“I’m marrying the man I love, the father of my child, and I can’t wait.” Slanting Griffin a sidelong glance, Alexa said, “I think the better question is...are you ready?”
“Me?”
“Ready to admit that you’ve fallen in love with Evie.” Without giving him a chance to respond, she waved a hand and Griffin had to duck to keep from getting smacked in the face with her sweetly fragrant bouquet. “And I already know about Evie’s plan, so don’t give me any of that.”
“If you know about Evie’s plan, then you know our relationship isn’t real.”
“Uh-huh,” Alexa said, her voice filled with disbelief. “Keep telling yourself that.”
Griffin sighed. “It’s what Evie keeps telling me.”
His childhood friend had the nerve to grin. “It’s about time you met a woman who didn’t fall so easily for your charm. Good for Evie to make you work for it.”
Griffin opened his mouth, but the music started up again, and he didn’t have a chance to tell Alexa she was right. As they stepped inside the tent, the guests seated on either side of the lace runner rose. He heard the whispers, saw the bursts of light as the cameras flashed, but walking down the aisle, Griffin had the strangest feeling of vertigo. All the right people were there, but they were in the wrong places. He should have been standing at the front of the tent by the beaming pastor and Evie... Evie should have been the one walking toward him.
With everyone else’s attention on the bride, Griffin soaked up the sight of Evie in the pale blue bridesmaid’s gown. She looked coolly elegant, the ice princess she’d once accused herself of being, but he knew better. He knew the warm heart of the woman beating beneath the frosty exterior.
Evie wasn’t the type of woman who would fall for his flirting. Evie was too serious, too straightforward for that. She’d cut right through to the heart of him by challenging him to go after his dream, and she had made him work to go after her.
He was rich, successful, handsome, but for Evie, none of that had been enough. For her, he had to be honest. He had to be real. And not just with her but also with himself.
As they reached the dais where Chance waited, Griffin tore his attention away from Evie to meet his best friend’s knowing, amused and slightly sympathetic regard. Leaning down, he brushed his lips against Alexa’s cheek. He supposed he should offer some last-second heartfelt words of wisdom, but what could he possibly say? His friend had left the shadows of the past behind to run headlong into a brilliant future. Maybe instead of giving advice, he should take it.
Are you ready to admit you’re in love with Evie?
He might not be able to deny his own feelings any longer, but admitting them to Evie? That was a different story.
With all the work Rory and Evie had put into the wedding, Griffin was certain the ceremony was as lovely and romantic as the Hillcrest House brochure promised. But somehow the moments between the words we are gathered here today and you may kiss the bride were a total blur, and the next thing he knew, the guests were rising to their feet and applauding the happy couple.
He longed to reach out as Evie walked by in a whisper of satin but knew she’d never forgive him for disrupting the ceremony. Besides, he wanted to be alone when he finally told her how he felt. He kept his attention on her as the wedding party made its way back down the aisle to form a receiving line. As if feeling the caress of his stare, she glanced back over a bare shoulder for a brief moment and the look in her eyes... He saw a light there, a glimmer that sent his already pounding heart into overdrive. A flicker of emotion that had him hoping that maybe, just maybe, their story might end with happily-ever-after.
He was about to join the procession when he caught sight of a man breaking away from the rest of the crowd. Broad shouldered and elegantly attired in a tailored navy suit, the man ducked out a side exit of the tent before Griffin had registered more than a quick glimpse.
But that one look had been more than enough. Swearing beneath his breath, he fought the urge to knock well-dressed wedding guests aside and leap over rows of chairs to catch up to the other man. The night air was cool and crisp as he burst out of the crowded tent.
As he started walking, jogging and then flat-out sprinting toward the hotel, the same thought pounded in time with his footfalls. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening.
The man turned at the sound of Griffin’s rapid approach, one foot paused on the steps to the front porch.
“Dad,” Griffin greeted him grimly, “what the hell are you doing here?”
Chapter Sixteen
Frederick James eyed Griffin with an arch look as he adjusted his cuff link. In his late fifties, with his dark blond hair starting to gray at the temples, his father was still trim and fit, though Griffin didn’t know how he stayed in shape considering the long hours he spent at work.
“Well, it is Christmas—a time for family. And don’t act like I’m some kind of wedding crasher, son. I was invited.”
As the closest neighbor to the sprawling mansion where Alexa had grown up, he wasn’t surprised Frederick had been invited. But never in a million years had Griffin guessed his father would actually attend. Hell, even if he’d been the one marrying Alexa, Griffin wasn’t so sure his father would have showed. “I’m not buying it,” he stated flatly.
“Buying what, exactly?”
“That you’re here for the wedding and not for the hotel.”
“Are you going tell me Hillcrest House still isn’t for sale?”
“It isn’t.” Or, at least, Evie wasn’t willing to sell, and that was all Griffin cared about.
“So you haven’t taken this opportunity to work your way into the McClaren camp to try to change their minds?”
