Kaye Dacus - Stand-In Groom

She couldn’t resist his grin. “Apparently so.”

“Speaking of time.” He glanced at his watch, then stood and offered his hand. “If we’re going to finish planning my employer’s engagement party, we’d best be going.”

“It’s a good thing I cleared my calendar for today.” She got a schoolgirl thrill when he intertwined his fingers with hers as they walked back up to the inn. Cheryl had cleared the table and left the check anchored under the vase of fresh-cut roses.

George reached for it, but Anne snatched it from him.

“Anne, please, it’s the least I can do.”

“The least? George, you’ve already paid enough in worry and stress for this date. It’s the least I can do.”

He nodded his agreement. As she settled up with Cheryl, his phone started to beep. He winked at her, then stepped out onto the front porch to answer the call. After paying for breakfast and her room, she went upstairs and quickly threw everything into the bag she’d packed in haste last night before her getaway.

When she joined George outside, he was still on the phone, deep frown lines etching his forehead and mouth. “Yes, sir. I understand. Yes, she called me last evening.…” His frown dissolved into a smile. “No, I did not plan on calling them.… I agree, sir. I will run anything like that past you before any calls are made.…” He reached his free hand out toward Anne and she took it. “Yes, I believe I will be able to speak with the wedding planner about it sometime today. Good-bye, sir.” He ended the call and clipped the device back to his belt. Over her protest, he took her bag from her. “My employer. Courtney called me last night and asked if we could call to see if Cirque du Soleil would perform at the reception.”

Anne laughed. “Really? And was your employer putting the brakes on that?”

“Fortunately, yes.” He opened her car door for her. Before she could get in, he leaned close and kissed her cheek. “I’ll meet you at your office.” His voice was caress-soft.

On the drive back into town, Anne had plenty of time to think about everything George had said. Although she wanted to be upset with him for deceiving her, her relief he wasn’t a client and her attraction to him made it easy to rid herself of her anger. And since he’d been burned once in love before also, he’d understand why she would want to take their relationship slowly.

George got ahead of her going through a couple of lights she got stuck at and was sitting on her back steps when she pulled up in the alley behind her office. Her heart fluttered in anticipation of being with him and not having to hide her feelings.

Forbes skipped out on Thursday night dinner. But by the time she sat down with her family—and George—at Jenn’s restaurant, Anne was the happiest she’d been in a very long time. George had agreed they needed to take their relationship one step at a time while he tried to rebuild her trust.

Her other cousins’ reactions ranged from bland astonishment to squealing excitement from Jenn and Meredith. And every single one of them insisted George attend Sunday dinner with the whole family.

George twined his fingers with hers as he escorted her from the restaurant. “I think they like me.”

The twittery feeling in her stomach intensified. Was it okay to hold hands if they were taking things slowly? “Yeah, I think so, too.”

“Which is good, as I plan to be around them for a long time.”

A long time. She reminded herself she was thirty-five and not fifteen as her heart jumped up and down like an entire championship-winning Little League team. She barely knew this man, and he didn’t have a great track record for honesty.

He opened the door to the convertible Mercedes and offered his hand. She caught the tip of her tongue between her teeth. God, don’t let this be too good to be true!

Pointing the car back toward Town Square, he reached across for her hand and lifted it to kiss the back. “What time shall I call for you Sunday morning for church?”

Her whole arm tingled. “What? Oh, uh, service starts at eleven, but we’d better leave my place around ten thirty.”

“Will you be tied up all day tomorrow and Saturday with your clients?”

“I probably won’t get home until well after midnight Saturday.”

“You put so much time and energy into your work. Is it that rewarding for you?”

She nodded, stifled a yawn, and leaned back against the leather headrest. “I love my work. I never imagined I’d find planning other people’s weddings so fulfilling. It’s not a profession I’d ever dreamed of entering—although I did it as a maid of honor in a couple of weddings in college. I always planned to be a college professor.”

“Yet you had to drop out of graduate school.”

