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Road Trip With The Best Man
Sophie Pembroke


A jilted bride, a best man…And a journey that will change their lives!With her dream wedding in tatters, Dawn Featherington resolves to track down her errant groom and demand answers. But not trusting her intentions, billionaire best man Cooper Edwards refuses to let her go alone. But with each passing mile, Cooper begins to realise they could be on the road to happy-ever-after!







A jilted bride, a best man...

And a journey that will change their lives!

With her dream wedding in tatters, Dawn Featherington resolves to track down her errant groom and demand answers. But there’s one obstacle in her way—billionaire best man Cooper Edwards! Not trusting her intentions, the cynical divorcé refuses to let her go alone. But with each passing mile, Cooper begins to realize they could be on the road to happily-ever-after!


SOPHIE PEMBROKE has been dreaming, reading and writing romance ever since she read her first Mills & Boon as part of her English Literature degree at Lancaster University, so getting to write romantic fiction for a living really is a dream come true! Born in Abu Dhabi, Sophie grew up in Wales and now lives in a little Hertfordshire market town with her scientist husband, her incredibly imaginative eight-year-old daughter and her adventurous, adorable two-year-old son. In Sophie’s world, happy is for ever after, everything stops for tea and there’s always time for one more page...


Also by Sophie Pembroke (#u3c9b2fd5-0153-54fb-8260-e639cb83f297)

His Very Convenient Bride

Falling for the Bridesmaid

A Proposal Worth Millions

The Unexpected Holiday Gift

Newborn Under the Christmas

Tree Island Fling to Forever

Wedding of the Year miniseries

Slow Dance with the Best Man

Proposal for the Wedding Planner

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)


Road Trip with the Best Man

Sophie Pembroke






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


ISBN: 978-1-474-07774-3

ROAD TRIP WITH THE BEST MAN

© 2018 Sophie Pembroke

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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


For everyone who ever wanted to take to the open road and find themselves.

It’s never too late.


Contents

Cover (#u7e3cbc34-9bfc-5d58-a99d-f7d7044389a4)

Back Cover Text (#u5b5ee996-a756-5f6f-94c4-0354d7223cd1)

About the Author (#u3c038556-479b-51f5-b34f-6f6f86628601)

Booklist (#uc5282b87-190d-522f-b6e9-31c4d780af7b)

Title Page (#u78ee4520-cc56-58ec-becf-05f9e95f5cb6)

Copyright (#uc4b11dd1-c8ca-52db-bc54-bda137e629f6)

Dedication (#u0f75bb97-06d7-5e61-bb05-302ca527d787)

CHAPTER ONE (#u97a2c2bf-19a0-5122-8fae-d9231058fc49)

CHAPTER TWO (#u7f33327d-27e7-51fa-834b-3189f5041a1d)

CHAPTER THREE (#u2e80eb4d-9e07-5b1d-b349-9a577f8f75e4)

CHAPTER FOUR (#u0a1abedf-7e2c-5952-a0fc-6df51dbef20f)

CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)


CHAPTER ONE (#u3c9b2fd5-0153-54fb-8260-e639cb83f297)

DAWN FEATHERINGTON STARED down the aisle at the perfect floral arrangements tied to each row of chairs set out on the grass. The string quartet was playing Pachelbel’s Canon—again—the officiant smiling serenely at the foot of the pagoda steps. The late-afternoon sun shone down on the manicured lawns of the Californian coastal mansion Justin’s mother had insisted would be the perfect venue for the two hundred and fifty guests they needed to invite, lighting up the delicate white ribbons and lace strung around the pagoda.

Everything looked perfect. Until she turned her attention to the expectant guests, all waiting slightly less patiently than they had been twenty minutes ago, and felt her stomach twist.

Because the only thing missing now was the groom.

Dawn ducked back behind the screens that the venue staff had put in place to keep the bridal party’s arrival a secret until the last moment. Behind her, her four sisters whispered amongst themselves, their rose-pink silk bridesmaid dresses rustling with them. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but then she didn’t really need to.

Can you believe this is happening again?

No. They were wrong. Justin loved her, he wanted to marry her. He’d hated even having to spend last night in a different hotel—although he’d insisted they had to, for tradition’s sake. He’d be here any moment. Probably.

Dawn bit back a sigh. It wasn’t as if this exact thing had happened before, anyway—whatever her sisters were whispering. She’d never got quite as far as the altar with any of the others. They’d all called it off before it reached this point.

Two broken engagements—one at the rehearsal dinner, but that still wasn’t the actual altar, right?—three long-term cohabiting relationships that had never even got as far as the ring and now Justin. Forty minutes late for his own wedding.

It wouldn’t be quite so bad if every single one of her boyfriends hadn’t gone on to marry someone else within twelve to eighteen months. Including, in one particularly soul-destroying case, marrying her own sister.

‘The Dry Run.’ That was what her sisters called her. Dawn was the woman that guys tried out settling down with before they picked the woman they actually wanted to spend the rest of their lives with. And for some reason that woman was never Dawn.

But Justin was different. Wasn’t he?

From the moment they’d first met, she’d felt it. She’d been at a work event, one held at an estate not unlike this one, with vineyards stretching back from the gleaming white house. She’d been standing on the terrace, looking out at the sunset, when he’d approached her and made some comment about the hosts that she could barely remember. All she had taken in was his smile and his charm. They’d talked all evening—well, okay, mostly he’d talked, but he had so many interesting things to say! Then, the next day, he’d sent flowers and a note to her office, asking her to meet him at some ridiculously exclusive bar across town.

She went, and the rest was history. They’d announced their engagement four months later and, now, here they were.

Or rather, here she was. Justin’s whereabouts were still a mystery.

The whispering behind her grew louder and Dawn turned to see the best man, Justin’s older brother Cooper, striding across the lawn from the main house towards them. He wasn’t smiling. Then again, she hadn’t seen him smile yet in the twenty-four hours since they’d met, so that might not actually be a sign.

Dawn sucked in a breath and braced herself.

‘He’s not coming.’ Cooper stood a few feet away, his expression blank. As if he hadn’t just torn her whole world apart with three little words.

She’d suspected that Cooper didn’t like her since she’d first met him at the rehearsal dinner. But then, he’d never seemed particularly enthusiastic whenever Justin had talked to him on the phone either. And, really, what best man didn’t make the effort even to attend the engagement party?

‘Way to break it to her gently,’ her sister, Marie, said sharply. She wrapped an arm around Dawn’s shoulders as their other sisters made sympathetic cooing noises.

Dawn would probably have felt a lot more comforted if Marie hadn’t married her ex-boyfriend two years ago.

She could feel all the usual emotions swelling up inside her—the anger, the despair, the gaping emptiness—but she clamped down on them. No. This wasn’t going to happen again. It couldn’t.

And, if it did, she wasn’t going to give any one of her perfect sisters—or Justin’s sanctimonious brother—the chance to see it break her.

‘Is that for me?’ Dawn pointed to the envelope in Cooper’s hand, proud of how steady her voice was. Her finger didn’t even shake.

