What, because Audrey never suspected that Charlotte would get close to a wedding? That she’d never manage to snag a husband? But that wasn’t fair. Charlotte had professed her wariness of the matrimonial state even as a teenager. When her mother had announced her impending divorce of Audrey’s father—at that time her third attempt at wedded bliss—Charlotte had sworn aloud she’d never be caught dead in bridal white. “We try to keep our services very confidential,” she said now. “Not every couple wants the world—or each other—to know they’ve sought help with this aspect of the ceremony.”
“That’s exactly what AnnaMarie promised,” Audrey said, with a satisfied bob of her head. “It’s imperative that my groom not suspect the vows I say aren’t completely my own.”
Confused, Charlotte’s gaze jerked toward Luke then jerked back to the bride-to-be. “But ... ? Luke?”
A frown dug two lines between her arched golden brows. “But Luke what?” she questioned, and then started tittering. “You mean, you thought Luke? You thought me and Luke?”
Head reeling, Charlotte frowned back. “Well, yes.”
“No,” Audrey said, still laughing a little. She held out her left hand, displaying a massive diamond on the ring finger. French-manicured nails fluttered. “I’m engaged to Connor, Luke’s brother.”
“Oh!” Charlotte hoped she didn’t sound as—strangely—relieved as she felt. It was almost as if she could breathe again.
“I’m the best man,” Luke put in.
“Well.” Instead of looking at him, she turned to a fresh page in her notebook and pulled the matching pen free from its little pocket. She would not go giddy. “That explains your presence.” Sort of.
She returned her attention to Audrey. “I’ve not met Connor.” Luke had wanted her to become acquainted with his family, but she’d always made excuses. Meeting relatives had felt too ... official for their casual relationship. “What can you tell me about him?”
“I want you to see for yourself,” Audrey said. “And see us together, before you get to work writing the vows.”
Charlotte barely restrained a bleat of dismay. She’d been hoping the morning’s meeting would be the beginning and end of this little reunion of theirs. Forty-five minutes. Sixty, tops. “Oh, that’s not necessary—”
“But it’s what I want!” Audrey interjected, starting to quiver. “Over the phone, your assistant assured me you’d agree to do this however I said.”
Mental note, Charlotte thought, to tell her college student to put some limits on those assurances. When dealing with brides—all of whom were potential bridezillas—it was important to set some boundaries. “Really, Audrey, I can do the job without that.”
“No.” The other woman slid forward, her expression making clear she was already one toe away from a tantrum. “You must spend time with us!”
“Okay, okay,” Charlotte said, throwing immediate water on the bridal fire. Experience with Audrey herself, and also with other hyper women on the verge of matrimony, had taught her that at this point appeasement was the only answer. With a little sigh, she mentally paged through her calendar. “Uh ... coffee on Thursday?”
“Next weekend.” Audrey sat back against the cushions, calmer now.
Charlotte considered. “All right, my schedule’s pretty open. Which day?”
“Friday, Saturday, and Sunday,” Audrey answered. “The entire wedding party is going to a boutique hotel in Palm Springs for bonding time.”
Wedding party bonding time? Was this the latest trend? What happened to the guys taking a field trip to a strip club while the girls margarita’d themselves silly during a stay-at-home sing-along of Mamma Mia?
“You’ll come, too,” Audrey added, as if the matter was settled.
Wait. What? Charlotte stared at her. “You want me to spend the weekend with you? Uh, I don’t think that will work, Audrey.”
“Why not? I’ll pay you for your time and you just said you were free.”
“Yes, I said I was free, except ...” She turned to Luke in appeal, but he just looked back, offering no help besides the distraction of his gorgeous eyes and handsome face. Her brain stayed on stall for another moment before finally clicking in. “Except won’t your fiancé suspect something? A strange woman suddenly shows—”
“I have a plan for that!” Audrey said, triumphant. “It’s why I had Luke meet me here. So you’d know it was okay with him.”
Charlotte’s gaze slid his way, then slid back to the bride, the one she’d wanted out of her life ASAP. Dread started to rise from the pit of her belly. “What kind of plan?”
