It took at least that long to narrow down the field, he mused, looking over his shoulder through the still open doorway as a few of the local young women drifted by, chattering and laughing.
Life was definitely too short, he thought not for the first time.
As first Gabe, whose French was limited to a handful of words, and then Alexis tried to make the nervous-looking clerk understand that they all needed accommodations and had assumed they’d booked individual rooms for everyone, Josh looked back over to the tall, slender redhead. She looked removed from what was going on around her, as if she were there in body but not in spirit. As he drew closer to her he wondered why there was such a sad look in her eyes.
For all his reputation, Josh was not a womanizer. He thought of himself as a woman-enjoyer. He never took advantage of a woman, never used lies to talk his way into a woman’s bed. Everything was clear and aboveboard in his relationships right from the start. He possessed a healthy conscience.
And a healthy memory. He knew—although he would never admit it, not even to Gabe—what it felt like to fall in love and hold nothing but empty dreams in your hand.
He edged a little closer still, nodding at one of Gabe’s cousins in passing, never taking his eyes off the target. It was her all right.
Shannon Donovan.
The one who got away.
Not that, as far as he knew, she was actually even slightly aware of that fact. Back in high school, he’d been a completely different person. He’d been short, still waiting for the growth spurt his father kept promising would come but didn’t happen until he’d turned nineteen. He’d been painfully withdrawn back then. Not like Shannon. Shannon Donovan had been his total opposite. Outgoing, vibrant. Cheerleader, class president, captain of the debating team. And gorgeous. Drop-dead, oh-my-heart-hurts gorgeous. From the top of her red hair to the bottom of her perfectly shaped toes, she stopped traffic and men’s hearts.
She’d been, in his estimation, the perfect woman. And so out of his league he might as well have resided on another planet. His only contact with her had been math class. If he hadn’t loved math already, he would have then. He lived for sixth period precalculus. The subject seemed to be the only one Shannon ever had trouble with, while for him, it was easy, like breathing. He’d tutored her in the library for three glorious months that ended all too soon. After that, her math requirement was over and so was their association, except for the brief minutes when she’d stopped to sign his senior yearbook and asked him to sign hers. He’d been so stunned he couldn’t think of anything more to say than “Remember precalculus?”
He’d spent the next few days calling himself an idiot and the next several years changing himself into someone else. After his growth spurt finally arrived, he joined a gym, took dance lessons on the sly and eventually came into his own as his career on Wall Street took off.
Success had made a new man of him, giving him confidence and helping him see himself in a more positive light. He decided to make up for lost time and throw himself into the social whirl. He and Gabe, whom he met on his first day at Pride and Wasserman, the brokerage firm they both worked for, had been inseparable for a while. Then Gabe had met Alexis and stopped playing the field.
But not Josh. He’d finally come into his own. He was not about to give that freedom up for anyone.
However, seeing Shannon took him back to the past. It was as if someone had opened a time portal, suddenly whisking him to his senior year in high school, a time when he’d been awkward, tongue-tied and ill at ease.
Josh took a deep breath. Squaring his shoulders, he moved farther away from Gabe, who was far too entrenched in relatives and language difficulties, to disengage himself long enough to grab Josh’s arm and pull him back this time.
Moving next to Shannon, Josh paused to take another breath. Her perfume was something light, yet seductive. It suited her.
He poured every ounce of his acquired charm into his greeting as he put out his hand. “Hi, I’m Josh McClintock, friend of the groom.”
Turning, Shannon smiled then put out her own hand. “Shannon Donovan, sister of the bride.” And then, as her hand made contact with his, her eyes widened and there was a flicker of recognition. “What did you say your name was?”
“Josh McClintock.”
“Joshua?” she asked incredulously. Her green eyes narrowed a little bit as she concentrated. “Did you attend William Cullen Bryant High School?”
Why the hell did his heart just do that funny little thing that, had he been three decades older, would have had him searching for the phone number of the nearest reputable cardiologist? He did his best to look nonchalant. “In Queens? Yes, I did.”
Shannon’s smile widened. His erratic cardiac activity continued. “You probably don’t remember me, but you saved my butt.”
His breath backed up in his lungs as he contemplated that part of her anatomy. “Excuse me?”
He was rewarded with a laugh that sent hot ripples over his skin. He realized he was still holding her hand and released it.
“You tutored me in precalculus. If it wasn’t for you, I would have failed,” she said.
“Then you wouldn’t have been valedictorian.”
Pleasure highlighted her delicate heart-shaped face. “Then you do remember me.”
“How could I forget someone like you?”
God, but she wished Robert felt that way.
Josh saw the sadness return. “I’m sorry, did I say something wrong?”
“No, you said something right,” she told him. “Something very right.”
For a moment, he was Joshua again, tongue-tied and as awkward as a puppy that hadn’t grown into its feet. He purposely glanced down at her hand and said the first thing that came to his head. “So, are you next?”
Delicate eyebrows gathered together in confusion over green eyes that had haunted his dreams for a year after graduation. “Next?”
He nodded, then indicated her left hand. “To get married.”
