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The Wedding She Always Wanted
Stacy Connelly


Dare to dream… these sparkling romances will make you laugh, cry and fall in love – again and again!Emily’s world tilted on its axis when Javier twirled her in his arms.The jilted bride-to-be never expected to meet a man like him at the wedding that should have been hers. Still, she knew the handsome playboy was wrong for her in every way. So why was she letting him sweep her off her feet? Javier didn’t believe in fate. But from the moment he spun Emily onto the dance floor he was captivated by her.Emily had faith in Javier – and in the passion that made him long to shed his bachelor ways. What would it take to get her to say yes? To take that fateful walk down the aisle…with him?










“I’ve been wondering what the most beautiful woman in the room is doing hiding in a corner.”

The wholly masculine voice sent a shiver down Emily’s spine.

He was dressed in a tux, and the black suit was the perfect complement to Javier’s dark hair and eyes while the crisp white shirt contrasted with his gorgeously tanned skin. He’d brushed his hair back for the ceremony, but a hint of natural wave threatened to break free from the staid style with only the slightest provocation.

Like a woman running her fingers through the dark strands …

Curling her fingernails into her palms, Emily forced her gaze back to the ballroom. But even with her eyes locked on the dance floor, she heard the rustle of palms as Javy stepped closer. Felt him against skin left bare by the strapless gown.




About the Author


STACY CONNELLY has dreamed of publishing books since she was a kid, writing stories about a girl and her horse. Eventually, boys made it onto the page as she discovered a love of romance and the promise of happily ever after.

When she is not lost in the land of make-believe, Stacy lives in Arizona with her two spoiled dogs. She loves to hear from readers and can be contacted at stacyconnelly@cox.net or www.stacyconnelly.com.


Dear Reader,

Imagine a dream wedding, planned to perfection in every detail … except one. The bride is no longer the one getting married. That’s the situation Emily Wilson finds herself in after calling off her engagement days before the wedding. She has little choice but to pick up the pieces and move on … with a little help from the sexy best man, Javier Delgado.

I think we’ve all had dreams that didn’t come true in the way we expected, and yet in the end, have flourished in ways we never imagined. Or perhaps they’ve come true after we’ve nearly given up on them.

I hope you enjoy The Wedding She Always Wanted and Emily’s journey to realizing the only part of a perfect wedding she needs is the perfect groom.

Stacy Connelly


Thanks to all my friends who understand

when a glazed look comes over my eyes,

I’m not ignoring them … I’m brainstorming!




THE WEDDING



SHE ALWAYS



WANTED


STACY CONNELLY














www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)




Chapter One


Emily Wilson had spent years practicing her smile. Not too wide, or her eyes would squint. Not too small, or the expression looked fake. Somewhere in between was the perfect smile Emily modeled, even when smiling was the last thing she wanted to do.

Despite the years of practice, she couldn’t remember when she’d had a harder time holding on to that smile. But then again, she’d never had to survive a day like today. Her wedding day.

Only she wasn’t the one getting married.

The ballroom looked exactly as she’d imagined. White cloaked tables circled the black granite dance floor. Pink roses and silver candles floated in glass bowls, the light reflected by mirrored chargers beneath. In every corner, towering plants reached right up to a moonlit night revealed by the soaring glass ceiling. A romantic ballad played as the bride and groom met for their first dance, love shining in their eyes.

Just like she imagined, Emily thought, her stomach twisting, except for the identity of the bride and groom.

“How are you holding up?” a quiet voice asked behind her.

Emily turned to face her older sister. Wearing a pink bridesmaid’s dress identical to her own, Aileen’s brows were pulled together in a concerned frown. “I’m fine,” Emily answered automatically. “The wedding was beautiful, and no one deserves it more than Kelsey.”

As little as a week ago Emily could never have imagined that the wedding her cousin had planned would end up as Kelsey’s own wedding to Connor McClane, Emily’s high school boyfriend.

“And how many times have you said that line today?”

“To everyone who’s actually had the courage to come up to me. Which, considering the number of people here, hasn’t been all that many. Everyone is much too busy talking about me to actually bother talking to me.”

“Well, it’s not every day that a wedding goes off as planned, only with a completely different bride and groom,” Aileen noted.

“And it’s not every day a woman learns her fiancé got another girl pregnant and proposed only to get back into his family’s good graces.”

It had, in fact, been Thursday, mere days before her wedding.

Shoving hurt and humiliation aside, Emily insisted, “Besides, it’s not just a line. I am happy for Kelsey. And for Connor.”

Connor had come back to town with the specific purpose of stopping Emily’s wedding to Todd Dunworthy. He was the one to discover Todd’s hidden agenda. Along the way, Connor had also fallen in love with Kelsey.

“I know you are,” Aileen said, “and we’re all glad Connor found out what Todd was up to before you married the jerk. I still can’t believe how completely he fooled all of us.”

But Todd had fooled all of them, including Emily’s parents, who had seen him as the perfect future son-in-law. Maybe she should have felt better, knowing she wasn’t the only idiot in the bunch, but she didn’t. Instead, the betrayal had shaken her foundations.

Her whole life she’d followed the plan her parents had laid out for her—going to the right schools, wearing the right clothes, being seen with the right people. She’d always done what she was told, never crossed the line … except for a brief moment of teenaged rebellion, when she jumped over it and into Connor’s arms.

Intense, rough around the edges, Connor McClane had been nothing like the boys at her prep school. For a few short weeks, she’d been thrilled by the youthful infatuation and by veering so far off course from the map her parents had drawn out for her life. But before long she’d realized dating Connor wasn’t as much about following her own dreams as it was about defying her parents. Knowing Connor deserved better, she’d broken things off with him.

Almost ten years later his call to congratulate her on her engagement had come as a surprise, and she’d impulsively sent him a wedding invitation. A decision that had changed all of their lives, she thought as she watched Connor spin his new bride into his arms.

“Connor saw through Todd right from the start,” Emily said.

So why hadn’t she?

Was she that gullible, that naive? How could she trust her own feelings—or trust in love—again?

“Connor’s a P.I. He’s trained to look for those kinds of things. Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Aileen advised. After a few more minutes she said, “I’m going to go up and say good-night to Ginny and Duncan. I promised I’d tuck them in.”

Aileen’s daughter and son had been the flower girl and ring bearer. Like Emily, Aileen and her family were staying the night at the hotel.

“Give them a kiss for me.”

“I will.” Aileen disappeared around the tall palms sheltering Emily from the rest of the room.

Maybe she should go with her sister, Emily thought. Not that Aileen needed help with her kids, but any escape was a good escape.

She’d almost decided on the cowardly action when a deep voice murmured, “I’ve been wondering what the most beautiful woman in the room is doing hiding in a corner.”

The wholly masculine sound sent a shiver down Emily’s spine. She knew without turning who stood behind her. She was a little surprised she hadn’t felt electricity arcing along her nerve endings, like an early warning system, before Javier Delgado ever spoke.

From the moment they first met at Kelsey and Connor’s impromptu engagement party, Javy had had an undeniable effect on her. But Connor’s best friend and best man also had a reputation as a ladies’ man. And right now, after what had happened with Todd, he was exactly the kind of man she wanted to stay far, far away from.

Unfortunately, being in the wedding party together meant their paths had crossed more often than she would have liked in the last few days. And darn it if her pulse hadn’t skipped a beat every single time.

Turning to face him, she offered a small smile, keeping her expression as remote as possible, a smooth surface completely hiding the turmoil beneath—or so she hoped. “Javy,” she said with a chiding tone, “don’t you know the bride is the most beautiful woman in the room?”

Javier grinned, and Emily knew her facade might have been as smooth as glass, but as transparent, as well. At least where this man was concerned.

Whenever he looked at her, Emily sensed he saw through her—through the perfect smile, through the too-polite chitchat, through to all the insecurities and failures she sought to hide. While she—she couldn’t read him at all.

He was too handsome, too sexy, too much of everything she’d recently learned to distrust.

He was dressed in a tux. The black suit was the perfect complement to his dark hair and eyes, while the crisp white shirt contrasted with his gorgeously tanned skin. He’d brushed his hair back for the ceremony, but a hint of natural wave threatened to break free with only the slightest provocation.

Like a woman running her fingers through the dark strands …

Curling her fingernails into her palms, Emily forced her gaze back to the ballroom. But even with her eyes locked on the dance floor, she heard the rustle of palms as Javy stepped closer. Felt him against skin left bare by the strapless gown.

The aftershave he wore blended with the flowers and vanilla candles, providing a masculine element missing from the too-feminine scents. His breath stirred the fine hair at the nape of her neck, and Emily had the foolish thought that she should have worn her hair down.

