The Wedding She Always Wanted (2 page)

“What makes you so sure? You don’t know me. You don’t know—”

“I know when a woman’s in love, and I know when she’s heartbroken. And you, sweetheart, are neither.”

Javy let Emily go at the end of the dance. He couldn’t help watching her walk away. The gown she wore fit her willowy curves to perfection, drawing his eyes to her slender waist and the flare of her hips. The color—a soft, innocent pink—made her skin look even creamier. She had a grace and bearing that
spoke of her wealth and pedigree. He would have gladly danced with her all night—breathing in the scent of peaches on her skin, following the fragrance from the curve of her neck, left bare by her upswept hair, to the hollow of her throat, to the valley between her breasts—but the worry clouding her blue eyes had told him how truly concerned she was by what the high-society guests around them thought.

Too bad she hadn’t taken him up on his offer to give the crowd something to talk about. His blood heated at the thought of Emily kissing him in front of the whole crowd, of discovering her unique taste, feeling the slow, soft slide of her lips against his own…But he supposed it would require something bigger than dumping a fiancé she didn’t really love to shake up her world that much.

Making his way to the bar, he ordered a beer. Champagne toasts were likely the thing, but he had simpler tastes. He’d taken his first sip from the bottle when an exuberant hand clapped down on his shoulder.

“Hey, having fun?”

Javy turned to meet Connor’s grin. “You bet. This is my kind of party,” he said wryly. “Loved the ice sculpture, by the way. What the hell was it supposed to be? Some kind of snake?”

“A swan,” his friend said, only to admit a split second later, “I think. Anyway, this is what Kelsey wanted. Her dream wedding.” As he spoke, his gaze immediately sought out his new wife, who was dancing with her uncle.

Javy figured he could have dumped the melting serpent/swan into his friend’s lap and he wouldn’t have noticed. “I’m happy for you, man. Really.” He winced, hearing the doubt he was trying a little too hard to hide.

“Yeah, right.” Connor slanted Javy a glance that reminded him how well they knew each other.

“Sorry. I mean, don’t get me wrong. Kelsey’s a great girl, but—”

“You didn’t think I’d ever settle down,” Connor said, filling in the details. His gaze met Kelsey’s from across the ballroom, and he smiled. “Things change.”

He’d said the same to Emily. “Yeah, guess so.”

“Except for you.” Turning back to Javy, Connor said, “Look, I know you’re still all about playing the field, but you gotta know Emily’s not up for the game.”

Javy pulled back in surprise. “Hell, Connor, you haven’t warned me away from a girl since we were both interested in Alicia Martin in the fifth grade. Are you sure you married the right woman? Emily’s—”

“Emily is Kelsey’s cousin,” Connor interrupted, leaning forward enough to warn Javy not to finish his thought. “I’m just looking out for her. She’s family now. You understand.”

“Yeah, sure,” Javy agreed as Kelsey waved her husband over to the dance floor.

He understood because at one time Connor had considered
Javy
family. They’d practically grown up together, covering each other’s backs and pulling each other through some rough times.

“Things change,” he mumbled, lifting the beer bottle to his lips for another drink.

Connor wasn’t the first of his friends to get married and likely wouldn’t be the last. But Javy had no intention of following that line down the aisle. Not now, not ever.

Connor was right about Javy liking to play the field. It had been years since he’d had trouble forgetting a woman, and ever since then, they had come and gone, none of them sticking around long enough to etch a place in his life or in his heart. He had no reason to believe Emily would be any different.

Now that the wedding was over, there’d be little chance
of their paths crossing again and less reason for her to cross his thoughts.

No, he definitely wouldn’t have any problem forgetting Emily Wilson, he thought as an exotic brunette at the end of the bar caught his eye. Her ruby-red lips curved in invitation, and he waited for the familiar kick of interest to flare. He could send over a drink—a cosmopolitan, he figured—strike up a conversation and be well on his way to forgetting. He’d learned, thanks to his friends’ weddings, that a reception was the perfect place to first meet a woman. After all, half the work was done for him. The candles, the flowers, the romantic music were already in place. It was easy. Maybe too easy…

When the bartender came by, Javy didn’t order a cosmo or any other kind of break-the-ice drink. Instead, he handed over a few bills for his beer and turned to watch Emily in the out-of-the-way corner where he’d first spotted her.