She could almost believe she wasn’t actually dying on the inside.

Cooper gave a short nod and handed it over—but not, she noticed, before removing a second envelope. One that had his name on it.

Apparently Justin had more to say than just to the bride he’d stood up.

Focusing on keeping her hand steady, she took her letter and untucked the envelope flap. So like Justin, to write an old-fashioned letter. He wasn’t the sort to dump a girl by text message—like her second fiancé—or even by email, like boyfriend number three. Justin was a gentleman.

Or he had been, until now.

Inside the envelope she found a single sheet of creamy paper covered in his block print writing—one that Dawn was pretty sure Justin must have taken from the elegant writing desk in his mother’s immaculate front room. She scanned the words quickly, then folded it up again and pushed it back into the envelope, making sure not to let her expression change at all.

They were not going to win.

‘Right. Well, it seems we won’t be having a wedding today after all.’ Her voice didn’t even sound like her own.

‘Oh, Dawn!’ That was her mother, of course, who’d come to find her father to see what the delay was. ‘Oh, not again, honey!’

Dawn kept her gaze fixed on Cooper’s face, even as he raised one eyebrow at the word ‘again’.

‘Will you help me tell the guests?’ she asked neutrally.

‘I believe that unfortunate task does fall to the best man, traditionally,’ Cooper said.

Traditionally. As if this happened at everyone else’s weddings, not just hers.

‘Great. Okay, then.’

‘Do you want me to send them home?’ Cooper asked, his voice as bland and unemotional as ever. ‘I believe there was a dinner planned...’

And an open bar, actually. That might be important later.

Dawn thought of the tables of canapés and champagne, the four-course meal that Justin’s family had insisted on paying for. There wouldn’t be any refunds at this point, of course, but it wasn’t as though the Edwards family couldn’t afford it. And a lot of these people had travelled a long way to be with them on their not-so-special day.

Well, the least she could do was feed them. And give them a good story to tell on the dinner-party circuit.

‘No,’ she said as firmly as she could manage. ‘I’ll go tell the venue to get the bar open and prepare to serve dinner. Everyone else should enjoy the day, at least. Excuse me.’

And with that Dawn hitched up her heavy, lace-covered skirt and made for the mansion as fast as she could in her satin heels.

She needed a drink, and a toilet cubicle to hide in, fast.

That way, no one would be able to see her fall apart.

Again.

* * *

Cooper watched his brother’s jilted bride make her way towards the ridiculously fancy mansion she’d chosen for what was supposed to be her big day. She seemed strangely composed for someone who’d just had their entire future torn away from them.

Which, given the contents of the note Justin had left for him, probably shouldn’t have been such a surprise.

I can’t go through with it, Cooper. I’m sorry for all the upset this will cause Mother, but I know you’ll understand.

You see, this week I’ve found that I just can’t shake the feeling that Dawn has ulterior motives for wanting to marry me. I thought she loved me as much as I loved her. But now I’m worried she loves my money a lot more. I can’t face her—not now. I need some time away to think everything through, figure out the truth about our relationship, our feelings.

If I’m wrong I’ll make it up to her somehow. But I can’t marry her when I’m not one hundred percent sure that it’s the right thing to do.

I’m heading up to the beach house for the week to think. I’m sorry to place this on you, brother, but I knew you would be the only one to understand exactly what I’m going through...

Yeah, Cooper understood. Apparently neither Edwards brother was any good at spotting a gold-digger until it was too late.

At least Justin had got out before he reached the altar, which was more than Cooper had managed.

Justin had done the right thing. Even if it kind of screwed up Cooper’s plans for kicking back, getting hammered on high quality whisky and maybe even seducing an attractive guest to help him forget how much he hated weddings. Traditionally, he supposed he should have lined up a bridesmaid, but since they all appeared to be A: married and B: sisters of the bride, he was happy to spurn tradition on this one.

Although maybe his plan, such as it was, wasn’t completely ruined—especially since Dawn intended to let the celebratory part of the day go ahead despite not having anything to celebrate.

He just needed to break the news to the dearly beloveds gathered for the non-event.

Couldn’t be any harder than facing his father’s shareholders after that debacle with Melanie and the Reed takeover, right? Or telling his parents that he’d been conned by the woman he loved and they were all about to get screwed in the divorce courts.

Yeah, this was nothing.

Cooper took a deep breath and walked down the aisle, thankfully alone.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, I have some sad news for you all.’ Everyone’s attention was instantly on him, of course, and Cooper smiled his best reassuring smile. ‘I’m afraid that there will not, after all, be a wedding here today.’ The expected whispers and groans went up from the crowd. Cooper knew better than to expect real disappointment from any of them. More likely they were mentally preparing their gloating renditions of this story for anyone unfortunate enough not to be there to witness it. Goodness knew there’d been enough stories told about him after his divorce, not all of them even close to the truth.

Not that he cared. What difference did it make to him what people said about him anyway?

But he didn’t want them saying that stuff about Justin.

‘The bride has requested that you all still stay for dinner, however,’ he added, and a more enthusiastic murmur went up at that. ‘And I believe the bar will be open imminently.’

Then he stepped out of the way to avoid the stampede.

‘Cooper? What’s happening? Dawn’s parents are in pieces over there, and her sisters...well. Where’s Justin?’ A dark-haired woman in a too-short pink dress pushed through the crush to get to him. Cooper frowned at her for a moment before recognising her as someone he’d been introduced to at the rehearsal dinner two nights before. Not a bridesmaid, so not one of Dawn’s numerous sisters. American, so not Dawn’s family, either—apart from her mother’s transatlantic twang, they all had the same regional British accent that she did. A friend, then. There hadn’t been many of those at the dinner—it had mostly been family. So she had to be... No, he had nothing.

‘I’m sorry, have we met?’ He smiled his most charming smile, but received only a scowl in return.

‘Yes. Last night. I’m Dawn’s friend, Ruby.’

‘Right. Ruby. Of course.’ Yeah, no way was he going to remember that more than a few minutes this time, either. Why waste time on people who weren’t going to matter to him in the future? And, since Dawn was no longer going to be his sister-in-law, he didn’t need to worry about it.

‘So? Where’s Justin? Where’s Dawn, come to that?’

‘Last I saw, Dawn was heading into the venue to demand they open the bar early,’ he replied. ‘And Justin... I can’t say exactly where he is. But I know he’s not coming.’ And if for some reason his brother lost his mind and suddenly appeared to try and make up with his bride—if he decided that his love would be enough for both of them, even if Dawn’s had never existed—well. Then Cooper would be there to stop him. To keep them apart until Justin came to his senses again and appreciated his lucky escape.

‘The bar?’ Ruby shook her head, turned on her heel and stalked away from him towards her gold-digging friend—stopping briefly to talk to Dawn’s confused parents on her way. Maybe they’d been in on it together, he thought absently. Well, Dawn might not be a heartbroken jilted bride, but if nothing else she had to be bitterly lamenting the loss of all that money. The thought made him smile.

Love, Cooper knew from bitter experience, could make a man act crazy. Justin had done the right thing, and Cooper would make sure he kept doing it.