Like any hairstyle could possibly provide protection against a man like Javier Delgado.

“Kelsey does look amazing, doesn’t she?”

His words barely registered. He hadn’t just brushed his lips against her ear when he spoke, had he? No, he wouldn’t have. He couldn’t have….

Maybe if she asked him to repeat the sentence, he’d do it again, and she’d know for sure.

An unfamiliar heat pooled in her belly, sapping the strength from her legs. The warning system that failed her earlier rang out loud and clear, but Emily couldn’t bring herself to step away. She was afraid if she moved at all, it would be to sink into the tall, masculine body surrounding her.

“I … um …” Emily swallowed. “Yes, Kelsey looks beautiful.”

She and Aileen had styled her cousin’s curly red hair into an elegant twist and applied a sophisticated, smoky-eyed makeup, which down-to-earth Kelsey rarely wore. But Kelsey’s gown was too heavenly for anything less. Thanks to her friendship with a local dress designer, Kelsey had had a gorgeous ivory strapless gown altered in a matter of days, and even though the dress wasn’t custom-made, the fit certainly was.

But Emily knew it wasn’t the hair or the makeup or the wedding gown. The love and happiness glowing in her expression as she gazed at her new husband made Kelsey the most beautiful woman there.

“And I don’t think I’ve ever seen Connor so happy,” Javier added.

“You sound surprised.” Emily turned to face Javy, thinking she’d be better off if she could keep an eye on him. Or maybe not, she realized as her heart did another tap dance inside her chest when she gazed up at his handsome face.

“I guess I am. My friend never struck me as a ‘falling head over heels for a woman’ kind of guy.”

Emily had a feeling Javy’s statement said more about his own relationships than it did about Connor’s. “Because the two of you are so alike?”

“Used to be,” he said easily enough, but the slight frown pulling at his eyebrows contradicted the unconcerned acceptance. “But things change.”

“Yes, they do….” Emily’s voice trailed off as three middle-aged women walked by, exchanging knowing looks and smug smiles.

“Hello, Emily,” one called out, arching her eyebrows and making a point of looking from Emily to Javy and back again, their seclusion in the out-of-the-way corner suddenly taking on a salacious air.

Managing a nod, she watched the women walk away, heads bent together as they whispered to one another.

“Who the he—heck are they?”

Face flaming, Emily said, “Those are some of my mother’s friends.”

But Emily was well aware that friends of her mother often had daughters her own age. Daughters Emily had beaten out in long-ago beauty pageants or for homecoming queen or for the lead role in some forgotten play. They were more than happy to see her publicly humiliated.

Keeping her gaze averted, Emily stared into the distance, not wanting to see the pity in Javy’s dark eyes.

“You know,” he said softly, “I think you might be one of the bravest women I’ve ever met.”

Emily let out a sharp laugh, the sound grating like broken glass against her throat. “And here I was, just thinking I’m the world’s biggest coward.”

Tears burned her eyes at the admission. Ducking her head, Emily turned away from Javy, horrified by the thought of breaking down in front of him. She didn’t make it more than a few yards when she heard his steps on the granite floor behind her.

Catching her arm, he steered her to the left. “Come on. No more standing on the sidelines. Let’s dance.”

Vaguely aware of a romantic ballad playing in the background, Emily shook her head. “No. Forget it.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m not dancing,” she argued as he turned her toward him.

“Why not?”

“I’ve given people enough reason to talk about me. Last thing I need to do is anything else to attract attention.” Javy smiled slowly.

“Too late.”

Emily didn’t realize what he meant until he slid an arm around her lower back and pulled her body into his. He’d led her to the center of the dance floor, and unless she wanted to walk off mid-dance, she had little choice but to stay where she was. And when her arms automatically wrapped around his broad shoulders, she knew she wouldn’t be going anywhere.

His dark eyes looked almost as velvety black as the night sky above, and the sexy spark she saw in his gaze put the Milky Way to shame. He danced like a man who knew how to move his body … and how to make a woman respond. His hands trailed down her spine to the curve of her hips; his thighs brushed against hers in time with the music, each step making her breath catch in anticipation of the next. With the stiff stays lining the strapless bodice of her dress, she couldn’t possibly feel the beat of his heart. Which meant the wild, crazy rhythm was hers alone.

“Relax,” Javy commanded, his voice a husky whisper in her ear. “Forget that anyone’s watching.”

Emily had forgotten about the guests lining the edges of the dance floor. Any tension he had picked up on was strictly from locking her knees to keep from puddling at his feet. She tried to take a calming breath, only to inhale his cologne, the enticing scent drawing her closer to the spot where his broad shoulder met the tanned column of his neck.

“Unless you want to give them something to really talk about,” he murmured, and she doubted he meant the scene she’d make running from the dance floor.

“No. I couldn’t,” she said, her voice a weak, broken sound.

“Come on. You can’t be that worried about what people are going to say.”

“I’m here, aren’t I? The only thing worse than being here and having all these people talk about me behind my back would be to stay home and have them talk about me without any restraint at all.”

“So show ‘em you don’t care,” he encouraged, lifting a hand and running his index finger from the nape of her neck down … over her bare skin … until he hit the top of her dress, where he traced the line of the zipper to the small of her back.

Half surprised the small metal teeth didn’t simply melt away, Emily swallowed hard and searched for an argument to keep herself from doing the same. “I do care. I should care. Today was supposed to be my wedding day. I was supposed to be marrying the man I loved and—”

“But you didn’t. And you’re relieved.”

“Of course I’m relieved. Who would want to be married to someone who cheated and lied?”

“I mean, you’re relieved because you didn’t love him.”

Emily pulled back far enough to meet his gaze. If his dark eyes had slowly peeled away her clothes, she wouldn’t have been surprised—he had that kind of reputation. But she hadn’t anticipated the way his knowing look stripped bare all the insecurities she’d tried to hide. Totally exposed, she struggled to duck behind an indignant front.

“What makes you so sure? You don’t know me. You don’t know—”

“I know when a woman’s in love, and I know when she’s heartbroken. And you, sweetheart, are neither.”

Javy let Emily go at the end of the dance. He couldn’t help watching her walk away. The gown she wore fit her willowy curves to perfection, drawing his eyes to her slender waist and the flare of her hips. The color—a soft, innocent pink—made her skin look even creamier. She had a grace and bearing that spoke of her wealth and pedigree. He would have gladly danced with her all night—breathing in the scent of peaches on her skin, following the fragrance from the curve of her neck, left bare by her upswept hair, to the hollow of her throat, to the valley between her breasts—but the worry clouding her blue eyes had told him how truly concerned she was by what the high-society guests around them thought.

Too bad she hadn’t taken him up on his offer to give the crowd something to talk about. His blood heated at the thought of Emily kissing him in front of the whole crowd, of discovering her unique taste, feeling the slow, soft slide of her lips against his own. But he supposed it would require something bigger than dumping a fiancé she didn’t really love to shake up her world that much.

Making his way to the bar, he ordered a beer. Champagne toasts were likely the thing, but he had simpler tastes. He’d taken his first sip from the bottle when an exuberant hand clapped down on his shoulder.

“Hey, having fun?”

Javy turned to meet Connor’s grin. “You bet. This is my kind of party,” he said wryly. “Loved the ice sculpture, by the way. What the hell was it supposed to be? Some kind of snake?”

“A swan,” his friend said, only to admit a split second later, “I think. Anyway, this is what Kelsey wanted. Her dream wedding.” As he spoke, his gaze immediately sought out his new wife, who was dancing with her uncle.

Javy figured he could have dumped the melting serpent/swan into his friend’s lap and he wouldn’t have noticed. “I’m happy for you, man. Really.” He winced, hearing the doubt he was trying a little too hard to hide.

“Yeah, right.” Connor slanted Javy a glance that reminded him how well they knew each other.

“Sorry. I mean, don’t get me wrong. Kelsey’s a great girl, but—”

“You didn’t think I’d ever settle down,” Connor said, filling in the details. His gaze met Kelsey’s from across the ballroom, and he smiled. “Things change.”

He’d said the same to Emily. “Yeah, guess so.”

“Except for you.” Turning back to Javy, Connor said, “Look, I know you’re still all about playing the field, but you gotta know Emily’s not up for the game.”

Javy pulled back in surprise. “Hell, Connor, you haven’t warned me away from a girl since we were both interested in Alicia Martin in the fifth grade. Are you sure you married the right woman? Emily’s—”

“Emily is Kelsey’s cousin,” Connor interrupted, leaning forward enough to warn Javy not to finish his thought. “I’m just looking out for her. She’s family now. You understand.”

