The steel-drum player added just the right tropical touch to the occasion, and even those who didn’t normally dance got up to twirl around on the sandy beach or on the portable wooden dance floor.
Mrs. Beabots toasted the bride with champagne after Maddie and Nate offered their toasts. Timmy recited a poem and Annie sang a heartfelt rendition of “Unforgettable” that brought everyone to their feet in applause. Charmaine Chalmers accepted an invitation to dance from Edgar Clayton, while Isabelle and Scott Abbott held each other and barely moved to the music.
Nate had just pulled Maddie onto the small dance floor when they heard a woman scream.
Nate was instantly on alert. “What the...”
Nate and Luke shot to the edge of the tent and looked toward the poorly lit parking area. A man was outlined by a street lamp.
“Maddie!” the man yelled.
Maddie’s breath froze in her chest and her heart skipped a beat. “Alex.”
Luke ground his jaw. “What’s going on?”
Nate pulled Luke back. “It’s Alex. Let me handle this.”
“I’m here to back you up, bro,” Luke assured him.
Maddie rushed up to Nate. “What’s he doing here?”
Nate shook his head. “Go back with Sarah, Maddie.”
Alex stopped on the shells and gravel ten feet from Nate. “I came for Maddie,” Alex said, slurring his words. “It’s okay, Maddie. You can come with me.”
Maddie was aghast. She boldly took a step toward him.
Nate grabbed her arm, but she shook her head. She kept her eyes locked on Alex. “You’ve been drinking.”
“I came to my senses, is all. I know that a girl like you wouldn’t be happy just living with a guy. I was stupid to offer you so little. You want it all. So, I’m here to give it to you. Your entire dream. The franchises. The city life. Me. Marry me, Maddie.”
A gasp raced through the wedding guests. No one moved.
Maddie was undaunted. “Alex. I thought we had this all out this morning when you called me. I told you that I’m marrying Nate,” Maddie replied, feeling sympathy for Alex.
“Maddie,” Alex said. “Be reasonable.”
She stepped away from Nate and started to move closer to Alex, but Nate held her back. “No, Maddie.”
Nate put Maddie behind him and took two very long strides toward the distraught man. “You need to sober up and go home, Alex.”
Alex clenched his fists, swaying a little. “I wanna talk to Maddie.”
“Okay, let’s go to that picnic table,” Maddie urged. “We’ll talk there.”
Nate cast Maddie a pleading look. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’ll be fine,” she said, taking Alex’s arm to steady him as they walked over to the table.
Luke put his hand on Nate’s shoulder. “Don’t give him more than five minutes.”
“Maddie’s my girl. She could go off with him for two days and I’d trust her.”
“Good for you, man.” Luke slapped his back and then returned to Sarah.
Once they reached the picnic table, Maddie faced Alex angrily. “What in the world were you thinking? You could have killed yourself or someone else driving in a condition like this!”
“Sorry,” he said morosely.
“Alex. For goodness’ sake. You didn’t honestly think I would go away with you, did you?”
“I was hoping you’d see that I was serious.”
“Desperate, you mean.”
“Okay. That. But we’re such a good team, Maddie,” Alex said more soberly. “I think we can do great things together.”
“I know we will. And I’ll always want you for a friend. That’s important to me. Can we do that, Alex? Be friends and business associates?”
He looked up at the stars and paused for a long moment. “Yeah. Yeah, I don’t like it, but maybe that’s the best for us after all.”
“You take care, Alex,” she said and kissed his cheek.
He smiled lovingly and touched her nose. “You, too.”
“If I get one of the guys to drive you over to the motel, will you book a room and sleep this off? I don’t want you driving anywhere right now.”
“Fine. I’ll go wait in my car.”
“In the backseat,” she warned.
“Okay.” Alex rose and walked slowly toward his car. Maddie turned around and found Nate standing with arms crossed over his chest next to the tie-down ropes on the tent.
He smiled as she walked up. “Everything okay?” he asked.
“Could Mica drive him to the Cove Inn and get him a room? He needs to sleep this off.”
“Sure,” Nate said looking over Maddie’s head as Alex flopped into the back seat of his car.
Maddie beamed up at Nate, curled her arms around his neck and kissed him. “Everything is right in the world,” she said. “Especially in my world because I have you.”
Nate folded his arms around her. “Yes, you do, Maddie. You have me always.”
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781488036163
The Sweetest Heart
Previously published as Heart’s Desire by Harlequin Heartwarming in 2014
This edition published 2018
Copyright © 2014 by Catherine Lanigan
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 22 Adelaide St. West, 40th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
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The Sweetest Heart Page 23