There was no way he was going to let his little brother make the same awful mistakes he had.

* * *

Dawn had found the perfect hiding spot: in the ladies’ room on the second floor, furthest from the bar. There were at least two other bathrooms between there and the ballroom where the not-wedding breakfast would be served, and Dawn couldn’t imagine anyone traipsing this far away from the complimentary alcohol if they didn’t have to.

She was completely alone, just as she needed to be.

‘Dawn?’

Completely alone except for Ruby, that was.

‘In here,’ she said, unlocking the door with a sigh. Ruby, she’d learned over the last couple of years since they’d become friends, never took silence for an answer.

Ruby bustled into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her and handing over the bottle of Prosecco she was holding.

‘Okay, can someone please explain to me what the hell is going on? Because that idiot of a best man was basically useless.’

Reaching into the tiny clutch bag she’d retrieved from her sister Elizabeth on her way back to the mansion, Dawn pulled out the letter from Justin and gave it to Ruby. It wasn’t as if she needed to read it again, anyway. The words were already burned into her brain.

Dearest Dawn,

I’m so sorry to do this to you, darling, but I know I have to be fair to both of us, to give us both our best chances at a happy future.

I can’t be there to marry you today. Please don’t ask me why, simply know that when I asked you to be my bride it was because I truly believed that our futures lay together. But the world changes more quickly than we can sometimes imagine.

Cooper will help you with our guests, and explain everything to my parents.

Once again, I’m so sorry, Dawn.

With love and affection,

Justin

Dawn watched as Ruby read the letter, her eyebrows jerking higher with every line. Yeah, that was my reaction too. Well, that and her heart cracking in two.

Time to open the Prosecco.

‘So, he can’t tell you why he didn’t show up, he ditched the whole problem onto his idiot brother and still claims he’s being fair to you?’ Ruby sounded incredulous.

‘Yes, apparently I have been jilted at the altar for my own good.’ Dawn took a swig from the bottle and passed it back to Ruby. ‘At least that’s an excuse I haven’t heard before. I mean, with Richard it was because he realised he wasn’t ready to settle down after all—although he did settle down six months later with a redhead he met on his “finding myself” trip around India, incidentally. Harry decided he was gay, after he’d been living with me for three months.’

Ruby stifled a giggle at that. Dawn ignored her and carried on ticking off her disastrous prior relationships on her fingers.

‘Patrick left me for a job in Dubai, where he claimed I’d be desperately unhappy so he couldn’t ask me to go with him. Ewan cheated on me with his ex-girlfriend and Trevor married my sister instead.’

‘Girl, you have the worst luck with men. You should try women instead.’

‘Don’t think I haven’t considered it.’ Dawn sighed. ‘I just... I don’t understand what’s wrong with me.’

‘Nothing is wrong with you,’ Ruby said fiercely. ‘Trust me, it’s those men who are the fools here.’

‘Except every one of them managed to settle down with someone else after they got shot of me,’ Dawn pointed out. ‘And now Justin... I mean, he just didn’t even bother to show up. And he can’t tell me why. That’s...it’s not enough.’

‘You need closure,’ Ruby said sagely, returning the bottle of Prosecco to her.

Closure. That sounded good. Closing the book on her absurdly cursed love life and moving forward instead. Understanding the mistakes she’d made, or what it was about her that made finding her happy-ever-after so impossible. Because this? This wasn’t what all those fairy tales and happy endings had led her to expect from life. And she wanted better for her future.

She wanted to find someone to share her life with. Someone who’d stick by her through the ups and downs, someone to come home to after a hard day at work, someone to love her just as she was.

Really, how hard could it be if all four of her sisters had managed it? Not to mention every cousin, friend and family acquaintance she had, except for Ruby. Dawn had attended so many weddings in the last ten years, they’d all started to merge into one.

And now it had been her turn at last and everyone had been so happy for her. And relieved, she knew—her family wasn’t good at hiding their emotions that way. They’d been relieved that at last Dawn was through that terrible run of bad luck and they could all stop worrying about her and get back to being blissfully happy themselves.

Except now it was all ruined.

‘Your parents were looking for you,’ Ruby said, her voice softer. ‘And your sisters. Plus, well, everyone you’ve ever met.’

Yet Ruby was the only one who’d actually managed to find her. Not that Dawn was particularly surprised by that. Ruby knew her—had seen right through her the first day they’d met and declared that they were destined to be best friends. And so they were.

‘I don’t want to see them.’ She loved her family, really she did. And she knew they loved her. But she couldn’t take the pity in their eyes one more time. That disappointment and—worse—that sense of inevitability. And she really didn’t want to hear her mother’s, ‘Not every woman is meant to be a wife and mother, Dawnie,’ speech. Because she knew that—of course she did. And if she’d chosen to be alone, to forge her own path through life, that would be great. But she hadn’t.

Six times now, she’d thought she’d found true love. She’d thought she’d found forever.

And six times she’d been wrong.

She took another, longer gulp of Prosecco, the bubbles stinging her throat as they went down.

Maybe her mother was right. Maybe it was time to concede defeat. To dedicate her life to being that crazy aunt who was always off on adventures, posting photos of her in exotic places with handsome men she never stayed with long enough for them to let her down.

It wouldn’t be a bad life.

‘What do you want me to do?’ Ruby asked. ‘Just say it, and I’ll make it happen.’

Ruby, Dawn decided, was the best friend a girl had ever had. Life would be so much easier if she could just fall in love with Ruby. Well, as long as Ruby loved her back, which wasn’t at all a sure thing. She wasn’t exactly Ruby’s type—she preferred blondes who played guitar, if her last three girlfriends were anything to go by. So, no, even Ruby couldn’t be her happy-ever-after. Not in a romantic way, anyway.

But she was still the best friend ever.

‘I need to get out of here,’ Dawn said. ‘I need to figure out what happened. What I do next. I don’t want anyone to worry about me or anything but I can’t stay here. I need to go find...closure.’

Ruby gave a sharp nod. ‘Closure it is. Give me five minutes. And finish that bottle while you’re waiting.’


CHAPTER TWO (#u3c9b2fd5-0153-54fb-8260-e639cb83f297)

THE PARTY WAS in full swing, the celebratory spirit apparently undimmed by the fact that there hadn’t actually been a wedding for them to celebrate. Cooper stayed in the bar long enough to make sure that the venue had everything in hand, then grabbed a bottle of beer from behind the bar and headed out into the darkening evening to find some peace and quiet, his best man duties done.

The terrace at the front of the mansion was expansive, elegant and, most importantly to Cooper, empty. Apparently none of the other guests felt inclined to survey the view that Dawn had been so taken with that she’d had to book the venue on sight, despite the fact it was convenient for practically nobody. His mother, at least, had seemed pleased with her choice.

Cooper sighed, well aware that the day had turned his already bitter heart just a little more sour.

