by Brenda Novak
“I’m afraid you’re going to ruin Kyle’s life,” she responded, realizing, for the first time, that what she’d suffered might turn out to be paltry by comparison.
* * *
“How’d it go today?” Brandon asked as he let her in.
Olivia was so tired she could scarcely move. This week had been emotionally draining. Add to that her late night at the bar, and a day spent in her sister’s company, and she was ready to crawl into bed. She hadn’t even taken the time to have lunch. She’d been running too late, so she’d gone all day without a meal. But they had to be at the rehearsal dinner in an hour. She’d eat then.
“It was weird,” she told him.
He went into the kitchen as she dropped onto his couch.
“It’s always weird when your sister is marrying the man you love,” he said.
Love? Or loved? She couldn’t decide anymore.
She thought back on the last seven hours. Her sister had grown more and more hateful throughout the day. Olivia felt sorry for their mother, who’d worked extra hard to stay positive and enthusiastic in the face of their long, sullen silences. “It got even weirder than that,” she said.
“In what way?” He brought her a sliced orange, which she accepted gratefully.
“I’m beginning to feel sorry for Kyle, if that makes any sense.”
“Makes all the sense in the world to me. I feel sorry for him, too.”
She offered him a tired grin. “That’s harsh. Just because she stalked you for a few months?”
A chuckle let her know he understood she was teasing. “It was the creepiest thing I’ve ever been through, seeing her face staring in at me through the window.”
“I suspect she still has a thing for you.”
He tried to shrug it off. “Don’t say that.”
“It’s true. Our…relationship is driving her crazy. I’d tell her we haven’t slept together, but I don’t think she’d believe me.”
“She’s getting married. It shouldn’t matter to her either way.”
She savored the sweetness of the orange he’d given her. “Unless she’s only in it for the shoes.”
“The shoes?”
“The trappings, the party, the celebration, the attention. This wedding shines a bright light on her and announces to everyone in Whiskey Creek that Kyle, a guy highly admired, prefers her to every other woman, including me.”
“The sad truth is…he doesn’t.”
“I don’t even care anymore.” Pushing her plate away, she leaned back and closed her eyes. “All I want is for this wedding to be over.”
“You’re exhausted.”
She didn’t answer. She told herself she could rest for fifteen minutes. Then she had to get ready. She had to get through the rehearsal dinner. But Brandon nudged her before she could drift off. “Come on. Nap on the bed. It’ll be more comfortable.”
“I can’t move,” she objected, but that didn’t deter him. He simply scooped her up and carried her down the hall.
When he took her to his room instead of hers, she didn’t have the energy to protest. At the moment, she was worthless as a sex partner. She just hoped he’d curl up beside her, lend her his strength and his warmth. But the next thing she knew, she was facedown on his pillow, breathing in the scent that lingered there—the same scent that clung to his body—as his fingers massaged the tight muscles in her neck and shoulders.
She groaned. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
He laughed softly. “Don’t trust it. Considering what you do to me, I have only evil intentions.”
“Would it make you any less of a villain to lie down with me?”
“I suppose that wouldn’t hurt my reputation too much,” he said wryly and scooted in beside her.
With his shoulder as her pillow and his fingers moving gently through her hair, she felt oddly content as she drifted off.
* * *
A screech woke Brandon from a dead sleep. One look at Olivia, blinking awake next to him, told him she hadn’t made that sound. She was as startled as he was. So what—
Then the sound came again—”O-li-via!”—and he realized what was going on. “Shit! The rehearsal dinner!”
Olivia was already scrambling off the bed, but she didn’t have a chance to speak before Noelle started screaming again.
“I know you’re in there, damn you!” She banged on the door. “How could you? How could you do this to me?”
“What time is it?” Olivia cried.
“Nearly eight.”
Her face went pale. “Oh, God! I overslept.”
Brandon felt terrible. “I’m sorry. I never intended to fall asleep. I just shut my eyes for a minute.”
She rubbed her face as if trying to get her bearings. “We have to go.”
Galvanized into action, he hopped out of bed. “You go change. I’ll answer the door.”
“No, I’ll answer. She’s so upset there’s no telling what she might say.”
“Exactly.” He gave her a little push. “Better if she says it to me. She can’t hurt me, and it might blow off some of the steam. Get ready.”
Although reluctant to let him handle her temperamental sister, she seemed to understand the urgency of showing up at the dinner party—where the rest of the wedding party was waiting for them.
“I’ve got it,” he assured her, and she hurried into the bathroom.
“Olivia!” Noelle yelled.
He opened the door before she could knock again.
She immediately stepped back so she could look up at him. “Where’s my sister?”
“Getting ready. You can head back. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
“You’ll be there? Why weren’t you there an hour ago?”
He stepped out and closed the door so that Olivia wouldn’t have to hear this. “We fell asleep, okay? I’m sorry about that—”
“You’re not sorry for anything!” She looked a little crazed with her hair falling out of whatever was holding it up. “You’re busy banging my sister when it’s supposed to be my turn!”
Knowing she couldn’t have meant that quite the way it sounded, he raised his eyebrows, giving her a chance to clarify.
