by Noelle Adams
Accidental Bride
Beaufort Brides, Book Three
Noelle Adams
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Noelle Adams. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means.
Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Epilogue
Excerpt from Seducing the Enemy
About Noelle Adams
One
Kelly Beaufort stared down at her mostly packed suitcase—lying opened on the bed—and wished she had something sexier to wear.
For her entire life, sexy had never been a word applied to Kelly, either by herself or by anyone else. But still… She was going to Las Vegas for the wild, spontaneous wedding of two of her friends, and she’d liked to wear something appropriate for the occasion.
Only she didn’t have anything wild or hot or even particularly nice in her entire wardrobe, which was mostly made up of jeans, tees, and sweatshirts.
“What about this one?” her sister Deanna asked. She was rooting around in Kelly’s closet and now stuck out one arm, displaying a rose-colored sheathe dress. Both of Kelly’s sisters had come over this evening. They’d been planning a sisters-night of movies and chocolate, but after the Vegas wedding was announced, they’d decided to instead help Kelly pack for the trip.
“That’s a bridesmaid’s dress,” Kelly said, straightening her glasses and staring back down at her case.
“I know that.” Deanna sounded a little impatient. She was a practical, efficient sort of person, and she didn’t like dilly-dallying about routine tasks like packing for a trip. “You think I don’t remember Rose’s wedding?”
“You looked beautiful in that dress,” Rose added, wiping the dust off the one pair of heels Kelly owned.
“But it looks like a bridesmaid dress.” Kelly frowned over at the dress. She’d felt very pretty in it, for a spring wedding in the garden, but it wasn’t at all right for a weekend in Vegas.
“It does, kind of,” Rose admitted, setting down the shoes and heaving herself up. She was six months pregnant, and so she was curvier than ever beneath her light tunic top. “I wish we had time to go buy you something new.”
“I don’t need anything new.”
“But you never get anything new.” Deanna had hung the dress back up and emerged from the closet, evidently having resigned herself to the depleted state of Kelly’s wardrobe. “We’ve spent a fortune on this old house. We should have made sure you had a little money to spend on yourself.”
“I don’t need a lot of clothes.” It was true. It had been true when they’d all been teetering on the edge of poverty, because their old-fashioned grandmother wouldn’t give up the family’s shambles of a historical house in Savannah, Georgia. It was still true, even though both of Kelly’s sisters had married wealthy men over the last year and a half.
Kelly didn’t do anything but go to classes at a local college and work around this house, helping out her grandmother, since she was the only sister who still lived in the old Beaufort house. She had friends, of course, but they weren’t the kind that did anything but hang out, watch movies, and eat pizza, so she never needed to dress up. She had a few church dresses and the bridesmaid dress, and otherwise she wore nothing but casual clothes.
Growing up, she’d always been a tomboy, and once she’d gotten old enough, she’d realized it was wiser not to look too pretty or else her grandmother would be trying to marry her off. She wasn’t really interested in her appearance like a lot of women, anyway. She was twenty-one, but she’d never dated at all. She’d never met a guy who’d made her want to put herself out there. She’d much rather hang out with her best friend, Peter.
Her sisters were the pretty ones. Their grandmother, who had raised them all for most of Kelly’s life, had focused all her energy on getting the older girls married off to men who could restore the family fortunes. She’d never tried to marry Kelly off, and Kelly understood why.
It wasn’t just because she’d made a point of never looking too pretty. It was also because she had no “social graces”—a term her grandmother still used. She wasn’t born for marrying a rich man. She was born for staying at home and taking care of the house, taking care of her grandmother.
She’d never minded her position at all. In fact, she’d made sure she was never part of her grandmother’s manipulations. But, for the first time, staring at her old buff-colored heels, she wished she was a little bit prettier, a little bit sexier.
A little bit something.
Deanna apparently read something on Kelly’s face. She ran out the bedroom door, saying, “I’ll be right back.”
Rose shook her head and gave Kelly a little smile. “I wish I could still run like that.” She rubbed her hands over her rounded belly.
Deanna was twenty-eight—beautiful, tiny, and curvy. Rose was twenty-six—slightly taller, slightly curvier, and just as pretty. Kelly, at twenty-one, was the tallest of the sisters, and she wasn’t curvy at all.
In less than a minute, Deanna returned to the room, holding her purse.
“What are you doing?” Kelly demanded, knowing immediately what her sister was thinking.
Deanna dug into her wallet and pulled out several bills. “Here,” she said, thrusting them at Kelly. “When you get to Las Vegas, go buy yourself a really nice outfit.”
Kelly backed away, nearly bumping into her dresser. “I don’t want your money.”
“I don’t care if you want it or not. You’re going to take it.”
“I don’t need a new outfit.”
