If You Only Knew

Chapter Twenty-Eight



* * *





TY TOOK ADVANTAGE of the lull in the storm to sprint the hundred yards from the tree line to the dubious protection of the ramshackle barn in the pouring rain. What had Rayna been thinking—going for a walk in this weather? And this place held such warm and fuzzy memories, of course she’d come this way.

He slipped inside and stopped to catch his breath, leaning his shoulder against the wall. Rivulets of water ran from the hair that hung in his eyes, and he tried without much success to brush it to the side. His shirt and most of his jeans were soaking wet, and he’d no doubt have a couple of bruises on his head and shoulders where Ping-Pong-ball-sized hailstones had done a number on him.

A movement toward the back of the barn caught his attention. He let his breath out when he recognized Ribs’s stocky body coming toward him from the shadows at a trot. If the dog was here, Rayna had to be here too.

He knelt as Ribs reached him. “Hey, boy. Couldn’t you talk her out of this insanity?”

The dog jumped up on Ty, his front feet landing against his shoulders. Slightly off balance and not fully anticipating the animal’s weight, Ty sprawled backward into a pile of loose straw. Evidently Ribs thought that was a fun game. His tail beat out a happy rhythm while he climbed on Ty’s chest and licked his face. The crowning moment was when Rayna laughed.

It was infectious, and he couldn’t help laughing with her as he tried to shove the dog aside so he could finally see her. “Would you call your mangy dog, please? I can’t breathe under here.”

“He’s not mangy.” Rayna snorted and curtailed her laughter but made no move to call him off.

“Okay, okay. He’s not mangy.” Ty managed to dodge the tongue that darted toward his nose.

“Ribs, this is fun, but you have to let him up now.” She patted her thigh, and the dog shuffled over to her and sat, leaning against her leg. The Sig forty-five she held in her hand disappeared behind her back.

Ty pulled himself to his knees, then his feet. He tried to brush away some of the dirt and straw that now stuck to his wet clothes, but it was fruitless. “Guess I’ll need another shower and a change of clothes.” He took a step toward her. “I couldn’t wait to see you. Think I could have a hug?”

She held up a hand as she shook her head once. Her lips formed into a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding smirk.

Ty stopped. “Something wrong, sweetheart?” God, she looked good, in spite of the bandage on her throat. Her bouncy blond hair framed her face with curls, and shining blue eyes stared back at him. Muscular legs and thighs filled out her jeans just right, and as his gaze swept over her, he wanted nothing more than to touch each of her curves and reclaim them.

A soft harrumph escaped her. “Don’t call me that.” She turned on her heels and retreated across the barn until she was swallowed up by the shadows.

Alex and Joe had tried to warn him before he left the house. They told him she’d been distant and lost in thought. She’d asked Joe to take her to LA so she could clean out her apartment. She was going home to Montana. Damn, that sounded good to him.

But the way she was acting now, maybe she didn’t want him there. It was possible she’d decided to return home only after learning he was leaving. His gut told him it wasn’t possible that the night they’d spent together, and the year before that, meant nothing to her. It sure as hell meant something to him, and he wasn’t giving up without a fight.

He followed her across the barn and hopped up on the haystack beside her. “We have to talk, Rayna.”

“Where have you been for the last two days?”

Ty heard the accusation in her voice. “I’ve been in an interrogation room, trying to explain the last six years to the man who was my boss back then and who wasn’t the least bit amused.”

“Nate mentioned a Captain Oswald.”

“Good man. Fair man. He eventually got over being pissed and listened to what Bree and I had to say. There won’t be any charges for Bree, especially since Andre has apparently left the country, and I can have my old job back if I want it.” Ty stopped, hoping she would tell him not to take it.

“Did Andre tell Bree about Sean and her first husband?” Her gaze flickered up to his for a second.

“Yes. He told you too?” Ribs stirred and laid his head on Ty’s leg.

She nodded. “Nate killed Sean?”

“Sean was trying to kill me.” She flinched, and Ty regretted being so direct. He reached for her arm, tugging her toward him until her head rested stiffly against his chest.

“You said we were a team. You should have let me go with you.” The words came out in a rush as though she’d been holding them back.

So, that was what was bothering her. Ty’s first instinct was to tell her the obvious—she was wounded and not in any condition to go after a killer. Everybody on the team was subject to the same rules, and she knew that. But she didn’t want to hear that from him.

Ty pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. “I know. I should have. Are you okay?”


