The Best Man's Bride (2 page)

Nick turned and focused on the brunette who walked down the aisle now, holding her younger brother’s arm. She wouldn’t have been that old when her dad died, probably not much older than her teenage brother was now. Nick winced in commiseration—not over his mother, whom he really didn’t remember. He’d lost someone else close to him when he’d been a teenager, however. If not for Josh and his friendship, Nick probably wouldn’t have survived that dark period. He owed Josh, and opening an office in Cloverville was small repayment.

Who had
she
had to lean on when her dad died—her family, friends? Was she like him, in that she had never completely recovered from her loss? Maybe that was why, despite her haughty tone, he’d picked up on vulnerability—even a fragility—in her expressive eyes and delicate face.

The sunshine streaming through the stained-glass windows highlighted the deep brown of her shimmering hair. His heart shifted, pressing against his ribs. Damn, she was beautiful.

What was her name? Had he ever heard it? Probably. But he hadn’t cared.
Then.

Now he cared too much. As she released her brother’s arm, she peered briefly at Nick through her thick black lashes. Blood rushed through his veins, and he felt light-headed.

No, he didn’t care. He just hadn’t had enough sleep or food in the past week—damn crazy shifts at the hospital. Maybe Josh was right; maybe the lighter hours of a private practice would be better for them both. Opening their own office wasn’t a new idea. They’d planned it since medical school. But Nick hadn’t thought they’d make the move quite so soon.

The twins headed down the aisle next, having a tug-of-war over the ring bearer’s pillow; once white, it was now smudged with small, chocolate fingerprints. Josh needed more time with his kids. But what would Nick do with extra free time besides sleep? With an effort, he kept his focus on the aisle, refusing to give in to the urge to glance across the altar at the lissome brunette.

Behind the boys, the flower girl walked at a much slower pace, carefully dropping red rose petals onto the white runner. Laughter at her diligence rippled over the wedding guests like the wave at a football game. The organ music intensified dramatically. Nick shuddered at what he’d always considered the ominous tone of the wedding march. The guests rose and turned toward the back of the church.

Nick sure hoped he was wrong about Josh rushing to the altar. He wished a long, happy marriage for his best friend with a woman who would
always
love him and his sons. He hoped Molly McClintock was that woman.

Like the guests, Nick turned toward the bride’s entrance. But the only person he saw was Clayton McClintock, standing alone on the rose-strewn white runner.

Where the hell is the bride?
The thought chased through Nick’s mind as the organ music halted abruptly. Shocked murmurs rose from the guests, quieting to hushed whispers.

Offering reassurance, Nick grabbed Josh’s shoulder, which wasn’t nearly as tense as it had been moments ago. “God, man, I’m sorry,” he murmured, his voice hoarse with emotion. He couldn’t imagine the emotions pummeling Josh but worried over the toll they’d take on his friend.

Nick glanced toward the other side of the altar, toward the bride’s sister. Despite his attraction to her, he would never put himself in Josh’s vulnerable position. He would never be anyone’s groom.

“The wedding is going to be slightly delayed,” Clayton said. “The bride is not quite ready yet, so we appreciate your patience. Thank you.”

Nick snorted, recognizing a load of bull when he heard it. Apparently, the blond bridesmaid thought so, too, as she took off at a run toward the back of the church. Clayton McClintock caught her, slowing her down, and the music began—again. The twins, probably thinking a game of tag was afoot, chased each other down the aisle.

The young flower girl, much better behaved than the twins, took the arm of the teenage boy who’d accompanied his sister, leaving the brunette to walk alone as the rest of the wedding party filed out. Nick fell into step beside her, his shoulder nearly brushing hers as they shared the narrow white runner. Sunlight painted her bare skin gold. His fingers ached to touch, to caress her delicate shoulders and arms. To be a proper escort, he crooked his elbow, extending his forearm to her.

She hesitated a moment before extending her hand. Her fingers clutched the sleeve of his jacket, the warmth of her touch penetrating the material. Nick tensed, his body reacting to her closeness. His lungs hurt from the pressure of holding his breath. He’d never been so instantly attracted to a woman. Why her? They’d barely spoken to each other. He didn’t even know her name.

And how could he think about anything but what Josh was going through? He was a terrible friend. He pulled his attention away from the bridesmaid to glance back over his shoulder.
Poor Josh.

The redheaded maid of honor had the groom now, clutching his arm and just about dragging him down the aisle as she had Nick. Except now it was over and done with. No matter what the bride’s brother had told the guests, Nick doubted the wedding was just delayed.

