Forever His Bride. Lisa Childs

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СКАЧАТЬ the rest of the wedding party could climb into the stretch limo.

      For Brenna’s sake he hadn’t cancelled the reception. And for her parents’ sakes, too—as well as hosting the rehearsal dinner, Emmet and Theresa Kelly had worked hard with the caterer on the wedding feast. Josh owed the older couple a debt of gratitude.

      After the rehearsal dinner, the Kellys had had him and the boys stay at their house. They hadn’t wanted them to stay with the McClintocks and risk bad luck tied to a wedding superstition involving the groom seeing the bride just before the wedding.

      But Josh had seen her. She’d walked over to the Kellys’ in the middle of the night, where she’d found him sitting alone in the dark on the porch.

      “Why’d you ask me to marry you?” she’d asked him.

      “I think we can make a marriage work. I think we can be happy,” he’d told her, even though he’d been having doubts himself ever since he’d met Brenna Kelly.

      She’d sighed, obviously torn. “I’m not sure…”

      “Have you changed your mind? Do you want to back out?”

      Misery and confusion had darkened her brown eyes. “I don’t know.”

      “We’re supposed to be married tomorrow. Do you want to postpone the ceremony?”

      “Everyone’s worked so hard on it. Brenna, the Kellys, Mrs. George.” She’d sighed. “And Clayton has already paid for everything.”

      “If you’ve changed your mind, I can reimburse him. I wanted to pay in the first place.”

      “He won’t let you.”

      Then or now. The moment they’d agreed not to cancel the reception, he’d offered—and been rejected. Again.

      His mind flipped back to his conversation with Molly. She had sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “I’m probably just experiencing pre-wedding jitters. I’ll be fine in the morning.”

      “If you’re not, I will understand,” he’d promised. “If you leave me at the altar, or you’re standing up there and can’t say I do, I will understand.”

      She’d hugged Josh then, and warmth had flooded him, settling his doubts—and hers, he’d thought. “You’re such a nice man, Joshua Towers.”

      He settled alone on the backseat of the limo, the one usually reserved for the groom and the bride. Why was it that nice guys always finished last?

      As the limo pulled away from the church, Molly’s kid brother, Rory, asked, “So no one’s going to uncork the champagne?”

      A disapproving breath hissed out of one of the passengers, and Colleen elbowed her younger brother, who shoved her back. Yet it was Brenna Kelly who landed flat on her butt on the floor, knocked off the end of the long seat she’d shared with Rory, Colleen and Nick. She laughed first, and then everyone else joined in. A chuckle even slipped from Josh’s lips.

      “What a day…” he mused as he reached down to help her up. When his hand closed around hers, his laughter died as heat tingled in his palm and then shot up his arm.

      “It’s not over yet,” she warned him, her husky voice soft. Her skin was soft, too, but her grip was strong. She rose from the floor, but before she could settle back onto her seat, he tugged her down beside him. He dragged in a deep breath, inhaling the scent of the leather interior mixed with the fragrance from the single lily nestled in her shiny red hair.

      Mentally, he kicked himself. His engagement not even officially broken, he had no business being attracted to the maid of honor. Hell, maybe he wasn’t such a nice guy after all.

      Chapter Two

      Brenna stifled a gasp as her hip settled against Josh’s hard thigh. He still held her hand, their fingers entwined, until Brenna pulled free. She tried to ease away, but the seat shifted beneath her weight and Josh slid closer. Heat rushed to her face. She couldn’t weigh more than he did, not with his height and muscle. Not that she cared—she had long ago made peace with her weight. She would never be model-thin, as Colleen was, or a little pixie, as Abby and Molly were.

      She owned a bakery, and she damned well wasn’t going to deprive herself of sweets. Or anything else. She should be happy that the reception hadn’t been cancelled. She would have a wonderful meal and a huge slice of the chocolate cake with buttercream frosting that her dad had made for Molly. But Brenna wasn’t happy. Because Molly wasn’t here. She should be sitting next to Dr. Towers, not Brenna. And yet Brenna was relieved that Molly wasn’t in the limo. She was relieved that her friend hadn’t married Josh. And that was why she was unhappy.

      How could she wish such humiliation on a nice guy like Josh? Sure, if Molly hadn’t been certain, then she couldn’t marry him. But if she’d had doubts, she never should have accepted his proposal. Why had Molly said yes?

      Brenna had asked her that question two weeks ago when she’d met Molly for lunch in Grand Rapids, where Molly was going to medical school. But Molly had asked her a question first. “Will you be my maid of honor?”

      Brenna had choked on the bite of cheesecake she’d just taken. After clearing her throat with a sip of water, she’d sputtered, “What?”

      “I’m getting married,” her friend had announced, with none of the excitement Brenna would have expected.

      “You and Eric have finally admitted your feelings for each other?” she’d asked, happiness filling her more completely than the creamy dessert had.

      “Not Eric.” Her usually soft voice had been sharp as Molly stated flatly, “Eric doesn’t love me.”

      Despite all of them knowing better, Molly had always insisted that. “Sure. So if not him, who proposed?”

      “Joshua Towers. I met him when I was volunteering at the hospital. He’s a cosmetic surgeon. He works with burn victims, especially, and helps repair scars. He’s a fine surgeon, and a really great guy. He has the most adorable twin boys, too. He’s so sweet and funny.”

      “How long have you been seeing him?” Because that was the first Brenna had heard about him.

      Molly had shrugged. “Not that long. We’re both busy, and he’s raising the boys on his own. But we really clicked. The first time we went out we talked like old friends, as if we’ve known each other forever.”

      “But you haven’t, Molly. Why would you accept his proposal so fast?” She hadn’t wondered why he would propose. A person couldn’t help but love Molly, she was so sweet.

      “You’ll see when you meet him,” Molly had insisted. “And I can’t wait for you to meet him, Brenna. You’ll love him.”

      “What about you, Mol? Do you love him?”

      From her friend’s blush, Brenna had assumed she had.

      A brush of a hand against hers now drew Brenna back to the present and the backseat of the limo.

      “Are you okay?” Josh asked softly, his deep voice full of concern.

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