Even if the wedding had gone ahead, he doubted he’d have been in much of a mood to celebrate today. He’d given his prospective sister-in-law the benefit of the doubt when the save-the-date cards had come out—in fairness, it was unlikely that Justin would have mentioned that the date she’d chosen was the anniversary of Cooper’s divorce. Chances were that his brother hadn’t even realised or they’d have picked another day. But the fact remained that it was now officially three years since he’d disentangled himself from that messy web of lies and false love and, while his freedom probably should be something to be happy about, it seldom felt like it.

But at least his brother hadn’t made the same mistake. That was something to celebrate. With a small smile, Cooper raised his beer bottle to the sky and silently toasted Justin’s lucky escape.

Then he frowned, peering over the edge of the terrace at the sweeping driveway below. Out there, in the shadows of the swaying trees, he spotted a willowy figure. One in a very distinctive white lace dress.

‘Where is she going now?’ he murmured to himself as he watched Dawn trip over her train and reach out for the nearest tree to steady herself. Was she drunk?

And, more importantly, was she going after Justin?

Without thinking, Cooper put aside his beer bottle and sprung over the edge of the terrace, landing in a crouch on the packed ground. He strode across the driveway to where was parked the vintage robin’s-egg-blue Cadillac convertible he’d hired for Justin to drive away in for his wedding night. It had been his own, personal present to his brother—something far more meaningful than a second toaster, or even the speech he’d written to give to the assembled crowd. The car was a memory that only he and Justin shared. A dream, or a promise, they still had to fulfil.

‘When we’re grown-ups, we’ll be able to do whatever we want,’ he remembered saying when Justin had been only seven to his ten. ‘We’ll get the coolest car ever—’

‘A Cadillac?’ Justin had interrupted.

‘Yeah, a Caddy. And we’ll drive it all the way across America together. Just you and me. It’ll be the best adventure ever.’

They’d never done it, of course. Life had got in the way. But renting the car for Justin for this day, the start of the rest of his life, had felt like a reminder never to give up on his dreams, just because he’d been tied down by love, family and the business.

Except now he wasn’t, of course. Justin had run and left him to clear up the mess.

Like a drunk woman in a wedding dress trying to break into his incredibly expensive hire car.

‘Do you really think you’re in any condition to drive that?’ Cooper crossed his arms and leant against the far side of the car, glaring over to where Dawn was trying to unlock the driver’s side door.

‘Do you really think it’s your place to try to stop me?’ Dawn asked, eyebrows raised. She didn’t sound drunk, but Cooper was hard pressed to think of another reason she’d be stealing his car.

Yeah, okay, so he was thinking of it as his. Since Justin clearly wouldn’t be using it for his planned honeymoon road trip with Dawn, it seemed stupid not to make the most of the already paid-for rental. He could take it up the coast, maybe, for a couple of days, until he needed to be back in the office.

Once he’d evicted the woman in white who was trying to steal it.

‘Since it’s my name on the rental agreement, I think it’s exactly my place.’ Cooper was gratified to see that his statement at least gave her small pause. ‘Where are you planning on taking it, anyway?’

‘To find some answers,’ Dawn said, her head held high. Her long, pale neck rose elegantly up from the white lace monstrosity of a dress to where her dark hair was curled and braided against the back of her head, tilting her chin up with its weight. She looked every inch the English aristocrat—rather than the low little gold-digger Cooper knew she was.

Her words caught up with him. ‘Answers? You mean you’re going to find Justin?’

Dawn slammed her hands against the unyielding metal of the car door. ‘Of course I am! Did you even read the letter he left for me? Could he have been any more vague? So, yes! Yes, I’m going to go find him, and figure out what the hell happened so I can get my life back on track!’

As it happened, Cooper had read the letter—if only to be sure that his brother wasn’t leaving things open for a blissful reunion with his gold-digging bride. Which meant... ‘Except, of course, Justin didn’t tell you where he was going. Don’t you think you should take that as a hint that he didn’t want you chasing after him?’

Dawn’s eyes narrowed. ‘No, he didn’t tell me. But I’m willing to bet he told you. So, spill, Cooper. Where is your brother?’

Damn.

* * *

She didn’t really expect him to tell her outright, but maybe she’d get lucky. Maybe there’d be a clue or something that would lead her to Justin.

Cooper’s expression went blank, obviously trying to avoid giving anything away. Dawn sighed. Still, Justin couldn’t have gone far, right? Not if he’d left those notes for Cooper and her that morning. Especially since their bags for the honeymoon, according to the carefully planned and laminated schedule for the day, should be in the boot of the very car she was trying to unlock. Stupid vintage cars and their stupid vintage locks. Why couldn’t Cooper have hired them something with central locking, at the very least?

Wait. Were the bags in the car? She hadn’t checked.

Ignoring Cooper’s lack of reply to her question, Dawn hurried around to the boot of the Caddy—trunk, she supposed, since it was an American car—and fiddled with the key Ruby had pinched from Cooper’s bag for her until the boot popped open.

Empty.

The boot, trunk, whatever you wanted to call it, was empty.

‘Where’re my bags?’ she asked in a whisper.

Cooper followed her round to stand beside her, and they stared at the lack of suitcases together. ‘There should be bags?’

‘Yes!’ Dawn could feel the desperation leaking out in her voice. ‘We packed all the bags for our honeymoon and put them in Justin’s car yesterday.’ They’d had a late lunch together back at Justin’s hotel before Dawn had headed off to spend the night with her sisters at their hotel across town. Justin had been a staunch believer in the ‘bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding’ thing and, quite honestly, Dawn hadn’t wanted to tempt fate either. Which seemed doubly stupid now. ‘He was supposed to transfer them to this car this morning. I figured he’d have at least left mine when he dropped off those bloody letters earlier.’

‘He didn’t.’

‘Well, I can see that!’ Dawn’s voice was getting high and squeaky now, and she didn’t even care.

‘No, I mean he didn’t bring the letters here. I found them both this morning—they’d been slipped under my hotel room door in one envelope, with my name on it. I thought they were the notes for my speech I’d asked my secretary to drop over and just shoved them in my jacket pocket. I only checked them once we realised that Justin still wasn’t here...’

‘So he never even came here this morning,’ Dawn said softly. ‘So all my things...they’re still in his car. Which is probably wherever he is.’

Her clothes. Her ridiculously expensive wedding-night lingerie. Her toiletries. Her honeymoon reading. Her passport. All she had with her here was a tiny clutch bag with some face powder, a dull nude lipstick she’d never wear in everyday life, a spare pair of stockings, her phone and her credit card, in case there was a problem with the open bar at the venue. Even last night she’d borrowed things from her sisters and had worn the ‘Mrs Edwards’ pyjamas they’d bought her—which she hoped they burned as soon as they got back to the hotel.

She had nothing. Not even a husband.

‘I’m sure your family can—’

‘No!’ Dawn cut him off before he could even suggest she crawl back to her family, broken and in need of help. Again.

She’d done that too often in the past. This time, she needed to fix things herself.

Yes, she had nothing. Yes, this was basically the worst she’d ever felt in her whole life.

But that just meant that things could only get better from here on. Right?

At least, they would if she made them better. If she took charge of her life for once and stopped waiting for a happy-ever-after to save her.