“To have what I want,” she said, her cheeks flashing red. “To have everyone’s cooperation. It’s my wedding. This isn’t about you…or her!”
“Then don’t make it about us,” he said. “Go ahead and enjoy it. We aren’t standing in your way.”
“Yes, you are! She’s my planner! She’s supposed to be there taking care of things!”
He lowered his voice, hoping she’d do the same. “The wedding isn’t until tomorrow, Noelle. Everything will be fine. Just…calm down, okay? Your sister doesn’t need you to flip out right now.”
“You’re worried about what she needs? What about me?”
“What about you?” he retorted. “Have you ever stopped to consider how what you’ve done—what you’re doing—might be making her feel?”
She narrowed her eyes at his mussed hair and wrinkled clothes. “I know what she’s been feeling,” she said and stomped away.
* * *
Olivia was so self-conscious about entering the ballroom more than an hour late, and with Brandon at her side, she could barely stand it. But she couldn’t turn back time. And since Noelle had probably announced that she’d found them together, Olivia saw no benefit in appearing separately. Bringing two vehicles to the rehearsal wasn’t going to fool anyone. She’d actually been glad that, with her nerves in such a riot, she hadn’t needed to drive the steep mountain road from Brandon’s house to town.
The instant they stepped through the door, twenty-four sets of eyes turned in their direction. Kyle’s family. Her family. Lindsey Manelli, Noelle’s maid of honor and best friend. The tight-knit group Kyle had grown up with, including the female members, who were in Noelle’s line because she wouldn’t have had much of a line without them.
Olivia had expected to attract everyone’s attent
ion—the entire party had been waiting for her—yet she still felt her stomach muscles tighten. Brandon, on the other hand, seemed to take it in stride. He smiled as if he was completely relaxed and had no reason to be embarrassed. And he kept his hand at the small of her back, encouraging her to follow his lead.
She tried, but her smile faltered when her father pinned her beneath a disapproving stare. She’d figured her mother would squawk and Noelle would rant and then pout. She’d known their reactions wouldn’t be easy to take—she still had that to look forward to—but this was harder. Unlike her mother, who refused to see her sister’s shortcomings, her father knew Noelle had problems. Although he obviously loved his youngest daughter, Ham often shook his head in disgust when she was being shallow or selfish.
With Olivia, however, it was different. She had always been able to maintain his respect. But with that came high expectations. And she’d just let him down.
Trying not to allow his disappointment, her sister’s angry glare or Kyle’s stony expression to attack her confidence, she apologized to the wedding party at large, without providing an excuse for her tardiness. Then she ran through a brief rehearsal just to make sure everyone was aware of how the ceremony should proceed. Fortunately Abby from the Pullman Mansion had taken over in her absence, so they already knew what she was telling them.
Then they were off to the upscale restaurant in the front of the mansion, where Kyle had booked a private room for everyone to have a steak dinner. The chicken or pasta would’ve been cheaper. Olivia had pointed that out. But Noelle had insisted that she could never serve less than the best at her wedding. And since Kyle was paying for it, Noelle was getting everything she wanted—the most expensive meal on the menu along with some fancy Napa Valley champagne.
“Was being in his bed worth it?” Noelle hissed in Olivia’s ear.
Olivia turned to see her sister filing into the room behind her as everyone fanned out, trying to find a seat.
“Worth what?” She edged toward the middle table, where the bride and her family and the groom and his family were to sit. She was hoping to avoid a confrontation by slipping away before Noelle could really engage her, but Noelle managed a parting shot all the same.
“Looking like a slut in front of both our families and all of Kyle’s friends!”
Those friends used to be her friends, until Noelle had stolen Kyle and made it too awkward for Olivia to hang out with them. Incensed to think her sister would dare take that tack after what she’d done, Olivia almost let her have it. But then she glanced up and caught Brandon watching her. As he walked through the crowded room, he gave her a half smile and a wink that reminded her to take it on the chin—or at least pretend to.
Ignoring Noelle and Gail DeMarco, Noah Rackham, Baxter Solomon, Callie Vanetta, even Cheyenne Christensen, her favorite of Kyle’s friends, Olivia began to circle the center table. She was hoping to put several place settings between her and Noelle. But her sister had saved the seat next to her.
“Olivia, why don’t you sit here by me?” she said as sweetly as if she hadn’t just called Olivia a slut.
Olivia suspected her sister of trying to keep her from sitting beside Brandon, but she had no intention of doing that, anyway—not under the watchful eyes of both sets of parents, neither of whom seemed pleased by their friendship. Maybe they believed Noelle and thought she and Brandon were trying to ruin the wedding.
“Noelle!” Kyle’s chastening tone surprised Olivia. Clearly he wasn’t happy. He seemed to be cautioning his fiancée against baiting her, but Noelle ignored him.
“Well?” Her sister lifted her eyebrows.
Feeling Kyle’s parents’ attention on her, Olivia suppressed her anger. She’d be damned if she’d let Noelle make her look any worse than she already did. “Coming.”
Once they were all seated, the tension eased enough for polite conversation. Everyone joined in except Kyle. He remained silent, drinking far more than he ate.