“Yeah, sure,” Javy agreed as Kelsey waved her husband over to the dance floor.

He understood because at one time Connor had considered Javy family. They’d practically grown up together, covering each other’s backs and pulling each other through some rough times.

“Things change,” he mumbled, lifting the beer bottle to his lips for another drink.

Connor wasn’t the first of his friends to get married and likely wouldn’t be the last. But Javy had no intention of following that line down the aisle. Not now, not ever.

Connor was right about Javy liking to play the field. It had been years since he’d had trouble forgetting a woman, and ever since then, they had come and gone, none of them sticking around long enough to etch a place in his life or in his heart. He had no reason to believe Emily would be any different.

Now that the wedding was over, there’d be little chance of their paths crossing again and less reason for her to cross his thoughts.

No, he definitely wouldn’t have any problem forgetting Emily Wilson, he thought as an exotic brunette at the end of the bar caught his eye. Her ruby-red lips curved in invitation, and he waited for the familiar kick of interest to flare. He could send over a drink—a cosmopolitan, he figured—strike up a conversation and be well on his way to forgetting. He’d learned, thanks to his friends’ weddings, that a reception was the perfect place to first meet a woman. After all, half the work was done for him. The candles, the flowers, the romantic music were already in place. It was easy. Maybe too easy.

When the bartender came by, Javy didn’t order a cosmo or any other kind of break-the-ice drink. Instead, he handed over a few bills for his beer and turned to watch Emily in the out-of-the-way corner where he’d first spotted her.

He wondered if she knew how completely false her smile looked even from across the room. It didn’t come close to reaching her eyes—those beautiful blue eyes with darker flecks, which reminded him of the turquoise gemstones his mother loved.

Emily Wilson was a gorgeous woman, no doubt about it, but if she really smiled—hell, if she laughed—he didn’t think a man in the room could resist. Including him.

Good thing it didn’t look like she’d be laughing anytime soon.

Twenty minutes, Emily vowed silently. She’d give Connor and Kelsey another twenty minutes to cut the cake, and then she was leaving.

She’d accomplished what she had set out to do by coming to the wedding. First, of course, to see her cousin and Connor get married. And second, to face friends and acquaintances for the first time since calling off the wedding. She’d known the whispers and speculation would only be harder to withstand the more time that passed. So, although she wished she were brave enough to stay until the end—heck, she longed for the courage to stand among the single women and do her darnedest to catch the bouquet—in twenty minutes she was going to live up to her own words and sneak out a side door.

Until then, well, Emily decided she had to go to the restroom. She’d check her makeup, her hair, her dress, her shoes, even her nail polish, and hopefully by the time she completed the head-to-toe inspection, at least a quarter of an hour would have passed.

As she stepped into the gold and marble restroom, the door closed behind her, muffling the sounds of music and laughter coming from the reception. Emily leaned against the door for a second and took her first deep breath in hours. The evening was almost over, and she had survived, proving once and for all that embarrassment could not kill.

Walking over to the vanity and the gilded mirror lit by matching sconces, Emily tried to focus on her hair, to doublecheck that none of the intricate curls were escaping the upswept style. But she froze, staring into her own reflection. Not checking her eyeliner for smudges or pulling her lip gloss from her beaded purse to dab on a second soft pink coat, but instead taking a good, long look at herself.

What was it about her that she couldn’t even inspire faithfulness during a very brief engagement? Todd hadn’t even waited until the wedding to break his vows. That slap of reality made a dream of lasting love and commitment seem just that—an impossible dream.

Except she had every faith that Connor’s love for Kelsey would last. Her cousin had found true love, as had her sister. Her parents’ thirty-plus years of marriage proved their lasting commitment. Which meant the dream was only impossible for her … because of something lacking in her.

Emily turned the faucets on full blast and roughly scrubbed at her hands. Todd was the one at fault, and she needed to stop blaming herself. Yet the doubts picked away at her self-confidence like hungry, spiteful ravens.

I know when a woman’s in love, and I know when she’s heartbroken. And you, sweetheart, are neither.

On the dance floor Emily had done her best to dismiss Javy’s words. He knew nothing about her. How could he presume to look inside her heart? But the more she had to work to summon up her anger, the more she worried he was right.

She’d been so sure she loved Todd; why else would she have agreed to marry him? And yet hadn’t she sensed their relationship wasn’t all it should have been? That he spent more time telling her what he thought she wanted to hear than actually talking to her? That they never looked beyond the surface of an engagement that looked good on paper?

She now knew why Todd had been so willing to accept so little. The bitter question was, why had she?

Keeping her gaze away from the mirror, Emily finished washing her hands. She’d just thrown the paper towels away when she heard a burst of laughter coming from the outside hall.

Averse to coming face-to-face with anyone at the moment, Emily grabbed her small purse and ducked into the far stall.

The restroom door opened, letting in a burst of music and laughter, along with two women. “Tell me! I have been dying to hear the whole story.”

Emily’s stomach immediately clenched at the expectation in the woman’s voice.

“Well.” Drawing out the moment, the second woman paused. “From what I heard, she found out her fiancé was cheating on her with the family chef.”

“No!”

“Yes, and it gets even worse! It turns out they have a child together. A boy, I think.”

“Oh, that is horrible!” the second woman exclaimed, sounding all too overjoyed by the scandal.

Humiliation burned in Emily’s cheeks at the delight the women were taking in her embarrassment. The details were wrong but close enough for her to realize her family had once again trusted the wrong person. She hadn’t spoken to anyone else about Todd’s infidelity or his reasons for proposing. And yet someone—her mother or sister, most likely—had talked to a close friend, no doubt swearing them to secrecy, for all the good it had done.

The betrayal was minor compared to Todd’s lying and cheating, but for Emily, it was the last straw.

With a definitive flick of her wrist, she unlocked the stall door. The two women spun in guilty tandem, but Emily didn’t spare them a glance. Instead, she moved toward the mirror. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind one ear, keeping her focus on her own reflection as she spoke. “It was the maid, not the chef. And she’s still pregnant. The baby hasn’t been born yet. If you’re going to talk about me, you might as well get the details straight.”

A stunned silence accompanied her exit from the restroom—probably the first time either woman had stopped talking since they’d arrived—but Emily didn’t feel better. She hadn’t thought it possible, but if anything, she actually felt worse.

She was leaving. Now. Before she gave everyone even more to talk about by foolishly bursting into tears at her cousin’s reception.

Rounding a corner, she gasped when a pair of strong hands clamped on her shoulders, stopping her from running headlong into a tuxedoed chest. “Whoa! Where’s the fire?” Javy’s laughter trailed away, and he ducked his head to look into her face. His thick eyebrows lowered over his eyes. “Emily? Are you all right?”

Desperate to escape, she said, “I—I have to get out of here.”

“Okay.” Without questioning, he draped an arm around her shoulders and guided her toward an exit. But instead of a quick farewell before he went straight back to the reception, he followed her into the summer night air.

Moonlight glinted on the surface of the nearby pool, and the multicolored lights played over the stream pouring from a rock waterfall. The peaceful setting was a sharp contrast to the turmoil churning inside her, reminding Emily this was her problem.

Everyone else was having a good time. Everyone else should be having a good time … including Javy. She hadn’t missed the hungry looks several women at the reception had slanted in his direction. He could be with any one of them right now.

Ignoring the twinge of regret, she turned to him and said, “You need to go back inside. You’re the best man. You have to give the toast and—”

“Already did.”

“You did?”

“Yep. Short and sweet, just the way the guests like it. No one came here tonight to hear me talk.”

“I’m sorry I missed it.” Despite his protest, Emily definitely enjoyed hearing Javy talk. The deep murmur of his voice held a hint of his Hispanic heritage and a trace of good humor, like he was ready to laugh at any given moment.

“Hmm, me, too. I have to say, I was a hit. Especially the love song I recited in Spanish.”

Uncertain if she could take him seriously, she protested, “You did not.”

“I did. Spanish is one of the romance languages, you know.”

Pig Latin would be one of the romance languages as long as Javy was the one speaking it. She was willing to bet every woman in the ballroom had gone a little weak at the knees listening to him, and maybe it was a good thing she hadn’t been inside.

The memory of their dance still lingered, not only in her mind, but in every part of her body that had brushed his as they swayed together. She could still feel the softness of his hair on her fingertips, the broad shoulders beneath her hands and the press of his thighs against her own….

Desire still tingled along nerve endings every place they had touched, and the last thing she needed was Javy’s Spanish love song as a soundtrack.

Holding out his arm, he said, “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“For a walk. Unless you’d rather be alone.”

Emily knew she should take the easy out he’d given her. Not because she actually wanted to be alone, but because being with a man of Javier Delgado’s reputation was not smart.

