My Forever Valentine: New Zealand Happy-Ever-After Romance (Due South: A Sexy New Zealand Romance Book 5) by Tracey Alvarez

up, way up, into his warm brown eyes. She didn’t need to glance at her older brother to know Nick was giving Ben the Italian male, you better treat my sister right eyeball stare.
    But Ben’s gaze never swerved from her.
    “You sure know how to throw a surprise party,” he said, and the heat in his eyes went from warm to hot enough to boil her blood stream. “Love the dress.” Then his eyebrows knotted together. “But I look like sh—”
    His gaze shot off to the side, where Zoe and Jade were positioned. He coughed, ears glowing redder. “I mean I look like something Sparky coughed up.”
    Kezia laid her hand on Ben’s arm, the hairs and tiny paint chips caught on his skin tickling her palm. “You look like my Ben. Amore mio .”
    Muscles twitched under her hands, but she didn’t let go. He was big, warm, beautiful, and hers. “I don’t care what you’ve done to the shirt I picked or why you’re covered in paint. I want to marry you here, now, in front of all our friends and family.”
    His larger hand covered her fingers. “Never could say no to you, baby. Especially not with the mafia breathing down my neck.”
    Grunts of amusement from her three big brothers came from behind her, and Kezia grinned. “So, how about it, Ben Harland? Are you going to make an honest woman out of me?”
    “Not looking like that, he isn’t,” Glenna said, popping up on Ben’s other side. “West, you’re his best man, do something.”
    Standing just behind Ben, West chuckled and loosened the charcoal-colored tie from around his neck. He yanked it over his head, then jammed it down over Ben’s, adjusting it so it hung in a straight line down the front of Ben’s white tee shirt.
    “There. Better, Mum?” he said.
    Glenna huffed but smiled at Kezia. “Ben’ll never be in a GQ magazine, dear. But he truly does love you.”
    Kezia moved to Ben’s side as Wally Nolan, their local Justice of the Peace and convenient marriage celebrant, got up from a nearby table.
    “You on board with all this, son?” Wally asked Ben.
    “Completely on board. Let’s do it,” Ben replied.
    As Wally opened his folder and began to speak, Ben threaded his fingers through Kezia’s. A shiver worked its way down her spine at the touch of his work-roughed skin.
    Over nine years ago she’d stood in the cold halls of a registry office with Zoe’s father, Callum. She’d repeated her vows, fumbling through some of the words, but dreamy-eyed and certain that she and Callum would have a wonderful life together. Even if she didn’t have the support of her family…or his.
    Now, as she stood with Ben, her big brothers willing witnesses, their friends gathered with the warmth of their good wishes and love flowing all around them, a different kind of certainty filled her heart. Refined and molded by her first marriage, which had ended leaving her a widow, she wasn’t the same young girl who’d fought back doubts and replaced them with fairy tales. Now, she didn’t have doubts, and she didn’t want a fairy tale. She wanted what she’d already tasted—the ups and downs of making a life with one man, her man.
    When it came time to exchange vows, she kept hers simple, because Ben had shown her the kind of love that lasted forever couldn’t be expressed in mere words. It was simply something you lived out day to day, in lots of little ways.
    Kezia took Ben’s hand and slipped on the simple gold band she’d chosen. “I love you, Benjamin Michael Harland, and I promise to love you, care for you, make you smile, and feed you, every day for the rest of my life. Thank you for being a wonderful dad to Zoe and bringing a new daughter, Jade, into my heart.”
    Ben’s fingers tightened on hers, and if she wasn’t mistaken, his eyes were shinier than usual.
    West nudged Ben’s elbow and held out a matching plain gold band. Ben took it from his friend and raised an eyebrow at her. “You bought your own wedding ring?”
    She chuckled. “Did you really