“Everybody in the wedding party is bringing a spouse or a significant other. I happen to know that you and the best man have a history. So Connor won’t suspect a thing when you spend the weekend as Luke’s girl.”
Charlotte popped the hood of her trunk and yanked out her small suitcase, all the while trying to shake the notion that this was a very bad idea. For the umpteenth time, she reviewed how she’d ended up agreeing to a long May weekend in Palm Springs—which had the weather forecast of warm temps and sunny skies that signaled high summer anywhere else in the world. She’d been promised three days of lounge chairs by a pool, coconut-scented sunscreen, and fruity umbrella drinks.
Put like that, it didn’t sound like torture, of course. But—
“Get that gloomy look off your face,” Audrey scolded, coming around the bumper of another of the vehicles in the Park N Ride a short exit off the freeway. The wedding party was going to start their promised bonding by carpooling the ninety minutes it took to travel from LA to the famous resort town known for its golf courses, midcentury modern homes, and frequent celebrity sightings.
The bride-to-be was wearing a cute mint-and-chocolate-striped sundress and Barbie-sized sandals on her impossibly tiny feet. They stopped just shy of Charlotte’s size nines. Audrey pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head and peered upward. “Oh. Maybe you just need to do a better job plucking. I can give you the name of my eyebrow artist.”
Charlotte stifled the urge to pluck the other woman out of her teensy shoes and wave her around like King Kong did with his little blonde. “Maybe I should just take myself and my brows back home.”
Panic widened Audrey’s eyes, and she grabbed Charlotte’s wrist in a death grip. “No,” she whispered in a frantic voice. “The vows have to be perfect. And the vows won’t be perfect unless you see Connor. Unless you see me and Connor together!”
Charlotte had witnessed this kind of behavior before. It was well-known in the wedding industry that the bride with the Big Day ahead would find a certain detail to fixate upon. It was always the dress at first, but once the final fitting was scheduled, there had to be a new obsession. The cake was a popular choice. Often there was much hair-tearing (metaphorical, because God forbid the planned half-up, half-down wedding day ’do be endangered) over the seating arrangements.
In Audrey’s case, it was clear she’d chosen her marriage vows to go manic about.
Charlotte might have had more sympathy if playing along with her ex-stepsister’s paranoia didn’t mean she’d be playing—
“Good morning,” Luke said.
Peeling Audrey’s fingers off her forearm, Charlotte glanced at him from beneath her gloomy eyebrows and suppressed a sigh. Yes, she might have had more sympathy for her ex-stepsister if it didn’t also mean she was stuck playing Luke Harper’s plus-one.
Hence the very-bad-idea feeling.
His gaze rested on her a moment, then he leaned down to take up her suitcase. “Looking good,” he said.
“Oh.” Absurdly pleased, Charlotte tried not to squirm inside her little sleeveless A-line dress. It was black, with a geometric pattern of pinks, greens, and yellows cascading down one side. It ended just above the knees in three tiers of ruffles. She’d decided she just had to have the girly thing (as well as several others) on an impromptu shopping expedition the day before. If Luke could have new clothes, why couldn’t she?
/> Yes, he was the reason behind yesterday’s assault on her credit card as well as why she’d caved under pressure and agreed on the trip the other morning in her office. Just when she’d been ready to shut down Audrey for good, she’d happened to glance over at Luke and seen something a little ... smug in his eyes.
In that moment she’d come to the uncomfortable suspicion that he thought she was desperate to escape the weekend because she wasn’t over him.
Her pride hadn’t let her let him get away with that idea.
And it wouldn’t let her act any less than composed and unaffected now. “Are we ready to go?” Charlotte said brightly.
Audrey latched on to her arm again, and started dragging her toward a small knot of people, Luke keeping pace. “You have to meet Connor.”
A tall man detached himself from the others and strode toward them. Connor Harper, of course. He was as sexy and handsome as his older brother. He slid an arm around his fiancée and pressed his mouth to the top of her platinum head. “Morning, sweetheart.”