Or maybe it was, she thought suddenly. After feeling like she’d lived her whole life with blinders on, maybe taking a walk with her eyes wide-open was the smartest thing she could do.




Chapter Two


Javy waited for Emily’s answer, anticipation picking up a beat inside him that he hadn’t felt for years. He wouldn’t blame her if she wanted to be alone, but he hoped she’d say yes. A simple moonlight stroll suddenly meant more than his last several relationships combined.

Stupid, he thought. He was the last guy to suffer from wedding fever, but if he didn’t know better.

“Won’t Connor notice that you’re gone?”

Connor was more likely to notice that both he and Emily were gone, but Javy wasn’t about to point that out. “I’m sure he’ll figure I’m around somewhere. Besides, isn’t it time for them to take off for their honeymoon?”

“I suppose so.” Emily crossed her slender arms, although she couldn’t possibly be cold, even with the slight breeze stirring the summer night air.

Javy swore silently. Emily would have been leaving on her honeymoon tonight. While finding out her fiancé was a liar and a cheat—not to mention a moron, because, come on, what kind of idiot cheated on a woman as beautiful as Emily Wilson?—might have been a relief, it still didn’t change the fact that all of Emily’s plans had come crashing down around her. Not just plans for a wedding or honeymoon, but her whole future. No wonder she was feeling more than a little lost even if she hadn’t loved the guy.

“I’m sorry, Emily. I know how hard this must be for you.”

She started walking alongside the meandering pool, silently accepting his offer. “We were going to go on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera. Todd had everything planned. Snorkeling in Cabo, windsurfing in Mazatlán, parasailing in Puerto Vallarta …” Her voice trailed off in a memoriam of broken dreams.

“You like windsurfing?” Javy asked, hearing the doubt in his own voice. He had no problem imaging Emily sunning herself on a sandy beach, easily visualizing her long limbs bared by a less-than-nothing bathing suit, but he couldn’t picture her riding the waves on a board.

“I’ve never been. I’m relatively sure I would have hated it,” she said lightly. “Just like I would have hated the cruise. I went on a three-day trip right after I graduated high school. Turns out I get seasick. I spent the entire time feeling nauseous in my cabin.” She gave a soft laugh. “If you think about it, Todd really did me a favor. It would have been a miserable honeymoon.”

Javy had a feeling the misery would have lasted far beyond the honeymoon. He caught her arm and forced her to face him, with the moon shining down like a single interrogator’s light-bulb into her turquoise eyes. “Why, Emily?”

A slender shoulder lifted in an eloquent shrug. “He had everything all planned and—”

“I’m not talking about the honeymoon. I’m talking about everything. The engagement, the wedding. Or was that all planned, too? Was it easier to go along with what everyone else wanted than to stop and think about what would make you happy?”

“Of course not. I wouldn’t have married Todd—I wouldn’t marry anyone—just to make my parents happy.”

“Then why did you agree to marry him?”

“Because I loved him. And don’t you tell me that I didn’t! You don’t know me. You don’t know how I feel. And from what little I know of you, you don’t know what it’s like to be in love. You go from woman to woman with less time than it takes you to swap CDs.”

You don’t know love. Her words echoed in his thoughts, and Javy’s jaw tightened as he thought how wrong she was. He knew how love carved out a man’s insides, leaving him as hollow as a grinning jack-o'-lantern. He knew too well—and he’d learned his lesson.

But forcing his muscles to relax, he offered her an easygoing smile. “Feel better?”

Her color still high and her eyes snapping with surprising fire, Emily frowned. “What?”

“Seems like that was something you needed to get out. I was wondering if you felt any better.”

“I … no.” The light in her eyes died, and righteous indignation faded into a quiet mortification. “No. I don’t. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what got into me. I never yell at people, and that’s the second time tonight.”

As far as decibel levels went, Emily had been nowhere near yelling, but her words had certainly been sharp enough to hit their mark. Not that he was about to admit that. “Who else did you yell at?”

“I didn’t yell exactly….”

“Let me guess. You spoke in a very stern whisper.”

Her lips twitched, hinting at a real smile, which he was becoming more and more eager to see. “No. But I told two women if they were going to talk about me behind my back, they should at least get the story straight.”

“Good for you.”

“Is it?” Emily questioned. “Good for me? So far, it’s only made me feel even worse.”

Her gaze pleaded with him, as if asking him to somehow make her feel better. Her sadness and uncertainty touched something inside Javy, a need that made him want to fix whatever was wrong, a desire to see her smile. But memories of Stephanie clawed at his gut, reminding him of his failure, his broken promises and his reasons for staying away from any woman looking for more than the good time he could offer.

Javy didn’t know if Emily figured that out on her own, but she turned away and started walking again. “I knew everyone would be talking about me calling off the wedding. I expected that. What I didn’t expect was that everyone would know why I called off the wedding. That everyone would know Todd had cheated on me.”

She turned and looked at him suddenly, too quickly for him to try to school his expression. “You knew already, too, didn’t you?”

With moonlight turning her hair to silver and liming her skin with an ethereal glow, she looked like a mythical fantasy brought to life. Javy wasn’t a particularly imaginative man, but had Emily suddenly sprouted gossamer wings, he wouldn’t have been that surprised. She was amazing, and her ex was an ass.

“I did. When Connor first came back to town, he told me he thought Todd was bad news,” he admitted. When Emily’s face immediately fell, he cupped her chin until she met his gaze. Her skin felt like silk against his fingertips, and he had to force himself to pay attention to what he was saying instead of her wide, luminous eyes or the pale pink of her lips. “And, yeah, he told me why you broke it off. But Todd’s the one who should feel ashamed, Emily. Not you.”

“That’s what I keep telling myself.”

“Eventually, you’ll start to believe it. Hell, that’s probably why everyone here is talking about what happened. Because they can’t believe Todd would be stupid enough to cheat on you.”

A corner of her mouth lifted in a smile, which he longed to taste. “Tell me something. Did Connor send you out here to cheer me up?”

Javy gave a short laugh. After the way his friend had warned him off, the last thing Connor would have done was send Javy out to be alone with Emily. “No. That is definitely not why I came out here.”

He saw the doubt in her eyes before she turned away from his touch, and Javy really wished he’d been there to see Connor put Todd Dunworthy in his place. But he knew Emily’s former fiancé wasn’t entirely to blame. After all, something had pushed her to agree to marry a man Javy didn’t believe she loved … despite her insistence to the contrary.

As they walked along the imitation river, with only the sound of the water and the distant reception breaking the silence, Javy said, “You know, I didn’t think I’d like you. No offense.”

After a blink of surprise, Emily recovered and said, “None taken. I’m still not sure I like you.”

“Yeah, you do.”

She quickly averted her face, a telltale sign she was blushing, even though it was too dark to see.

Denying the temptation to show her exactly how much she was starting to like him, Javy instead said, “I thought you’d be a typical spoiled, rich girl.”

“I am.”

“Rich, yeah, but not spoiled.”

If anything, Emily had a sweet innocence that made Todd Dunworthy’s betrayal even more despicable. And gave Javy even more reason to stay away. He didn’t do sweet. He didn’t do innocent. It was exactly why Connor had warned him away from Emily. And yet here he was … alone with her in a moonlit garden.

“Emily—”

She grabbed his hand, effectively cutting off whatever he might have said. “Did you hear that?” she asked suddenly.

Figuring she wasn’t talking about the pulse pounding in his ears at the feel of her soft skin against his own, he asked, “Hear what?”

“It sounded like … It is! That’s Ginny and Duncan!”

“Who?”

“The flower girl and ring bearer, also known as my niece and nephew. Their babysitter took them to their room an hour ago, and my sister went up to tuck them in. I’m sure Aileen thinks they’re still there.”

Emily led the way around a corner, her heels clicking against the cool decking, and sure enough, a pint-size girl stood at the base of a tree, staring up at the branches. Her golden hair was a wild mop of corkscrew curls, and she was wearing a purple T-shirt and plaid pajama bottoms, but earlier she had looked like a miniature version of Emily. Her hair had been swept up into ringlets crowned with miniature roses, and her dress had been a girlish version of Emily’s pink gown. Her smile had grown wider with every petal she tossed along the lace runner. Javy guessed she was around six years old.

She wasn’t smiling now, though. With her hands on her hips, she announced, “You’re gonna be in big trouble, Duncan!”

Only then did Javy realize Duncan, the ring bearer, was somewhere in the tree above them.

“What do the two of you think you’re doing out here?” Emily demanded.

