by Lowe, Fiona
Saved by the Bride
By Fiona Lowe
Welcome to Whitetail, Wisconsin, future home of Weddings that WOW!
As acting mayor, Annika Jacobson will do anything to revive the economy of the town that’s been her refuge ever since her art career imploded and her fiancé walked out. Even if it means crashing an engagement party to talk business with the bride’s billionaire father. But the evening starts with a kiss from a gorgeous stranger—and ends with a night in jail.
Finn Callahan can’t believe his sister is getting married, not after their parents’ disastrous track record. And he’d rather be anywhere than working from his family’s vacation home. Until he catches a leggy blonde sneaking in the window, and suddenly telecommuting for the season is very appealing.
Unable to resist their mutual attraction, Annika and Finn are soon mixing business and pleasure—just for the summer. Too bad Annika’s heart missed the memo about not falling in love…
Book one of Wedding Fever.
99,000 words
Dear Reader,
April is when the romance conference season really starts to get busy for me. Every spring, I attend the RT Book Reviews convention, a gathering of about 500 authors, readers and publishing professionals who come together to celebrate their love of both romance and genre fiction. Each year, I come away from that conference, and the many others I attend that are focused on the love of books (like the Lori Foster Reader Get Together in Ohio), with a renewed enthusiasm for diving back into my to-be-read pile. As well as a long list of authors and books to add to that to-be-read pile! But because it’s a busy travel time of year for me, that also means more time on the plane and in airports for reading.
Maybe you’re like me—traveling to conferences and in need of some plane reading. Or maybe you just need one more book to add to your to-be-read pile. Possibly you’ve got a newborn baby who keeps you up at night and gets you up early in the morning, and you need something you can read on the ereader in one hand while the baby is in the other. Or perhaps you’re just in search of a good book. You’re in luck; our April books can fill all those needs!
The first book in our newest genre addition, New Adult, releases this month. If you love contemporary romance, sports romance, a (mostly) Jewish, spunky heroine and a hero who will make your heart melt, you’ll want to read Rush Me by debut author Allison Parr.
This month, I’m pleased to introduce the first book in a six-book series written by four authors. Ginny Glass, Christina Thacher, Emily Cale and Maggie Wells kick off a series of contemporary romance short story collections with Love Letters Volume 1: Obeying Desire. Each volume will center around a different seriously sexy theme. I’ll bet you can’t guess what the theme of the first volume is, with a title like Obeying Desire! Look for the second volume, Love Letters Volume 2: Duty to Please, releasing in May 2013.
Fans of contemporary romance will enjoy Saved by the Bride, the first book in a new trilogy by RITA® Award-winning author Fiona Lowe. Who knew that being a klutz and combining it with a distrust of wedding bouquets could lead to a black eye?
Joining Fiona and Allison in the contemporary romance category is Kate Davies, with Cutest Couple, book two in Kate’s high-school reunion trilogy, Girls Most Likely to… Look for the conclusion of the trilogy, Life of the Party, in May 2013.
Co-authors Anna Leigh Keaton and Madison Layle deliver another scorching Puma Nights story with Falke’s Renegade, while Jodie Griffin joins them in heating up your ereader with her third erotic BDSM Bondage & Breakfast book, Forbidden Fires.
On the paranormal and science fiction front, we have a number of titles for fans. Veteran author Kate Pearce begins a new series with Soul Sucker, in which Moonlighting meets The X-Files in San Francisco Bay and two worlds collide. Kat Cantrell, winner of Harlequin’s 2011 So You Think You Can Write contest, joins Carina Press with her first science fiction romance, Mindlink, while returning author Eleri Stone gives us another jaguar shifter in Lost City Shifters: Rebellion, book three in this compelling series.
Clockwork Mafia by Seleste deLaney brings us back to the Western steampunk world of Badlands. Inventor Henrietta Mason is retiring from airships and adventuring to return home to Philadelphia. Determined to erase all trails leading to her late father’s duplicity, she dismantles his lab and removes all records of the Badlands gold. And last but certainly not least in the paranormal category, Night of the Dark Horse by Janni Nell continues the adventures of Allegra Fairweather, paranormal investigator.
This month, Bronwyn Stuart follows up her fantastic debut historical romance, Scandal’s Mistress, with her unique regency romance, Behind the Courtesan, featuring—you guessed it—a courtesan heroine.
On the non-romance side, Jean Harrington brings us the third Murders by Design cozy mystery installment, Killer Kitchens.
