Jilted: Promise Harbor, Book 1

Dedication

To my three lovely author partners in this series, Erin Nicholas, Meg Benjamin and Sydney Somers, and to editor Lindsey Faber—it has been a privilege working with you amazing, talented ladies on this project! Also thanks to the Nine Naughty Novelists who patiently brainstormed titles with us, and to beta reader extraordinaire Kim—you rock!

Prologue

Josh Brewster’s head pounded, but he tried to focus on the minister standing at the front of St. Mark’s Methodist Church. Allie stood beside him, holding his arm in a death grip, looking pale and shaky.

“You okay?” he whispered, looking down at her. Hell, she’d lost even more weight lately. She looked like she was drowning in that fluffy white dress, and the makeup she’d applied didn’t hide how pale her cheeks were or the dark circles beneath her eyes. When he’d watched her walk down the aisle on her father’s arm, he’d been…dismayed. Worried. He patted her hand on his forearm.

She swayed yet again and nodded. “Sure. Why not?”

“You look…funny.” He closed his eyes briefly. Damn. That wasn’t exactly how a groom was supposed to react to seeing his bride on their wedding day. But she really did not look great. She still hadn’t gotten over the death of her mom and all the stress of looking after her family. He knew what that was like. Hopefully this wedding would be a new start for everyone.

Mrs. Gurney continued playing the piano, the song that had accompanied Allie and her father down the aisle.

“I worked for two hours this morning to look like this,” she whispered back.

The smell of alcohol reached his nose. Was that fumes from his hangover? Or Allie’s? Or… “Are you drunk?” he asked with a frown. Was
that
why she looked so awful?

“It’s Bernie’s fault.”

“You’re drunk?” he repeated. “Jesus, Allie.”

“You’re not supposed to say ‘Jesus’ in church.” She frowned. “You’re not supposed to say ‘Jesus’ like
that
in church.”

Josh’s jaw locked. He couldn’t blame her for drinking the night before the wedding. Hell, he’d done the same thing. But the day
of
the wedding…good Christ.

“Josh?” she asked as the song finally came to an end.

”It’s okay, Allie,” he whispered. “Let’s…just do this.”

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to unite this man and this woman in holy matrimony.”

Then a loud voice at the back of the church said, “Oh, hell no.”

Josh’s head snapped around. He winced at the stab of pain behind his eyes, and stared at the man striding down the center aisle toward them. The guy wasn’t exactly dressed for a wedding, wearing jeans and boots and a faded hoodie. What the hell was going on? Was there some kind of emergency outside the church?

“Gavin?” Allie squeaked.

What the fuck? Gavin? “This is Gavin?” he asked Allie. She was staring wide-eyed at the guy.

What the hell was he doing there? Josh’s head throbbed even more as he gave it a shake.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Josh demanded, frowning at him. Christ, the guy looked rough—unshaven, wrinkled clothes, bloodshot eyes—

“I’m here to talk to Allie.”

Josh kept himself between Gavin and Allie. This lunatic busting into their wedding wasn’t laying a hand on her. “We’re kind of in the middle of something.”
Asshole
.

“Yeah, this can’t wait.” Gavin looked past Josh to Allie. “I need to talk to you. Now.”

Josh glanced at Allie, who was as white as her wedding dress, her eyes round. When Gavin made a move toward her, Josh blocked him. He wanted to punch him but kept his fists at his side. “I don’t think so, Gavin.”

Gavin sighed and they locked eyes. Josh glared at him. Silence filled the church, and out of the corner of his eye Josh caught the flash of a camera. Fuck, people were taking pictures of this!

“Listen,” Gavin said. “I can do this here in front of the whole town. I don’t mind. I’m leaving here with Allie one way or another. But I think keeping some of this private might be appropriate.” He leaned around Josh to look at Allie. “I have some things I need to say before you say I do to another man, Al.”

Now? He wanted to say things to her
now?
After he’d dumped her, disappeared and broken her heart? Josh narrowed his eyes, stepped closer and lowered his voice. “Don’t do this, Gavin. Haven’t you messed with her enough? Just let her be happy.”

“That’s exactly what I want to do.” Gavin lifted his chin, his mouth tight. “Is that what
you
want?”

Was he fucking
kidding?
“I’m standing next to her in a tux in front of a minister,” Josh said incredulously. “What do you think?”

“I think that if you don’t let her talk to me, you know that she’ll always wonder. You don’t want that, do you? To have your wife wondering about another man?”

Josh blew out a long breath and shoved his hand through his hair. Hell. Allie had been crazy in love with Gavin. But they’d broken up over a year ago. She was over him. Wasn’t she? She was marrying
him
, for Chrissake. They cared about each other. This wedding was going to turn things around for both their families, and especially for Allie. He half turned to his bride, ready to ask if she wanted him to kick this guy’s ass out of there. “Allie?”

But her gaze was focused on Gavin. “What would I wonder?” she asked.

Damn.

“You’d wonder what I had to say to you so badly that I would fly over four thousand miles so I could rush in here to stop your wedding.”

Allie stared at Gavin for what seemed like forever. Josh got a sinking feeling in his stomach as he stood there, on the outside, watching them joined in an intense eye lock. Silence filled the church all the way to the high ceiling. Allie looked out at the congregation, then back at Gavin. What was going through her head?

“Allie?” Gavin said again.

She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “You’re too late,” she whispered.

But Josh caught the glint of tears in her eyes. Aw, hell.

“Bullshit,” Gavin said. He stepped forward, bent and hauled her up into his arms, the skirt of her dress trailing to the floor, and headed for the side door.