As the little girl spun around, her instant look of guilt quickly turned to indignation. “I told him not to, Aunt Emily. I told him he’d get in trouble, but he said if he climbed to the top of the tree, he could see our house. I told him not to, but he did it, anyway, and now he is stuck and is gonna have to stay in the tree forever!”

“Am not!”

Following the sound of the voice overhead, Javy spotted Duncan. He let out a low whistle when he saw how high the little boy had climbed. The gasp at his side told him the moment Emily spotted her nephew.

“Look at that branch!” Her grip tightened on his hand. “We need to call the fire department.”

“It’s all right. I’ll get him,” Javy assured her.

“But—”

“Look, whoever you call, it’ll be a while before they arrive. I’m here now. I’ll get him down. Trust me,” said Javy.

Emily looked back up at the tree. The branch Duncan had climbed out on looked too fragile to hold a kitten. The longer it took to get the little boy down. “All right. But be careful.”

“See?” Javy said with a cocky grin. “I knew you liked me.”

“I’ll like you even more if you get my nephew down in one piece,” she retorted, doing her best to stay cool and unaffected and knowing she failed by the gleam in his dark eyes.

And when Javy let go of her hand and shrugged his tuxedo jacket off one broad shoulder, cool and unaffected melted into a puddle of desire. Every bit of moisture evaporated from her mouth, and Emily snapped her jaw shut with an audible clink.

Taking off the fitted jacket made perfect sense; acting as if he were stripping down in the privacy of her bedroom did not.

But while Javy’s actions might have been completely circumspect, the promise in his eyes was downright scandalous. As if he knew she’d pictured him in her bedroom, and fully intended to one day be there.

“Hold this for me, will you?” he asked.

Emily set her purse aside on the half wall lining the walkway to take the jacket. It was warm from his body heat and held a hint of aftershave, and Emily forced herself to simply fold the garment over her arm, instead of burying her face into the fabric.

Turning back to the tree, Javy studied the branches as he undid the cuffs of the shirt and rolled the sleeves back to reveal muscular forearms dusted with dark hair.

Emily’s stomach did a slow roll. She crossed her arms tightly at her waist, trying to stop any more somersaulting from her internal organs, and hoped the jacket hid the telling action. But when Javy bent down to slip off a shoe, she had to ask, “What are you doing?”

He glanced up at her, his teeth flashing in the dim light as he smiled. Whatever he’d used to hold back his hair lost the battle as a thick lock fell across his forehead. Emily’s fingers instinctively burrowed deeper into the wool jacket. “Ever climb a tree in dress shoes? It’s a sure trip to the emergency room.”

Emily glanced down at her strappy gold heels. She’d spent hours practicing on pencil-thin platforms, insuring she could walk gracefully in even the most fashionable—and uncomfortable—shoes. “I don’t think I’ve ever climbed a tree.”

After kicking off the second shoe, Javy straightened. He pushed his hair back only to have it spring forward again. “You’re kidding, right? Did you have a deprived childhood, or what?”

It was the first time anyone had ever referred to Emily’s life as anything other than privileged. Her friends always commented how lucky Emily was to have everything she’d ever wanted. But she wondered if maybe Javy didn’t have it right, after all.

“Believe me, socks are the way to go,” he added as he stared up at a branch overhead.

Emily would have sworn it was out of reach, but he took a few steps back, enough to give him a running start, and easily caught the limb. Within seconds, he pulled himself up with a move Emily thought was reserved for stuntmen and gymnasts.

“Wow,” Ginny whispered in awe. “He’s like … a superhero.”

“I think you’re right, Ginny. And he’ll have Duncan down from that tree in no time,” Emily agreed with her niece as she watched Javy make his way from branch to branch until he reached Duncan. She heard a mix of voices, her nephew’s childish whisper and Javy’s low murmur in response.

Honestly, Emily’s heart was pounding out of her chest as the top of the tree swayed and leaves rained down, and they decided to stop and chat. She bit her lower lip rather than call out, afraid she might startle either one of them.

The moment of male bonding over, Javy held out a hand. Duncan unhesitatingly reached out, and Emily felt something in her heart give way at the trust she saw in the little boy’s face and the confidence she saw in Javy’s. Slowly, he led the way down, guiding Duncan every step of the way until their feet—Javy’s in black socks and Duncan’s bare—hit solid ground.

Emily immediately scooped her nephew into a tight hug, as if she still needed to protect him now that he was safely on the ground. Relief quickly gave way to exasperation as she leaned back to meet Duncan’s gaze. “You are in such big trouble, young man.”

Exchanging glances with Javy, Duncan nodded. “I know.”

Expecting a wealth of denials, Emily blinked in surprise. “You know?”

Her nephew nodded. “I should go back to the room now. Meggie’s probably worried.”

The words had barely left his mouth when a high-pitched female voice called out, “There you two are! Do you know how worried I’ve been?”

Meg, Aileen’s longtime babysitter, ran toward them, worry and relief combining on her young face. “Emily, I am so sorry. I left the room for a few minutes to go get a drink from the soda machine. I thought Ginny and Duncan were still in the bedroom suite, watching a video. When I went to check on them and they weren’t there …”

Her voice broke, and Emily wrapped an arm around the teenager’s shoulders. “Everything’s okay. Why don’t you take them back to the room now? I’m sure they’ll be more than willing to stay put now and finish that video,” she said, pointedly meeting her niece’s and nephew’s gazes.

Ginny immediately nodded, but Duncan dropped his gaze to his bare feet. “I better not. I’m probably grounded and stuff for sneaking out.”

Ginny reached out a sympathetic hand to her brother, and together they started back toward the hotel.

Meg turned to Emily with a puzzled frown. “Did Duncan just ground himself?”

Emily nodded. “I think so.”

“Well, that’s a first.” Shaking her head, the babysitter thanked them for finding the kids before following her young charges back to the room.

Waiting until they disappeared inside the hotel, Emily turned to Javy. “Okay, what was that about?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, the whole talk in the treetop and Duncan forfeiting watching a video without anyone carrying him, kicking and screaming, away from the TV.”

“Oh, that.”

“Yes, that.”

“It’s a guy thing. I really don’t think you’ll understand,” Javy said as he rolled down one of his shirtsleeves.

“Try me.”

“It had to do with Duncan seeing his house from the treetop.”

“He couldn’t possibly. Aileen and Tom live almost twenty miles from here.”

“Exactly. But sometimes a man has to take a chance, even if he knows he’s reaching for the impossible.”

He wasn’t talking about her. She had no reason to think he was talking about her. But as Javy stepped closer, Emily caught her breath, unable to deny the single-minded focus in his gaze as he raised an arm, reached out and … took the jacket from her hands.

Embarrassed and hoping her breathless assumption hadn’t been written on her face, Emily took a step back. Without his jacket to hold on to, her arms felt empty. She crossed, then uncrossed them before linking her fingers together in front of her.

“Thank you for, um, helping Duncan.”

“It was nothing. Just a typical day in the life of a superhero.”

Emily closed her eyes and counted to five, but when she opened them, Javy was still there. “You heard that, did you?”

“Yeah. Super hearing is just one of my superpowers.”

“Along with your super ego,” Emily muttered, trying to maintain an unaffected air when, in truth, she was as impressed as her six-year-old niece.

“There is that.” He laughed as he hooked the jacket collar on two fingers and swung the jacket over his shoulder.

Catching sight of a long scratch marring his muscular forearm, Emily reacted without thinking. She stepped closer, ducking her head to try to see better. Taking his wrist in both her hands, she turned him more toward the light. “You’re hurt.”

After a brief pause, Javy said, “I’m fine.”

“You need to get this cleaned out. There could be bits of bark caught in the cut. It could get infected.”

“Emily.”

She wasn’t sure what exactly she heard in Javy’s voice, but the sound was enough to make her realize how close they stood together. How his breath brushed the side of her face. How the muscles in his arms had turned to stone beneath her touch.

Helpless to resist, Emily looked up. With his dark hair and onyx eyes, he seemed a part of the night. Mysterious, cast in shadow and maybe even a little dangerous. His gaze dropped to her lips, and Emily swallowed hard. Make that a lot dangerous.

She should back up. Walk away. At the very least, make a joke to break the tension. But she’d never been good with jokes. She always forgot the punch lines. Until recently, when her own fiancé turned her into one.

If the recent memory of Todd’s betrayal wasn’t enough to slap her back to her senses, Emily flinched when light and laughter spilled out as a nearby door opened, a reminder that the reception was still going on and just about every person she knew was right inside the ballroom. If she thought the rumors about Todd were bad now, how much worse would it be if she were caught kissing another man at what should have been her wedding?

Jumping back, she said, “I have to go.”