She raised her engagement ring up as if she hadn’t seen it before. “Oh. Yes.”
There was something odd about the way she gave her answer—automatically and quickly, as if to cover a nervousness. Something was not completely right in paradise, he thought. Josh glanced around for a man making a beeline for them. No one was. “So, where’s your fiancé?”
Shannon sighed. “Back in New York.”
“Later flight?” His expression was purposely innocent. Inside, his heart had accelerated again.
Shannon shook her head. “He’s not coming.”
“Really?” Josh did his best to suppress a grin. In his estimation, destiny had just suddenly opened up a very big door and laid down a welcome mat before him.
CHAPTER TWO
SHANNON DIDN’T REMEMBER Joshua being this tall or this good-looking when they were back in high school together. She did, however, remember his eyes. He’d always had beautiful blue eyes. Sincere eyes, she’d thought at the time. Now, they seemed like eyes that would make a woman forget herself.
What was the matter with her? What kind of thoughts was she having here? She was engaged, for heaven’s sake. Just because Robert wasn’t here didn’t change anything.
And where is he? Is he really working or…?
She blamed her doubts and confusion on stress and fatigue and the irritating din that refused to abate. If anything, the volume was getting louder. There were now several more people around the front desk and they were all talking at once.
This did not look good, Shannon thought. Time to stop thinking about herself and ride to the rescue, if that was possible.
She flashed a smile in Josh’s direction, effectively terminating any further conversation. “Excuse me, I think my sister needs me.”
Easing herself away from Josh and the momentary detour she’d taken down memory lane, Shannon made her way over to Alexis and the other wedding guests. She had always been the problem solver in her family, the one who’d looked a
t all the scattered, broken pieces and found a way to pick them up again in order to make them fit long after everyone else had given up. It was one of the reasons she made such a good lawyer.
“Need help?” Josh asked, showing absolutely no indication that he was about to fade into the flowered wallpaper even if she turned him down.
Yes, please.
But though the automatic response echoed in her head, Shannon didn’t take the time to answer him. Every second counted. She knew what Alexis was like when she came apart at the seams. It didn’t happen often, but it was not a pretty sight.
Burrowing her way to the front of the mob scene, Shannon placed one comforting arm around Alexis and smiled winningly at the man behind the front desk.
“What’s wrong, honey?” she asked her sister.
Alexis stared at her dumbfounded, as if she couldn’t see how anyone could not know what was happening here—the disintegration of civilization as it was known in its present state.
“What’s wrong?” Alexis echoed incredulously. “What’s wrong?”
“That’s what I asked.” Shannon did her best to sound cheerful and patient. In her experience, drama had never been the way to solve any problem.
There were tears beginning to form in Alexis’s eyes. Her sister gestured toward the man behind the desk as if his sole purpose in life was to ruin her dream wedding.
“What’s wrong is that no one told me that this inn was long on charm and short on rooms.”
“We have rooms, mademoiselle,” the clerk retorted with no small indignation. “We just do not have as many as you would like.”
Shannon focused her attention on the clerk. “How many do you have? Unoccupied,” she added, in case the man thought she was just taking random inventory.
The answer came with no hesitation, no pause to mentally take a count. “Twenty-five. I have twenty-five rooms. I have emp-teed the en-tire inn for your wed-ding,” he announced, drawing out the words to add emphasis to the trial he had endured. There was petulance in every elongated syllable.
“Twenty-five,” Alexis cried in disbelief. “We’ve got at least seventy people.”
Probably more, Shannon thought. Alexis had never been good with numbers. But for the sake of peace, she focused on the only solution immediately available. “So? We’ll just triple up.”
Gabe frowned. Easygoing to a fault, it was clear that he had severe reservations about this suggestion. His eyes swept over a number of his cousins. Shannon could almost see what he was thinking—Mayday!
“Triple up? Shannon, that really might not be the best way to go.”
“Right now, that’s the only way to go. Besides,” she said, doing her best to sound upbeat and positive, “this is Paris. We didn’t come here to stay cooped up in a room. We came to celebrate your happiness and to take in the sights.” She gestured toward the group. “Most of these people will be out all night. If anything, we’ll need the rooms to change clothes in, to take a quick catnap before we’re up and out again.” She turned toward Alexis. “This is what you wanted, right, Alexis? To be in Paris, to get a feel for the city and soak it up. You can kick back in a hotel room in any city in the world. This is Paris, made to be enjoyed up close and personal—outside of an inn,” she emphasized.
In response, she saw relief on her future brother-in-law’s ruggedly handsome face. A smile was beginning to form on her sister’s lips.
Success, Shannon thought.
Having temporarily quelled Alexis and Gabe’s misgivings, Shannon turned toward the others. She clapped her hands together for attention, first once, then again. Nothing happened. And then, behind her, a piercing whistle tore the air. When she turned, Josh winked at her.
“Just trying to help,” he told her.
It did the trick. The wedding guests settled down long enough for her to talk. “People, I want you to choose two other people you won’t mind hearing snore. Due to a slight misunderstanding about the number of rooms available, we’ll be sleeping three to a room. The rooms will just be for resting anyway, so please make your roommate choices and let’s get registered. Paris is waiting.”
