“How exactly is Connor McClane behind the significant amount of money your family paid this Sophia Pirelli?”
Todd’s confident look faded, clay showing through the once-golden facade, but he still didn’t give up. “My family let her go, so she went after us for money, claiming the kid she’s carrying is mine. The money was a way to keep her quiet.”
“A simple paternity test would have done the same thing and been much cheaper,” Connor pointed out. “The kind of money your family paid…That’s not hush money. It’s guilt money.”
Connor watched with satisfaction as the truth spread across Dunworthy’s face and disgust and disappointment over the Wilsons’. Realization hit Emily last, leaving her pale and shaken as she looked from Todd to her parents. Finally her gaze locked with Connor’s, and she burst into tears before rushing into his arms.
Seated in Gordon Wilson’s study a half hour later, Connor nodded when the older man held up the bottle of scotch. Gordon poured two glasses, handed one to Connor and took a swallow from his own glass before claiming his spot behind the large mahogany desk.
Connor took a sip of his own scotch while he waited for the older man to speak.
“We owe you our thanks,” Gordon said after a minute of silence. “When I think of my little girl married to that liar—”
At the chapel Gordon had made it clear to Dunworthy that the engagement was over and the wedding off, and that he’d live to regret it if he ever went near Emily again. Gordon and Charlene had reluctantly agreed to Emily’s request that Connor drive her home after Charlene immediately tried to take charge. Emily had surprised them all, demanding some time alone. Connor thought—hoped—that she was learning to stand up for herself.
“I’m glad I found the proof I needed. I only wish I had found it sooner.”
“And I wish you had come to me with your suspicions sooner.”
Connor couldn’t choke back a disbelieving laugh as he set the glass of scotch aside. “I’m not sure how you think that conversation would have played out, but I don’t see you taking my side over your handpicked future son-in-law.”
“I did not handpick Todd. You make it sound like some kind of arranged marriage.”
“Wasn’t it?”
A flush rising in his face, Gordon struggled for a calming breath. “Look, I’m trying to say that I appreciate what you’ve done. I don’t know how we can repay you.”
Pay him…
Shoving to his feet, Connor ground out, “I don’t want your money.”
“I wasn’t offering any,” Gordon shot back. He rose to glare at Connor from across the expanse of his desk.
The silent stalemate lasted several tense seconds before Gordon sighed. The tension drained from his body, leaving his shoulders a bit stooped and signs of age lining his face. “Sit back down.” He gestured to the leather chair Connor had abandoned. “I’ve had enough drama for one night.”
Hesitating, Connor glanced at the study doorway.
“Expecting someone?”
“I thought Kelsey would be here by now.”
In the aftermath of the argument with Dunworthy and Emily’s collapse into tears, Connor hadn’t had a chance to talk to Kelsey. He’d expected her to head back to the Wilsons’ with the rest of her family, where he’d been counting on the chance to talk to her.
But maybe he’d misunderstood what she’d said during the phone call. He should have known Javy wouldn’t keep his mouth shut just because he’d told him to, but the more time Connor had to think, the more worried he became. Did her absence mean that Javy’s explanation hadn’t made a difference? That she still couldn’t forgive Connor for the money he’d taken?
Gordon sucked in a deep breath as if preparing for a painful blow and admitted, “I was wrong about Todd.”
They were the words Connor had come to Arizona to hear. The perfect lead-in to tell Gordon he hadn’t been wrong just about Todd Dunworthy; he’d been wrong about Connor, too. But as he’d already figured out, it no longer mattered. Only Kelsey…
When he stayed silent, the older man repeated, “I was wrong about Todd. I realize now you came back to help Emily, and you have. But you still have some work to do to convince me you’re good enough for this family.”
“Good enough—” Connor’s words broke off when he caught sight of what almost looked like respect gleaming in the older man’s blue eyes. Shaking his head and wondering how a single sip of scotch could so seriously impair his judgment, he said, “You don’t have to worry about me being good enough. Emily and I are friends. That’s all.”
As if the night hadn’t already been surreal, Gordon Wilson circled his desk to clap a hand on Connor’s shoulder. “Who said anything about Emily?” At Connor’s surprised glance, Gordon said, “At the chapel I saw the way you were looking at my niece. You never looked at Emily like that. So don’t you think it’s time for you to go find Kelsey?”
Sitting in her car outside her shop, Kelsey stared at the freshly painted window. Weddings Amour scrolled across the glass in a flowing, curlicued font. The script matched the business cards and letterhead she’d had made—by the thousands, since it was cheaper to buy in bulk.
Kelsey sighed. She should have gone with the rest of her family—and Connor—back to her aunt and uncle’s house. But this was Connor’s moment. His moment of triumph…of success. And her moment of failure.