“Emily—”

“No, really. Thank you. For the dance, for helping Duncan, for … everything. But I have to go,” Emily said as she backed away quickly.

Javy took a breath, looking ready to call after her, but she didn’t dare let him stop her. She didn’t know if she should blame heartache, and the loss of the wedding that should have been hers, or if something else was at fault, but Javier Delgado had an effect on her she couldn’t explain. The kind of effect she’d never experienced before with any man.

He left her breathless, weak and far too vulnerable at a time when her heart was still raw.

As she raced away, she thought for a split second that Javy might come after her, but the tap of her heels was the only sound she heard. She could have cut through the ballroom, but she didn’t think she could summon up one more fake smile. If the longer walk around the outside saved her from facing any more wedding guests, the blisters on her feet would be well worth it.

As she passed the French doors, she took a quick look inside, hoping to sneak by without being noticed. She shouldn’t have worried. Inside, the reception was still going strong. A line of guests stood at the bar, and couples were twirling together to the romantic strains of a love song. No one even glanced her way or seemed to realize she was missing.

A dark-haired man spun his blonde partner into an elegant dip, and Emily’s breath caught until the couple turned and she saw the man was not Javy. But just because she didn’t see him on the dance floor, that didn’t mean he hadn’t gone back inside. Was he, right now, coaxing some other woman out of a corner and onto the dance floor?

Emily shook her head and started walking. She had to be crazy to be thinking of Javier Delgado now. To be thinking of him at all.

Emily and her parents were staying in a bungalow-style suite away from the main buildings of the hotel. She’d nearly reached the door to her room when she realized she’d left her purse and her key back by the tree her nephew had decided to climb.

She’d been in such a rush to get away from Javy—to run away from the undeniable and unexpected desire he sparked inside her—she’d foolishly forgotten the small clutch.

A sick feeling dragging down her stomach, Emily knew at best she was going to have to go look for her purse. Worst-case scenario, she would have to go back into the ballroom to find one of her parents to let her in through one of their connecting rooms.

She’d let her guard down the moment she left the ballroom, unable to keep up that front a second longer, and she didn’t know how she could possibly build it up enough to go back. Helplessness and frustration swamped her, and she leaned her forehead against the door, tempted to curl up in the doorway and cry.

“You forgot something.”

Emily gasped and spun around at the sound of the deep murmur behind her. Javy stood a few feet away, his white shirt glowing in the faint light, her tiny beaded purse looking wholly out of place in his masculine hand. “My purse!”

The relief sweeping through her was out of proportion to the simple favor of returning her purse, but to Emily, Javy had just saved her from reentering the lion’s den. The roller coaster of her emotions seemed to fly off track, and before she thought about what she was doing, she flung her arms around his neck.

“Oh, Javy, thank you!” The threat of tears choked her voice as she tried to explain. “I was so afraid I was going to have to go back to the ballroom, and I just didn’t know how I could face all those people again—”

“You could do it,” he murmured, his voice full of confidence. “You already faced them once, and the second time will only be easier. But it doesn’t have to be tonight.”

“Thanks to you.” Emily pulled back to look up at him, a little embarrassed at how she’d thrown herself into his arms, but reluctant to leave all the same. Like the moment on the dance floor, where she forgot everything but the excitement, the anticipation, the seduction of being in his arms, she couldn’t remember all the reasons why she shouldn’t stay right where she was. “I guess a hero’s work is never done. That’s the second time you’ve come to the rescue.”

“I’m returning your purse,” he said wryly. “Seems more like a job for a Boy Scout than a superhero.”

Emily’s lips twitched until she could no longer hold back, and she wondered at his ability to make her laugh when she least felt like it. But Javy’s own smile faded, his expression intensifying.

“There it is,” he murmured.

“There.” She cleared her throat. “There what is?”

“A real laugh. I thought earlier you would be impossible to resist if you laughed.”

“You did?”

“I did.” Reaching up, he traced what was left of her smile with the pad of his thumb. “And you are.”

Irresistible. The word certainly applied to Javy. What else could explain why Emily didn’t protest as he slid his hand to the nape of her neck and pulled her closer? He moved purposefully—giving her time to notice the perfect shape of his mouth, time to feel the brush of his breath against her lips, time to escape.

But the slow, almost-relentless approach only built a pulse-pounding impatience, and instead of ducking away from his touch, Emily leaned into the kiss. The first barely there brush of his lips, and then the undeniable claim of his mouth over hers. She could taste a hint of the beer he’d had to drink earlier, and after a night filled with champagne toasts, it seemed so right. His kiss had an intoxication all its own, and the stars overhead seemed to spin wildly out of control.

Or maybe she was spinning out of control as Javy’s hands slid down to her hips, each finger a brand against her flesh, even through the pale pink silk. She tightened her arms until her breasts pressed against the solid wall of his chest, but close wasn’t close enough. Her shoulder blades bumped against the carved bungalow door, a sudden reminder that wove through her thoughts.

She’d hardly paid any attention to her room earlier—it was nice enough, but after all, it wasn’t the honeymoon suite. Now, though, she could picture the room clearly with its dark wicker furniture, escape-to-the-tropics decor and large, empty bed.

The crazy thought of pulling the key from the purse Javy had returned and inviting him inside was so out of character, she should have been shocked. But all she felt was tempted by the wild impulse.

A faint, unfamiliar melody played through Emily’s mind, too close to come from the ballroom, too far away to truly register. Javy broke the kiss, his breathing as uneven as hers. With the moon and light from the ballroom behind him, she couldn’t see his expression, only the dark glitter of his eyes. He was so much more experienced than she at this kind of thing—then again, who wasn’t?—did she dare hope he’d been as affected by their kiss?

“Sorry,” he said, his voice a husky murmur as the sound repeated and Emily recognized the ring of a cell phone. “I don’t know who would be calling me now.”

Emily knew she should have been grateful for the interruption, but her still-pounding heart and tingling lips stomped out any other feeling beyond regret.

Fishing the phone out of his pocket, Javy frowned at the number displayed on the screen before answering with a rough “Yeah?” Emily could tell something was wrong even before he asked, “How bad is it?”

Agitation filled his steps as he started pacing while he listened to the person on the other end of the line. “Yeah, okay. I’ll be right there. Do me a favor and don’t call Maria until I have a chance to take a look.”

He snapped the phone closed and met Emily’s gaze. “I have to go. A pipe burst at our restaurant. From what the night manager, Tommy, says, the place is a mess.”

“Of course. I hope it’s not as bad as it sounds.”

Despite the barely restrained tension in the line of his jaw and the set of his shoulders, Javy hesitated, as if searching for something to say. A little surprised he didn’t have a sexy quip ready even for a moment like this, Emily shook her head. It wasn’t like she wanted to discuss their kiss or her unexpected desire to take things further than a kiss. She couldn’t begin to explain it to herself.

“Go,” she said softly.

“Emily.” His frustration was verbalized in a muttered curse—in Spanish—before he turned to walk away. He spun back around just as quickly. Catching her around the waist, he pulled her into his arms. He stole her breath and a quick, hard kiss before letting her go and backing away a second time.

“I’ll call you,” he promised.

Hugging her arms around the butterflies dancing in her stomach, Emily watched him disappear into the night. Maybe she was crazy, and maybe she was totally on the rebound after Todd’s betrayal, but she suddenly wasn’t sure she cared as long as Javy was the man to catch her.




Chapter Three


Javy hoped the restaurant wasn’t as bad as he remembered. That after spending half the night wrestling with a Shop-Vac, feeling like he was trying to drain an ocean, he’d been too tired to clinically assess the damage. Sheer exhaustion must have made everything appear so much worse than it really was.

He was wrong.

The bathroom in which the pipe had broken and the area beyond showed the most damage. The force of the water had broken the concrete slab, cracking the Saltillo tile and flooding the place. He could see where the drywall had wicked water up a foot from the baseboards, darkening the paint like poorly done mountainscapes. The bathroom vanities were warped and waterlogged. Even some of the tables and chairs, with their elegant carving and colorful Mexican tile accents, showed signs of damage, a loss that hurt worst of all.

The harsh reality of day made the hours before seem even more like a dream. Last night he’d held a beautiful woman in his arms. Then the clock had struck midnight and poof! He’d been up to his ankles in flood damage.

After all the hard work and worry about the restaurant, he should have collapsed into bed, grateful for the few hours of shut-eye. But memories of Emily’s kiss had tortured him. He’d wanted to kiss her from the moment he spotted her at Kelsey and Connor’s engagement party. He’d anticipated the challenge of cracking her cool veneer and drawing out the woman beneath. But he hadn’t expected to experience the instant rush of heat and desire as Emily caught fire in his arms or to find himself in danger of getting burned.