To her relief, Shannon saw people gathering into groups. It looked as if her suggestion was taking hold. She saw a few distant relatives she knew for a fact hadn’t been on speaking terms discuss sharing a room.
Stunned, Shannon turned toward Alexis, who was beaming at her with relief. Shannon inclined her head toward her sister. “I thought this was Paris, not Lourdes.”
“Lourdes?” Alexis echoed, confused.
“The place of miracles,” Josh answered.
He was standing behind her again. Shannon turned around and her smile widened.
It looked, he thought, every bit as beatific as the one that had haunted his dreams that first full year after graduation. “We’re on the same wavelength,” Shannon said, amused.
“You have no idea.” He knew that he’d never uttered truer words in his life.
He was a great deal more charming and confident than he used to be, Shannon caught herself thinking. The next moment, she turned her attention back to Alex and where she was needed.
“HOW DID I WIND UP with you?” Taylor asked petulantly. She kicked aside the purse she’d just tripped over while trying to get to a closet that could only generously be referred to as moderately adequate. Taylor punctuated her question with a huff and a deep sigh.
Shannon gave her a smile that was all teeth but little feeling. Not because she didn’t love Taylor—she and the family did. But right now, she was in no mood for her baby sister’s flashes of temper or her spoiled behavior, something, she knew, they were all guilty of having fostered a couple of decades ago when Taylor had been probably the most adorable baby under the sun.
“Just lucky, I guess,” Shannon told Taylor. And, Shannon supposed, in her estimation, Taylor actually was lucky. There were only two of them to this room rather than three as in most of the other rooms. Which was a good thing, she thought. With both of them in the room, there was hardly enough space for air, much less another person.
The frown on Taylor’s face as she made her return trip to the open suitcase on the double bed indicated that she didn’t share that opinion. “Lucky would be if I was sharing the room with one of those cute Fellini cousins,” Taylor replied.
“Which cousin?” Shannon asked.
Taylor shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. All of them.” Then she flashed the wicked smile that had kept her father up nights when Taylor was in high school.
Taylor still needed a keeper, Shannon thought wearily. “Try to be good, Taylor.”
The wicked smile only grew that much wider. Raising her eyebrows, she twirled a long blond curl around her finger. “I always try to be good.”
Nope, Shannon thought, she wasn’t going to do it. She wasn’t going to spend the next six days babysitting Taylor until the wedding took place. Taylor was twenty-two. She was old enough to look out for herself—and to suffer the consequences of her actions.
The resolution sounded good in theory, but Shannon still heard herself saying, “I meant good as in ‘Goody Two-shoes,’ not as in ‘a good time was had by all.’”
To her surprise, her sister snorted. “You should talk.”
Shannon stopped putting away her own things into the minuscule bureau. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at her sister. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”
Taylor looked like the cat that had just dined on a canary feast. “I saw you getting chummy with the best man.”
“We happen to be old friends, Taylor, nothing more,” she said simply. “Joshua and I went to high school together.”
The smirk on Taylor’s lips testified that she was far from convinced. “Does Robert know about this ‘old friend’?”
Shannon sighed, carefully hanging up her maid-of-honor dress in what she’d taken as her side of the tiny closet. “Robert doesn’t know about anything but work.” The instant the words left her lips, she regretted them. Sh
e was nothing if not loyal and that was an extremely disloyal remark, brought on by a tiny burst of resentment. “That wasn’t fair.”
Taylor shrugged carelessly, dismissing her guilt. Her sister had never liked Robert and was not the type to keep her opinion to herself. “If you ask me, this Josh guy’s a lot cuter.”
Because she’d fleetingly thought that herself, Shannon felt enormously guilty, never mind that she suspected Robert wasn’t as faithful as he pretended to be. “Nobody asked.”
Just as she said it, there was a knock on the door. Shannon worked her way through the obstacle course of Taylor’s remaining suitcases, fighting the urge to ask why a six-day stay should require the need for three jam-packed suitcases.
The door stuck as she tried to open it. Shannon tugged hard and nearly fell backward as success greeted her on her second attempt.
Strong hands went out to steady her, and shock rippled through her, their point of origin being just beneath Josh’s hands.
“Speak of the devil,” Taylor murmured under her breath, clearly pleased as she peered around her sister’s shoulder.
“Were you?” Josh asked, withdrawing his hands from Shannon’s arms. “Speaking of the devil?” he added when Shannon stared at him in confusion.
Still dealing with the unnerving reaction she’d just had to his touch, Shannon did her best to pull herself together. She tossed what she hoped was a careless glance toward her sister.
“Don’t pay any attention to Taylor—she’s still in the rough-formation stage. Something wrong with your room?” she asked, coming to the only conclusion for his unexpected appearance at her door. For some reason, although this was Alexis and Gabe’s wedding and Great-Aunt Celeste had been the one in charge of finding this place, everyone seemed to think that she was in charge of this event because she’d helped sort out the room-shortage problem.
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