And joining Carina Press with an epic fantasy trilogy, Angela Highland tells the story of a half-elven healer with no control over her magic. Faanshi has always been a pawn of the powerful, but after healing two mysterious and very different men, she faces a choice that may decide the fate of a whole kingdom. If you love fantasy, pick up Valor of the Healer, book one in the Rebels of Adalonia trilogy.
As you can see, April is full of books to distract you wherever you are, whatever you’re supposed to be doing, and even if you have a baby in your arms. I hope you enjoy these titles as much as we’ve enjoyed working on them.
We love to hear from readers, and you can email us your thoughts, comments and questions to [email protected]. You can also interact with Carina Press staff and authors on our blog, Twitter stream and Facebook fan page.
Happy reading!
~Angela James
Executive Editor, Carina Press
www.carinapress.com
www.twitter.com/carinapress
www.facebook.com/carinapress
Dedication
To my family who support and believe in me even when the “Crows of Doubt” are pecking wildly.
To Joan, Nicola and Rachael who are always on the end of an email and happy to listen and to brainstorm with me.
Many thanks to Rechelle for her passionate, patient and detailed descriptions of thermography, and for an insight into the intricacies of wedding invitations. Any errors in the story are mine.
To Serena for the cheerleading and grammar assistance.
Mega thanks to Charlotte whose perspective smoothes out the kinks in the manuscript and helps my characters shine.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
About the Author
Copyright
Chapter One
Who knew that being a klutz and combining it with a distrust of wedding bouquets could lead to a black eye?
Annika Jacobson automatically touched the four-day-old berry-colored bruise with its spectacular vivid yellow edges with the tips of her fingers as if that would will it away.
“Stop it.” Nicole Lindquist from Whitetail’s Affairs with Hair leaned forward and captured her hand. “I’ve concealed it with makeup but if you keep tapping it with your fingers, you’ll ruin all my hard work.”
“Sorry.” For the thousandth time in ninety-six hours, Annika asked herself why she hadn’t just caught the damn flowers. Everyone outside the old Whitetail church knew that Jennifer would throw her bouquet to her best friend and they’d all discreetly taken a step back so it could happen. She’d known it too and had thought she was up for the task but at the last minute she’d panicked and moved sideways, thinking it would leave Melissa wide open for the catch. In her own inimitable, uncoordinated style, she’d misjudged it completely and the only thing she’d caught was a wad of firmly packed tulip stems to the cheek. Stems which packed a hell of a punch. All in all it had capped off a day she’d been dreading for months.
Not that she didn’t think Jennifer’s marriage was a good idea, it totally was. Jennifer, unlike herself, had been born to be married and Carl was a great guy, but their wonderful wedding, where the town had made them celebrities for the day, had been their last day in Whitetail. They too had joined the parade that led out of town toward jobs in Madison, Milwaukee, the Twin Cities and beyond. Their departure made the economic situation very real and meant that after a decade, she was the only member of her graduating class still living in Whitetail. Financially, she was barely holding on herself because personalized calligraphy was a luxury few in town could now afford and her almost nonexistent bank account had her seriously worried. Reggies, the biggest employer in the town, had been shedding jobs for a year and had now pulled out completely. The business park lay idle and her beloved town was shriveling before her eyes—slowly languishing on the curve of a pristine northwoods lake.
Sadly, beauty and fresh air didn’t pay the bills and the town desperately needed a new industry to survive. She thought of her two overdue rent notices and knew deep in her heart she needed a regular job to survive. A job so she could stay in Whitetail where she belonged.
“I’m just nervous, is all.” She glanced around at the other four expectant faces, the core group of the Whitetail Chamber of Commerce who’d joined her in the limousine for moral support. At least they thought it was moral support. Annika felt it was more along the lines of making sure she didn’t back out of “the plan.” Just the thought of “the plan” made her sick to her stomach so she tried to joke. “At least this party’s full of out-of-staters and no one will have read about my epic failure in The Bugle.”
Melissa Bergeron, the owner of the Northern Lights Boutique and the woman who’d lent Annika the evening dress she was now wearing, made a funny face as if she was trying not to laugh.
“What?”
“They might have seen it in the online edition.”
Annika’s stomach rolled on acid and not much else. “Since when does The Bugle have an online edition? I thought Eric was still learning how to use the Guttenberg press?”
“His grandson, Joshua, is home for the summer and as part of his IT project to get the seniors online, he’s taken the paper to the web, complete with a subscription deal,” said John Ackerman, the proprietor of Whitetail Market and Video. “This week’s the inaugural edition and Jennifer’s wedding video is the first click-through feature.”
