Marrying The Wedding Crasher

Cover (#u2ad1d1ec-f634-5d62-a1ab-9a3049422c40)

Back Cover Text (#ua73e964f-ebe5-5e1b-93fa-8aa15f07c3b1)

About the Author (#ue470a2fc-7b6d-552d-845f-303ed62a14be)

Booklist (#u3fe13713-512c-5183-9bce-658952331563)

Title Page (#u1cef569f-f938-586a-a547-8df968579980)

Copyright (#ubbc22625-9bf3-508d-a956-0160ac4a7c19)

Introduction (#u32cc2715-1290-5b5e-8ca0-230a24c06378)

Dear Reader (#ub1deb260-ca2f-54da-8b56-7ea560082eb2)

Dedication (#u0cd6edd8-2580-5306-beb6-f545571b1c4e)

CHAPTER ONE (#u6abf5988-673c-5440-b02c-1121645b0fee)

CHAPTER TWO (#ue6965bf3-caef-5665-8409-fb6852881bf6)

CHAPTER THREE (#u88b2270e-351f-505c-b69c-e0dc7c9cf1cf)

CHAPTER FOUR (#uff386782-76b3-5259-8d96-965abd805490)

CHAPTER FIVE (#u32f97cb9-942f-525a-81e2-67b3ddb118a2)

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)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER NINETEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWENTY (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE (#litres_trial_promo)

EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ONE (#u997cc1ae-8b72-5849-a261-c339932b624b)

VINCE MESSINA CONSIDERED himself a survivor.

He didn’t think he’d survive his little brother’s wedding back home in Harmony Valley.

Bittersweet memories. Long-kept secrets. Family he hadn’t seen in years. It had all the makings of a serious crash-and-burn.

The Texas summer sun beat down on Vince, nearly as hot as an oil-fueled ball of flame.

“You’re going to come to my wedding.” His younger brother Joe wasn’t asking. “And you’re going to bring that girlfriend of yours. It’s long past time we met her.”

Ah, the girlfriend.

His brothers pestered him less when they thought he was in a relationship. Hence his make-believe girlfriend, the latest of which hadn’t been make-believe a month ago.

Vince’s gaze drifted across the job site to the blonde working the tile saw. Harley O’Hannigan wasn’t likely to go away with him again. “She’s not sure she can get off work.” Besides, Harley would think he was a jerk if he asked her. But she was just the kind of woman who could hold her own against his siblings.

“What’s her name?” His older brother Gabe was nearly silenced by the whir of the tile saw and the punch-punch-punch of a nail gun. “And what’s that noise? Where are you?”

“They’re remodeling my local Starbucks.” Lying, Vince pulled his focus away from Harley. He was part of a crew working on a huge remodel in a fancy neighborhood outside of Houston. “And, no, I won’t tell you her name. The last time I introduced you to my girlfriend, you stole her, Gabe.”

Mandy Zapien, a girl with a heart of gold. He hoped she was married to somebody stable and had three kids by now.

“That was high school,” Gabe scoffed. “There is no girlfriend, admit it. All the more reason Vince needs to come home so we can straighten out his life.”

Vince’s life was fine as long as his brothers stayed out of it. Not that he didn’t love them. He just didn’t want to answer for every decision he’d made, every confidence he’d kept.

“The fake girlfriend is your tell.” Joe sounded disappointed. “The last time you bluffed about one, you’d been clipped by a stray bullet in a bar fight.”

“I wasn’t actually in the bar fight.” He’d been collateral damage, which seemed to be the story of his life. Vince set his jaw. “I’m not bluffing. There’s a girl.”

Correction. A woman. Wearing worn blue jeans, a burgundy T-shirt with the construction company’s logo and scuffed work boots. She wiped a tile dry with a towel, examining the cut she’d made in the white marble.