Not that Kelsey had expected her cousin to go through with the wedding once she realized Connor was right about Todd. Still, she felt sick with disappointment. She’d worked so hard on the wedding. Her friends had worked so hard! Lisa and Sara…Like her, they had been counting on Emily’s wedding, and Kelsey hated letting them down. She dreaded calling them with the news, but that, too, was part of her job. Along with canceling the reservation at the chapel and the hotel reception, phoning all the guests, arranging for gifts to be returned. The mental list went on and on, with Kelsey’s hopes and dreams sinking deeper beneath the crushing weight.
But it had to be done, and sitting in her car wouldn’t accomplish any of it. Grabbing her purse off the passenger seat, she climbed from the car. As she opened the door to her shop, she tried—and failed miserably—to forget her excitement and gratitude only days earlier as her friends had pitched in to help decorate. The smell of peach potpourri drifted toward her the moment she stepped inside, but it was the memory of Connor’s aftershave that filled her senses, playing games with her mind and her heart.
No matter how many unpleasant tasks lay ahead of her, Kelsey would gladly face the professional failure head-on as long as she could turn a blind eye to the personal heartbreak tearing her up inside.
“You should be happy for him,” Kelsey whispered as she sank behind her desk and grabbed the box of tissues. She’d placed it there with the idea that a bride might be overcome with emotion and shed some tears of joy. She hadn’t anticipated that she’d be sitting alone in her shop, tempted to put her head down and cry.
Connor had done what he’d set out to do. He’d listened to his gut, proved her aunt and uncle wrong, saved the damsel in distress. If life were a Hollywood movie, now would be the time for him to once again ride off into the sunset…this time with Emily.
He said he didn’t love her.
But his lack of feeling for Emily wasn’t exactly an undying declaration of love for Kelsey. Especially now that Todd was out of the picture and Emily was back in Connor’s arms.
She heard the front door swing open and fought back a groan. The sign in the front window still read Closed, but she hadn’t remembered to lock the door behind her. She couldn’t afford to turn away potential clients, but she’d never felt less like talking about weddings with a head-over-heels-in-love couple.
Pasting on a smile, she pushed away from her desk and walked to the front of the shop. “Can I help…” her voice trailed away as she caught sight of Connor standing in the doorway “…you?”
“I hope so.” He wore his sunglasses, as he had the first ti
me Kelsey saw him, but the reflective shades didn’t offer the protection they once had. She knew now, behind the polished lenses, his eyes were a vivid, vibrant green. Just as she could read the uncertainty behind his cocky smile and the nerves his confident stance—his legs braced wide and arms loose at his sides—couldn’t disguise.
Her heart was pounding so hard, Kelsey half expected the shop’s glass windows to shake from the force of the vibrations, but only her entire body trembled in reaction. “What are you doing here? I thought you were—”
“With Emily?” he filled in, taking a step farther into the shop.
“She is the reason you came back. To stop her from getting married.”
“To stop her from getting married to the wrong man,” he clarified. He took another step forward, and it was all Kelsey could do to hold her ground.
“Are you—” Kelsey licked dry lips and forced the words out, even though they scraped like sandpaper against her throat. “Are you the right man?”
“I like to think so. But not for Emily.”
No longer holding her ground, Kelsey was frozen in place as Connor drew closer. His movements slow and deliberate, he stripped off his sunglasses and set them on the wicker coffee table amid the bowl of potpourri and a dozen bridal magazines. Without the glasses, she could see not only his gorgeous green eyes, but the vulnerability and doubt she’d caused with her lack of faith.
“I like to think I’m the right man for you.”
Kelsey opened her mouth to agree he was the only man for her, but her voice broke on his name and she surprised them both by bursting into tears. Panic crossed Connor’s features for a split second before he pulled her into his arms. “It’s okay, sweetheart.”
Clinging to the warm cotton of his T-shirt and breathing in the sea-breeze scent of his aftershave, Kelsey swallowed against the tears scraping her throat. “I am so sorry, Connor. I should have given you the chance to explain why you took the money. I should have known you would have a good reason, an honorable reason.”
“I took an easy way out. Don’t make it into something it wasn’t.”
“You were looking out for the Delgados—for your family. I shouldn’t have expected anything less.”
“And your family was looking out for Emily. I get that now,” he said, running a comforting hand up and down her spine. “Besides, I think Gordon and I have an understanding, even if it is going to take a while for your aunt to get used to the idea.”
Lifting her head from the comfort of Connor’s chest, Kelsey asked, “Wh-what idea?”
“The idea of me and you.” His eyes steadily searching her face, he added, “The idea of me loving you.”
They were the words Kelsey longed to hear, words she’d thought she would never hear, and she had trouble believing her ears. Surely her imagination had to be playing tricks. Maybe this was nothing but a dream and she’d wake up in her bed—alone—any minute.
“Kelsey?” Connor prompted.