He wondered if she knew how completely false her smile looked even from across the room. It didn’t come close to reaching her eyes—those beautiful blue eyes with darker flecks, which reminded him of the turquoise gemstones his mother loved.

Emily Wilson was a gorgeous woman, no doubt about it, but if she really smiled—hell, if she laughed—he didn’t think a man in the room could resist. Including him.

Good thing it didn’t look like she’d be laughing anytime soon.

Twenty minutes
, Emily vowed silently. She’d give Connor and Kelsey another twenty minutes to cut the cake, and then she was leaving.

She’d accomplished what she had set out to do by coming to the wedding. First, of course, to see her cousin and Connor get married. And second, to face friends and acquaintances
for the first time since calling off the wedding. She’d known the whispers and speculation would only be harder to withstand the more time that passed. So, although she wished she were brave enough to stay until the end—heck, she longed for the courage to stand among the single women and do her darnedest to catch the bouquet—in twenty minutes she was going to live up to her own words and sneak out a side door.

Until then, well, Emily decided she had to go to the restroom. She’d check her makeup, her hair, her dress, her shoes, even her nail polish, and hopefully by the time she completed the head-to-toe inspection, at least a quarter of an hour would have passed.

As she stepped into the gold and marble restroom, the door closed behind her, muffling the sounds of music and laughter coming from the reception. Emily leaned against the door for a second and took her first deep breath in hours. The evening was almost over, and she had survived, proving once and for all that embarrassment could not kill.

Walking over to the vanity and the gilded mirror lit by matching sconces, Emily tried to focus on her hair, to double-check that none of the intricate curls were escaping the upswept style. But she froze, staring into her own reflection. Not checking her eyeliner for smudges or pulling her lip gloss from her beaded purse to dab on a second soft pink coat, but instead taking a good, long look at herself.

What was it about her that she couldn’t even inspire faithfulness during a
very
brief engagement? Todd hadn’t even waited until the wedding to break his vows. That slap of reality made a dream of lasting love and commitment seem just that—an impossible dream.

Except she had every faith that Connor’s love for Kelsey would last. Her cousin had found true love, as had her sister. Her parents’ thirty-plus years of marriage proved their lasting
commitment. Which meant the dream was only impossible for her…because of something lacking
in
her.

Emily turned the faucets on full blast and roughly scrubbed at her hands. Todd was the one at fault, and she needed to stop blaming herself. Yet the doubts picked away at her self-confidence like hungry, spiteful ravens.

I know when a woman’s in love, and I know when she’s heartbroken. And you, sweetheart, are neither.

On the dance floor Emily had done her best to dismiss Javy’s words. He knew nothing about her. How could he presume to look inside her heart? But the more she had to work to summon up her anger, the more she worried he was right.

She’d been so sure she loved Todd; why else would she have agreed to marry him? And yet hadn’t she sensed their relationship wasn’t all it should have been? That he spent more time telling her what he thought she wanted to hear than actually talking to her? That they never looked beyond the surface of an engagement that looked good on paper?

She now knew why Todd had been so willing to accept so little. The bitter question was, why had she?

Keeping her gaze away from the mirror, Emily finished washing her hands. She’d just thrown the paper towels away when she heard a burst of laughter coming from the outside hall.

Averse to coming face-to-face with anyone at the moment, Emily grabbed her small purse and ducked into the far stall.

The restroom door opened, letting in a burst of music and laughter, along with two women. “Tell me! I have been dying to hear the whole story.”

Emily’s stomach immediately clenched at the expectation in the woman’s voice.

“Well…” Drawing out the moment, the second woman paused. “From what I heard, she found out her fiancé was cheating on her with the family chef.”

“No!”

“Yes, and it gets even worse! It turns out they have a child together. A boy, I think.”

“Oh, that is horrible!” the second woman exclaimed, sounding all too overjoyed by the scandal.

