A Cottage Wedding

by Leigh Duncan

  The sound of the bell on the old-fashioned cash register at the checkout counter rang. Deciding she wasn’t in the mood for cheese, she turned her back on the display just as a freckle-faced teen handed Jason his change.

  “Thank you for visiting The Right Berry Farm today. I do hope you’ll visit again soon.”

  If Jason noticed the flirty smile that danced across the cashier’s lips, he showed no sign of it. Another factor in his favor. No matter what else was going on, he made the person he was with feel like the center of his universe. For the time being, at least, Tara was that person. As his eyes met hers, she found it hard not to fan herself.

  Balancing a large cardboard box piled high with strawberries, he led the way to the parking area. There, he placed the box in the trunk, exchanging it for a heavy picnic basket. Tara chose a table under a towering maple, and soon they were feasting on thick pastrami sandwiches, dill pickles, and house-made chips.

  “Ah, that’s a slice of heaven right there,” Jason said, holding half his sandwich in a two-fisted grip. He took a bite and chewed, a blissful look on his face.

  Tara bit off a corner. The sweet-and-sour taste of the sauerkraut complimented the lean, salty pastrami perfectly. “What’s in the sauce?” she asked when new flavors and textures rolled across her tongue.

  “Connie’s special blend of cheese and mustard. Don’t bother asking her for the recipe. She won’t even give it to me.”

  A dribble escaped Jason’s mouth and ran down his chin. She pointed to it out to him. Sheepish, he swiped it with a napkin and missed. She pointed again, and this time he mopped successfully. “I feel like I’ve monopolized the conversation this afternoon. The stage is yours. What else is there to Tara Stewart?”

  “You pretty much know all there is to know about me.” Except for the most important thing, that she was here to knock Heart’s Landing off its pedestal. She bit into a crisp potato chip. “I work, go home to my apartment, get up the next day, and do it again. I’d like to say I go out on the weekends, take in the sights or a play on Broadway. The truth is, I’m usually too busy keeping body and soul together.”

  “I can hardly believe you’re not seeing someone. No one special in your life?”

  “Not for a while now.” Heat rose in her cheeks. The ghostly remnants of her longest relationship still lingered two years later. Though she didn’t talk about it often, she felt a need to confide in Jason. “To be honest, I haven’t been serious about anyone since I called it quits with my boyfriend the summer after college graduation.”

  “A bad breakup?” Jason leaned across the table, concern written in his eyes.

  “Eh.” She tilted her head. “I’d just been offered the position at Weddings Today. We went out to dinner that night to celebrate. He saw someone he knew at the bar and went over to have a word. Left his phone on the table. It buzzed. Some girl had texted him about their date the night before. I thumbed through his messages and discovered she wasn’t the only one—he’d been cheating all along.”

  “I’m sorry that happened to you. You didn’t deserve it.”

  So much sympathy welled in Jason’s eyes that it momentarily took the wind out of her sails. His honest reaction stirred the need to tell him the part she’d never revealed to anyone else. Did she trust him enough to share her deepest hurt? One look at the warmth in his gray eyes, and her reluctance faded.

  “I broke it off with him that night. Lulu and Maggie helped me drown my sorrows in cheesecake.” She shuddered. That was a mistake she’d never make again. “But I didn’t tell them the rest of it. It was too embarrassing to admit that he turned to other women ’cause I wasn’t enough for him. The whole thing has made me a little gun shy. I’ve gone out on a few dates since then, but I always call it off before things get serious. I can’t stop thinking I’ll never be good enough for any man.”

  “He’s the one who didn’t measure up,” Jason said, his words freighted with the kind of reassurance she hadn’t known she was looking for. “Any man who was lucky enough to have you in his life and let you go, well, he should have his head—and his heart—examined.”