“Joshua’s wonderful and he made everyone at the center have a practice,” said Ella Norell, a vibrant senior with a passion for gardening and cake decorating. “Anni, you looked quite pretty before you sprawled on the grass.”
Annika almost dropped her head into her hands before realizing she wasn’t allowed to do that because it would ruin her hair and makeup. Life was so much easier wearing her ink-stained jeans and pulling her hair back in a ponytail. So she gave a shuddering sigh instead as that was the only option open to her. After twenty-nine years she knew she couldn’t hide how uncoordinated she was from her small hometown, but the world didn’t need to know.
The internet knows. “Oh, God, why did it go live this week? The video’s probably been uploaded everywhere and someone at the party will have seen it.”
Nicole nodded in sympathy. “Don’t worry. Just think of it as more of your exemplary community service.”
When Annika was twelve and on a 4-H hike, she’d organized a group of girls to carry out an injured Sally Tomie on a stretcher made of sweaters. On their arrival back in Whitetail, both the town and her often-distracted parents had gushed with pride. Annika had been “helping out” ever since.
“Me being suckered by treacherous tulips wasn’t part of any plan to get Whitetail on the map.”
Neither was the town’s current plan of having her gate-crash an engagement party hosted by the head of AKP Industries from Chicago, which was being held at his vacation house on Lake Whitetail. Sean Callahan’s company had bought the business park from Reggies and as the mayor’s volunteer assistant, she’d made numerous telephone calls, sent emails and even snail-mail letters requesting an appointment to discuss the future plans for the park. Without a business plan the town would die and she was determined not to let that happen. She’d put in hours of work but all she’d got back was silence. Utter, devastating silence.
At an emergency town meeting held two days ago when then-mayor, Donna Wakeen, had unexpectedly blown off the town by running away to Chicago to a job that paid, Annika had suddenly found herself appointed acting mayor despite a thousand reservations of her own including the accusatory internal voice that said, You need to focus on your career.
She’d silenced the voice, accepted the temporary position and while looking for a way to move forward, she’d posed the general question, “What is Whitetail good at?”
The town, on a post-wedding high, had replied exactly that. Weddings.
Nicole had told everyone how Hobin, Wisconsin, had been successful with weddings and they only had a red barn for receptions. Annika had pointed out that surely Wisconsin only needed one small town for weddings. Nicole had enthusiastically argued that as Whitetail was close to the Minnesota border, they were in the perfect position to attract couples from Minneapolis/Saint Paul and they had a lot more to offer than a barn. Then she’d waved a glossy magazine article about Bridget Callahan’s engagement.
Despite John Ackerman’s opinion of the family—“worst vacationers ever. They never spend a cent in the town”—suddenly everyone was pushing Annika to use Donna’s invitation to attend the engagement party and go convince the bride-to-be to have her wedding in Whitetail.
“It will put us on the map just like Chelsea Clinton did for Rhinebeck,” Mrs. Norell had claimed, and the town had enthusiastically agreed.
Annika thought the plan to be utterly insane. The daughter of a billionaire who’d never supported Whitetail wouldn’t even consider get
ting married in a tiny northwoods town. No, she’d be having a glitz-and-glamour wedding at a venue like Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art.
Just like yours was going to be.
She banished the thought so fast she almost gave herself whiplash. The town’s outrageous wedding plan wasn’t hers. Whitetail needed real jobs with a long-term future but as Sean Callahan hadn’t accepted any of her offers to take a meeting, she had no choice but to resort to gate-crashing his daughter’s party. When she finally did meet him, she wouldn’t be talking about weddings—she’d be talking about the business park and the future of Whitetail.
Al, the owner-driver of Whitetail’s Feel Like a Star car and carriage service, brought the limousine to a halt near a clearing in the dense pine trees. He turned to them and said, “The gates of the Callahan property are just up ahead. The four of you need to get out and I’ll collect you all after I’ve delivered Anni to the front door.”
Annika’s heart kicked up. This crazy plan was actually happening. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breath out.
Nicole, her eyes shining and with a smile that broke through the strain of grief which had circled her since the start of the year, tucked a stray strand of Annika’s hair into place and gave her face a final dust of powder. “Don’t be nervous. We’ve made you look so amazing we hardly recognize you. You’re going to fit right in with those Chicago socialites.”
Mrs. Norell added, “Anni, just remember Tess in the movie Working Girl. She gate-crashed a wedding and talked business. Oh, Harrison Ford was gorgeous back then.”
Annika was too stressed to point out that was the movies and the eighties, where as this was real life. Her real life.
John gave her a supporting smile tinged with hubris. “You might mention that my fruit and vegetables are equal to what their cook brings in from Chicago.”