‘Okay, I need you to tell me where Justin is,’ she said as calmly as reasonably as possible. ‘He has my belongings. My passport was in his travel wallet with his, ready for our honeymoon. If he’s not going to marry me, then I need to check out my visa, figure out what I do next, and in order to achieve that I need my stuff.’ And she needed closure. She needed Justin to look her in the eye and tell her what had gone wrong. What had changed since lunch time yesterday that had made him run?

She needed him to tell her what was wrong with her so she could fix it and bloody well make her own happily ever after, with or without a man.

But, somehow, she suspected Cooper would react better to the more practical approach.

‘Look,’ she said when he hesitated. ‘You want me out of your brother’s life, right? I mean, that much has been obvious since you called to not congratulate us on our engagement.’ Are you sure about this? was what he’d actually said. Isn’t it a bit fast?

She had no idea where that instant dislike for her had come from, but Justin had told her he was like that with any girl he got serious about, so she was willing to bet it was more of a Cooper problem than a Dawn one.

‘It’s not what I want that matters,’ Cooper said. He left the fact that Justin obviously wanted her out of his life unsaid, which was possibly the nicest thing he’d ever done for her.

‘My point is, it’s quite hard for me to, say, up and leave the country to start over somewhere else while Justin has my passport.’ Never mind that she had no intention of leaving the States if she didn’t have to, especially since it would involve her traipsing back to Britain and her parents with her tail between her legs. If Cooper needed to believe that she was on her way out of Justin’s life to tell her where he was, then he could believe that.

He didn’t need to know that her passport wasn’t the only thing Dawn wanted from Justin. The answers she needed were none of his business.

Cooper sighed, his broad shoulders sinking slightly as he realised she wasn’t going to give up. Dawn stood firm, staring him down, not giving him a second to rethink that realisation.

‘Listen, Dawn, Justin said in his note that he needed to get away, he needed time to think. To refocus himself, he said. He needs to be away from everyone right now—family, friends and especially you. You need to give him that time.’

‘Time to think,’ Dawn echoed, a thought of her own crystallising in her brain.

‘Exactly.’ Cooper sounded relieved. He shouldn’t. ‘Why don’t you spend some time with your family, while they’re over here, try and relax too? I mean, this must have all been very stressful for you.’ The disbelief was strong in his voice on that last point, but it didn’t matter. He’d already told Dawn what she needed to know.

There was only one place Justin went when he needed to get away from everything and think. He’d told her on their third date at that hot new restaurant that served everything with kale.

She knew where she needed to go.

‘I could do that,’ she said agreeably. ‘Or I could head over to your family’s beach house in the Hamptons and find Justin.’

Cooper’s eyes widened, just enough for her to know she’d guessed right.

‘I think I know which I’d rather do, don’t you?’ Dawn smiled triumphantly and enjoyed seeing Cooper’s face fall.

At least she’d come out on top once today.

* * *

‘I didn’t say he was at the beach house,’ Cooper said as soon as he gathered his wits again. How could she possibly know that? He felt in his pocket to make sure the letter Justin had written him was still there. He wouldn’t have put it past Dawn to have pickpocketed it from his jacket when they were investigating the trunk of the Caddy. She’d obviously already stolen the car keys from his bag, so thievery wasn’t beyond her. Not to mention the millions of dollars she had hoped to take his brother for.

Dawn slammed the trunk closed. ‘You didn’t have to. I know my... I know Justin.’

For a moment there, Cooper almost thought he heard sadness in her voice as she failed to find a word to describe his brother in relation to her. He wasn’t her husband, that was for sure. And she couldn’t possibly still think of him as her fiancé, or even boyfriend, now, could she?

Except he had a very bad feeling that if Dawn went to the beach house to find him she’d go out of her way to convince Justin to be exactly that once again. That was what a gold-digger would do, right? She’d invested too much time and energy in Justin as a prospect to give up now. She’d probably even try and talk him into eloping to Vegas and making things official as soon as she had her passport back.

Her passport. She didn’t have her passport. And she wasn’t a US citizen or a permanent resident, so she would need it to fly across the country to the Hamptons where Justin was holed up.

He would have flown, Cooper realised. Anything else would have been crazy. Which meant he’d probably already be there, and Dawn’s belongings were in some long-stay car park at the airport, locked in his car. Even if she had the keys, she’d have to hunt through several thousands of cars to find his. But that, he suspected, wouldn’t stop Dawn from heading to New York State to find Justin.

‘Even if he is at the beach house—and I’m not saying he is,’ he added quickly, off Dawn’s smug smile. ‘Say he is there. How, exactly, are you planning on joining him, given that he has your passport?’

That wiped that smile off her face. But only for a moment.

Grinning widely, she held up the keys to the Caddy. ‘I’ll drive.’

Since she hadn’t been able actually to open the door a few minutes ago, Cooper doubted that she was capable of driving forty-eight straight hours or so across the entire continental US, but the determined gleam in her eye still gave him pause.

‘Really. You, all on your own. Across the whole of America. Alone.’

‘If I have to,’ Dawn said stubbornly. ‘If that’s the only way to get to Justin, yes.’

Yeah, this wasn’t about her passport at all, was it? She wasn’t setting off on this absurd road trip to get her stuff and hightail it back to Britain.

She was doing this to get Justin back. And he simply could not allow that.

‘Give me the keys.’ He held a hand out across the bonnet.

‘No!’

‘The car is hired in my name,’ he said patiently. ‘If I call and report it stolen, the cops will have caught up to you before you even get out of the state. Besides, how much have you had to drink?’

‘Not much,’ she mumbled, sounding less certain. ‘Fine, then I’ll hire another car.’

‘With what proof of ID?’

‘I’ll take my dad’s rental.’ She was getting desperate now, he could tell. And that was bad. Desperate people did desperate things.

‘No,’ he said, making what might possibly be the worst decision of his life. ‘We’ll take this car. Now, give me the keys.’

‘We?’ Dawn asked, dropping the keys into his open palm.

Cooper crossed to the driver’s side and unlocked the car.

‘We,’ he confirmed. ‘And I’m driving.’


CHAPTER THREE (#u3c9b2fd5-0153-54fb-8260-e639cb83f297)

DAWN WOKE UP as they drove through what she thought must be San Francisco.

They.

She and Cooper.

How the hell had that happened?

She kept her eyes closed, so Cooper wouldn’t know she was awake, while she tried to figure it all out.

It might be Ruby’s fault. These sorts of things—crazy, unpredictable, ridiculous things—usually were. If she hadn’t forced that Prosecco on her then Dawn would have been clear-headed enough not to get into this position. Possibly. Okay, fine, but at least she’d have been able to open the car door the first time and drive herself away from her nightmare of a not-wedding.

Of course, if Cooper hadn’t intervened, she wouldn’t have known where she was going, and who knew how long it would have taken her to figure out that Justin had run off with her passport and suitcase?

Justin.

Of course. It was Justin’s fault. All of it.

She felt a little better for deciding that, so risked opening her eyes.

‘Sobered up yet?’ Cooper asked without looking at her. ‘There are some painkillers in the glove box.’