She nodded her head against his shirt. “Better now.”

He smiled. “I was so worried when I found your note. It can be dangerous, walking in weather like this, with lightning and flash floods.”

She sat up and gave Ribs a pat. “The sun was shining when I left the house. Anyway, do you think, after everything that’s happened, a little bad weather is going to stop me?” Her lips quirked in a sad smile. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“But… I want to.”

Her eyes flew to his, and she smiled. Then sadness overtook her again, and she turned away. “Where is Bree?”

There it was—the rest of what was troubling her. She still hadn’t let go of his foolish marriage proposal to Bree. “She picked up Madison and Maria and took off. By the way, she said to say good-bye. Now, will you tell me what’s really bothering you? Is there something you’d like to know about Bree?”

“No.” She grimaced and looked down.

He caught her hand and brought it to his lips. “I’d never lie to you. You can trust me.”

Rayna met his gaze and smiled. “I know. But I don’t trust her.”

He flashed her an apologetic grin. “Sweetheart, you’ll never have to worry about Bree again. That’s a promise.”

A gust of wind rattled the building and drew her attention to the doors. She pulled her hand back and scratched Ribs’s head. “Will you take your old job back?”

“Naw. I’ve made other plans.” He leaned forward and braced his hands on the edge of the bale.

Rayna crossed her arms in front of her. “Oh?”

Ty purposely remained silent.

“Where will you go?” Rayna finally met his gaze.

He ran his knuckles down her cheek and cupped her chin gently. “Don’t know. What I do know is, everything I want is here with me right now—you and that mangy dog.”

She let her breath out slowly and shifted around to face him. “Are you for real, Whitlock?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He held out his hand and breathed a sigh of relief when she put hers into it. “I love you, Rayna. Always have, and I’m not about to change my mind. I know you can take care of yourself, but would you just humor me and my male ego? Let me worry about you once in a while?”

Rayna nodded, and a smile broke free as she scooted into his arms.

“Just so you know, from now on, wherever you go, I go. If you head back to school, I’ll be tagging along. Hell, if you decide to leave the country, just make sure there’s room for me when we get there.”

“What if I go home to Montana?” She didn’t take her eyes off him as she chewed on her lower lip.

Ty grinned. “Then I’m there.” He lifted her onto his lap and kissed her tenderly. “I’ll have your back, and you’ll have mine.”

She pulled away and held his face in her hands. “I’m so sorry I hurt you, Ty. I love you so much, but it doesn’t change the fact I could still lose you, and that scares me to death.”

He sipped at her honeyed lips, loving her taste and the softness of her body against his. “You think I wasn’t scared when I almost lost you? I got a little taste of what you were afraid of, and I didn’t like it, either. Truth is, no one lives forever, sweetheart. The trick is to choose the life you want and enjoy every minute. I believe that’s what Charlie would want you to do too. Let’s not waste any more time.”

Rayna slipped her arms around his neck, drawing him close as he caressed her back and embraced her tightly. He lay down on the bales and tugged her down beside him.

“These clothes are soaked. Maybe I should get out of them.” He watched her carefully, unsuccessfully hiding a grin, to see how his suggestion was received.

She laughed and cocked an eyebrow. “You’ll wish you hadn’t when your naked butt hits that scratchy hay.”

“Oh yeah? Who said my butt was going to be on the bottom?” He nuzzled her neck until she moaned. “Or even that we’d be lying down?” Ty pushed himself over the side of the stacked bales and pulled her down the front of him, giving special attention to the hard length in his jeans.

Ribs lay undisturbed on the bale where he’d been, but now his tail whipped up and down excitedly. Rayna burst out laughing as Ty pressed her against the stack and she wrapped her legs around him. She licked her lower lip before he covered it with his and slid his tongue deep in her mouth.

The wind whipped up outside, making the barn creak with each gust. Rain came down in torrents, even creating a little stream in the dirt floor. Lightning and thunder kept their distance, with a steady rumbling.

Ty studied the ceiling over their heads. “Sounds like we might be here for a while. No one will come out in this weather to look for us. We’re on our own.”

A mischievous glint darkened her eyes. “Oh no. Whatever will we do?” She locked her arms around his neck and leaned into him.

He chuckled as he splayed his hands across her bottom and pressed his hips against her. “I might have an idea.” He caught the laughter that fell from her lips with a long, hard kiss. Yep—definitely an idea worth pursuing.





See how Dixie Lee Brown’s thrilling Trust No One series began!