  Jason’s gaze bore into her own. Tender and compassionate, his eyes held depths waiting to be discovered. Long seconds ticked past before she glanced away. When she did, she felt certain she’d never doubt herself again. At some point while she’d been pouring out her soul, Jason had reached across the table and enfolded her fingers in his. The intimacy of that simple gesture ignited a warmth in her chest she couldn’t deny.

  She drew in a shaky breath. Getting involved with Jason would be so easy…and so wrong. She had to put a stop to it before it was too late. Summoning a breezy attitude, she exclaimed, “Whoa! That got deep. I think you’d better buy me that ice cream before I turn into a weeping ball of mush.”

  While every fiber of her being screamed that she was making a big mistake, she withdrew her fingers and began gathering up the remains of their picnic. A beat or two later, Jason stood and helped her load the leftovers into the basket. When they were finished, he wiped the last of the crumbs from his hands. “Now, how about dessert?” he asked.

  “I thought you’d never ask,” she answered, choosing to ignore what had transpired under the tree.

  Once they had their cones, they raced to finish before the delicious ice cream melted. It wasn’t until she was in the car on the way back to the Captain’s Cottage that Tara had a chance to think about what had happened.

  What had possessed her?

  She’d known better. She and Jason were attracted to one another, but they’d already decided that was as far as it would ever go. So why had she agreed to abandon her research and pick strawberries with him? She could let herself think she’d spent the afternoon with him in order to learn more about Heart’s Landing for her article. Or that she’d doubted the lengths people here went to in order to assure the brides’ and grooms’ happiness so much that she had to see Jason get his hands and knees dirty before she could believe it. She could tell herself that, but she’d be lying.

  Though she was loath to admit the truth, she couldn’t deny that she’d developed more than a little crush on the handsome owner of the Captain’s Cottage. From the moment she’d stared up at him in his office the first day she’d arrived in Heart’s Landing, she’d been entranced by his cool, unruffled manner, his startling gray eyes, his take-charge attitude. She’d been sure that, given time and exposure, her instant infatuation would fade. That as she found out more about what made Jason tick, she’d learn he wasn’t anyone’s Prince Charming, and certainly not hers.

  So far, things weren’t working out the way she’d thought they would. For one thing, he listened—really listened—to her. She’d only mentioned her sisters’ names once, yet he’d committed them to memory. She couldn’t think of a single friend who’d done the same. Even after sharing an office for a couple of years, Van often forgot which of her sisters was the cook. But Jason remembered. He understood how difficult it had been for her to leave home and move to a huge city where she hadn’t known another living soul. Plus, he’d offered to do anything he could to help her land her next big promotion.

  Which was another reason that, as much as she might wish he were, Jason could never be her Mr. Right. Because, in order to achieve her goal, she’d have to ruin the reputation of his famous ancestor. A fact she needed to remember, no matter how tempted she was to lose herself in Jason’s eyes or lean into his outstretched arms.

  There was only one little problem. No matter how many times she told herself otherwise, she had the strangest sensation that she’d fallen head over heels for the one man she could never have.

  “Will I see you at the Garrison wedding this evening?” she asked when they’d reached the foyer.

  “I might pop in for a minute, but I won’t be able to stay.” Regret shown in his eyes. “Saturdays are our busiest days of the week. With three weddi
ngs on the schedule, I’ll be on the go most of the night. See you tomorrow?”

  No matter how much she tried to stop them, her lips tugged down at the edges. “Breakfast, maybe? I’ll be busy after that. I’ve made appointments to check out some of the hotels in town after church, and then I have a conference call with my boss.”

  It was just as well. They’d spent practically every waking moment together since her arrival in Heart’s Landing. A day apart would do them both some good, give them some much-needed perspective on an attraction that couldn’t lead to anything.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Haggard,” Jason muttered, staring at his reflection in the mirror the next morning. He rubbed his hand over his chin. The description fit. He looked and felt like something the cat had dragged in.

  He supposed he could blame the Garrison wedding. The reception had stretched until well past midnight. Only, he’d never had problems rolling out of bed on the mornings when other parties had lasted into the wee hours.