‘I had, like, two glasses of Prosecco, Cooper.’ Even if they hadn’t actually been in a glass. And probably not as good as the champagne Mrs Edwards had ordered to go with the wedding breakfast her guests would be sitting down to eat around now. ‘I wasn’t drunk.’ Was that the only reason he’d insisted on driving her? Because he thought she was too drunk to do it herself?

Cooper sighed. ‘Well, there goes the only justification I could come up with for this crazy road trip.’

‘What’s crazy about it?’ Shifting in her seat, Dawn tried to get comfortable and work out the kink in her neck from sleeping with her head against the window. How long had they been on the road, anyway? If the bright lights around them really were San Francisco, it must have been about an hour since they’d left the venue.

‘Everything,’ Cooper said flatly.

Dawn ignored him. Clearly he didn’t understand about closure. He didn’t understand her. And that was fine—why should he? In a day or so she’d have what she needed and he’d be out of her life for good. Right?

Wait. Frowning, Dawn tried to pull up a mental image of the map of the USA she’d had on her wall as a teenager, when she’d planned to escape the stifling perfection of her family and run away to her mother’s homeland, the States, as soon as she was old enough.

She couldn’t exactly remember all the particulars of the interstates and roads, but she did remember one crucial thing: America was big.

Really big.

And the Hamptons were right on the other side of it from where she’d planned to get married today.

She shuffled around in the leather passenger seat of the Caddy again, trying to get her skirt into something resembling a comfortable position. American cars might be bigger and arguably better than the rest, but no car was truly comfy when wearing several thousand dollars’ worth of lace and silk. The voluminous skirt would have looked wonderful walking down the aisle, or dancing the first dance, but Dawn felt it was rather wasted being crammed into the front seat of what was clearly Cooper’s dream car.

‘How far exactly is it to the beach house, anyway?’ she asked as nonchalantly as she could. However far it was, it was where she needed to go.

But she had a nagging feeling it might take a little longer than the day or so she’d imagined when she’d suggested driving there.

‘About three thousand miles,’ Cooper replied, equally casually. ‘Give or take.’

‘Three thousand miles.’ Dawn swallowed. Hard.

‘Give or take,’ Cooper repeated. ‘About forty-eight hours of solid driving, mostly along Interstate 80.’

‘You’ve done this before?’ That was good. If he’d driven this way before, then it was clearly doable and not quite as insane as it sounded in her head.

‘Never,’ Cooper said, and Dawn’s spirits sank again. ‘Justin and I always planned to do a coast-to-coast road trip one day, though. Had it all planned out and everything. We were going to do it over a couple of weeks one summer. Hire a vintage Caddy like this one, really make the most of it.’

And instead he was making the trip with her—his sister-in-law who wasn’t. Dawn wanted to ask why he and Justin had never taken their trip, but the closed expression on Cooper’s face stopped her.

Well, that, and the phrases ‘a couple of weeks’ and ‘forty-eight hours of solid driving’ echoing around her head.

‘We’re going to need to stop overnight, then,’ she said.

‘Over several nights,’ Cooper corrected. ‘Even if we split the driving, we’ll both need to rest. Plus this car is a classic, vintage model. It’s been refurbished, of course, but still. It’s not exactly covered for non-stop cross-country travel.’

‘How many days do you think it will take us?’ Dawn asked, staring at the hard planes of his face, the set jaw. Two days ago, she’d never even met this man. Yesterday she’d realised he seriously disliked her. And now it looked as though they were going to be spending an awful lot of time together.

Maybe this wasn’t the best idea she’d ever had.

Cooper shrugged, never taking his eyes off the road. ‘Maybe four or five. If we really push it.’

And longer if they didn’t. Possibly a lot longer if anything went wrong with the car.

Dawn tried to remember how much space she had left on her credit card. Motel rooms for a week were going to add up fast. Not to mention food, petrol and everything else. She forced herself to take deep breaths and stay calm. The last thing she needed was Cooper figuring out how much she was freaking out.

She just had to stick to the plan. Get to the Hamptons, get her stuff back and find the closure she needed to move on. After that, this whole trip would just be a memory—like a half-remembered, crazy dream.

One more breath, and she felt the calm settling over her again. That was better.

Then she looked down at the puddle of lace and silk she was sitting in and cursed Justin one more time for good measure.

‘In that case, I’m really going to need to find some new clothes.’

* * *

‘It’s not too late to turn back, you know.’ Cooper could tell she was getting cold feet. She was British—what did she know about great American road trips? Or how long they took? For some reason, tourists always seemed to underestimate the size of this country. And he could totally use that to his advantage now. ‘I mean, we’re only an hour or so out. It would be no big thing at all to turn round, head back to that lovely mansion you picked and get back to your regularly scheduled life. You can tell your family you just needed to get some space, so you went for a drive. No one’s going to think anything’s odd about that, not after the day you’ve had.’

Cooper did his best to sound sympathetic, rather than gleeful. He might have always wanted to do a big coast-to-coast road trip, but this wasn’t exactly how he’d pictured it—even if the car was perfect. No, the best thing for everyone involved was for Dawn to give up now and go home.

‘In fact, we’re still going to be closer to the wedding venue than to the beach house for another....’ he glanced down at the dashboard ‘—one thousand, four hundred and seventy miles. I mean, we haven’t even crossed the bridge to Oakland yet. Perfect time to turn round.’

‘No.’ Just the one word, but Cooper could hear a world of stubbornness behind it.

‘You know, I could call Justin and ask him to courier your passport and stuff to you,’ he pointed out, entirely reasonably, in his opinion.

‘Still no.’

Damn. He must have laid it on a bit thick. He’d been so sure she’d been about ready to back down from this crazy stunt. What was she really hoping to achieve? To prove to Justin how much she truly loved him so he’d forget that, until she drove across the country, he knew she’d only wanted to marry him for his money? Did she really think that would work?

Cooper sighed. The worst part was, she might be right. After all, if he wasn’t afraid Justin might fall for the big romantic gesture, he wouldn’t be turning onto Interstate 80 at the San Francisco-to-Oakland bridge right now.

The problem was that Justin had always been the romantic one—even if he’d been the only one to see through Rachel the one time Cooper had let down his walls long enough to fall in love. Justin still believed in love and happy-ever-afters in a way that Cooper never had—and certainly hadn’t since he’d learned the hard way that the only thing other people wanted from him was his money and influence.

But Justin... Justin had always been easily swayed by a beautiful woman—just like their father. And Dawn was, Cooper could admit, objectively speaking a beautiful woman. With that dark hair and pale skin, not to mention those bright green eyes...

Of course, every woman looked beautiful on her wedding day. Which was no doubt the reason Dawn had decided to chase after Justin in her wedding dress and full make-up—to make maximum impact.

Cooper smiled to himself. At least he could be pretty certain that the dress and make-up would look rather less impressive in a week’s time, when they finally reached the Hamptons and Justin. And, since he was the one who knew where they were going, he’d have to do his best to make sure that any new clothes she did manage to get her hands on wouldn’t be half as alluring.

