Kaye Dacus - Stand-In Groom

His easy expression didn’t change, except for a slight raising of his dark brows. “I never expected you wouldn’t have broken relationships in your past.”

Oh, it had been broken, all right. “That’s not the whole story.” Trepidation coursed through her. “I was engaged to Cliff Ballantine. Back before he was ‘Cliff Ballantine.’ ”

“And?”

“And…” She shrugged. “I just thought you should hear it from me before someone else in the family slipped up and let it out.”

He nodded, seeming to contemplate her words. “May I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“Do you still…have feelings for him?” He crossed his arms and leaned his head to the left.

“If contempt counts as having feelings for him, then yes. You know what happened—he took advantage of me and then left me in the lurch when he didn’t need me anymore.” At his silence, she dropped her gaze. Meredith had been right. The truth about her past upset him.

The tips of his athletic shoes appeared beside hers. He cupped her chin and raised her head. “Then he’s the biggest fool in the world.” He leaned forward and kissed her, his lips warm, soft, and electric.

Tears burned twin trails down her face. She touched his cheek, and he trembled. He raised his head, gave her another quick kiss, then pulled her into his arms. “Oh, I’ve wanted to do that for so long.”

Lightning bolted through her when he kissed the side of her neck. “I’ve wanted you to do that for a long time.” She stepped back. “But George, until I’ve figured out how to forgive Cliff, I’ll never be over him. I’ve been praying about it, but I just can’t seem to get over the anger.”

He took a tissue from the box on the desk and dried her face. “Perhaps if you talked to him.”

“Ha!” She shook her head. “There’s no way I’d ever be able to get in touch with him. He’s probably surrounded by people whose only job is to keep commoners like me away from him.”

George traced the contours of her face with his fingertips. “You’d be surprised what God can bring about.”

“You’re such an optimist.” She stepped back into his open arms and relaxed into his embrace. “The only way I’d be able to talk to Cliff Ballantine is if he were to walk through those doors.”

A sound rumbled in George’s chest. “Stranger things have happened.”

Headlights flashed in Anne’s rearview mirror. Who in the world would be pulling into her driveway at three o’clock in the morning? She parked and cut off the engine, then reached into the center console for her pepper spray.

The car pulled up beside her, and she released a shaky breath when she recognized Jenn’s classic Mustang. Wearily, she climbed out and fumbled with her keys to locate the master for the back door.

“You just getting in?” Jenn called in a hushed voice.

Anne nodded. “And I feel guilty about leaving when I did. There’s still so much to finish tomorrow—I mean today.”

Jenn skirted her car and put her arm around Anne’s waist. “If Fridays weren’t one of my busiest nights of the week, I’d offer to help.”

“I know. Thanks. How come you’re getting in so late?”

“I went out with some of the staff for midnight breakfast after closing. Sort of a celebration. We scored a ninety-eight on our latest health inspection.”

“The surprise inspection? Jenn, that’s great.” Anne looked down to find the right key for the back door.

“So was George there tonight?” In the yellow glow from the porch light, mischief glimmered in Jenn’s eyes.

Anne’s cheeks burned, and she focused on getting the door unlocked.

“Anne?” Jenn grabbed the keys. “Something happened tonight, didn’t it?”

The memory of George’s kisses—the one in the office and his good night just a few minutes ago—sent goose bumps racing up and down Anne’s body.

“Oh my goodness. He kissed you, didn’t he?”

Was she that easy to read? She nodded, unable to speak.

Jenn hopped up and down, her blond-streaked red ponytail bouncing about her shoulders. “I knew it! I knew it! I knew the first time I saw him he was the one for you.”

Anne laughed. “Jenn, the first time you saw him, you thought he was a client I was planning a wedding for.”

She shook her head. “Nope. Even then. I knew somehow the two of you would end up together. He was too interested in you to be engaged to someone else.” She waved her hand to fend off a dive-bombing june bug. “Meredith and I started making plans as soon as she met him.”

“Making plans?” With Jenn’s attention on avoiding the bug, Anne unlocked the door into the hall that connected all three apartments to the back porch.

“Yeah—for your wedding.”

She dropped the heavy key ring on her foot and stifled a yelp. Her wedding? She hadn’t let her own mind go down that path. She didn’t want to be disappointed again when things didn’t work out.

“I mean, it’s not like we’ve actually gone out and booked the Vue de Ciel or anything. We just started looking at dresses…and flowers…”

Crazy. Mad as hatters. Her cousins— “What did you just say?”