“Gavin!” She gave a feeble kick.

Josh stepped forward. “Just a damn minute—” he began, adrenaline flashing through his veins as Gavin manhandled Allie.

Gavin turned. “Give me a chance,” he said. “Let me talk to her. Let me tell her what I came here to say. Then if she wants to come back, I’ll walk her down the aisle myself.”

Without waiting for an answer Gavin turned back to the door. He said something to Allie in a low voice, something Josh couldn’t hear. Arms linked around his neck, Allie gazed up at him raptly and whispered something back.

Whoa. The look on Allie’s face…

Mrs. Gurney sprang to open the door, and Gavin stepped out into the June sunshine with Josh’s bride in his arms.

Josh looked at the crowd of stunned faces, and a wave of heat swept over him. Jesus. Was he seriously being left at the altar? Unbelievable! Talk about humiliating.

Then his gaze caught on Devon. His ex-girlfriend, sitting there between Ben Hancock and Hayley Stone, looking just as flabbergasted as everyone else. For a split second, their eyes met and something passed between them, but he dragged his gaze away from her.

Allie had just been abducted by some crazed mountain man. She was fragile and stressed out and…and possibly drunk. He could not let this happen.

He strode to the door to follow them outside.

Chapter One

One month earlier…

The envelope didn’t particularly look like something that was going to induce a heart attack.

Rubbing the back of her neck, which was always sore lately, Devon separated it from the rest of her mail, the thick, glossy paper and elegant script standing out from the bills and junk mail. It looked like a wedding invitation. Curious, she ripped it open.

And her heart seized.

For a long, painful moment she stared at it. Josh and Allie were getting married.

Josh and Allie were getting married.

A shaft of pain shot through her, a pain so fierce she almost went to her knees there in the foyer of her Boston apartment. She leaned into the wall for support, her vision darkening around the edges.

Married. Josh and Allie.

She closed her eyes as another wave of pain swept over her.

The man she’d loved with every breath in her body was going to marry her best friend. Well, former best friend. Things had been… Well, there hadn’t been much of anything between her and Allie since Devon had learned from Facebook that Josh and Allie were “in a relationship”.

Allie had called her not long after that, sounding hesitant and nervous. “I didn’t want you to hear from someone else,” she’d said.

“Too late.” Devon had laughed a little. “I already heard.”

“So you’re…okay with it? With me and Josh?”

“Of course!” Maybe her voice had been a little too loud, a little too cheery. “Things were over between Josh and me ages ago.”

“Well, good. We didn’t plan this—it just…happened.”

“I’m sure.”

The conversation had been short, deliberately cheerful and nonchalant. And then Devon had laid down on her bed and cried.

That had been almost a year ago, and she hadn’t talked to Allie since. After torturing herself by stalking Allie and Josh on Facebook, looking for any mention of them together, she’d finally unfriended them for her own good. So this wedding invitation came right out of the blue. Why the hell was Allie sending her an invitation to their wedding?

Devon moved into her apartment, still holding the small card. A glass of wine might be a good idea. No. Make that a bottle. She yanked open her refrigerator and pulled out the nearly full bottle of fine sauvignon blanc. As she sloshed a generous serving into a glass, she looked again at the invitation.

The wedding was a month away, to be held in the town she’d grown up in—Promise Harbor, Massachusetts.

And then Devon started laughing. As if she was going to go back to Promise Harbor for any reason. But for the wedding of her ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend? Ha! Hilarious! She leaned against the counter and laughed, but a chuckle turned to a sob, and she picked up her glass and gulped a big swallow of wine.

Only an hour later, Allie phoned. Devon gripped the phone tightly.

“Hey,” Allie said, her voice gentle. “I called to see if you got the invitation.”

“I did.” Devon pasted on a smile even though Allie couldn’t see it, because she knew it would make her sound happier. “Congratulations! I was surprised.”

“Um. Yeah. Thanks, Devon. Are you going to come?”

Devon almost snorted and said,
Are you nucking futs?
but Allie spoke again. “I hope you will,” she continued. “Josh and I would both love it if you came.”

Hearing Josh’s name made her heart bump in her chest. “Oh. Really.”

“Yes. Really.”

“I’m so busy, Allie…” Shit. She didn’t have an excuse invented. She’d planned to RSVP her regrets on the impersonal little card included with the invitation, regrets with no explanation necessary. “You know what my job is like…”

“I know, but surely you can take a couple of days off. Your dad would love to see you.”

Devon stared at her cell phone in disbelief. “Yeah, I doubt that.”

“Well,
we
would. It would mean a lot if you would come. I know it would be hard for you…”

At that, Devon’s chin went up and her shoulders straightened. “Why would it be hard?” she asked coolly.

“Because you and Josh…you know…”

“I told you before, Allie, things were done between us a long time ago.”

“Oh good.” Relief made Allie’s voice breathy. “I’m so relieved to hear that. Because, you know, I do feel a little…well, bad, and I’m sorry that…well, we haven’t talked in a long time and I had the feeling you were hurt when Josh and I started dating, and I don’t want to hurt you, Dev. Really.”

Devon’s eyes burned and her chest tightened. “I’m not hurt. I’m fine, Allie.”

“Are you sure?”

Devon squeezed her eyes shut. She hated that tone in Allie’s voice, as if Allie felt sorry for her. She lifted a hand and touched her fingertips to the inner corner of one eye, and they came away wet. But she forced her voice to be steady. “Of course I’m sure. And it wouldn’t be hard for me to come to the wedding. Like I said, I’m happy for you both.”