CHAPTER ONE

      EMILY SUTTON’S fiancé caught up with her in the library of the elegant San Antonio mansion where he lived with his parents. Michael Chambers was normally blessed with a ready smile, but Emily noticed that today he looked somber, even a little nervous. How odd, she thought. Michael’s self-confidence was usually as vast as the state of Texas; it was one of the characteristics that had first attracted her to him.

       “Hi, Michael, what’s up? You’re looking worried.” She was already running late for her appointment at Finders Keepers, but she paused in the doorway, her arms clutched around the massive three-ring binder that contained the complex details of their wedding arrangements.

       Emily shifted the heavy weight of the binder from one arm to the other. There were moments when she felt sure the inauguration of the president of the United States couldn’t necessitate more paperwork than the elaborate wedding ceremony her mother and Mrs. Chambers had planned over the past three months. Her mother had loved every minute of the planning, of course, even though she and Mrs. Chambers both complained repeatedly that the engagement was much too short for them to put on a truly stylish affair.

       Thank goodness Michael needed to have the wedding ceremony behind him before he embarked on his election campaign for governor of Texas, Emily reflected wryly. Otherwise she couldn’t begin to visualize what their respective mothers might have attempted. Importing the royal guards from Buckingham Palace, maybe?

       Emily grinned, glad that she’d been able to make her mother so happy just by saying yes to all her fancy wedding plans. She leaned against the door, once again shifting the weight of the binder to her other arm. Michael still remained silent and she felt her first twinge of true concern.

       “You look really worried, honey. Tell me what’s wrong.”

       He didn’t respond and her stomach lurched with a premonition of disaster. “Michael, talk to me. Has there been an accident? Oh my gosh, is it one of my parents?”

       “No, not that…”

       “Is your dad’s heart playing up again? Please don’t try to cushion the blow—you’re just making me more scared.”

       He shifted from one foot to the other, so ill at ease that his discomfort seemed almost feigned. “I can’t marry you,” he said, avoiding her gaze. “We have to call off the wedding.”

       Shock momentarily paralyzed Emily. Then relief surged through her, leaving her knees feeling shaky. She suppressed a slightly impatient sigh. She’d noticed before that she didn’t share Michael’s rather cruel sense of humor, and she was too busy today to be tactful.

       Glancing at her watch, she gave a weak smile. “Michael, I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to play games. I’ll see you this evening at five o’clock. Remember we have the cocktail reception for the bridal party and family members at your father’s club, and then we have the dinner for out-of-town guests right afterward.”

       Compulsively organized as always, she opened the file and read out the column of arrangements that affected Michael. “It’s black tie tonight, of course. My parents are bringing me, so there’s no need for you to pick me up. By now, your brother should already have left for the airport to pick up your groomsmen who are flying in from Dallas. Harrison Turner and Carter Blayne. Those are the two groomsmen I’ve never met, if you remember. They’ll need transportation tonight, because they’re not renting cars for some reason. I have written in on my schedule that your brother will drive them to the dinner, but he hasn’t been pinned down on this, and you know Jordan is always a law unto himself. He may choose to cooperate, or then again he’s just as likely to blow off the entire night’s events.”

       She snapped the ring binder shut, taking a calming breath. The mere thought of Jordan was enough to provoke a frisson of irritation so, with the ease of long practice, she switched her train of thought. “Oh, and if you have a spare second, you might go and say a couple of soothing words to your mother. She’s fussing about the dinner menu again, and Sidney is beginning to lose his cool.”

       Emily managed a tired smile, although her prospective mother-in-law had been really hard to manage this morning. “Try to convince her that serving smoked pheasant appetizers simply isn’t an option at this point. She’ll have to be content with the ten varieties of hors d’oeuvres she’s already selected.”

       Michael rubbed his forehead. “Who is Sidney?”

       “Oh, sorry. I’ve spoken to him so often, I forgot you wouldn’t know. He’s the chef at your dad’s club.”

       She turned to go, but Michael hurried across the room and grabbed her arm, interposing himself between her and the door. “Damn it, Emily, will you stand still for a minute and stop rattling off lists? I shouldn’t have allowed you to go on about all those arrangements.” He crossed his arms and stared at her with a touch of defiance. “I wasn’t joking just now. I can’t marry you. We have to call off the wedding.”

       “Call off the wedding?” Once again, it seemed to Emily that the world stopped. Only this time it didn’t immediately start moving forward again. She blinked and swallowed hard, trying to bring her vision back into focus. “Not…marry me?”

       Michael drew in another deep breath and shook his head. “That’s right. I’m sorry, but we have to call off the wedding. I just can’t go through with it.”