“I’m glad you’re taking this so well,” Grant said. “I confess I was worried. Especially the way you kissed me…” This man, this stranger who looked too much like her fiancé for her own comfort and peace of mind, cleared his throat. “The way you kissed me…” He coughed. “I mean…Griffin, uh, earlier. I thought you were really in love.”
A heated blush suddenly engulfed her from her toes clear up to her hairline. A rush of blood blocked out his words. Oh, God! What have I done?
She wished she could collapse inside her voluminous bridal dress hanging in the corner and disappear. She’d kissed this man, thinking it was her fiancé! And worse, she’d felt her toes curl in a way she’d never experienced before. Not with Griffin, and certainly not with any of her previous fiancés.
She pushed away that nightmare and faced a new one—one that frightened and horrified her more than facing the crowd of expectant family and friends in the chapel. Shouldn’t she have realized with that kiss that Grant wasn’t her fiancé? Looking back, she realized Grant had made her feel things she’d only wished for with Griff. She bit her lip and refused to contemplate it.
Her head started to pound. She looked at this man claiming to be Griff’s brother and searched for some clue she must have missed. He had the same dark brown, almost black, hair that had tiny waves running through it and made her fingers itch to comb it back and tame it…tame him. His eyes did seem similar, yet different. Griffin’s had been wild with mischief. This man’s were somber, steady, penetrating. Come to think of it, remembering the feel of his body against hers, he had a hard, unrelenting frame, one that could have been an advertisement for any health club, whereas her fiancé’s—her ex-fiancé’s—had been slender and not as well honed.
The backs of her eyes burned as realization settled inside her. She felt her knees go weak. The fact that this man’s kiss had made her feel wobbly, more so than any she’d shared with her runaway fiancé, annoyed the heck out of her. “I need to sit down.”
Immediately Grant jumped to his feet. “Here.”
He helped her into the chair he’d vacated. With one hand on her arm and the other around her waist, she felt a fissure of awareness ripple through her, but it quickly turned to anger. She gazed into her fiancé’s face. No, not Griffin. This is Grant, Griffin’s twin.
Strange how she had the urge to slap his sudden concern right out the door. But she’d save that much effort for when she saw Griff again. If she ever saw her ex-fiancé again.
She didn’t want Grant’s pity or sympathy. She imagined she’d receive enough humiliating helpings of that from family and friends in the next few weeks and months. She cringed remembering how family, friends and busybody neighbors had made her cakes, roast beef and tuna casseroles to show their concern. They’d spoken in funereal tones around her, told her she’d find another man and tried to set her up with any male able to suck in air and stand on two feet. But the whispers behind her back, the knowing, pity-filled glances had told her what they really believed—she was jinxed.
“What do you want me to do?” Grant asked, his voice soft and soothing in that irritating sympathetic tone she knew all too well.
“Can I get somone? Your bridesmaids?”
Annie shook her head, relieved she hadn’t asked any friends to stand by her today. She hadn’t wasted any money on useless gowns, either.
“Would water help?” Grant asked.
She stared at him. “Only if I can drown your brother in it.”
“I don’t blame you for that. In fact, I’d be glad to help. I understand how you feel.”
She shook her head. “You can’t possibly understand. No one could.”
Three’s a charm, she thought. Or a curse. How could she have been duped again? She must truly be jinxed when it came to marriage. What was that darn saying? Always the bridesmaid, never the bride? Or maybe she was doomed to always be a bride-to-be, never a full-fledged wife.
That was the story of her life. Her neighbors and friends had probably laid bets to see if this would happen again. She wondered what the odds had been this time.
At least her other two weddings hadn’t been canceled at the altar. No, this wedding won that whopping prize. She could shoot Griffin for dumping her this way, for letting her think it was really going to happen, for giving her hope. Why couldn’t she have seen it coming? What was wrong with her? Or was it the men she picked?
Neither question soothed her. None of the possible answers quieted her jumbled nerves. Her hands clenched in her lap. Well, by God, she wasn’t going to let it happen again! Not in her lifetime.
With renewed spirit, she stood. She was going through with her plans. She was leaving behind the sad memories that had haunted her since her parents’ deaths so many years ago and the humiliating ones of her past fiancés. She was going to start over, to see the world. She didn’t need a husband or a marriage to do that. She wouldn’t stay here and let her life pass her by. No sirree!
But a swift thought took the wind out of her veil. As pathetic and old-fashioned as it sounded, she couldn’t leave with folks thinking she couldn’t hold on to her man. She stuffed a soggy French fry into her mouth. The salty flavor made it hard to swallow. She wasn’t leaving town with her tail—or wedding train—tucked between her legs. Not if she could help it.
“I’m getting married,” she spoke the words out loud, surprising herself as much as Grant. “Today.”
“You don’t seem to understand.” He kept his hand firmly on her arm as if she’d lost her grip on reality. “Griffin left. You can’t get married without a groom.”
She gritted her teeth and shrugged off his hand. “I am getting married.”
She’d lived here her whole life. Instead of going off to college, she’d stayed home and commuted to class so she could help her ill mother. She’d wanted to move to a big city to teach, but she’d taken a job at the elementary school she’d attended as a child—all to help her parents.
Then her mother had passed away, leaving her with a last request—that Annie find a good man to marry. She’d tried! Boy, had she tried.
Not long after her mother’s death, her father had died of a broken heart. She’d stayed, living in their house, trapped by the fond and sad memories.
Then Rodney came along, swooped her off her feet, made her laugh again. By the time she agreed to marry him, his feet had grown cold. And she’d been left with enormous bills for their wedding that wouldn’t be.
Next, Travis strolled into her life. But her second fiancé had a change of heart, this time leaving her with more debt and more reasons to stay in Lockett.
She clenched her hands. “I’m leaving this one-stoplight town if it’s the last thing I do.”
Grant crossed his arms over his wide chest. “How do you propose to do that?”
“You’re going to help me. You offered to help me drown your rotten brother.”
“I did. But I was—”
“Don’t worry. I’m not planning anything illegal.”
“Look, Annie, I regret I had to be the one to tell you, but believe me it’s best you found out now how irresponsible Griffin is. He’s been like that his whole life. You don’t want him.”
“You’re right. I don’t.” Her gaze narrowed on him. Then she smiled as her new plan emerged. “I want you.”
“What?”
“You’re going to marry me…Grant, isn’t it?”
He nodded slowly, then shook his head. “Oh, no. I can’t help you. I’m not the marrying kind.”