“In my dreams, you’re wearing a tuxedo.”
Glancing down at his usual jeans and a T-shirt, he swore beneath his breath. “Leave it me to mess this up. Your aunt told me—”
“No, you didn’t mess up at all!” Kelsey insisted.
Connor wasn’t some fantasy groom who could spout poetry and had a picture-perfect smile. He wasn’t perfect at all. He was real. Loyal and determined, and she loved everything about him—including his bad-boy past. A past that had shaped him into the good man he was now.
“It’s perfect and—You talked to my aunt?”
“To your aunt and uncle both. When I asked them for permission to marry you.”
Heart pounding crazily in her chest, Kelsey saved wondering about that conversation for another time. For now, she could only focus on one thing. “You want to marry me?”
“I love you, Kelsey. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“But what about what you said? About love and marriage being nothing but a lie?” she babbled over the voice in her head all but screaming, Say yes, you idiot!
“Yeah, well.” Looking a little sheepish, he admitted, “I let my parents’ relationship color the way I looked at marriage. Of course, my job didn’t paint a rosy picture, either. It’s one of the things that makes you perfect for me. I’ll have you to remind me that sometimes happily-ever-after does come true. That is, if you say yes.”
The screaming voice in her head could no longer be silenced, and Kelsey burst out, “Yes, of course. Yes! I love you, Connor. I think I loved you from the minute my aunt showed me your picture and told me it was my job to keep an eye on you. You’ve been on my mind and in my heart ever since.”
The slow smile he gave her was vintage Connor McClane, but the love and tenderness and emotion Kelsey tasted in his kiss…that was brand-new. She clung to his shoulders, never wanting to let him go, and knowing now that she wouldn’t have to. He wasn’t a man of the moment; he was the man she would love forever.
As Connor slowly eased away, his breath still warming her lips, his fingers still buried in her hair, he asked, “About your shop…How much damage will Emily canceling the wedding cause?”
It took a second for Kelsey to focus on anything outside the joined circle of their arms. “Well, um, people will understand her calling off the wedding when they find out about Todd. I don’t think they’ll hold that against me. But the chance to show all the guests an amazing wedding and the word-of-mouth publicity the ceremony and reception would have generated, that’s a lost opportunity. For me and my friends. I hate disappointing them,” she said, a small touch of sadness dimming her joy.
“What if you don’t have to?” Connor asked, a familiar gleam in his eyes. The same look he’d had before he suggested they pair up as a team. The kind of look that told Kelsey he was about to offer some crazy solution that just might work.
“What do you mean?”
“I love you, Kelsey. And while I’ve never thought about it before, I suspect long engagements aren’t my style. I want to marry you, and I have it on good authority that the best wedding coordinator in town has the perfect wedding already planned.”
“You mean—Emily’s wedding?” A startled laugh burst from her lips. “You cannot be serious!”
“No?”
“No! I mean, sure, everything’s all planned, but it was done for Emily.”
“Was it?” he challenged with a knowing lift to his eyebrows. “Was it Emily who insisted on hiring all her friends? Emily who ran around with a hundred lists to make sure every last detail was exactly the way she wanted it?”
How could Kelsey argue when Connor was right? Along the way, the lines had blurred and Kelsey had planned the kind of wedding she’d dreamed about as a starry-eyed, hope-filled little girl, not the kind of wedding she’d dreamed about as a professional career woman.
“Hey, it’s just a thought,” Connor said. “For all I care, we can go to Vegas or a justice of the peace—”
“Stop!” Kelsey protested in mock horror, even as excitement bubbled inside her like champagne. “A Vegas wedding? If word got out, my career would be over for sure!”
“But what about switching places with the bride? Think your career can withstand that scandal?”
“Well, as long as it’s just this once…”
Her words ended in a laugh as Connor spun her around the room. “Oh, I can guarantee we’ll only need to do this once,” he vowed, love and commitment shining in his eyes.
“You’d really be okay with a big—and I mean, big—wedding, with all the Wilson family and friends in attendance?”
Lifting a hand, he traced a pattern on her cheek—the five-point star he’d confessed drove him crazy. But there was only tenderness in his touch as he knowingly said, “They’re your friends and family, too.”
Kelsey smiled. “You’re right. They are.” And now that she no longer felt she had to live up to her mother’s motto of Wilson women against the world, she knew they would only grow even closer. “
And soon they’ll be yours, too,” she teased with a laugh when Connor groaned. “Are you ready for that and all the happily-ever-after, love-of-a-lifetime, till-death-do-us-part stuff?”
Kelsey could read the answer in Connor’s eyes—the promise of a future filled with happily-ever-after.
“With you?” he vowed. “I can’t wait.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3798-2
ONCE UPON A WEDDING
Copyright © 2009 by Stacy Cornell
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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.
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Once Upon a Wedding Page 19