What a mess.
Anger surged, heating his blood. How dare the bride change her mind now and humiliate such a fine man. Despite Nick being the best man, Josh was the
better
man. He always treated people with kindness and respect. He didn’t deserve to be hurt like this. Again.

Just like Josh’s first wife, Molly McClintock had sought him out while she was volunteering at the hospital.
Yeah, right.
Setting a mantrap. That’s what she’d done. And she’d caught him, manipulating him into a marriage proposal after just a few short months of dating. She’d accepted Josh’s proposal and taken his ring. Then she’d stood him up? Her betrayal proved what Nick had known for a long time.
Women were not to be trusted.

Sure, there were
some
honest ones—like his mother, for example—but how was a man to know which ones were after his heart and which ones his wallet?

Colleen matched her steps to Nick’s as they walked down the aisle and crossed the hall with the rest of the wedding party except for Clayton and Abby, who already stood inside the bride’s dressing room, nose to nose, as they argued.

Of course Clayton would blame Abby. And of course he’d be furious. Feeling responsible, as always, for all his father’s duties, Clayton had taken it upon himself to pay for the wedding and give away the bride. He’d said he couldn’t wait to have one less responsibility. Poor Clayton.

He just didn’t get it. He actually loved being in charge of his younger siblings. Colleen worked for him at the insurance agency he’d taken over after their father died. Although Clayton had given her the title of office manager, he’d never really given her any responsibility. So she didn’t feel all that guilty for the two afternoons a week she spent volunteering at the hospital in Grand Rapids, where the best man and the groom were on staff.

The jilted groom.

The wedding dress hung from a hook on one of the white walls, almost blending in but for the lace and satin that stirred in the breeze blowing through the open window. Molly had run away? Colleen’s stomach churned. Molly was too smart and strong to run. When they were growing up, Colleen had been the one to constantly run away—although no one had ever noticed. So she’d always come home, and Molly would, too. Safe and sound. She had to.

Abby’s argument with Clayton subsided as she unfolded a crumpled note. Of course Molly would have left a note. She’d always been as responsible as their older brother.

“What does it say?” Clayton demanded, asking the question that was burning on everyone else’s lips. “Come on, I’m worried about her. I want to know what it says!”

“It’s a good thing that she ran off,” Abby said, “before making the biggest mistake of her life.”

The groom gasped in surprise, and the muscles in Nick’s left arm tightened beneath Colleen’s fingers. His pale green eyes darkened with anger and a muscle twitched in his jaw, as if he had clenched his teeth to hold in something he was dying to say.

“Josh, I’m sorry.” Clayton offered the apology first, used to assuming responsibility for everyone else. Even Abby?

Nick’s tension didn’t ease, not even when the kids chattered, the twins pulling petals off each other’s boutonnieres. Colleen pulled her hand from his arm and curled her fingers into her palm to quell the tingling. She should have let go of him long ago. Actually she never should have touched him in the first place. He’d made no secret of his disdain for long-term relationships; the other volunteers and the hospital staff had warned her not to develop a crush on the handsome doctor. Nothing would come of it but a broken heart.

“I’m sorry.” Abby offered her apology to Josh. “She doesn’t say that in the note…about making a mistake. She’s just really confused right now.”

“What’s going on?” Rory asked, tugging loose the knot of his bow tie. Colleen was surprised her kid brother had kept it tied as long as he had. “Did Molly really skip out?”

Clayton shrugged. “Ask Abby. She’s the one with the explanation.”

“Is she all right?” Josh asked. His handsome face held none of the anger that was darkening his friend’s eyes.

From her years of volunteering at the hospital, Colleen felt she knew him well. Unlike Dr. Jameson Josh
had
noticed her, although not the way he’d noticed her sister, who’d only volunteered when she’d had time around her med school classes and studying. Even if he and Molly hadn’t dated all that long, Colleen understood why her big sister had accepted his proposal. Besides being ridiculously handsome, with dark hair and bright blue eyes, Dr. Joshua Towers was a genuinely nice guy.

“She’s okay,” Abby assured him as she clutched the note.

Colleen wasn’t surprised that Molly had trusted Abby with her explanation. She could keep a secret and she would only share what Molly wanted everyone to know.

Abby continued, “She’s just confused right now. She needs some time alone to figure out what she really wants.”

“Maybe she should have figured
that
out before she accepted Josh’s proposal. It’s pretty damned flaky to back out at the altar,” Nick muttered, pushing his hand through his hair and squeezing the back of his neck.

