Once Upon a Bride

Even though it was the wedding she’d planned to have to someone else.

To Tim. Sweet, handsome Tim Mannering. Her first love. Her only love. He had been her college boyfriend and the man she’d intended to marry. They’d made plans for the future. They’d talked about everything from building their dream home, taking an African-safari vacation, to how many kids they would have. They’d loved one another deeply and promised each other the world.

Except Tim had died three weeks before their wedding.

And Lauren walked down the aisle with another man less than two years later.

She swallowed the tightness in her throat. Thinking about Tim still filled her with sadness. And she was sad about James, too. She should never have married him. She hadn’t loved him. They’d shared a fleeting attraction that had faded just months into their marriage. They’d had little in common and very different dreams. Within a year, James was gone, tired of what he called her cold, unfeeling heart. And Lauren was alone once more.

But she still hoped to share her life with someone. And she wanted the children she’d planned for since the day she and Tim had become engaged. Only next time, Lauren was determined to go into it with her eyes wide-open and not glazed over by romantic illusions. What she’d had with James wasn’t enough. And what she’d had with Tim had left her broken inside. Now all she wanted was the middle road. Just mutual respect, trust and compatibility. No fireworks. No deep feelings. Lust was unreliable. Love was painful when lost.

There was nothing wrong with settling. Nothing at all. Settling was safe. All she had to do was remember what she wanted and why. And forget all about Gabe Vitali and his glittering blue eyes and broad shoulders. Because he was pure heartbreak material. And her heart wasn’t up for grabs.

Not now.

Not ever again.

Chapter Three (#ulink_87a5c115-4f05-5260-afcc-64c02a514290)

Gabe went to his cousin’s for dinner Wednesday night and expected the usual lecture about his life. Scott Jones was family and his closest friend, and even though he knew the other man’s intentions were born from a sincere interest in his well-being, Gabe generally pulled no punches when it came to telling his cousin to mind his own business.

Scott’s wife, Evie, was pure earth mother. She was strikingly attractive and possessed a calm, generous spirit. Gabe knew his cousin was besotted with his wife and baby daughter, and he was genuinely happy for him.

“How’s the house coming along?” Scott asked over a beer while Evie was upstairs putting little Rebecca down for the night.

Gabe pushed back in the kitchen chair. “Fine.”

“Will you stay there permanently?”

“I doubt it,” he replied.

“Still can’t see you renovating the place yourself,” Scott said, and grinned.

Gabe frowned. “I can fix things.”

Like Lauren’s gate, which hadn’t gone down so well. He should have left it alone. But she’d hurt herself on the thing and he didn’t want that happening again. There was no harm in being neighborly.

“Job still working out?”

Gabe shrugged one shoulder. “Sure.”

Scott grinned again. “And how’s it going with your next-door neighbor?”

He knew his cousin was fishing. He’d told him a little about the incident at the wedding, and Scott knew he’d bought the house next door. Clearly, he’d told him too much. “Fine.”

“I like Lauren,” Scott said, and smiled.

Gabe didn’t respond. He didn’t have to. His cousin spoke again.

“You do, too, judging by the look on your face.”

Gabe didn’t flinch. “You know my plans. They haven’t changed.”

“Your five-year plan?” Scott’s eyes widened. “Still think you can arrange life to order?” He looked to the ceiling, clearly thinking about his family upstairs. “No chance.”

“I know what I’m doing.”

It sounded good, at least. Pity he didn’t quite believe it.

“You know she’s divorced?” Scott asked.

“Yes.”

Scott nodded. “Evie knows more about it than I do. And, of course, about the other guy.”

His head came up. The other guy? “I don’t—”

“He died about five years ago,” his cousin said, and drank some beer. “They were engaged, that’s all I know.”

Gabe’s insides contracted. So she’d lost someone. And married someone else. The wrong someone else. It explained the haunted, vulnerable look shading her brown eyes. But he didn’t want to know any more. Hadn’t he already decided the less he knew, the better?

“Not my business.”

Scott’s eyebrows shot up. “So no interest at all?”

He shrugged again. “No.”

Scott chuckled. “You’re a lousy liar.”

I’m a great liar. His whole life was a lie. Gabe stood and scraped the chair back. “Thanks for the beer.”

He left shortly after, and by the time he pulled into his own driveway, it was past ten o’clock. There were lights on next door, and when he spotted a shadowy silhouette pass by the front window, Gabe fought the way his stomach churned thinking about her. He didn’t want to be thinking, imagining or anything else. Lauren Jakowski was a distraction he didn’t need.

And he certainly didn’t expect to find her on his doorstep at seven the next morning.

But there she was. All perfection and professionalism in her silky blue shirt and knee-length black skirt. Once he got that image clear in his head, Gabe noticed she wasn’t alone. Jed sat on his haunches at her side.

“Am I stretching the boundaries of friendship?” she asked, and held out the lead.

He nodded. Were they friends now? No. Definitely not. “Absolutely.”

She chewed at her bottom lip. “I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

Gabe shrugged. “What’s the big emergency?”

She exhaled heavily. “He chewed off a piece of my sofa and broke the table in the living room when I left him home on Tuesday. Then he terrorized my parents’ cat when I left him there yesterday. Mary-Jayne said she’d take him tomorrow and Saturday. She’s got a fully enclosed yard and a dog, which will keep him company. But today I’m all out of options. I can’t take him to the store and...and...I don’t know what else to do.”

Her frustration was clear, and Gabe knew he’d give her exactly what she wanted. Because saying no to Lauren was becoming increasingly difficult. “Okay.”