Even when he’d finally drifted off to sleep, Emily had filled his thoughts. In his dreams, she’d stood right in front of him, but when he’d reached out, his arms had gone right through, and she’d disappeared.

Javy wasn’t much for dream interpretation, but he did know he’d never had a woman he’d just met creep her way into his subconscious. Granted, Emily was stunning, but he’d dated his share of beauties—maybe even more than his share. Women who enjoyed the chase as much as he did and played by the same rules—all fun and games and no one got hurt.

He’d learned from his mistakes—and the one time he’d gotten in over his head and nearly drowned. But something about Emily was already pulling him deeper. He’d meant it when he’d called her brave. He couldn’t think of another woman who would have painted on such a lovely smile and survived that wedding as a guest when she’d planned all along to be the bride. And the way she’d faced the cruel gossip with such class and grace …

He admired her, Javy realized suddenly, a word he hadn’t figured he would associate with Emily Wilson. He’d assumed she was spoiled and selfish and would respond to her canceled wedding with a tantrum and a trip to Cannes or to some other rich-girl playground. She’d impressed him with a quiet composure and courage that threatened to get beneath his skin, and he wasn’t sure he liked it.

So don’t call her. It wasn’t like he didn’t have enough on his plate right now with the restaurant to repair. But he had the uneasy feeling that out of sight would not mean out of mind where Emily Wilson was concerned.

“It’s bad, isn’t it?”

Forcing his thoughts back to the restaurant, Javy turned to Tommy, the manager who’d discovered the burst pipe. He’d returned to Delgado’s after realizing he’d lost his wallet sometime during his shift. Javy hated to think of the damage several more hours would have caused if he hadn’t.

Yeah, it was bad, all right. Bad enough to bring back memories from ten years ago, when he lost his father, his fiancée and nearly lost the restaurant, as well. He could still remember the feelings of helplessness that had nearly overwhelmed him as everything he knew and loved threatened to disappear.

He’d been little more than a kid, so Javy supposed he should cut himself some slack, but he’d never forgiven himself for the fire that occurred on his watch.

At least now, the business and their finances were on firmer ground. He wouldn’t need Connor to bail him out, and this time Javy wasn’t the one at fault.

Focusing on the work to be done, he said, “We’ll fix it. We’ll have to shut down for a few days, but after that the restaurant will be up and running again.”

He glanced over at the younger man, hoping to see some enthusiasm in the kid’s expression. Instead, he was treated to a look of slack-jawed distraction. “Hey, kid, I’m giving one hell of pep talk here. Least you could do is pretend to listen.”

“Yeah, um … what?” A slow flush climbed the younger man’s face, and Javy figured out why as soon as he heard the female voice behind him.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Javy waited a second before he turned to face Emily Wilson. He knew damn well he’d look as besotted as Tommy if he didn’t. The brief respite did little to prepare him. Kind of like no amount of time with your eyes closed could ever prepare you to look straight at the sun, Javy didn’t think he could ever get used to Emily’s breathtaking beauty.

The fancy gown, upswept hair and dramatic makeup from the night before were gone, replaced by a powder-blue camisole top, white capri pants and beaded sandals. A headband pushed back her golden blond hair, and only a hint of makeup kissed her face.

She probably thought she looked casual, but to Javy, she still looked classier than any woman he’d ever met. The low thrum of desire kicked up again, vibrating along every nerve in his body.

“I wanted to stop by and see if everything’s okay. Obviously it’s not,” she said as she looked around the restaurant.

“It’s going be. I was just telling Tommy, we’ll be up and running in no time.”

“Of course,” she agreed faintly, a worried frown pulling her eyebrows at his pat response.

The compassion in her gaze caught him off guard, tugging at something in his chest and drawing out everything he wanted to deny, until a part of him longed to confess the feelings he’d buried since the moment he’d stepped inside the restaurant. That the damage left him heartsick; that he didn’t know how long it would take before the place was up and running again; and that he worried that even then, the inevitable changes couldn’t possibly live up to the way the restaurant had been before.

Emily lifted a hand to push her hair back from one shoulder, and the diamond bracelet she wore caught enough light to send prisms dancing across the restaurant. For a crazy second, Javy thought of the fake diamond engagement ring he’d bought for Stephanie.

Simulated, the salesgirl had called it. It had been all he could afford at eighteen, and as a symbol of his foolish teenage love, the diamond had been 100 percent genuine. But to Stephanie, the ring had been a cheap knockoff, and his best had been nothing but second rate.

Shoving aside memories—as well as any asinine thoughts of spilling his guts—he asked his young night manager, “Do me a favor, will you, Tommy? Move the damaged tables and chairs into the back, okay?”

Puzzled, the younger man asked, “Um, where do you want me to put them?”

“Just try to find some place out of the way.”

As the younger man grabbed a carved chair in each hand, Javy turned back to Emily. He still wasn’t sure why she’d come to the restaurant, but this definitely wasn’t the way he wanted her to see it.

He was proud of his parents’ place, of the hard work and dedication that had made Delgado’s into a neighborhood landmark. He would have liked to show it to her at its best—on a Friday night, with the music blaring and every table filled by happy, hungry customers.

Not now, not like this, with the damp smell of stagnant water already replacing the restaurant’s once mouthwatering aromas of peppers and spices, and with unwanted emotions and memories creeping past his defenses.

“What are you doing here, Emily?”

At his question, soft color slowly bloomed in her cheeks—like the petals of a rose unfolding. The effect was so beautiful and so stunning, he would have sworn she did it on purpose if he hadn’t been pretty sure such a thing was impossible.

“I shouldn’t have come. It was a mistake. I was thinking that I could help, but it’s not like I can do—” she waved her free hand to encompass the mess around them “—anything.”

Even without Emily’s pronouncement, Javy would have bet the restaurant that major remodeling work was not her forte. That her experience was with hair dryers, not handsaws, and that the only nails she was familiar with were the ones painted a delicate pink on the tips of her fingers and toes.

But he also knew from listening to Connor moon over his girlfriend years ago that Emily could sing and dance. She’d been in dozens of beauty pageants and plays while growing up. That she was a skilled equestrian and had been an honor student. He could only imagine she’d honed those talents at college and in the years since.

Yet, for reasons he couldn’t begin to imagine, she was ready to dismiss all that with the flick of a wrist to help him. The curiosity urging him to discover all the reasons why told Javy his mistake would be in asking her to stay.

In the end, he didn’t have a chance to say anything. The front door opened, letting in a blast of heat and sunlight and a prayer in Spanish as his mother stepped into the restaurant. At work, she normally wore the same style dress as the rest of the female staff—a colorful blouse and embroidered skirt. It was strange to see her there dressed in a plain olive T-shirt and khaki pants. Her haste to leave the house showed in her hair, which she had left loose to fall to her waist. It had to be his imagination that overnight more gray seemed to shoot through the dark strands.

“Dios,” Maria breathed, shock and dismay filling her expression.

“It’s not as bad as it looks, Mama,” Javy said immediately, not wanting to consider her reaction when she saw the worst of it.

“It’s bad, Javier. Like the fire …”

Javy flinched at the reminder of his failure and the disaster that had almost destroyed them. “It isn’t,” he insisted. “It’s not that bad. I can fix it.” His voice trailed off as for the second time, he lost his audience in the middle of his inspirational speech.

Maria stared at Emily, but unlike Tommy’s wide-eyed infatuation, disapproval was written clearly on his mother’s face. “Solo tú, Javier,” she murmured. “Only you.”

Realizing Maria was speaking Spanish to exclude Emily, he glanced at her, an apology in his eyes, and drew his mother aside. “Only me what, Mama?” he asked in English.

“Only you would bring a girl to the restaurant now. Bad enough you have a different girl in here every other week, but today? It is a disaster, and you bring a date.”

His dating, or more specifically, his refusal to settle down, had long been a point of contention between them, one he refused to get into now. “We aren’t on a date,” Javy argued, but Maria would hear none of it.

“Do you think I do not recognize this girl? The one Connor was seeing all those years ago. The silly girl who did not think he was good enough for someone like her—”

“You’re right.” Emily stepped closer, covering the distance Javy had tried to put between them, and joined a conversation that she was smart enough to realize was about her. “I was a silly girl back then.” Meeting Javy’s gaze, she added in Spanish, “Pero ahora mujer.”

Javy felt his jaw drop, and he ducked his head rather than let his mother see the smile he couldn’t hold back. Muttering beneath her breath, Maria stalked off to the kitchen. As he met Emily’s gaze, he let out a low laugh.

