up the brains. There was nothing socially awkward or backwards about Bonvoy. And, okay, maybe his muscles came from a gym and trainer, but the guy was ripped.

Ethan stared at the duo, shamelessly pouting. During a turn, Amelia’s eyes landed briefly on him and then away. When she almost immediately paused her dance and walked away from Bonvoy, Ethan sat up and took notice. Had that been a signal to him? Did she want him to follow her? Was that what her look had been about? Never one to waste an opportunity for adventure, Ethan darted to his feet and followed, interrupting her brother Darren who was in the middle of a boring story about a comic book convention.

He tailed her as she exited the reception, went into the kitchen and darted into a small room. The sign over the door read “Pantry.”Yes.Ethan smiled as he stepped inside the room and closed the door behind them.

Chapter 2

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