Humiliation burned in Emily’s cheeks at the delight the women were taking in her embarrassment. The details were wrong but close enough for her to realize her family had once again trusted the wrong person. She hadn’t spoken to anyone else about Todd’s infidelity or his reasons for proposing. And yet someone—her mother or sister, most likely—had talked to a close friend, no doubt swearing them to secrecy, for all the good it had done.

The betrayal was minor compared to Todd’s lying and cheating, but for Emily, it was the last straw.

With a definitive flick of her wrist, she unlocked the stall door. The two women spun in guilty tandem, but Emily didn’t spare them a glance. Instead, she moved toward the mirror. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind one ear, keeping her focus on her own reflection as she spoke. “It was the maid, not the chef. And she’s still pregnant. The baby hasn’t been born yet. If you’re going to talk about me, you might as well get the details straight.”

A stunned silence accompanied her exit from the restroom—probably the first time either woman had stopped talking since they’d arrived—but Emily didn’t feel better. She hadn’t thought it possible, but if anything, she actually felt worse.

She was leaving. Now. Before she gave everyone even more to talk about by foolishly bursting into tears at her cousin’s reception.

Rounding a corner, she gasped when a pair of strong hands clamped on her shoulders, stopping her from running headlong into a tuxedoed chest. “Whoa! Where’s the fire?” Javy’s
laughter trailed away, and he ducked his head to look into her face. His thick eyebrows lowered over his eyes. “Emily? Are you all right?”

Desperate to escape, she said, “I—I have to get out of here.”

“Okay.” Without questioning, he draped an arm around her shoulders and guided her toward an exit. But instead of a quick farewell before he went straight back to the reception, he followed her into the summer night air.

Moonlight glinted on the surface of the nearby pool, and the multicolored lights played over the stream pouring from a rock waterfall. The peaceful setting was a sharp contrast to the turmoil churning inside her, reminding Emily this was her problem.

Everyone else was having a good time. Everyone else
should
be having a good time…including Javy. She hadn’t missed the hungry looks several women at the reception had slanted in his direction. He could be with any one of them right now.

Ignoring the twinge of regret, she turned to him and said, “You need to go back inside. You’re the best man. You have to give the toast and—”

“Already did.”

“You did?”

“Yep. Short and sweet, just the way the guests like it. No one came here tonight to hear me talk.”

“I’m sorry I missed it.” Despite his protest, Emily definitely enjoyed hearing Javy talk. The deep murmur of his voice held a hint of his Hispanic heritage and a trace of good humor, like he was ready to laugh at any given moment.

“Hmm, me, too. I have to say, I was a hit. Especially the love song I recited in Spanish.”

Uncertain if she could take him seriously, she protested, “You did not.”

“I did. Spanish
is
one of the romance languages, you know.”

Pig Latin would be one of the romance languages as long as
Javy was the one speaking it. She was willing to bet every woman in the ballroom had gone a little weak at the knees listening to him, and maybe it was a good thing she
hadn’t
been inside.

The memory of their dance still lingered, not only in her mind, but in every part of her body that had brushed his as they swayed together. She could still feel the softness of his hair on her fingertips, the broad shoulders beneath her hands and the press of his thighs against her own….

Desire still tingled along nerve endings every place they had touched, and the last thing she needed was Javy’s Spanish love song as a soundtrack.

Holding out his arm, he said, “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“For a walk. Unless you’d rather be alone.”

Emily knew she should take the easy out he’d given her. Not because she actually wanted to be alone, but because being with a man of Javier Delgado’s reputation was not smart.

Or maybe it was, she thought suddenly. After feeling like she’d lived her whole life with blinders on, maybe taking a walk with her eyes wide-open was the smartest thing she could do.

J
avy waited for Emily’s answer, anticipation picking up a beat inside him that he hadn’t felt for years. He wouldn’t blame her if she wanted to be alone, but he hoped she’d say yes. A simple moonlight stroll suddenly meant more than his last several relationships combined.

Stupid
, he thought. He was the last guy to suffer from wedding fever, but if he didn’t know better…

“Won’t Connor notice that you’re gone?”

Connor was more likely to notice that
both
he and Emily were gone, but Javy wasn’t about to point that out. “I’m sure he’ll figure I’m around somewhere. Besides, isn’t it time for them to take off for their honeymoon?”