Keep reading for excerpts from


ALL OR NOTHING

and

WHEN I FIND YOU


Available now from Avon Impulse.





An Excerpt from


ALL OR NOTHING





“TRUST ME. THIS is the safest way.”

Everything required trust with him. So, did she trust him? If she ever got back on the ground, she might be able to answer that question. She looked over the edge of the platform. There’s no way!

“Take your time. Go when you’re ready… unless you want me to give you a little push.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” She wrapped her arms around the pole.

“You really don’t trust me, do you?” He laughed.

“I was starting to, before you said the word push.”

“There’s hope then? If I choose my words more carefully?”

“Maybe… if I ever get down from here.”

“Let’s sit for a minute. Things will look different from that perspective.” He sat, dangling his long legs over the side. Cara positioned herself beside him, her hands nervously flexing on the rope that joined her to the zip line.

“Jumping doesn’t seem any more reasonable from here.” Too bad, since sitting close enough to rub shoulders with him made her nearly as uncomfortable as the stupid zip line.

“We’ll just hang out and talk for a while then. That okay?” He gripped the edge of the platform and leaned forward, turning to look at her.

“The last time we talked, it ended badly.”

“Now we know which subjects to stay away from.”

“Yeah, anything to do with either of our private lives.”

“I think it was your ex-husband and my desire to protect you from him that got us crossways with each other.”

Cara glanced sideways at him, He was looking at her. Their eyes met. The strangest emotions coursed through her. Somehow, it didn’t sound so bad when he said it like that. Who didn’t want a knight in shining armor? She was afraid for Joe, but he sounded so confident he could protect her, and himself, she almost believed it. Recognizing the danger in that, she tore her eyes away from his.

“We’re making progress. You didn’t rip into me that time.” A grin came through in his voice.


“It doesn’t do any good to try talking sense into you.” She tried to sound serious, but her heart was no longer in it. She forced her mind back to the task at hand, considering the likelihood she’d ever be able to zip off this ledge. What was the worst that could happen? The cable could break and she’d plummet thirty feet to the ground. End all of her problems. More likely, it would be a gradual descent, with the jump from the platform the only really exciting part. She could do this.

“We’ve got unfinished business, you know. We might as well take care of it while we’re sitting here.”

“What’s that?”

“I almost had you talked into dinner that night we met.”

“You weren’t even close.”

“I think you were as intrigued with the idea as I was.” He grinned. “I also think we stood a good chance of ending the evening with a kiss.”

“That’s a stretch. You’re making the same mistake you made that night. Going from confident to arrogant in about two seconds flat. There was no chance in hell you were going to get a kiss.” Cara smiled at his wounded look.

“Will my chances ever improve?” His eyes met hers again.

She’d forgotten what a good-looking guy he was. The same mesmerizing pull she’d experienced the night she met him overcame her better judgment now. For a moment she wondered what it would feel like, his lips on hers, his arms holding her close, while they lost themselves in each other.

Cara drew herself up short. Was she completely crazy? She was barely free from one dangerous man. Why would she get involved with another? There was an attraction between them she couldn’t deny, but nothing could ever come of it.

“Maybe.” The word slipped out, almost on its own. Her gaze flew to his, hoping he hadn’t noticed her moment of weakness. He was watching her with his little-boy grin. A smile slowly and deliberately spread across her face. Surprise flickered in his eyes, and something much more intense darkened them. He lowered his head toward hers.





An Excerpt from


WHEN I FIND YOU





“OKAY—NOW THAT I’VE got your attention, let me tell you about my day.” Walker resumed his pacing. “I’ve been up since four thirty this morning. I’ve saved your neck three times so far today, and for my trouble I’ve been cracked on the skull, threatened by a bear, and nearly drowned. We’re through doing it your way.” He stopped and pinned her with a warning glance. “I realize you’re confused and you’ve got no idea who I am, but there’s only one thing you need to know. I’m taking you out of here with me, and I don’t care if I have to throw you over my shoulder and carry you out. Are we clear?”

She watched him without saying a word, looking anything but resigned to her fate.

Walker stared back, daring her to defy him.

She never even flinched.

“If you were me, what would you do?” Her strong, clear voice challenged him, while her eyes flashed with fire.

“If I were you, I’d find someone I could trust and stick with him until this is over.”

“And that’s you, I suppose? How do I know I can trust you?”