“Molly is not flaky!” How dare he say anything like that about her sister? He didn’t even know her. Neither had the groom, sadly. Despite dating for a few months, Molly had admitted that due to their crazy schedules, she and Josh hadn’t gone on that many dates. Was that why Molly had backed out of the wedding?

Actually, why had Molly, the focused and sensible McClintock sister, agreed to marry a virtual
stranger?
Even if he was nice and handsome. Molly wasn’t the type to believe in love at first sight.
She
never acted impetuously.

Colleen had always been the impetuous one. If any McClintock were to fall in love at first sight,
she
would be the foolish one.

“It’s my fault,” Josh said, with a heavy sigh. “I rushed her into this, even though I knew she wasn’t ready.”

Nick gripped his friend’s shoulder. “Don’t blame yourself. She could have told you no. This just goes to show you,
they
can’t be trusted.”

Colleen sucked in a breath, but she couldn’t really argue. She’d told lies. She’d kept secrets. Nick Jameson was wrong about her sister, but right about her.
She
couldn’t be trusted, despite how careful she’d been the past eight years to always do the right thing. She couldn’t trust herself not to do something foolish again. Like fall for a man who didn’t believe in love…

F
AIRY LIGHTS IN RED
and white cast a romantic pink glow, disguising the worn linoleum and painted paneling of the American Legion Hall, which everyone in Cloverville used for their wedding receptions. The biggest facility in town, the hall also hosted anniversary parties, graduation open houses and funeral luncheons.

Funereal described the mood of the wedding party, or at least Colleen’s mood as she stood before the gift table. Her eyes misted and all the vivid colors of the wrapping paper swirled into a kaleidoscope. Molly had asked for time alone to sort things out. But selfishly Colleen wanted to see her sister, to talk to her, so that
she
could sort things out, too. Like her feelings for a certain blond doctor. His noticing her, finally, had intensified those emotions, so that they couldn’t be dismissed like a harmless crush anymore. And as Colleen had learned in high school, there really wasn’t anything harmless about a crush.

An arm slid around Colleen’s waist and she received a gentle hug. She turned toward her mother. “We should have canceled the reception,” she told Mary McClintock.

Yet Colleen understood her mother’s reasoning in insisting they not cancel. Cloverville’s only caterer, Mrs. George, who was the sole provider for her family, had been cooking for days. She’d had help from Brenna’s parents, the Kellys, too. Regret filled Colleen at the thought of all their hard work going to waste. In addition, her mother had pointed out, the whole town had been looking forward to a party.

“And let all that food go to waste?” Her mother tsked, then shook her head, tumbling soft brown curls around her face.

“Your brother would have a fit, since he paid for it.”

Colleen’s lips twitched into a reluctant smile. “He’s probably having a fit about paying for it now.” Since their mother, the minute everyone had arrived at the hall, had turned the reception into a welcome home party for Abby Hamilton, the girl Clayton had always considered a bad influence on his sisters. Her smile slid away as guilt took hold. If he only knew that the real troublemaker had been his little sister.

Mom’s arm wound tighter around her waist.
Did her mother know?
Over the years Colleen sometimes had suspected that she did.

“Ah, it’s good for your brother when everything doesn’t go exactly according to his plan.” Once he’d realized there would be repercussions if he canceled the reception, he’d planned to turn it into an open house for the town. But his mother had had other plans. “
Abby
would be good for your brother.”

A smile pulled at Colleen’s lips. “Subtle, Mom.”

“You disagree?”

Colleen shook her head. “No.” Her older brother had always fascinated and infuriated Abby Hamilton and the reverse was equally true. “But throwing a welcome-home party for Abby doesn’t guarantee she’s actually going to move home.”

She sighed, thinking of the night before and their impromptu slumber party/bachelorette party, during which she’d tried to convince Abby to come home for good. Abby was looking for a location for the next franchise of her employment agency, Temps to Go. Colleen’s argument that Cloverville, which was growing rapidly, would be the perfect location had fallen on deaf ears. “In fact, she’s pretty set against moving back.”

Mary McClintock’s smile didn’t slip, and her dark eyes twinkled. “Then we’ll have to change her mind, won’t we?”

“Okay.” Colleen had learned long ago that it was easier to agree than argue with her mother. “I’m not going to play matchmaker with you, though.” Probably Abby and Clayton were both too stubborn to ever admit to the attraction that had always simmered between them. “But I want Abby and Lara to move back to Cloverville.”