Everything inside him rejected his father’s cold, calculating take on the time he’d spent at Hillcrest House. The time he’d spent with Evie...gaining her trust. Feeling sick, he muttered, “I haven’t been working anything.”
Except Evie would never believe that. Not if his father was still interested in the hotel.
“Really.” His father reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. After a few swipes, he handed the device to Griffin. A photo of him and Evie in the gazebo at the Holly and Vine event filled the screen. “Because I thought you kissing Evie McClaren might have had something to do with trying to convince her to sell.”
* * *
At the sound of a rough curse, Evie stopped short on the first step onto the porch. After the past few days, she’d all but memorized the sound of Griffin’s laughter, of his teasing, even of his rough whisper against her skin. She’d never heard his voice raised in anger. But she would still recognize it anywhere.
He had disappeared right after the ceremony, and Rory asked Evie to go find him for the wedding photos. Climbing the steps, she felt as though the dress’s skirt was weighted down with lead rather than glittering beads and seed pearls. But her feet still carried her forward, to the side of the wraparound porch, where Griffin and another man stood face-to-face. The light from the scones along the front of the hotel didn’t carry around the corner, but Evie could still see the tension in Griffin’s shoulders as he confronted the other man.
“So seducing this woman had nothing to do with the hotel?”
Seducing this woman...
Evie barely swallowed a gasp. Her short nails cut into her palms as she clenched her fists. Not again. She couldn’t have been so foolish, so stupid as to fall for a man’s lies again.
“No, dammit!” Griffin swore. “My relationship with Evie has nothing to do with the hotel! And as for seducing a woman into selling, that’s more your style than mine.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You tell me, Dad.”
Dad? Dad? The man Griffin was arguing with was Frederick James?
“It took a while for m
e to figure it out, but I knew there had to be something more to your interest. How else would Evelyn McClaren know where I get my charm from if you hadn’t charmed her in the past?”
Her aunt and Frederick James? Her aunt and Griffin’s father?
Griffin had known all along, yet hadn’t said a word...
And now his father was back to—
“Evelyn McClaren turned you down all those years ago. Do you really think she’s going to say yes this time?”
A chill ran down Evie’s spine as the elder James declared, “I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure she does.”
* * *
Evie didn’t need to hear any more. Slipping silently away from the James men, she raced back to the tent, cursing the stupid strappy heels as they slid on the loose gravel path. She spotted Rory near the arched arbor as the hotel photographer tried to get the family together for a group photo.
“Did you find Griffin?”
Ignoring the question, Evie demanded, “Where’s Aunt E?”
“She’s—” After taking a quick glance around, Rory threw her hands up in the air. “Honestly, you’d think with my own family this would be easier! We are never going to get these pictures taken if everyone keeps running off and—is everything all right, Evie? Evie!” The frustration in her cousin’s voice followed Evie as she spun away again. “Now where are you going?”
Evie swore beneath her breath. Of all the times not to have her phone with her, but the sheath-style dress lacked the practicality of pockets. She had to warn her aunt. She couldn’t imagine how shocked Aunt E would be to see Frederick James. After all her aunt had been through, the last thing she needed was the emotional upheaval of that man landing back in her life and coming after Hillcrest House!
Her stomach twisted into knots as she neared the hotel. She dreaded the thought of running into Griffin or his father, but where else would her aunt be? The porch was empty, but the harsh reminder of the conversation she’d overheard lingered in the night air.
Griffin had lied to her. Lies of omission about his father knowing his aunt. About his father seducing her aunt. And lies told straight to her face, as he looked her in the eye and promised her his father had no interest in the hotel.
And she’d believed him. Every look, every lie. God, she was such a fool!
Do you trust me, Evie?
She had trusted him. Worse than that, she love—
No! Evie shut off the thought before it could finish. She didn’t believe in love or happily-ever-after or magic. If she needed any further proof those things didn’t exist, Griffin James had handed it right to her!
My relationship with Evie has nothing to do with the hotel!
Right. Their relationship had everything to do with the hotel. It had from the very beginning when she’d so stupidly thought he was trying to help her. And what had he been doing instead?
Softening her up so she wouldn’t fight to keep her aunt from selling? Distracting her while his father moved in for the kill?
Evie couldn’t quite figure that part out, couldn’t put the pieces together, but there had to be some angle she was missing. Nothing else made sense.
But whatever their plan, she was going to put a stop to it. Thirty-five years ago, her aunt chose Hillcrest House, and Evie was going to make damn sure she made that same choice again!
Ignoring the ache in her heart, Evie yanked open one of the carved double doors. The McClaren women would stand together and tell the James men to get the hell out of their hotel.
The sparkling chandelier glittered in bright contrast to the shadowed porch outside. In the split second after Evie stopped and blinked, her eyes adjusting to the well-lit lobby, a wave of nausea hit her. She was too late.
Griffin and Frederick had moved inside, but that wasn’t what had Evie frozen in dismay. She watched like a passenger in a car, seeing an accident about to happen but unable to stop it, as her aunt stepped out from the hallway leading to the ballroom.