He made a show of looking around. “You don’t have a lot of options at the moment, but in case you haven’t noticed, I’m the one trying to keep you alive.” He reached for her elbow and pulled her to her feet. The cool breeze through his wet clothes chilled him, and he worried about her. Even with her arms wrapped around her just beneath her breasts, she still shook. No sense putting this off. She wasn’t magically going to start trusting him in the next few minutes, and they had to get moving.

He held up his jacket in front of her and took a deep breath. “Get out of those wet clothes and put this coat on.”

Her eyes widened in alarm and she stared at him, resting her hands on her hips in a stance that would have made him smile if she hadn’t been so serious. He held her gaze, expecting her to tell him to go to hell. He couldn’t afford to give on this issue so he kept talking. “We’ll head back to higher ground, start a fire, and get our clothes dried out. I have to get you warmed, and this is the only way I know to do it. We don’t have time to argue about this.”

“You can’t seriously expect me to… you’re wet and cold too. Wear your own damn coat.” She wrapped her arms around her waist again as though she could stop her trembling.

The fear in her expression tugged at his conscience and sent him searching for the words to reassure her he wasn’t going to jump her as soon as she undressed. The suspicious glare she fixed him with succeeded in hardening his resolve, and he lowered the coat, raised an eyebrow, and swept his gaze over her. “You can either get out of those clothes yourself, or I can help you.”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“You’ll find there’s not too much I wouldn’t do.”

Darcy glowered at him a few more seconds, clearly wishing she had a tree branch in her hand. Then she sighed and dropped her gaze, blinking several times in quick succession, obviously determined he wouldn’t see her break down. So, the woman wasn’t as tough as she wanted him to believe. Her vulnerability unleashed a wave of protectiveness that washed over him and left him feeling like an ass.

He frowned. “I’m not the enemy.” He held the coat higher so it blocked his view of everything but her head and shoulders. “Hurry, we have to get moving.” Trembling visibly, her lips still maintained a bluish tint. She wasn’t out of danger yet.





About the Author



* * *





DIXIE LEE BROWN lives and writes in Central Oregon, inspired by what she believes is the most gorgeous scenery anywhere. She resides with two dogs and a cat, who make sure she never takes herself too seriously. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, movies, and trips to the beach.


Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.





By Dixie Lee Brown

If You Only Knew

When I Find You

All or Nothing





Give in to your impulses…

Read on for a sneak peek at four brand-new

e-book original tales of romance from Avon Books.

Available now wherever e-books are sold.

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A COWBOY

By Emma Cane, Jennifer Ryan, and Katie Lane

SANTA, BRING MY BABY BACK

By Cheryl Harper

THE CHRISTMAS COOKIE CHRONICLES: GRACE

By Lori Wilde

DESPERATELY SEEKING FIREMAN

A BACHELOR FIREMEN NOVELLA

By Jennifer Bernard





ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A COWBOY


by Emma Cane, Jennifer Ryan, and Katie Lane

What’s better than Christmas?

Christmas and Cowboys.

From Emma Cane, Jennifer Ryan, and Katie Lane come three wildly romantic holiday stories featuring snowstorms, proposals, a sleigh ride… and, yes, cowboys.

The Christmas Cabin by Emma Cane

Sandy and her five-year-old son, Nate, are Christmas tree–hunting when a snowstorm strikes and an old ranch hand points them to an abandoned cabin. Little does Sandy know, the hand sent cowboy Doug Thalberg to the same place. It’s a Christmas all of Valentine Valley will remember.

Can’t Wait by Jennifer Ryan

Before The Hunted Series began…

Though she is the woman of his dreams, Caleb Bowden knows his best friend’s sister, Summer Turner, is off limits. He won’t cross that line, which means Summer will just have to take matters into her own hands if she wants her cowboy for Christmas.


Baby It’s Cold Outside by Katie Lane

Alana Hale hits the internet dating jackpot when she finds Clint McCormick. He’s sensitive and responsible—not to mention wealthy. When he invites her to spend the holidays on his family’s ranch, she readily accepts. But on the way there, a blizzard strands her with a womanizing rodeo cowboy who could change everything…





An Excerpt from





SANTA, BRING MY BABY BACK


by Cheryl Harper

A bride abandoned at the altar… just in time for Christmas? ’Tis the season for second chances at Cheryl Harper’s Elvis-themed Rock’n’Rolla Hotel.





There was something about Grace Andersen that made him want to help, even after decades of trying to guard his mother and her money against personalities and stories like hers.

