The Wedding Party And Holiday Escapes Ultimate Collection. Кейт Хьюит
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said, slowly. “And you’re the maid of honor....”
“Of course.” She tried to laugh it off, but it came out stilted as she tried to control the heat bubbling within her. “I’d hate to keep you from your date, though.”
“I didn’t bring one.”
“She couldn’t make it?” Penny fished just a little, knowing that if there was a she, Penny needed to shut down this attraction. She didn’t mess with taken men.
“There isn’t a she.” He looked over her shoulder briefly before returning his gaze to her eyes. “What about your date? Won’t it make him jealous that I’ll have you in my arms most of the night?”
“If he existed, it probably would.” The men she hooked up with were always free agents and never more than that. “I guess that means I’m yours tonight.”
His dark eyebrow lifted as if his train of thought had just arrived at the same station. A spark of awareness raced down her spine.
“If everyone could line up,” Beatrice Miller called out in her singsong voice. The kindergarten teacher helped out at the church for the wedding coordinator. She treated every wedding party like a group of five-year-olds who needed to get in line and wait patiently for their turn. Many of them had had her as a teacher, so it wasn’t hard for her to rein them in.
Luke held out his elbow, and Penny hesitated for only a moment before slipping her hand over his jacketed arm. They were to be the first down the aisle.
“Mom and Dad should be here,” Luke said so softly that she almost missed it.
Her fingers squeezed his arm and she leaned against him. “Yes.”
As they stood by the door waiting for the procession music to begin, the crisp, clean scent of Luke wafted over her. He pulled her in tightly to his side. His warmth penetrated her silk dress. He was as solid next to her as he’d always been. Almost as much a safe haven to her as her grandmother’s antiques store had been when she was young. Had he stayed in Tawnee Valley, would things have been different for them?
The doors to the chapel opened, and Penny straightened and put on her smile. This was Maggie’s day. The past was gone. Only right now mattered. The entire town had turned out for the wedding. And they were all looking at her walking arm in arm with Luke Ward.
She could almost see the matchmaking gears in ole Bitsy Clemons’s head turning on overload. Bitsy had brought every eligible man in Tawnee Valley to Penny’s store. As if Penny would die if she didn’t marry soon.
It was bad enough to be walking down the aisle with an ex, but to do so in front of everyone who had known how hot and heavy they had been...
They made it to the preacher and split ways. As Luke went to the other side of Brady, she turned and their eyes met. She saw a hint of humor and speculation in those eyes. She could definitely lose herself in him for a night or two. After all, he could only improve with age.
Amber started down the aisle and tossed wildflowers on the path before her. When she reached the front, she turned and sat in the pew next to Sam Ward.
The music changed and the doors reopened to reveal the bride. The congregation stood as she walked slowly down the aisle with a smile filled with such love that Penny couldn’t stop the tears that sprang to her eyes.
As she reached the wedding party, Maggie passed her bouquet to Penny to hold and took Brady’s hands.
Brady looked as if he’d just been handed the most precious gift in the world. It hit something inside of Penny, and she had to look away. Luke came into sharp focus.
Years ago, she’d thrown away what they had together, but she’d never forgotten. Every man she had been with, she compared to him, never truly letting him go. Once tomorrow came, she’d have to let him go again, but tonight was filled with potential.
“Thought you were going to miss it,” Sam said.
Luke raised an eyebrow but continued to stare out the truck window. “I was called to scrub in on a last-minute surgery.”
Sam grunted. “Family’s not that important.”
If the reception had been any closer to the chapel, Luke would have walked rather than get in the truck with his oldest brother. Sam had helped raise him after their father died when Luke was fourteen. Two years later, their mother had succumbed to cancer and Brady had gone off to college, leaving only Luke and Sam.
“Of course family is important.” Luke flicked a piece of lint from his tux sleeve. “Which is why I’m here today. When it matters.”
Sam gave a noncommittal sound as he pulled into the parking lot of the Knights of Columbus. The hall was a standard block construction on the outside. It might not be big-city classy, but Tawnee Valley didn’t offer much else in the way of reception halls.
The parking lot was already filled with trucks and cars. As soon as Luke stepped out of the truck, he could hear the music floating out of the double doors that were outlined with a pretty trellis of flowers.
“I don’t know why Brady didn’t just have the wedding in New York,” Luke mumbled.
“Because the people in this town are as much his family as we are.” Sam walked past and into the banquet room.
Luke followed him in and actually did a double take. If he hadn’t just driven up to the concrete building, he would believe that he’d been dropped into a grand ballroom inside a five-star hotel. The stage had had a face-lift since the last time Luke had been here, which had to have been almost five years ago. One of his high school friends had his wedding reception here, but it had been a potluck with lots of balloons, not an elegant buffet with waiters bringing guests drinks and appetizers. The room was decorated to rival the most elegant of ballrooms, down to the artful arrangements of wildflowers on every table.
“Kind of blows your mind, doesn’t it?” Penny appeared at his side.
“Definitely.” Just as she did. His pulse quickened. Penny hadn’t been at that wedding years ago, and they’d managed to avoid each other the few times he’d been back since their breakup. This was the first time they’d seen each other in nine years.
“Brady arranged most of it, but Maggie had the final say.” Penny was every bit as attractive as he remembered, from her coppery-red hair to her brown eyes to a body with curves in all the right places to her full lips that begged for his kiss. “Come on. I’ll show you the table and give you a quick walk-through of what you missed last night.”
Her fingers threaded through his as she pulled him forward into the crowd. The heat of her worked its way from their entwined fingers to the center of him. Her gold dress seemed like more of a long negligee made of slightly thicker material. His fingers itched to run over her silk-covered flesh.
“The DJ is one of the best in the industry.”
Luke followed her gaze to the DJ table. “Wyatt Graham?” Wyatt had graduated high school a few years after them.
Penny smiled and winked. “The local industry isn’t that diverse. He’ll be playing a mix of modern and oldies. We’ll be required to dance together at the end of the bridal dance and for the next few dances after that.”
As Luke glanced around, he noticed more familiar faces—from the waitstaff to the cooks in the opening to the kitchen. All local people, from either Tawnee Valley or the neighboring city of Owen.
“Brady could have flown the whole town to New York for what this cost.”
“That wasn’t the point.” Penny pulled him behind a large curtain thing that gave the room its illusion of class, and leaned against the old paneled walls of the hall. The scent of musty wood overwhelmed the small space. The lighting barely filtered