“I’m so glad you’re home!”
“Me, too!” The wind whipped Chloe’s bangs. Scraping them back with one hand, she grinned at Kelly. “I know it’s a lot to ask, even of the matron of honor, but do you think you can transform me into a proper bride during the ride to the church?”
Kelly’s blue eyes twinkled. “No problem. After working all those years as your great-aunt’s social secretary, I’m up to any challenge. I’ve got your gown, your bouquet and your hairdresser in the limo.”
“Then let’s get rolling.”
With a wave and a promise to see Mase and Mac at the altar, Chloe ducked into the limo.
“Take Lakeshore Drive,” Kelly instructed the driver. “Slowly!”
The darkened glass partition whirred up. Curling irons hissed as Jane, Chloe’s hairdresser, tested them with the tip of a dampened finger. Box tops flew. Tissue paper crackled. Silk and voile and yards and yards of net swirled through the stretch limo.
By the time the silver gray behemoth pulled up at the church steps, Chloe was combed, curled, expertly made-up, gowned and veiled. A much-relieved Mollie greeted her as she climbed out of the car.
“Everyone’s inside,” she told the bride, her flame-bright hair shining in the sunlight. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
Chloe grinned, remembering all the times she’d stalled and put the wedding planner off.
“I’m sure.”
“Well, if you’re ready?”
“Mollie, wait.” Chloe took her hands in a tight grip. “Mase told me about your mother and my uncle Stuart. Are you...are you all right with knowing that you’re a Fortune?”
Mollie’s laughter carried on the brisk November breeze. “I’ve known that I’m a Fortune for a long time, Chloe, and I’m more than all right with it. But if I don’t get you into that church and down to the altar, your father might drum me out of the family again.”
The moment she stepped through the tall wooden doors, Chloe saw that the latest addition to the family had outdone herself. Hundreds of candles gave the church’s dim interior a cheerful glow. Boughs of evergreen, dotted with waxy white blooms and satin bows, decorated the pews and added a fragrant, piney scent to that of the candles.
“Mollie! Everything’s gorgeous. And the pine boughs are a perfect touch.”
“Mase had them flown in from the Black Hills,” her newest cousin informed her as she fussed with the veil and got Emmet into position beside Chloe. “He said something about a picnic and pine needles and wanting you to remember that scent forever.”
Her heart thumping, Chloe searched out the figure standing to one side of the altar.
“I will,” she whispered. “I will.”
A few moments later, Mollie signaled to the organist. Instantly, the music swelled into a triumphal wedding march, Kelly started down the aisle, and Emmet kissed his baby girl a final time before slowly, proudly, escorting her down the aisle.
Chloe’s heart filled with joy as she smiled at the people crowding the pews. Mollie hadn’t exaggerated. They were all there—her friends from Crockett, from Minneapolis, from college and high school and summer camp.
The Fortunes had all turned out, too. Every one of them. Kate, her dark red hair winged with gray, standing beside Sterling. Uncle Stuart and Aunt Marie. Her cousin Garrett, who’d disappeared with Renee Riley for a few hours at Mac’s wedding and ended up marrying the beautiful deb only short weeks later. Jack and Amanda Fortune, themselves newlyweds and now full-time parents to his daughter, Lilly. Gray McGuire, Mollie’s husband.
And Chad. Her twin. Her best friend. Her partner in so many youthful crimes. Chloe’s smile wrapped him in love and a sincere prayer that he, too, would soon find the joy spilling through her.
Then she and her father reached the end of the aisle, and Mase stepped forward to take her hand in his. The music dimmed. The church full of people faded into the background. Eagerly, she entwined her fingers with his. With the scent of pine filling her lungs and her heart, the latest and once most reluctant of the Fortune brides pledged her love, now and forever.
Kate Fortune’s eyes misted as she gazed at her radiant grand-niece. “Now that,” she whispered, sliding her hand into Sterling’s, “is what I call a happy ending.”
“Thank goodness,” he replied. “Perhaps now you can quit matchmaking and relax for a while.”
The smile that had melted the staid lawyer’s heart so many years ago flashed with a brilliance undimmed by age or her many adventures.
“No way! The Fortunes are as stubborn as they are loving. Sometimes they need a little help getting past the first to find the second.”
Sterling swallowed a groan. He only hoped his irrepressible Kate would wait until this wedding concluded before getting to work on the next one!
ISBN : 978-1-4592-5820-4
UNDERCOVER GROOM
Copyright © 1999 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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