He wouldn’t mind being Grace Andersen’s hero.

To avoid doing something stupid, Charlie turned to go but stopped when she added, “Oh, Charlie, could you do me a favor?”

She shuffled toward him, the rustle of the wedding dress sweeping the floor loud in the silence. “Could you unzip me? I thought I was going to dislocate a shoulder getting it zipped in the first place.” She turned and bent her head so that all Charlie could see was the smooth, pale skin of her shoulders and the loose dark hairs that tickled her neck.

When he didn’t move quickly enough, she turned her head to look at him over one perfect shoulder.

Remembering to breathe became a struggle again.

He forced himself to step closer. He grasped the zipper with one hand and slid the other under the fabric. The zipper made a quiet hiss as it slid down the curve of her back, every centimeter showing more beautiful skin.

And out of the blue he wondered if unzipping Grace Andersen would ever get old. Finished, he took two steps away to keep from smoothing his hands over her shoulders like he wanted, or tracing a finger down her spine just to see goose bumps.

She turned her head. “Thanks.”

As he pulled the door closed behind him, Charlie tried to remember the last time he’d seen anyone as pretty as she was in real life. Never. But she wasn’t his type. He preferred career women who wore glasses and looked like they could reel off stock prices or legal precedents. He liked women with sharp minds and sturdy savings. He’d had enough excitement growing up with Willodean McMinn Holloway Luttrell Jackson. Now all he wanted was a comfortable home, an easy, companionable, stable relationship, and maybe a baby to keep things interesting. Maybe.

Grace Andersen looked like… magic.

He propped his hands on his hips and shook his head as he looked out at the guitar-shaped pool that was covered for the season.

Magic? He hadn’t been in the hotel for a full twenty-four hours and already his mind was going. Something about being that close to her had melted it. But Grace Andersen was just a woman. She’d been left at the altar but didn’t seem too broken up about it. He hoped her new plan, whatever it was, included checking out of the hotel immediately. Beautiful Grace Andersen might have the ability to wreck his goals along with his logic if she stayed.





An Excerpt from





THE CHRISTMAS COOKIE CHRONICLES: GRACE


by Lori Wilde

(Originally appeared in the print anthology The Christmas Cookie Collection)

New York Times bestselling author Lori Wilde returns to Twilight, Texas, for another delightful holiday installment of her Christmas Cookie Chronicles. And this time, a young couple are thrilled to expect the greatest gift of all: a new baby!





The perfect Christmas starts with the perfect tree…


Flynn MacGregor Calloway put a palm to her aching back, wrapped her other arm around her pregnant belly, canted her head, and studied the spindly-branched, lopsided Scotch pine. After much wrestling and a few choice words, she’d managed to get it set up in a corner of the living room in the cottage she shared with her husband, Jesse.

She’d wanted to surprise him, so she’d waited until after the morning wedding of Jesse’s father, Sheriff Hondo Crouch, and his bride, Patsy Cross, before she’d slipped down to the Christmas tree lot and, using Jesse’s pickup truck, drove the tree home. Jesse had volunteered to drive the newlyweds to DFW airport to catch a plane bound for a Hawaii honeymoon, so he had taken their sedan because three people and luggage fit in it better, giving Flynn plenty of time to get it done.

The glow from the icicle lights dangling on the eaves outside slanted through the window and shone through some of the more meager limbs.

Okay, so it wasn’t quite a Charlie Brown tree, but it was close and clearly not what Maven Styles, the author of How to Host the Perfect Christmas, had in mind when she declared that an impeccable holiday began with the perfect tree.

Then again, Maven Styles probably wasn’t on a newlywed student’s tight budget that required her to wait for Christmas Eve, when they marked down the trees. Flynn had picked this one up for five dollars, and she was proud of her bargain. Maybe not proud, but it was a real tree, not artificial, and seven feet tall. She should get points for that, right? All it needed were a few decorations to spiff it up.

She couldn’t regret cutting corners. The baby had been a surprise, a very welcome surprise to be sure, but their finances had taken an added hit because of it. Between scraping together money for her college tuition, the cost of rebuilding Jesse’s motorcycle shop after the fire, exorbitant health insurance for the self-employed, and getting ready for the baby’s arrival, they hadn’t much money left to spend on holiday celebrations. Their situation was a temporary setback, she knew that, but part of her couldn’t help feeling wistful that their last Christmas with just the two of them was going to be as sparse as that scraggly Scotch pine.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself, she scolded. Plenty of people have it much worse.