“Yes, you do,” Rose put in. She was usually soft and rather gentle, but she looked just as stubborn as Deanna at the moment. “You never do anything nice for yourself.”
“I do plenty nice. It’s your money. I’m not going to just take it. We’ve taken enough from you and Mitchell as it—”
“You haven’t taken anything, and Mitchell wants you to be happy, just like I do.” Deanna’s little chin was sticking out in a familiar expression that proved she wasn’t going to back down. “Take it. Seriously, Kelly. I’ll be really upset if you don’t. You’ve always done more than your share for this family. You’re always cleaning, or cooking, or hammering down loose boards, or trying to organize all the Beaufort collections—not to mention putting up with Grandmama constantly. I know how hard it must be for you, and you’ve never complained—”
“I haven’t done anything hard—”
“Yes, you have,” Rose interrupted. “You’re always working. You just turned twenty-one, and you deserve to have a little fun. Do it for us, Kelly. Buy yourself a pretty dress. Do something wild and crazy for once in your life.”
Kelly felt incredibly self-conscious. She didn’t like to talk about herself, and she didn’t like being put on the spot like this. She was used to working around the house, and she loved her grandmother and didn’t mind living with her, since her sisters had left home. She didn’t feel like any sort of a martyr or sacrificial lamb.
It was just life. You did what you needed to do for the people you loved. You didn’t need to be paid for it.
The truth was she liked her life. She loved the old Beaufort house, and she could sympathize with her grandmother’s des
ire to keep all of the old family treasures around her. There was something about the familiarity, the history, that was safe, secure—an unchanging haven in a world that often felt out of control.
But she stared down at the bills Deanna was offering. She did want a new dress. She did want to feel different, special—for at least one evening of her life. And she had no money of her own since the family had always insisted that she not work until she finished college, since the other sisters hadn’t gotten a chance to go to college until recently.
Surely it wouldn’t be so bad to accept the money this once. It wasn’t like Mitchell and Deanna couldn’t afford it. They wouldn’t even miss it.
She took a shaky breath, raising her eyes to Deanna. “Mitchell wouldn’t min—”
“Of course, Mitchell wouldn’t mind. This is money I earned from my beadwork, anyway. I sold a couple of clutches last week. But, either way, the money is ours—not his or mine.”
“I can’t take—”
“Yes, you can.” Evidently getting tired of the argument, Deanna glanced around until she found Kelly’s purse on the desk, and she went over to stuff the bills inside. “There is nothing that would make me happier than making sure you have a good time. When you get to the hotel tomorrow, you can find something in one of the shops. Promise me you’ll buy something pretty and extravagant.”
“Deanna—”
“Promise me.”
Kelly sighed, feeling a swell of affection and gratitude which left her rather shaky, since she never considered herself a particularly emotional person. “Okay. I promise.”
Deanna smiled, and Rose clapped her hands. “As soon as you buy your outfit, put it on and send us both a picture. I wish we could come with you to see in person.”
Kelly couldn’t help but grin. “Okay.”
“And don’t wear those braids,” Deanna added. “Your hair is so gorgeous. Wear it loose for once.”
After starting to object to this, Kelly decided not to even bother. “Okay.”
“And put on a little makeup,” Rose said, showing one of her dimples.
“Okay. Anything else?”
Deanna slid Kelly’s wallet back into her purse, patting it in satisfaction. “And have a couple of drinks. You’re twenty-one now, and you never even went out to celebrate being able to drink legally.”
Kelly hadn’t. She’d never had an alcoholic beverage in her life, except a few sips of beer that she’d found incredibly unpleasant. She’d just never had the urge to do things like that.
She’d always been hard-working and boring and responsible.
“But don’t go too crazy,” Rose put in. “Don’t get drunk and go off with a stranger or anything. Make sure you’re with someone you trust.”
“Peter will be there,” Kelly said. “I’m sure I’ll be staying with him most of the time.” When she saw her sisters exchanging looks, Kelly rolled her eyes. “Don’t be stupid. Peter and I are just friends.”
“Of course, you are,” Deanna replied with a smile. “That’s always what they say.”
“But it’s true in our case. There’s never been even a hint of anything else between us. He goes out with other girls, you know.”
“Okay, okay. Don’t get all upset about it. You’re just friends. I’m sure you’ll find another smart, good-looking, funny, sweet guy like Peter one day—who you’ll be more than friends with.”
Kelly just frowned. She was used to the teasing. She’d been friends with Peter for more than three years now, having met in the first college class she’d taken. They’d both been majoring in Hospitality Management, although he was older and farther along in his degree. They’d hit it off immediately and soon they’d been hanging out most of the time together, but neither one of them was interested in anything romantic.
It didn’t matter if no one else in the world believed that men and women could be friends in a completely platonic way. All that mattered was what she and Peter knew to be true. She liked her life as it was. She didn’t need anything else.
