Weathering the Storm
Page 17
Caroline joined her in her mirth. “It can’t be that great. Otherwise, Mum would never leave it.”
Jackie inhaled the fragrant air again and felt her muscles slowly unknot. It had been a long flight and she’d been tense worrying about the kind of reception she’d get. She had expected an inquisition, so she was relieved at how things had fared so far.
She had an entire week to make it through yet.
Caroline led her to the reception and stood by as Jackie went through the formality of checking in.
“We had a minor disaster thanks to one of the groomsmen getting into a skiing accident last week. Charles assures me that he’s found a suitable replacement and that he will be here today so you won’t have to walk down the aisle alone.”
The last thing she was worried about was walking down the aisle solo. “It’s lucky you found someone on such short notice.” Jackie barely remembered the days when she could drop everything at a moment’s notice to do whatever she liked.
Jackie was dimly aware of masculine voices heading toward them. Two of them sounded familiar. She knew Caroline’s fiancé, Charles. They’d met a few times before. A Sutcliffe through and through, he was tall, broad, golden blond and blessed with a knack for finances like the rest of his dynasty. It was his laugh that she was able to pick up on immediately.
But the other voice…
The hairs on the back of her neck slowly stood to attention as it dawned on her whose voice was pricking her memory.
Palms growing slick, she turned to find the groom and what appeared to be his groomsmen gathered around them.
Charles and Caroline made a striking couple. Both beautiful and golden, they looked like they belonged on the cover of a magazine. He wrapped his arms around his fiancée and the gazes between them could only be described as blissful.
But Jackie’s attention was torn away to focus on the darkly handsome man next to him. He still had the same rangy build she remembered, but he had filled out in a way that made her hands itch with want to touch him—to explore. He looked more refined, though just barely. The worn T-shirts and jeans that she knew he had favored in the past were replaced by khakis and a white button-down. The garment’s rolled-up sleeves revealed sculpted forearms. His clothes contrasted with his tan skin and slightly wild, dark hair and penetrating eyes. Logan Forrester looked dangerous—and angry.
Jackie, by contrast, was tired and rumpled from the flight and she knew everyone could see it. It wasn’t something that could be hidden by her quick change into some of the few designer items she still owned and a haphazard makeup retouch before leaving the airport.
The moment their eyes, met she couldn’t help the onslaught of memories that flooded her mind.
What was Logan doing here?
Fury and confusion mixed potently in her blood as she stared at him. Jackie couldn’t break his hypnotic gaze. He looked just as surprised to see her, but he quickly recovered. His eyes darkened impossibly as he raked his contemplative regard over her.
Jackie caught Caroline’s panicked eye before she turned to her fiancé. “What’s going on?”
“This is the tech genius I was telling you about, and my new groomsman.” Charles’ smile never wavered. “Lucky for us, he just happened to be here on business. What a coincidence, isn’t it?”
Quite.
Jackie’s lungs seized. It was as if she’d stepped outside her own body to watch the seriously horrifying situation. Yet, all she could do was stare at the devastatingly handsome man. The one she would never forget as long as she lived. She didn’t wait for introductions and blurted out his name before she could give in to her impulse to put as much space between them as physically possible. Preferably at least a continent.
“Logan.” His name came out as an indictment.
His smile stayed on his lips as he calmly greeted her with an equally icy, “Jackie.”
The group around them quieted and stood back to watch them glare at each other. They would have fled a mile if they’d known the true depth of the feelings festering there.
Out of everyone there, only Caroline knew about her and Logan’s turbulent parting. To the rest of them, it probably looked like two old lovers meeting again, awkwardly. An explosive combination that would inevitably detonate. All they needed to do was wait and watch for amusement. If only it were something so simple.
Her friend shoved her fiancé off with a glare before grabbing Jackie and her suitcase to drag them both away.
Caroline stomped along for several tense seconds before she growled, “I had no idea he was here, Jackie. I swear.”
Still dazed and too numb to care, Jackie nodded.
She’d never thought she would see Logan again. She had put him out of her mind years ago, refusing to think about him or the decision that had changed the course of her entire life.
He had disappeared not too long after he’d graduated from university.
After asking her to marry him.
After she had dropped everything to be with him.
It was completely surreal. She couldn’t get her mind around the fact that Logan Forrester had come crashing back into her life.
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About the Author
Kait was born and raised in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest and started writing as a child to entertain herself during the long winters. Insatiably curious with a love of learning new things, she’s picked up many random skills including three languages and two martial arts. After traveling three continents (the other four are on her bucket list), she settled in England with her family where she spends most of her time cultivating her daughter’s love of reading and writing, scribbling ideas on every available scrap of paper and trying out dialog on her cat.
Email: author@kaitgamble.com
Kait loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at http://www.totallybound.com
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