By tightly pinching pennies all year and keeping an eagle eye out for sales, she’d managed to save just enough to buy Jesse a new leather jacket to replace the one he’d worn since high school. She couldn’t wait to give it to him on Christmas morning. For now, it was wrapped and stowed in the trunk of their car. He’d had so little growing up that she ached to give him everything his heart desired. Which was why she’d checked How to Host the Perfect Christmas out of the library, hoping she could pick up a few pointers.

A cardboard box filled with decorations from her childhood sat on the floor. Flynn peeled back the tape and opened the flaps. Her mother had had the habit of either buying or making one special ornament to commemorate each Christmas.

As she removed them from the box, each decoration stirred a memory—the candy canes made out of bread dough and shellacked (crumbling a bit now with age) that she and her younger sister, Carrie, had helped their mother bake in 1992. The twin wooden toy soldiers her mother’s best friend, Marva Bullock, had given her after the twins, Noah and Joel, were born; and the last ornament her mother had ever purchased, a delicate red glass ball inset with a tiny nativity scene.

Air stilled in her lungs. Although her family hadn’t known it at the time, the red glass ball represented the last perfect Christmas before her mother had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Tears misted her eyes. Oh, Mama. You’ll never know your grandchildren. With a knuckle, she wiped away the tears. Should she put the ornament on the tree? It would stir painful memories every time she looked at it. And yet the ornament was a shining reminder of that one perfect Christmas when her family was last together and whole.






An Excerpt from





DESPERATELY SEEKING FIREMAN


A Bachelor Firemen Novella

by Jennifer Bernard

From USA Today bestseller Jennifer Bernard comes the steamy story of a sexy bachelor fireman and the woman who will turn his life around.





Wayside Chapel, San Gabriel, California


The groom’s side of the aisle was packed with an astonishingly high number of gorgeous men. Nita Moreno, standing near Melissa McGuire—soon to be Melissa Brody—surveyed the pews with widening eyes. There was enough testosterone in the building to fuel a small nation’s army. Enough handsome, manly faces to fill an issue of Playgirl. Enough brawny muscles to…

Oops. Busted. From across the aisle, two steps behind Captain Brody, a pair of amused, tiger-striped eyes met hers. An unusual mixture of gold and green, surrounded by thick black eyelashes, they would have made their owner look feminine if he weren’t one solid hunk of hard-packed male. A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. Even in this context—the so-called Bachelor Firemen crowding the wedding of their revered fire captain—he stood out. First there was that breath-taking physique. Then there was his face, a study in contrasts. His features were so strong they almost qualified as harsh. Firm jaw, uncompromising cheekbones. A man’s man… until one looked into those golden eyes, or noticed that he possessed the most beautiful mouth Nita had ever seen on a man.

She narrowed her own eyes and met him look for look. Hey, she wasn’t checking out the available men. She had one of her own. Very deliberately, she let her gaze roam to the bride’s side of the aisle and settle on Bradford Maddox the Fourth. Hedge fund operator, family scion, possessor of a killer business instinct and an only-slightly-receding hairline, he was hers, and she could still scarcely believe it. Maybe soon she and Bradford would be making their way down an aisle like this. Out of unconscious habit, she took the inside of her cheek between her teeth and worried it at. She loved Bradford, and she knew he felt the same. He must.

Bradford, who seemed lost in thought, startled when he realized she was looking adoringly at him. He gave her a faint smile, then pressed his finger to his ear. Lovely. He wasn’t lost in thought, he was listening to his Bluetooth. She sighed, telling herself to let it go. It came with the territory when you dated a hotshot financier. Of course he couldn’t focus his entire attention on the wedding of two people he didn’t even know.

The right side of her body felt suddenly warm, and she realized the man across the aisle was still watching her, as if she fascinated him.

Really? She fascinated him? That seemed unlikely. She raised a questioning eyebrow at him. He smiled, the expression transforming his face from the inside out. Goodness, the man was gorgeous, in a totally different way from Bradford. Dark instead of blond, tough instead of charming. Virile and primitive, the kind of man who would toss you over his shoulder and have his way with you.

He jerked his chin at her, as if signaling her to meet him in the chancel.

She frowned at him, scolding. Excuse me? How inappropriate.

He did it again, more urgently this time.

What did the man want? She lifted her hands, palms up—a frustrated question—as he mouthed something to her.

“Bouquet.”

Aw, crap.