“Not by choice. I—I had to quit school to go to work fulltime. Cl—the guy I was dating at the time—had moved elsewhere to pursue his career and borrowed a lot of money from me.” She glanced at George, whose sharp profile reflected the lights from the instrument panel in front of him. He’d been honest about his relationship. “He asked me to marry him. Since I figured I could continue graduate school after his career took off, I withdrew from school and went to work full-time for my aunt and uncle at B-G. But even that wasn’t enough. I had to give up my apartment and move back home—back with Uncle Errol and Aunt Maggie—just to be able to afford to pay for my car and insurance and the minimum on all the credit cards I’d taken out that year to help support him.”

“What happened?” Soft, deep concern resonated in George’s voice.

“His career took off, and once the money was flowing in, he didn’t need me anymore. I made excuses for his inattention for a long time, but he finally called me two days before the wedding was to take place to call everything off. I haven’t heard from him since.” She sincerely wished she didn’t hear of him all the time, too. She was probably the only person in the country who didn’t idolize Cliff Ballantine, mega–movie star, humanitarian, and most eligible bachelor with the charming Southern accent.

“I wish I could say I’m sorry.”

She raised her eyebrows. “But you can’t?”

“No.” He turned and grinned at her. “Because if you’d married him, we never would have met.”

Her insides turned to jelly. She hadn’t thought of it like that.

In the alley behind her office building, George came around and assisted her out of the car, then turned and opened the door of her car for her. He reached for her hands and once again kissed the backs. “Good night, my Anne.”

No good-night kiss? She pushed her disappointment down. Slow, remember? “Good night, George.”

Sunday, Anne spotted Forbes as soon as service ended and beckoned to him across the crowded sanctuary with her crooked finger. She wasn’t going to let him off easy.

He enveloped her in a bear hug when he reached her. “I’m so glad you’re okay. Don’t ever do that again. Or at least take your phone with you next time.”

“While we’re on the subject of things never to do again…” She cocked her head toward George. “No more surprises, please.”

Forbes raised two fingers. “Scout’s honor.”

She pulled his hand down. “You were never a Scout.”

“Same difference.” He kissed her forehead. “I’m sorry, Annie. Really, I am.”

“Forbes, may I speak with you a moment?” George’s voice matched his serious expression.

Her cousin immediately switched from big brother to lawyer mode. “Certainly. Out in the vestibule?” He motioned toward the back doors of the sanctuary.

Anne frowned as they walked away. Something was going on or George would have said whatever he needed to say to Forbes in front of her. Fighting her desire to follow them, she slipped out of the pew to make her way up front where Jenn was holding court, surrounded by several guys from the singles’ group.

“Anne, I was so hoping to see you today.” A former client stopped her. “I wanted to ask if you would speak at this month’s Bonneterre Women in Business luncheon.”

“Speak?” Her heart quickened. “About what?”

“About being an entrepreneur. About being a small-business owner in our city. What it took to start your own business. You’ve been a BWB member for years now. Every month, we get suggestion cards requesting to have you speak.”

More than a hundred women attended those lunches. Anne had barely made it through the required public speaking class in a college class of thirty. “Let me get back to you?”

The woman handed her a business card. “Call me at my office anytime this week. I’ll need to know by Thursday.”

Anne nodded and tucked the card into her planner. She’d almost made it to Jenn when she was stopped again.

“I’m so glad I found you, Miss Anne.” A blonde who could grace any fashion runway in New York or Paris gave her a quick hug. “I wanted you to meet my fiancé, Heath.”

The young man she shook hands with looked like he’d stepped right off a magazine cover. He was fashionably dressed with boyish, curly golden hair, hazel eyes, and a grin that could melt steel. “It’s nice to meet you, Heath. Congratulations. You’ve found yourself a wonderful bride.”

“I know.” He put his arm around Elizabeth’s miniscule waist and gazed down at his fiancée in a way that twisted Anne’s heart with envy. “God has truly blessed me.”

Elizabeth’s color was high when she pulled her gaze away from Heath. “And thanks to your advice, we’re getting married the first weekend in August. Would you have time to work with me? I can’t afford much, but I’d really like your help, since it’s so soon and you have all the connections.”