  Maybe it had been all the paperwork. Even with Evelyn’s help, reports and requests had piled up on his desk. Last night, while he’d waited for the festivities to wind down, he’d done his level best to catch up on it.

  That was, when he wasn’t lingering by the door, hoping for a glimpse of the woman he’d vowed to treat purely as a business associate. Sheer force of will had been the only thing that had kept him from wandering into the ballroom and offering to take Tara for another spin around the dance floor.

  He checked his reflection in the mirror one last time. The black Polo shirt he wore over a pair of jeans made him at least look presentable. He ran a comb through his hair and double-timed it down the stairs, more determined than ever to protect his heart and his town.

  The chatter that drifted from the dining room mingled with the soft clinking of silverware, the occasional scrape of a fork across a plate. Jason lifted an eyebrow in surprise that anyone from the wedding party had rolled out of bed after such a late night. Or that, unlike him, they sounded no worse for wear. He detoured to the doorway, where Evelyn’s insistence on increasing their bakery order finally made sense. Though the bride and groom were conspicuously absent, both sets of parents, as well as assorted relatives from both sides, had gathered for an early breakfast. With a reminder to thank his cousin for keeping him out of hot water, he made his way through the room, shaking hands and offering congratulations.

  Having done his duty as host, he carried on to the corner table Tara had made her own. The urge to lean down and brush a light kiss on her cheek whispered through him. He resisted, barely. Firming his resolve, he turned to the one topic everyone in the Cottage was discussing.

  “How was the Garrison wedding? Did you enjoy it?”

  Tara rested her fork on the side of her plate. “It was beautiful in a different sort of way. The bridesmaids wore sarongs and leis. The groomsmen had on white suits with Panama hats. They brought in instructors to teach us all the hula.”

  Jason’s breath hitched. Deliberately, he stared out at the front lawn of the Captain’s Cottage while he tried to erase an unbidden image from his mind. It was no use. Asking about the wedding hadn’t been a smart move, after all.

  “The food was amazing, even though there weren’t any sausage balls.”

  He couldn’t ignore the comment any more than he could overlook the teasing glint in Tara’s eyes. “How about the cake? Were there coffee-infused layers separated by a chocolate rum filling and topped with a vanilla bean frosting?” The combination had been her favorite out of all the ones they’d tried at I Do Cakes.

  “No, but this was every bit as good. Coconut and mango. Positively dreamy.” She licked her lips. “Oh, and I caught the bouquet.”

  “Congratulations,” he said, despite the feeling that he’d just taken one on the chin.

  So much for his idea that talking about the wedding would steer the conversation away from dangerous territory. He was looking for an escape route when Evelyn appeared in the doorway. She beckoned, pointing at her watch.

  “I have to run.” He and his cousin caught the early service at the church each Sunday and had brunch afterward with friends in town.

  “Sure. See you around.” And with that Tara picked up her fork and returned to her breakfast as if she hadn’t just rocked his world.

  Telling himself that spending the day apart was a good thing, Jason headed out the door with his cousin. But a short while later, Tara lingered at the edges of his thoughts while he listened to the Sunday sermon. Though their paths didn’t cross while he ate lunch with friends and looked over the repairs to the gazebo, her sweet smile was constantly on his mind. As a result, Sunday afternoon and evening dragged by. Listening to the ticking of the clock in his room that night, he counted the passing hours and wondered if Monday would ever arrive.

  But at last, it did, and he trotted down the stairs with a fresh spring in his step. Soon, he and Tara were in the car once more, headed to one of his favorite haunts. He rounded the sharp curve at Boutonniere Drive where Bridal Carriage turned into Boston Neck Road. A quarter of a mile farther, he pulled onto a wide dirt apron in front of a two-story barn.

  “Here we are,” he announced.

  “A farm?” Tara’s eyebrows rose.