Audrey hugged him back and then tugged on his neck to bring him down for a more leisurely, mouth-to-mouth kiss. As it went on and on, Charlotte glanced at Luke and felt the back of her neck go hot. His kisses had been like that, long and all-consuming. Sometimes she’d surface from one and completely forget where she was, what she’d been doing, and why there was anyone else in the world besides herself and the green-eyed guy with the talented lips.
Luke lifted an eyebrow and gave her a look that said he was remembering those kisses, too.
Charlotte abruptly turned away and cleared her throat. Loudly. The bridal pair broke apart and Connor proffered an unapologetic grin. “Hey, bro,” he said to Luke, then he held out his hand to Charlotte. “Ah, you must be the elusive lady I never had a chance to become acquainted with before.”
His shake was warm and strong. “Connor Harper, I presume,” Charlotte said.
“That’s right.” His gaze shifted to his brother and then back to her. “And I have a small bone to pick with you.”
“Con,” Luke put in, a warning in his voice.
“What?” Connor sent his brother an innocent look, then redirected his attention to Charlotte and smiled. Oh, he looked so much like Luke then! Both charming rogues. “Okay, okay, since you two are back together, I won’t complain about what you put my brother through, though—” “Con.”
Charlotte glanced over her shoulder, noting Luke’s tense expression. He’d been “through” something following their breakup? He’d seemed perfectly content to turn his back on her then, going far enough away that any second thoughts she might have had wouldn’t do her any good.
Not that she’d had second thoughts. Well, not more than a rare time or two, anyway.
Connor started talking again. “I’m just saying ...” he began, only to be interrupted by a small guy with a billiard ball head rushing up to them.
“Smile!” he called out, wielding a professional-looking camera. “Show me how thrilled you are about the wedding.”
On Audrey, thrilled looked more like irritated. The bride glanced at her watch. “Irv, you were supposed to be here at eight. You’re fifteen minutes late.”
“Giving you an extra quarter hour to grow in beauty, doll,” the photographer said. “I had a dawn shoot at the beach. Ryan Reynolds wanted some photos of himself running with his dog.”
The celebrity connection seemed to mollify her. “I see,” she said. “Though I’m not sure dog pictures are more important than our wedding album.”
Connor pulled his fiancée into his arms. “Nothing is more important than your wedding to me, sweetheart.”
She leaned back against him and tilted her head to look into his face, the devil-bride replaced by an angel. Irv started madly clicking. “That’s it! Show him with your eyes how you feel. How you can’t wait to be his wife.”
It was all a little too much for Charlotte. Maybe she was gloomy. The smooching and the affectionate displays of the future bride and groom were bringing her down. Think of lounge chairs by the pool, she told herself. Coconut-scented sunscreen. Fruity drinks with umbrellas.
Luke drew closer, murmuring for her ears only. “Gonna be some good time, huh?”
“I’m surprised they’re bringing a professional photographer on a casual weekend.”
“I think it’s just for the send-off. Though you’ve known Audrey longer than I have, so you should realize nothing she does is casual. And her daddy only wants her to have the very best.”
The mention of Audrey’s daddy only dragged Charlotte’s mood lower. Peter Langford had been the favorite of her four stepfathers. The one she’d imagined walking her down the aisle some future day. Of course that all changed when her mother divorced him. Then, instead of sticking by Charlotte’s side, he’d taken off in the opposite direction—which shouldn’t have hurt so much.
It had happened before.
She glanced at Luke.
It had happened again.
“Now for you two,” Irv the photographer said, turning to them, camera up and ready. “The best man, right?”
Charlotte shifted to leave Luke free for a solo shot, but he snagged her arm to yank her close. “That’s right,” he said. “Along with my lovely lady.”
“Then show us just how lovely you think she is!” Irv was enthusiasm personified. “Give her a nice big, juicy kiss!”
Before she could bail out of his embrace, Luke’s mouth descended. That dread in Charlotte’s belly rose again. The very bad idea appeared to be on the verge of getting very worse.