‘You know, I’ve always wanted to take a proper road trip too.’ Cooper glanced over and saw that Dawn had kicked off her shiny satin high heels and rested her feet against the dashboard. Her perfectly painted toenails peeked out from under the edge of her wedding dress, glossy red.

He looked away. ‘Have you really?’ As of five minutes ago, he’d bet.

‘Absolutely,’ Dawn said, nodding enthusiastically. ‘And really, there just isn’t enough of Britain to count as a proper road trip. You can drive the whole thing in a day or so. No, you have to come to the States for a real road trip experience like this.’

‘And what constitutes a “real road trip experience” in your mind?’ Cooper asked sceptically.

‘Uh, well...snacks, obviously. And music. You need a soundtrack.’ She looked dubiously at the ancient radio the Caddy boasted. Cooper suspected that if it picked up anything it would be radio waves beamed straight from the fifties, giving them a steady diet of Elvis and Buddy Holly. The car’s engine and working parts had all been updated enough that he trusted the Caddy to make the distance he needed, but the interior and aesthetics were most definitely of its time—radio included.

‘What else?’ he pressed.

‘Stopping to eat in diners—like, proper, authentic American ones, with pancakes and burgers and stuff.’

‘Are you hungry, by any chance?’ Cooper asked. ‘Because that’s the second food item on your essentials list so far. And you’ve only come up with three things.’

‘Kooky roadside attractions!’ Dawn shouted. ‘That’s what a road trip needs! I mean, that’s what I’ve always imagined for my dream road trip.’

That she’d clearly come up with five minutes ago as a way of convincing him she was going through with this. Right. ‘Roadside attractions,’ he repeated dubiously.

‘Yeah, you know—like the world’s biggest ball of twine. That sort of thing.’

‘The world’s largest ball of twine is in Kansas,’ Cooper replied automatically, and regretted it almost instantly. ‘We’re not going through Kansas.’

Dawn stared at him. He tried to pretend he hadn’t noticed. ‘How do you even know that?’

He shrugged. ‘I know things.’ Such as the world’s largest ball of twine made by one person was in Minnesota, which they also weren’t going through. But he wasn’t telling her that.

‘You like kooky roadside attractions too!’ Dawn declared. ‘Well, this is perfect, then. We can bond over them on our road trip.’

She sounded so pleased with herself for figuring out something about him that Cooper had to pour cold water on her optimism.

‘Not much point in bonding though, really, is there?’ he pointed out. ‘Not when you’ll be out of my life, and my brother’s life, the moment you get your passport back. Right?’

Because that was the deal here. He wasn’t helping her win Justin back. He was making sure she never even had the chance to try.

And, the sooner she accepted that, the better.

* * *

‘Right.’ Dawn dropped her feet from the dashboard and shoved them back into the stupid, uncomfortable wedding shoes her sister had insisted she buy.

For a moment there, she’d let herself get carried away with the trip. With the escape. Running away was so appealing right now...but she wasn’t. She was running towards something.

Justin.

Not to win him back, exactly, whatever Cooper thought. But to figure out the truth.

She had to remember what she was in this for: closure. Not kooky roadside attractions.

Well, maybe one or two. They did have to take breaks, after all.

Speaking of which...

‘Do you think we could stop somewhere soon?’ she asked. ‘Not to turn around or go back or anything. But you were right. I am hungry.’

Breakfast and mimosas had been hours and hours ago, and she hadn’t been able to stomach lunch, when the ceremony was supposed to start at two. All she’d had since Justin’s non-appearance was half a bottle of Prosecco, a couple of canapés and a breath mint—all courtesy of Ruby.

Cooper made an impatient noise in the back of his throat. ‘We can stop when we get to Sacramento.’

‘Sacramento?’ Dawn didn’t want to admit that she had no idea where that was but...she really had no idea where that was.

‘It’s only another hour or so from here,’ Cooper told her.

Dawn wondered if her stomach might start to eat itself before then.

‘So, you know this route pretty well, then?’ she asked, more to distract herself from her growling stomach than anything else.

‘It’s mostly one road,’ Cooper answered. ‘Just follow the I-80 to New Jersey, and from there I’m practically home.’

‘Right. You live in New York.’ Too far to consider flying over to meet his brother’s girlfriend in California, of course.

‘When I’m in the country.’ And too busy to bother anyway. Even if he worked for the same family company as Justin, somehow Cooper managed to make it more all-consuming.

What was it Justin had always said about his brother? ‘He doesn’t need love, he has work. It’s basically the same thing for him.’

How sad that must be. Sure, Dawn was all for job satisfaction—that was what had brought her out to the States in the first place. Her company had needed someone to take over the marketing of one of their products on this side of the Atlantic, and they wanted someone who understood the true Britishness of it, as well as how to sell it to the locals. With her American mother and very British father, Dawn had been perfectly positioned for the job.

But a job wasn’t a life. It was something to do in between the more meaningful parts—the parts of a life that involved other people. Relationships, family, friendships, love.

The part of her life that had used to be all about Justin until that afternoon.

Suddenly her job was looking a lot more appealing.

‘So, what is it you love so much about your job?’ she asked. Maybe she could learn something from Cooper. Such as how to forget all about the more painful aspects of her existence for a while.

‘You mean apart from the money?’ Cooper asked drily.

Dawn raised her eyebrows as she looked at him. ‘Given it’s your family business, I’m pretty sure you’d still have plenty of money even if you didn’t work yourself half to death.’ The Edwards family had made the rich list every year for the last hundred, after all.

‘Who says I work myself that hard?’

‘Your brother.’

A muscle jumped in his jaw at her statement, but he didn’t respond.

‘So I figure, if you’re working that hard it has to be for more that money. So is it love of the job? The challenge of it all? Or...?’ Another option occurred to her. One far more fitting to her own situation. ‘Or is it an escape?’

Because that would explain it. But what was he trying to escape from?

‘You know, it’s funny. My brother never told me all that much about you at all. Whirlwind romance, was it?’

Dawn looked away at his obvious attempt to turn the questioning round on her. ‘I wouldn’t say “whirlwind”.’

They’d been together over three months before Justin had proposed. That wasn’t whirlwind, was it?

‘And a short engagement too.’ He glanced away from the road to raise an eyebrow at her.

‘Well, my work secondment was almost over, and if I wanted to stay, well, we had to make some decisions quickly.’

‘I’m sure. Of course, I know my mother was scandalised at having to try and plan a whole wedding in so short a time.’

‘We were lucky her name opened a lot of doors when it came to finding a venue,’ Dawn admitted.

‘You mean her money.’

‘Both, probably.’ Of course, that had also meant that Mrs Edwards had had the first and final say on where they held the wedding, what it looked like and who they invited.

‘Hmm.’

Dawn frowned. ‘Is there something you’re not asking me? I mean, something you want to know?’ Because it felt very much like he was skirting around some accusation she couldn’t quite grasp. ‘Wait—did you think we had to get married? You know, for...old-fashioned reasons?’ The kind of reason that would have had her father on Justin’s doorstep demanding he marry his daughter now he’d ruined her.