“What? That we were looking at dresses and flowers?”

“No, before that.”

“The Vue de Ciel? Could you imagine having your reception there? Of course it would have to be at night when all the stars are out.” Jenn’s tone turned dreamy. “Being on the top floor of the tallest building in downtown; surrounded by glass overlooking the city; the moon and stars glittering like diamonds on velvet…”

Anne dropped the keys she’d just retrieved and grabbed her phone, speed-dialing George’s number as she raised it to her ear.

Jenn stopped gushing about the location. “Who are you calling at this hour?”

Come on, George, I know you can’t be at home in bed yet. As soon as she heard the click of connection, she started talking. “George, I’ve got it. I know Courtney was disappointed that we can’t have the reception at Jardin. But I know where we can do it.”

“Slow down. Breathe. What brought on this sudden inspiration?”

She smiled in reaction to the barely suppressed laughter in his voice. “Oh, a conversation I was having with Jenn. Next week we’ll go see the Vue de Ciel.”

“Is it large enough?”

“A long time ago, I planned a served dinner for nearly a thousand attendees and still had room for a dance floor and bandstand.” Fatigue faded as ideas started to take shape. With approximately seven hundred guests, she could have the room set with a mixture of two-, four-, and eight-person tables. The long head table would go on the west side, so they’d have the best view of the city—

“Anne? Are you still there?”

“Sorry. Just formulating some ideas. I need to get it down on paper while I’m thinking about it.” She bent down and picked up her keys.

“Are you going to get any sleep tonight?”

“Probably not. I may try to grab a thirty-minute nap tomorrow afternoon when I know everything is going smoothly.” Black and white linens with mirrors and candles as centerpieces. Only candlelight— no ambient lighting to distract from the view.

“Do try to get some rest, please?”

Well, a bit of electric lighting so it wasn’t so dark people would trip and hurt themselves. “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll try.”

“See you at seven for breakfast?”

The enormous cake, fabulously made by Aunt Maggie, would grace a large table on the south wall. Of course, the photographer would have to figure out how to do the pictures surrounded by so much glass. “Yes, seven at Beignets S’il Vous Plait on Spring Street.”

“Good night, then.”

“G’night.” She flipped the phone closed and started up the stairs.

“Annie? You okay?” Concern laced Jenn’s voice.

“Yeah. I’ve just got to get this all written down before I forget.” She turned and kissed her cousin on the cheek. “I probably won’t see you until Saturday.”

“Bring George by the restaurant Saturday night if he’s available. Y’all need to go on a real date and have some alone time.”

Somehow, the two of them going to dinner at Jenn’s restaurant didn’t sound like “alone time” to Anne. “I’ll mention it to him and see if he can get away.”

“You got in awful late last night.”

George gratefully took the blue ceramic mug full of Mama Ketty’s chicory coffee and sank onto a stool at the kitchen island. “We had to leave quite a bit undone to get home at that hour.” The rich, slightly bitter, extremely hot liquid woke up his mouth. Hopefully the rest of him would follow suit soon. After only three hours of sleep, he felt every one of his forty-one years…and then some. He’d gotten soft. Many times in the past few years, he’d had to attend to tasks for Cliff late at night and still be up at six in the morning to keep up with both their schedules. Two months away, and he’d lost the ability to hop out of bed without a minimum of seven hours of sleep when the alarm first sounded. “What time did Mr. Ballantine get in last night?”

“ ’Bout an hour before you. He was mightily fearsome when he found out you weren’t back yet.” Ketty covered her bread dough and set it aside. “Did that young man never learn how to pick up after himself?”

George snorted. He’d picked up Cliff’s discarded couture clothing from the bedroom, bathroom, and dressing-room floors this morning. “Apparently not. But it keeps me in cash.”

“You gonna clean up after the little miss like that, too, once they’re hitched?”

“In the three days she’s been back, have you seen her put anything down where it doesn’t belong?” His brain started clicking better as the caffeine took effect. “No, Miss Courtney appreciates the fact I have enough to do with looking after Mr. Ballantine. She hardly allows me to do anything for her.” And treats me like I’d always hoped a daughter would… That poor girl. Did she know what she was getting herself into? He had no doubt Cliff was head over heels in love with her. But as soon as Cliff announced their engagement, the media would pursue her as they had Princess Diana. George hoped he’d be able to protect Courtney from the worst of it.