She winced. “I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry—”

“Don’t apologize.” As much as he loved his mother, she was a force to be reckoned with, and few people tried. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had silenced her. He never would have guessed Emily Wilson would be up for the job.

Once more she was showing him she was nothing like the spoiled rich girl he’d figured her for. She had spirit—buried deep, maybe, but still burning, despite what life had thrown at her. She’d shown it at the reception when she’d stood up to the gossips talking behind her back and just now with his mother.

But I am a woman now.

His mother had taught him Spanish straight from the cradle, so he certainly hadn’t needed to think about translating the sentence Emily had spoken in perfect, if unaccented, Spanish. But it was as if his body had interpreted the words before his brain had even had the chance. Emily was a woman, no question about it. A fact both his body and his brain fully appreciated.

“You’re incredible, you know that?”

She gave a questioning laugh. “Because I speak Spanish?”

“No, Emily, not because you speak Spanish.”

Their gazes locked, and the low vibe of desire picked up speed until Javy half expected the windows to start shaking. Another wash of color lit Emily’s cheeks. As incapable of accepting a compliment as she was at recognizing her own worth, she ducked her head and quickly explained, “Foreign language was a requirement at my school. My mother wanted me to take French, but my father thought Spanish more practical.”

“I would have bet you spoke French.”

“Well, I did take French my junior and senior year to make my mother happy. But my father was right about Spanish.”

“So, you did what your father wanted, and you did what would make your mother happy,” Javy said, seeing a pattern she had likely followed most of her life. “What about you, Emily? What do you want? What would make you happy?”

Emily glanced around the restaurant rather than focusing on Javy’s questions. What did she want? Last night she’d come to the conclusion she wanted to see Javy again, to see if that quick start of excitement was due only to the emotions of the wedding, but now, with his restaurant in shambles, satisfying her curiosity seemed selfish.

Her breath caught when she turned back and nearly bumped into him. He’d moved closer as she focused on the damage, and now stood mere inches away. Dark circles lined his eyes, and a hint of beard shadowed his jaw, evidence of the first of many long nights and the hard work ahead.

“I want …” You, she thought, the fluttering in her belly proof of the unspoken words. But of course, she couldn’t admit that. She’d tried telling herself her rash and reckless behavior was nothing more than a reaction to her former fiancé's betrayal. But she’d been unable to push aside the thought that last night had far more to do with Javier Delgado than it did with Todd.

After all, during their engagement, Todd had kissed her good-night countless times, and not once had Emily given in to the urgency to take that kiss beyond a bedroom doorway. Like their wedding, their wedding night was to have been perfectly arranged, a night filled with flowers, candles and champagne. But all the romantic staging in the world couldn’t add what Javy’s kiss had shown her had been missing from her relationship with Todd—unplanned, unstaged, undeniable desire.

Admitting that to herself was bad enough; admitting it to Javy would be giving him an advantage he didn’t need.

“I, um, want to hear more about how you’re going to fix the restaurant,” she said lamely, recalling the conversation she’d interrupted when she first arrived.

Javy didn’t immediately respond, and Emily reminded herself that his dark eyes couldn’t possibly see the thoughts bouncing wildly through her brain … or the desire doing a far more seductive slide through her body. She wasn’t entirely sure she believed it, though, and was relieved when he finally answered.

“Most of it will be cleanup and demolition before I can move on to the repairs. And …”

His voice trailed away as he looked around, and he dug his hands into the back pockets of his faded jeans, showing an uncertainty she hadn’t seen in him before. This other side, this shy, almost boyish side charmed whatever small part of her that hadn’t already been won over by his confident, almost cocky attitude.

“I’d like to do some remodeling.” He shrugged. “As big of a disaster as this is, it would be the perfect opportunity. We’ll have to close down while we make the repairs, so why not make some improvements, as well?”

“Like what?”

He waved a hand to a doorway off the main dining area. “We need to upgrade the bar. Make it into more of a sports lounge. Add some flat-screen TVs, couple of pool tables, electronic dartboards. It’s way too small right now, but we could steal space from the patio. Of course, that would mean building a new outdoor area, but there’s room if we take away a small section of the parking lot. It would be a lot of work but …”

“You could do all that? Tear down walls and everything?”

“Tearing ‘em down is easy. Building them back up takes a little more skill. But I have a cousin who works construction. I know Alex would want to be in on the job. And the staff here. They could help out with trips to the hardware store and hauling supplies. That would make a big difference.”

Emily thought the biggest difference would be keeping his employees involved while the restaurant was closed and they were otherwise out of work. But judging by the casual way he spoke, Javy wasn’t looking for praise.

“Seems like you’ve given this a lot of thought,” she offered, although he didn’t sound as excited as she would have expected.

He gave a short laugh. “Probably more than I should. Maria isn’t big on change. I know she’ll want everything back the way it was … like nothing ever happened.” Despite the easy grin he flashed her, the spark in his dark eyes when he talked about the remodeling had faded.

“I’m sure if you talked to your mother about it, you could change her mind. You could convince her that it will be better than before.”

His handsome features twisted with a wry smile. “There is no better than before.”

Emily wondered what he meant by that, but his cell phone rang and, after a quick apology, he started talking to the insurance company before she had a chance to ask.

As Javy walked into the back office in search of a policy number, Emily took a moment to focus on the restaurant instead of on the damage. A series of photographs covering a wall of the front lobby caught her eye and helped her see beyond the disarray to how the place looked on a typical busy night. Some of the pictures had the faded yellow tint of age, but even without that telltale sign, she could have guessed the timeline by the fashions. She smiled at the sight of large mustaches, feathered hair and bell-bottoms.

In more recent shots, she could almost feel the energy pulsing from the vibrant pictures that caught waiters and waitresses with loaded trays as they ducked between crowded tables filled with laughing patrons. In a few of the frames, she spotted Javy. He wore what she assumed was the typical male uniform, a white button-down shirt and black pants, a sharp contrast to the colorful shirts and embroidered, tiered skirts worn by the waitresses.

His heart-stopping grin was on display in almost every shot, and she tried not to notice the interchangeable women by his side. Blonde, brunette, redhead, he didn’t seem to have a type, except the women had one thing in common—they were all beautiful.

Last night Emily had lain awake for hours, reliving the memory of Javy’s kiss even as she strictly told herself to forget it—to forget him. He had a reputation as a playboy, and that kiss had proved he had the skills to match. She’d be foolish to walk any further down a road that would only lead to heartbreak. But the more she argued how dangerous Javy was, the more … safe he started to seem.

Oh, by three o’clock in the morning she’d convinced herself she was suffering from sleep deprivation. But even at six, after a few hours of sleep, the idea still circled through her thoughts. Todd had hurt her when he’d cheated and lied and pretended to be something he wasn’t. He’d fooled her every step of the way.

But with Javy, her eyes were wide-open. She knew what he was and what he wasn’t, and she had no expectations beyond that. No plans of becoming a permanent fixture by his side in future photos. And as long as she kept that in mind, she had little chance of getting hurt.

She had her own safety still firmly in mind as she wandered around the back of the restaurant, toward the bar and patio. When she caught sight of Maria through the sliding-glass doors, Emily immediately froze. Still stunned by the way she’d stood up to the older woman, Emily doubted she had it in her to go another round. But Maria wasn’t paying any attention to her. With the blazing summer sun outside, Emily doubted she could even be seen inside, and Maria’s attention was firmly fixed on the tables and chairs Javy had asked Tommy to move out of the way.

Emily was ready to slip away unnoticed when she saw Javy walk over to his mother, bend down and urge her to stand.

“Another piece of my Miguel … gone. Soon there will be nothing left.” The words were muffled by the glass, but Emily could hear the devastating sense of loss in Maria’s voice.

“That’s not true. You still have the restaurant, you have your memories and nothing can take him from your heart.” Despite Javy’s encouragement, sorrow still pulled at his mother’s expression, and he quickly promised, “And I can fix the chairs and tables. I can cut away the worst of the damage, sand down the tables and chairs and restain them—”

“It won’t be the same, hijo.”

Maria was too focused on the furniture to see the expression on her son’s face, but Emily couldn’t pull her gaze away from the pain of rejection written across his handsome features. She wasn’t going to be any good at protecting herself, after all. She already cared enough to hurt for Javy. Did she really think she could keep her heart from breaking because of him?

Emily made her way back to the main dining area without Javy or his mother spotting her, and that was where he found her minutes later. “Hey, sorry that took so long,” he offered, his manner completely at ease, but Emily knew better.

She could still see the rejection he was trying to hide in the tension in his jaw and the faint lines between his eyebrows. If not for that brief scene she’d witnessed, Emily might not have noticed. But now she couldn’t not




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