Noelle didn’t seem to notice that her groom was upset. Her gaze darted to Brandon every few seconds, even though he didn’t pay her the slightest attention. When he did look up, it was to catch Olivia’s eye.
Determined to get through the meal as fast as possible, Olivia concentrated on her salad and champagne and tried to block out everything else. But Brandon’s mother whispered something to him, and Olivia couldn’t help straining to hear what was said.
“Why on earth were you so late? You promised me you’d be on your best behavior!”
“I am on my best behavior,” he said with a mock scowl that nearly made Olivia laugh. He hadn’t answered his mother’s question, but when he leaned back and put his arm around her, she seemed so pleased by the loving gesture that she let the rest go.
Smooth, Olivia thought. Too smooth. She was going to have to be careful not to fall for him like everyone else.
Chapter 9
Kyle felt as if the night would never end. He knew he was drinking too much, but he had to do something. Otherwise, he’d get into a public argument with his soon-to-be wife. Noelle was playing games, taunting Olivia wherever and whenever she could. She didn’t realize that it made her look jealous and inferior and foolish.
This was the woman he was marrying. But the sense of doom that acknowledgment brought him wasn’t the worst of what he was suffering. Not tonight. The worst was watching Brandon and Olivia together. The way they’d walked into the room, united against everyone else. The intimacy of the looks they exchanged across the table. The smiles. They were captivated with each other. He’d never seen his brother so attentive to a woman. He wanted to believe Brandon was just trying to get under his skin, but he knew better. Brandon had his faults. He was competitive and stubborn and determined to live life on his own terms, but he was honest, and he wasn’t petty.
Kyle had expected this wedding to be difficult, but it was proving to be almost impossible.
��So have you decided where you’ll live?” his future mother-in-law asked.
This had been a subject of much contention. He wanted to stay in the same house he’d been living in for five years, the one he’d had built near his manufacturing plant. It wasn’t big or ostentatious, but it was comfortable and convenient.
Noelle wanted him to buy her a mansion in town. She worked at a dress boutique, making minimum wage, and used the excuse that it was closer to her job.
“We’re going to knock down the old Foreman house right there on the turn as you leave town and build our dream home,” Noelle gushed.
Kyle gaped at her. Where had that come from? She’d been trying to talk him into that plan, but he’d never agreed. “No, we’re not,” he said. “Noelle will be moving in with me.”
“We can’t live in that cracker box!” she snapped. “Where will we put the baby?”
“There’s room.” He finished his champagne and searched for the waiter. “I can move the storage I have over to the plant.”
“But there’s no need to go to the trouble. If we build in town, we can have everything just the way we want.”
The way she wanted. That was all that ever mattered.
He could tell he was making his parents uncomfortable by not respecting her wishes, but the alcohol was interfering with his ability to control the negative thoughts and emotions rising to the surface. “I’m not ready to build in town.”
“That’s not what you said when we talked about it last,” Noelle pressed, despite the look he gave her, asking her to drop it. “You said you’d think about it.”
He shrugged. “I have. The answer’s no.”
“What I want doesn’t count?” Her voice grew shrill. “We’re going to stay in that dump just because you like it?”
His place was one of the nicest in the area. It wasn’t even close to being a “dump.” She was just trying to get her own way, like the spoiled child she really was, but before he could say so, someone touched his shoulder.
“Hey, you.”
Gail had left her
table in the middle of the main dish to rescue him. He knew that as soon as her gaze cut to the waiter filling his glass on the other side.
“What’s up?” he said.
“I have a toast I want to do tomorrow,” she replied, “but I’d like to check with you to see if what I’ve got planned is okay. Do you have a minute?”
He glanced around the table at all the faces watching him and managed to conjure up what he hoped was a passable smile. “Of course.” He dipped his head toward the rest of them. “Excuse us.”
“Don’t you want me to come?” Noelle asked. “I should probably know about it, if it’s for the wedding.”
“Um…” As Gail’s eyes shifted to his fiancée, Kyle was willing to bet only he knew how much Gail disliked her.
“It’s actually a surprise,” Gail said. “For you! So…it would be better if you stayed here, okay?”
Obviously flattered, Noelle preened for Brandon as if this somehow proved her importance. Then Brandon turned to Kyle, and he might as well have said, “You’re a fool if you go through with this,” because it was written all over his face.
“What about your dinner?” Noelle’s mother piped up. “Can’t you talk about the toast after you finish? You’ve hardly eaten a thing!”
Kyle put his napkin to the side of his plate. “I’m too excited to eat,” he said, even though excitement played no role.
Eager to escape, he followed his friend out of the room and then out of the restaurant to a patio that was empty except for a few lingering diners who congregated around a table at one end.
“What’s going on?” he murmured.
“That’s what I’m wondering,” she said, turning to confront him. “I’ve never seen you drink so much at someone else’s rehearsal dinner—and this is your own!”
“I’m fine. I—”
She squeezed his arm. “Kyle, please. If the rest of the gang could’ve gotten out of that room without making it look too odd, they’d be here with me, trying to talk some sense into you.”
He knew where this was going. “She’s having my baby, Gail.”