‘You mean, did I think you were pregnant? No.’ Cooper’s words were blunt, unemotional, but the image they brought up stung Dawn’s heart all the same.

She’d imagined it, even if he hadn’t. Her life with Justin. A family of her own. All of it.

And now it was never, ever going to happen.

Turning in her seat, Dawn stared out of the window at the lights and landscape rushing past. San Francisco Bay stretched out under them as they crossed the road bridge back to the mainland, on the interstate at last. The road that would take them all the way across the country. All the way to Justin and closure.

‘You might as well try and sleep some more,’ Cooper said suddenly. ‘I’ll stop in Sacramento so we can eat. Then it’s your turn to drive.’

Her turn. Right.

‘You’re sure you don’t just want me to drop you off somewhere so you can fly home?’ she asked. ‘I promise I’ll look after the stupid car.’

But Cooper shook his head. ‘No. We’re in this together now.’

‘Why?’ Who in their right mind would want to take this trip with her?

‘I have my reasons.’ And obviously no interest in sharing them with her.

Dawn sighed and rested her head against the window again. If she needed to drive on the interstate, she really should try to sleep.

Besides, apparently she had plenty more days ahead of her to figure out exactly what Cooper was getting out of this crazy road trip.


CHAPTER FOUR (#u3c9b2fd5-0153-54fb-8260-e639cb83f297)

AT LEAST SHE didn’t snore. Cooper supposed that he should be grateful for small mercies, given the current situation. The car was running fine, the interstate was as clear as it ever was and Dawn didn’t snore. She did, however, sleep all the way to Sacramento, a full hour and a half’s drive. Not that he was complaining. He was a long-time fan of his own company and rather less keen on hers.

As the road swung towards the north of Sacramento’s centre, Cooper kept an eye out for any decent looking place to grab a coffee and maybe something to eat. He’d promised Dawn, after all, and besides, his own stomach had started to remind him that it was a long time since lunch—and there hadn’t been much of that, anyway. He’d been saving himself for the wedding breakfast—not expecting to be on the road by the time everyone else sat down to eat it.

Spotting some familiar lit-up signs, he signalled to leave the interstate and pulled into a parking lot shortly after. The retail park wasn’t huge, but it had both chain restaurants and stores. Since he hadn’t exactly packed for this trip either, he could do with picking up a few things—and getting the hell out of the tux his mother had insisted he wear. Suits were one thing—Cooper could appreciate the value of a good suit. But bow ties were simply never going to be his style.

He glanced across at his companion and the wide lace skirts covering every inch of the passenger seat. At least he had to be more comfortable than she was. And that corset style top looked actually painful.

Yeah, they should stop and change. If nothing else, pulling up at a motel with a bride in a few hours’ time was just going to look tacky.

‘Dawn?’ he said softly, then repeated it louder when she didn’t stir. ‘Dawn.’

Her eyes flickered open. ‘Are we there?’

‘We’re in Sacramento,’ he said, unsure if she was awake enough even to know where she was asking if they were. ‘Come on. We can pick up some supplies and get something to eat before we carry on.’

She nodded, but her eyes were fluttering closed again. Cooper rolled his eyes and climbed out of the car, slamming the door loudly behind him.

That woke her up.

He locked up then took off towards the nearest store that looked as though it would stock everything they needed for the next few days. When he reached the door, he glanced back and saw Dawn struggling to catch him up, her wedding dress tangling around her legs and hampering her movements.

‘Honeymoon over already, huh?’ an older guy asked, stacking carts by the door.

Cooper ignored him. Yeah, they really needed to get some different clothes.

Inside, the harsh overhead lighting turned Dawn’s lace dress almost a pale yellow, but they were still getting plenty of stares from the other shoppers.

‘Let’s split up,’ he suggested. The whole bridal thing was making him uncomfortable, and she wasn’t even his bride. ‘It’ll be quicker.’

Dawn nodded her agreement. ‘Fine. I saw signs for the bathrooms at the front of the store, so I can get out of this dress too.’ She looked almost as happy as him at the prospect. ‘Where shall I meet you?’

‘The burger joint across the way?’ Cooper had a sudden, unusual hankering for a proper burger and the place looked big enough that they should be able to seat them, even if it was busy. ‘Whoever gets done first can get us a table.’

‘Works for me,’ Dawn said, shrugging as she headed off towards the women’s clothes.

Cooper moved around the shop quickly and efficiently. Years of business travel—and the occasional lost suitcase—meant he knew exactly what he needed to survive a few nights on the road, and at least this time he didn’t need to replace any of his suits. A couple of pairs of jeans, some tee shirts, a slightly thicker zip-up top, underwear, socks, sneakers and essential toiletries, and he was done. They might not be of his usual quality or brand, but they’d do for a few days. He headed to the tills to pay, then straight to the restroom to change, hoping they’d at least be clean.

He felt better just for being in casual clothes. With autumn still a few weeks off, it was definitely far too hot for a tuxedo in California. And if he had to take this stupid road trip, he at least wanted to be comfortable doing it.

Pushing open the door, he headed back out to the front of the store, planning to stash his discarded clothes and the rest of his new purchases in the car before heading across to check out the burger bar menu. But when he stepped out into the small corridor outside the restrooms, he found Dawn waiting for him—still in her wedding dress.

‘Let me guess,’ he said, drily. ‘You neglected to pack your wallet and now you need money from me.’ How predictable. But Dawn wouldn’t be the first woman to use him as her personal ATM, and as long as it meant that she couldn’t worm her way into the family’s finances longer term he was willing to live with it. Especially as even he knew that wedding dresses didn’t have pockets.

But Dawn blinked at him with confusion, then held up a bag of clearly already paid-for shopping. ‘I had my credit card in my clutch bag. I just can’t undo this dress on my own.’

Oh. Oh. ‘You need my help.’

‘Please.’ She looked pained just to have to ask him, but she turned and presented her back to him all the same. ‘If you could just loosen the corset ties enough, I should be able to wriggle out of it myself.’

As she spoke, the doors to the main store opened again and two large men walked through, their curious eyes fixing instantly on Dawn and her wedding dress.

Cooper scanned the doors leading off the small corridor. He was not undressing a woman in public, with an audience to boot.

‘In here,’ he said, giving her a gentle push towards the baby-change room and hoping it wasn’t already occupied by a squalling infant with a dirty diaper.

Fortunately, it was free. Cooper locked the door behind them before addressing the issue of Dawn’s gown.

‘How did you even get into this thing?’ he asked as he fumbled with the corset laces at the back of the dress.

‘I had help,’ she said drily. ‘Lots of help.’

‘Your bridesmaids?’ How could a dress possibly be as complicated as this? There must be a better way of getting her out of it. What if he pulled on that end of the lace? Would that make it better or—?

‘Ow!’ Dawn cried as the dress tightened around her middle.

Right. Worse.

‘Yes, my bridesmaids,’ she went on as Cooper quickly went back to loosening the laces the slow and boring way. ‘My four sisters, all of whom had their own wedding day experiences to draw on to tell me exactly




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