It had been hard for her when her sisters had left home to get married. She’d tried to be happy for them, but their departure had left huge holes in her world. At least they were still in town, though, so she could see them often. It had been a change, but not a brutal one.
Kelly was hoping things would settle down now that their romantic lives had been satisfyingly resolved. It wouldn’t be the same for her, but it would still be good.
Rose evidently realized Kelly was getting annoyed because she changed the subject. “So you’ll get there tomorrow late afternoon, and you’ll go to the hotel, and then buy your new outfit. When are your friends planning to get married?”
“Since everything is in one night, we’re having the bachelor and bachelorette parties first, in the early evening, and then Gus and Veronica will be getting married at nine or ten. They want to have some honeymoon time afterwards, but they have to get back here by Monday morning, so they’re just jamming everything into one night.”
Deanna chuckled. “All right then. So you’ll have to jam in a lifetime of being wild into one night. Do you think you can do it?”
Kelly was going to buy something pretty to wear, and she was even going to have a few drinks. But she had absolutely no intention of doing anything genuinely wild.
But what she said was, “I’ll do my best.”
***
“I do not understand why you feel the need to make such a silly trip.”
Kelly smiled at her grandmother, despite the lofty disapproval in her tone. “Gus and Veronica are good friends. I want to be at their wedding.”
“But it’s such a foolish way to get married.”
“It’s not our wedding. It’s theirs. They can get married any way they want.” Kelly had lived with her grandmother nearly all her life, since she’d been very young when her parents had died. She knew how to manage the old woman’s eccentricities, and they almost never bothered or upset her the way they sometimes still upset her sisters.
Grandmama was who she was. She wasn’t going to change. There was no reason for her to change. Kelly loved her, and there was no one else like her in the world.
“That is no excuse for a foolish wedding. I expect better of you.”
Kelly laughed.
“It is no laughing matter,” her grandmother said with a frown. She was a tiny woman—eight inches shorter than Kelly—and she always wore old-fashioned black dresses, since she was still in mourning for her husband who had died forty years ago. Despite her small size, she had a dignified manner that many people found intimidating. “I expect you back tomorrow evening without delay.”
Kelly had never been intimidated by her grandmother. “What else would I do?”
“I do not know. But young ladies are sometimes foolish when they leave home for pagan cities like Las Vegas.”
“I’m never foolish.”
“There is always a first time, and I do not trust that young man who is always lurking around you.”
“Peter?” Kelly’s eyes widened. “What’s wrong with Peter?”
“He has eyes on you I do not like.”
Kelly couldn’t help but laugh again. “You’ve got to be crazy. Peter doesn’t have any kind of eyes on me at all.”
“I do not trust him. Be sure not to get too close to him this weekend.”
“I thought you would have liked the fact that he’s a Blake.”
The Blakes had a long history in Savannah, going back three centuries. In fact, their history was even longer than the Beauforts, which Grandmama took so much pride in. Unlike the Beauforts, the Blakes still had family money, since the family’s seafood franchise had grown so quickly in the last forty years.
“The Blakes are a very good family. It is this young man I do not trust.”
“Peter’s not going to do anything. We’re just friends.”
“Do not be thinking of him as anything except a friend. You are not the kind of girl who needs a husband.”
But still…it was a little depressing that her marriage-minded grandmother believed no man would really want her.
And what was so wrong with Peter, that he wouldn’t be a good choice for any woman in the world to marry?
Grandmama was now eyeing her closely. “Do not be getting ideas, young lady.”
“I’m not getting any ideas,” Kelly replied with a sigh.
“Good. We must accept the lot we have been given. Morris Alfred Theobald III is looking again for a new wife, but I do not think he will be looking in your direction.”
Great. Not even the most obnoxious, unattractive, arrogant man she’d ever met would be interested in her.
“I’m just going to see Gus and Veronica’s wedding. Nothing is going to happen.”
“Excellent. See that it doesn’t.”
Kelly genuinely liked her life, and she didn’t feel any desire for it to change. But she still felt kind of glum as she stood at the parlor window, waiting for Peter to arrive to pick her up for the airport.
She didn’t think she needed to change, but it would be nice if people thought it was even a possibility.
***
That afternoon, Kelly walked with Peter into the lobby of a Vegas hotel. Everything was big and loud and flashy and overwhelming, and she moved a little closer to Peter instinctively.
This wasn’t her kind of place at all. She didn’t like to be surrounded by so many people, and she didn’t like the myriad of lights and colors and dazzling displays. It made it hard for her to think. Maybe her grandmother was right. She wasn’t cut out for this kind of thing at all.
“I don’t understand why so many people come here for vacation,” she murmured.
“Where would go, if not here?”
“I don’t know. Anywhere. A bed and breakfast on a lake in the mountains sounds pretty nice. This is just so loud and glitzy.”