CHAPTER TWO
Luke would have backed off if he hadn’t caught that look of anxious alarm on Charlotte’s face. She’d been so calm and cool the other day in her office. Like they’d been nothing more to each other than casual acquaintances. It stroked the ego she’d kicked in the knees then to see her uneasiness now.
A kiss would serve his purposes, too. By planting a kiss on Charlotte he could figure out exactly where he was on the continuum of getting over her. He was hoping for Nearly There.
His hand came up to cup her jaw. There was reality surrounding them, a blacktopped parking area busy with cars and people—including the guy hawking rugs out of the bed of his truck in one corner and in another a huckster selling bogus maps to movie stars’ homes—but he ignored it for the still waters of Charlotte’s clear blue eyes.
She trembled a little. What did she think he was going to do—ravage her? It was Charlotte Bond who had done the ravaging fourteen months ago. Feeling like a fool and frustrated by her hard head and stubborn heart, he’d traveled more than 8,200 miles away to bury himself and his disappointment in hellishly long hours under equally hellish conditions.
Damn it, the least she owed him was a welcome-home kiss. She didn’t protest as his other hand slid to the small of her back, edging her nearer to him. Her voluptuous breasts brushed the front of his shirt and a bolt of heat shot southward.
God.
Though he’d left Charlotte herself behind, he’d brought with him images of her luscious body to torment him during his tenure in Qatar. There wasn’t an inch of it he hadn’t recalled time and time again, in agonizingly specific detail. Now he had her in his hands once more and he let himself savor the sensation for a moment, stroking her cheek with the pad of his thumb and breathing deep of her Charlottescent.
Then he touched his mouth to hers. Just that. She jerked in his hold, the subtlest of reactions. He murmured a soothing sound, then ran his tongue over the seam of her lips. They softened for him, allowing him to paint the interior of her full bottom one with the wet brush of his tongue. Her body jerked again, then she parted her lips and he followed up on the invitation, thrusting deep.
Charlotte went pliant in his arms, and another bolt of sexual heat arrowed through Luke. He’d forgotten that sweet yielding that was so uniquely Charlotte. She went into his kiss like she’d been waiting for it her whole life.
His ego cheered.
&nbs
p; The cavern of her mouth was a wet heat, several thousand times better than any fantasy of her he’d showered with in Qatar. He wrapped his arms around her, drawing her even closer, and then adjusted the angle of his head. “Charlie,” he murmured against her mouth.
The word seemed to shatter the spell. The woman he held against him rocked back, then broke his hold, her face blushing pink and her eyes rolling as Luke’s bro and the photographer launched into enthusiastic applause. On a deep breath, she ignored the men in favor of the bride. “Audrey, why don’t you introduce me to your bridesmaids?”
The women moved off, accompanied by Irv. Connor watched his blonde walk away, a small smile curving his mouth. Luke shook his head. “You’re really gone on her, huh?”
His smile growing, his brother shrugged. “Can’t deny it. I know she’s a little uptight about the upcoming wedding—so thanks for understanding about that.”
Now it was Luke’s turn to shrug. Though he rarely spoke of his ill-fated marriage at age nineteen, he remembered the tension the hoopla had placed on his wife-to-be. “A week before the I do’s, Jana threw a box of those sugared almonds at my head.” Though it had happened twelve years ago, he could still recall their too-sweet candy scent and the brittle crunch of them beneath his feet. “Grooms have it easier than the girls when it comes to wedding prep.”
“We deserve it,” Connor declared. “The proposal business is burden enough.” Then he slid a look at Luke. “Is that where it’s going with you and Charlotte? Are you two on the same track, finally?”
Luke didn’t know how to respond. If it wasn’t for Audrey’s use of Charlotte’s services and the fact that she wanted to keep her husband-to-be in the dark about it, he would have made no effort to encounter his ex-girlfriend. Yet when his brother’s fiancée proposed her plan, he’d gone along with the subterfuge.
It had been a good turn for Audrey—oh, who was he kidding? He’d agreed for purely selfish reasons. Playing Charlotte’s romantic interest for a long weekend gave him the perfect excuse to spend time in her company. He stared across the black asphalt, watching the sun spark red highlights in her dark hair.
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