And not just so Colleen wouldn’t continue to feel so guilty over her leaving. She’d missed her friend. E-mails, phone calls and letters weren’t adequate to fully convey the force of nature that was Abby Hamilton in person.
Poor Clayton…

“I want Molly to come home, too,” Colleen admitted. “I’m worried about her.”

“Who says your sister isn’t home?”

“I called the house,” Colleen admitted. “No one answered. Do you think she just went home?”

Her mother shook her head. “She’s not at our house.”

“You know where she is?”

“I think we all know where she is.”

With Eric. He had always been the friend to whom Molly had turned for comfort and support. Maybe she’d backed out of her wedding just because he hadn’t been there.

“She’s okay,” her mother assured Colleen. “She just needs time, like she said in her note.”

Colleen narrowed her eyes and studied her mother’s carefully blank expression. “You talked to her,” she accused. Colleen, as well as Abby and Brenna, had tried Molly’s cell, but it had been turned off. They’d even tried Eric’s, but he’d claimed Molly wasn’t with him. But then, no one had ever been able to lie to Mary McClintock except Colleen.

“Look at all these gifts,” her mother said, suddenly changing the subject, as she gestured at the crowded table. In addition to the gifts, cards overflowed from a wishing well that Colleen had constructed out of cardboard and wrapping paper.

“We’ll have to send everything back.”

“I’ll have Clayton make an announcement for people to pick up their presents before they leave.” Her mother sighed.

“Or maybe
I
should do that. He has enough responsibility.”

“Clayton thrives on responsibility.” While he might grumble about paying for the reception, he would not allow anyone else to assume the duty he considered, like so many others, to be his. Dr. Towers had already said that he would pay for the reception, but Clayton had insisted.

Mary McClintock shook her head. “He needs more in life. He needs a wife. Children.”

Colleen snorted, well aware of the fact that her brother shared Dr. Jameson’s views on marriage. He had no intention of ever having a wedding of his own.

Her derision didn’t faze her mom, however, who continued, “The same things you need.”

“A wife?” she teased, used to dealing with her mother’s not-so-subtle attempts at matchmaking. Mary McClintock refused to accept that Colleen wasn’t ready for marriage—not now, and maybe not ever.

Mom squeezed her waist. “A husband.”

An image of Dr. Nick Jameson, standing at the altar, flashed into her mind, and Colleen’s pulse quickened. “I’m only twenty-three.”

Her mother smiled wistfully. “I was barely twenty when I married your father.”

And look how that had ended, with more heartache than any woman should have to endure.

Colleen blinked again to clear the mist from her eyes. That was why she wasn’t ready. She wasn’t strong enough yet to deal with the kind of loss her mother had experienced. She doubted she would ever be that strong. She far preferred unrequited crushes to a relationship.

“You and the best man made quite the dashing couple when he escorted you out of the church,” her mother observed.

“I wasn’t the only one to notice.”

Colleen bit the inside of her cheek, but the arrival of several of the town busybodies saved her from responding. The organist, Mrs. Hild, in a wildflower-patterned dress and wide-brimmed hat, pulled her mother into a hug. “Oh, Mary, you were so brave to turn the-wedding-that-wasn’t into a party.”

The wedding-that-wasn’t.

“And generous,” Mrs. Carpenter added. She was married to the owner of the hardware store, one of the thriftiest men in town.

“Poor Molly,” Mrs. Hild murmured.

Poor Molly.
They shouldn’t be having her reception without her. Despite her request for time alone, they should probably be out looking for her. Maybe Eric had been telling the truth, and Molly really wasn’t with him. Colleen knew how it felt to run away and have no one care enough to come looking. She murmured some excuse, letting her mother handle the gossips. As she walked away, Colleen passed the cake table. The five-tier confection rose in a pyramid to the little plastic figurine standing at the top. Alone. Just the groom. The bride was gone.

“T
HIS IS A MISTAKE
,” Nick said, letting the door close behind him as he stepped inside the men’s restroom with the jilted groom.

Josh crossed the green tile floor to a row of old porcelain sinks, then ran water over his palms to splash on his face. “I’m surprised you’ve controlled yourself this long.”

Nick tensed. “What?”

He should have known that he could hide nothing from his oldest, closest friend. Josh must have noticed how hard Nick had fought his attraction to the young bridesmaid, which hadn’t been easy plastered against her in the back of a limousine. Trying to make some space between the two of them, he’d inadvertently knocked the maid of honor off the end of the bench seat. He had to focus on his friend now, and not on some female who would probably prove as untrustworthy as her sister.