  “Not exactly. C’mon.” He popped the latch on his seat belt and sprang from the car. Rounding the front of the vehicle, he held her door for her. “This is Your Ride Awaits.” He pointed to a discreet sign on the barn door.

  “I should’ve known.” Tara tapped one finger to her nose. “Horses.” She swept the empty barnyard. “Where is everyone?”

  Jason shrugged. “Probably out on calls. But the owner said we could make ourselves at home. Want to look around?”

  He took the spark of interest in Tara’s eyes as a positive sign. Resisting the urge to take her hand, he crossed to the entrance of the barn, where a pair of enormous wooden doors had been propped open. Stepping from the bright sunlight into the cool, darkened interior, Jason led the way. Halfway down the wide corridor that ran between rows of stalls, he stopped in front of the pen that housed his favorite.

  “This is Lady,” he said when a large white horse stuck her head over the railing. “She’s retired from the carriage business, so she gets to spend her days here or in the paddock out back.”

  Blowing softly, Lady nudged Jason’s shoulder.

  “Just a minute, old girl.” He stroked her long cheek. “Would you mind giving her some attention while I scour up a treat for her?”

  Tara smiled broadly. “I’d love to.” She moved closer. Without a moment’s hesitation, she ran her fingers through the mare’s silky mane.

  “You’ve spent some time around horses, have you?”

  “I know my way around a muck rake, if that’s what you mean. In college, I was assigned to the stables as part of the work study program. I never quite figured out what that had to do with my Journalism studies, but I enjoyed it.”

  While she treated Lady to a good scratch, he aimed for the snack bins at the end of the aisle. He returned with a couple of carrots, which he broke into quarters and handed to Tara. Holding a piece in the palm of her hand, she offered it to Lady. The horse nipped it gently. Tara’s answering giggle warmed his chest.

  “Their lips are always velvety soft,” she said in a breathy gasp.

  Tara looked so cute, standing there with her hand outstretched as she offered the horse a second piece, that Jason had to give himself a stern reminder that she was off-limits. He settled for brushing shoulders with her while they listened in companionable silence as Lady’s powerful jaws made quick work of the carrots.

  On their way out of the barn minutes later, Tara glanced around. “We aren’t far from the center of town, are we? You’d think this would be farther out.”

  “It was,” he acknowledged. “Heart’s Landing grew up around the barn and stables. The
town is filled with businesses that have been handed down from one generation to another. Your Ride Awaits is one of the oldest. It’s been here nearly as long as the Captain’s Cottage. Tom Denton—he’s the current owner—he makes a big production out of getting brides to the church in style. When he’s not busy with that, he takes people on carriage rides.”

  “I’ve heard the carriage business can be hard on horses.” Tara’s lips tugged hard at the corners. Her arms folded into a protective stance across her chest. “There were some instances in New York—”

  “That doesn’t happen here,” he said, interrupting before she could finish. “We have one of the best large-animal veterinary clinics in the state, just over that hill there.” He pointed to a small rise behind the barn. “Doc Cooper, he keeps a close eye on things, and he flat-out won’t tolerate neglect. Not that he needs to worry about Your Ride Awaits. Tom cares more about his horses than he does some of his family members.”

  Tara’s arms relaxed. “Well, Lady certainly did look healthy. Her coat is soft. There wasn’t a single tangle in her mane.”

  “That’s what I’m talking about. She might be past her prime, but she gets excellent care, plenty to eat, and regular exercise.”

  He’d barely finished when, with a jangle of metal, two high-stepping black horses rounded the curve and pranced into sight. Silver trim on the gleaming white carriage caught and reflected the sun’s rays. Seated on a high bench and resplendent in top hat and tails, the driver steered his team into the barnyard. He circled the parking area and pulled to a halt with a creaking of leather and wood.

  “Your ride awaits, madam.” The driver doffed his hat.

  Jason risked a quick glance at Tara. She stood entranced, her lips slightly parted, her eyes wide. After a little bit, she turned to face him. “What’s this all about?”