Evie knew the moment Evelyn saw Frederick James. Her aunt’s confident step stuttered to a stop as she lifted a trembling hand and laid it over her heart. Dressed in a sequined dark blue gown, Evelyn had never looked lovelier. But the signs of her battle with cancer were still evident in her slender frame and the short, layered style of her gray hair.
What might this kind of emotional shock do to her aunt? Worry and fear battered Evie’s thoughts. Forget what Griffin had done to her, she would never forgive him for what he was doing to her aunt!
She opened her mouth to call out her aunt’s name, to let Evelyn know she wasn’t alone in this, but before the words could form, Evelyn moved across the lobby toward the James men, her slow, deliberate steps on the patterned carpet not unlike a wedding march.
She didn’t stop until she stood in front of Frederick James, and when she raised her hand, Evie’s own palm itched with her desire to slap Griffin across the face. But Evelyn didn’t hit Griffin’s father. Instead, she cupped the elder James’s strong jaw.
“Rick,” she whispered. “I can’t believe you’re finally here.”
Turning his head, he pressed a kiss into her palm. “It’s been far too long, Lynnie.”
Rick? Lynnie?
What the hell?
A strangled sound escaped Evie’s throat, and Griffin turned. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought he looked as stunned as she felt.
“Evie!” her aunt called out. “Come meet Griffin’s father, Frederick James.”
She must have moved, though she didn’t know how when her mind, her entire body, felt numb. But the next thing she knew, Frederick James was reaching out to shake her hand.
The older man smiled at her warmly. “Evie, such a pleasure to meet you.” Glancing to the side, he added, “My son has told me so much about you.”
A sickening mix of anger and disgust swirled through Evie’s stomach as she imagined those conversations. The two men slapping each other on the back as they swapped stories about seducing McClaren women. Griffin sucked in a deep breath, his shoulders stiffening, almost as if he knew what she was thinking. But that wasn’t possible. If he had, he wouldn’t have dared to stand so close.
“Why are you here?”
“Evie!” her aunt scolded at the blunt demand. “Rick is here for the wedding. He’s a Hillcrest House guest.”
“A guest?” Evie echoed. “You knew he was coming here?”
Her aunt’s thin eyebrows rose in a wry look. “I didn’t exactly think it was a coincidence when Griffin had shown up at Hillcrest a second time, so when he did, I called Rick. We’ve been talking the past few days.”
With a tender smile, Frederick added, “And it’s been like old times.”
A faint buzzing rang in Evie’s ears and she only wished the sound was louder. Loud enough to drown out the thoughts drumming relentlessly through her mind. Loud enough to block out whatever else her aunt had to say. Words that Evie could already sense she didn’t want to hear.
“Frederick came to Hillcrest—” Her aunt looked at the older man.
“Thirty-five years ago,” he said in response to the unasked question, the two obviously on the same wavelength and—oh, yeah—finishing each other’s sentences.
“It was right after I had taken over running Hillcrest House full-time.” Evelyn tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, the light in her eyes making her look almost as young as she must have all those decades ago. “I had such big plans and no intention of selling out to some corporate chain.”
“Which you made clear by all but kicking me off the property the moment we met.”
Evelyn’s eyebrow rose in challenge. “Not that you let that stop you from coming around.”
Frederick grinned in response, the similarities between father and son so apparent Evie couldn’t bring herself to look at either man. “I’m not the type to g
ive up easily.”
“More like you’d never had anyone tell you no before.”
The last thing Evie wanted to hear about was a moment when her aunt had told Frederick James yes. But she clung to the one hope she still had. “Obviously whatever happened thirty-five years ago, you didn’t end up selling the hotel.”
“No, I didn’t,” Evelyn admitted, her attention still on Frederick as she spoke.
“I stayed in town for weeks trying to convince you before I realized it wasn’t Hillcrest House I was interested in, Lynnie.” Taking her hand, Frederick vowed, “It was you.”
Blinking rapidly, Evelyn gave a soft laugh. “We were a couple of fools, weren’t we?”
“Young fools. Hopefully we’re older and wiser now.”
For a long moment, the two of them didn’t speak, the silent communication somehow bridging the distance that had separated them, until Evelyn finally gave a slightly embarrassed laugh. “Enough of that for now. We’ll have plenty of time to catch up.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Frederick assured her.
This couldn’t be happening. Her aunt... Griffin’s father. It was all too much.
Completely entranced with each other, her aunt and Frederick didn’t even notice as Evie all but stumbled away. Wedding guests were streaming into the lobby, laughing and smiling as they headed toward the ballroom and the reception. She fought her way against the flow, battling the surge of emotion battering her every step.
Beautiful ceremony...
So romantic...
So in love...
Evie finally managed to escape to the porch, where the cool night air chilled her heated skin and stung her eyes.
“Evie.”
Her hands tightened on the carved railing as she stared unseeing over Hillcrest’s softly lit grounds. “You knew,” she said, her voice flat with accusation, “and you never said a word.”
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