Reid's Runaway Bride

Reid's Runaway Bride
Tracy Madison

The runaway bride returns!Daisy Lennox comes home eight years after bolting on her wedding day…but for Reid Foster nothing has changed. Seeing her walk into Steamboat Springs to care for her two little nieces, Reid is hit by an undeniable realisation: they belong together…still.Love. Marriage. Children. Daisy wanted them…a long time ago. However, loving Reid comes with too high a price – facing the family secrets she ran from. But then Reid makes his move and he’s not letting her go without a fight.She owes him a wedding…and this time he intends to collect.

She saw it on the dog’s collar.

A tiny envelope. She touched it, feeling a small circular object. Oh, no. He couldn’t have … Her engagement ring.

Daisy opened it and a riptide of emotion engulfed her. Damn Reid for this visceral reminder of how much she’d loved him.

“Daisy.” Reid’s voice came from behind, evocative and sensual. “Once upon a time, a boy loved a girl and promised her the world. The girl accepted, returned the promise, and they were to live happily ever after.”

Before she could inhale another breath, Reid’s hands were on her shoulders. “Nothing has changed, Daisy. I still love you and I still want to give you the world.” His arms came around her. “All you have to do is say yes …”

* * *

The Colorado Fosters: They’d do anything for each other … and for love!

Reid’s

Runaway Bride

Tracy Madison

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

TRACY MADISON lives in northwestern Ohio with her husband, four children, one bear-size dog, one loving-but-paranoid pooch and a couple of snobby cats. Her house is often hectic, noisy and filled to the brim with laugh-out-loud moments. Many of these incidents fire up her imagination to create the interesting, realistic and intrinsically funny characters that live in her stories. Tracy loves to hear from readers. You can reach her at tracy@tracymadison.com.

This story is dedicated to a person who has become very important in my life. Thank you for your kindness, compassion, and seemingly endless support. I am eternally grateful.

Contents

Prologue (#udcbb2228-b37f-56dd-ad96-e0d0cc34c75e)

Chapter One (#uf01424f2-d2da-5d64-a2a8-78be28b312ed)

Chapter Two (#u38976386-9361-5e7c-94cd-c89177120c14)

Chapter Three (#u9453536b-237d-560b-beeb-0c8b3fe5f5d5)

Chapter Four (#u76c4aca7-0f5c-5b53-bf41-d857fc399426)

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)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Excerpt (#litres_trial_promo)

Prologue

Less than two hours ago, Daisy Lennox had stood in front of her bedroom windows and breathed in the fragrant scents emanating from her mother’s flower garden. The softest of breezes whispered against her cheek with the promise that Steamboat Springs, Colorado, would be blessed with a beautiful spring day. A perfect day, in fact, for a wedding.

For her wedding.

She’d closed her eyes and savored the anticipation, as the excitement strummed through her body. By nightfall, she would be Mrs. Reid Foster. It seemed...incredible that this day had finally arrived, that her dreams were so close to becoming reality.

Falling in love with Reid had happened naturally. Effortlessly. He’d been a part of her existence for almost as far back as she could remember, even if it had taken an absurd amount of time for him to view her as anything other than his best friend’s little sister.

Once he had, though, neither of them questioned their connection. And when he’d proposed last year, on the evening of her graduation from the University of Colorado, she’d accepted without hesitation. She couldn’t imagine her life without him.

With Reid, she felt whole. Reid’s love chased off the persistent sensation of not belonging, of not fitting in, of being the odd person out, that she’d battled since childhood.

So, yes. When Daisy had awakened to sunny skies and a warm, fragrant breeze, with hope and delight bubbling in her veins, she had zero reason to believe that anything would—or could—interfere with her pure, soul-deep certainty of the future.

Unfortunately, fate had other ideas.

A broken, emotional confession from Daisy’s mother had shifted everything she’d ever known to be true into a new reality. This—the story her mother told—was the fodder for bad television, and not the life of a woman who was about to be married.

None of this could be real. Yet...somehow, it was.

Emptiness, engulfing and complete, overtook her prior joy. Her breaths came in jagged gasps and her body shook as she attempted to process the unimaginable.

“I know this is a shock,” her mother, Clara Lennox, said. She wrapped her arm over Daisy’s shoulder and drew her close. “Are you okay?”

Okay? No, she was most definitely not okay. She pulled free from her mother’s grasp, and as if on their own accord, her fingers reached for the wedding gown she’d laid out on her bed that morning. She crumpled the silky fabric in her fist and tried to bring Reid’s face, his voice, his very presence, to mind. Tried to sink herself in his love for her, in hers for him.

“That was a silly thing to ask. Of course you’re not okay,” Clara said. “How could you be? But...do you think, once this settles some, you’ll—”

“Settles? I can’t imagine any of this settling in the near future.” Or ever.