“I suppose so.” Emily crossed her slender arms, although she couldn’t possibly be cold, even with the slight breeze stirring the summer night air.

Javy swore silently.
Emily
would have been leaving on her
honeymoon tonight. While finding out her fiancé was a liar and a cheat—not to mention a moron, because, come on, what kind of idiot cheated on a woman as beautiful as Emily Wilson?—might have been a relief, it still didn’t change the fact that all of Emily’s plans had come crashing down around her. Not just plans for a wedding or honeymoon, but her whole future. No wonder she was feeling more than a little lost even if she hadn’t loved the guy.

“I’m sorry, Emily. I know how hard this must be for you.”

She started walking alongside the meandering pool, silently accepting his offer. “We were going to go on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera. Todd had everything planned. Snorkeling in Cabo, windsurfing in Mazatlán, parasailing in Puerto Vallarta…” Her voice trailed off in a memoriam of broken dreams.

“You like windsurfing?” Javy asked, hearing the doubt in his own voice. He had no problem imaging Emily sunning herself on a sandy beach, easily visualizing her long limbs bared by a less-than-nothing bathing suit, but he couldn’t picture her riding the waves on a board.

“I’ve never been. I’m relatively sure I would have hated it,” she said lightly. “Just like I would have hated the cruise. I went on a three-day trip right after I graduated high school. Turns out I get seasick. I spent the entire time feeling nauseous in my cabin.” She gave a soft laugh. “If you think about it, Todd really did me a favor. It would have been a miserable honeymoon.”

Javy had a feeling the misery would have lasted far beyond the honeymoon. He caught her arm and forced her to face him, with the moon shining down like a single interrogator’s light-bulb into her turquoise eyes. “Why, Emily?”

A slender shoulder lifted in an eloquent shrug. “He had everything all planned and—”

“I’m not talking about the honeymoon. I’m talking about everything. The engagement, the wedding. Or was that all
planned, too? Was it easier to go along with what everyone else wanted than to stop and think about what would make
you
happy?”

“Of course not. I wouldn’t have married Todd—I wouldn’t marry
anyone
—just to make my parents happy.”

“Then why did you agree to marry him?”

“Because I
loved
him. And don’t you tell me that I didn’t! You don’t know me. You don’t know how I feel. And from what little I know of you, you don’t know what it’s like to be in love. You go from woman to woman with less time than it takes you to swap CDs.”

You don’t know love
. Her words echoed in his thoughts, and Javy’s jaw tightened as he thought how wrong she was. He knew how love carved out a man’s insides, leaving him as hollow as a grinning jack-o’-lantern. He knew too well—and he’d learned his lesson.

But forcing his muscles to relax, he offered her an easygoing smile. “Feel better?”

Her color still high and her eyes snapping with surprising fire, Emily frowned. “What?”

“Seems like that was something you needed to get out. I was wondering if you felt any better.”

“I…no.” The light in her eyes died, and righteous indignation faded into a quiet mortification. “No. I don’t. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what got into me. I never yell at people, and that’s the second time tonight.”

As far as decibel levels went, Emily had been nowhere near yelling, but her words had certainly been sharp enough to hit their mark. Not that he was about to admit that. “Who else did you yell at?”

“I didn’t yell exactly….”

“Let me guess. You spoke in a very stern whisper.”

Her lips twitched, hinting at a real smile, which he was
becoming more and more eager to see. “No. But I told two women if they were going to talk about me behind my back, they should at least get the story straight.”

“Good for you.”

“Is it?” Emily questioned. “Good for me? So far, it’s only made me feel even worse.”

Her gaze pleaded with him, as if asking him to somehow make her feel better. Her sadness and uncertainty touched something inside Javy, a need that made him want to fix whatever was wrong, a desire to see her smile. But memories of Stephanie clawed at his gut, reminding him of his failure, his broken promises and his reasons for staying away from any woman looking for more than the good time he could offer.

Javy didn’t know if Emily figured that out on her own, but she turned away and started walking again. “I knew everyone would be talking about me calling off the wedding. I expected that. What I didn’t expect was that everyone would know
why
I called off the wedding. That everyone would know Todd had cheated on me.”

She turned and looked at him suddenly, too quickly for him to try to school his expression. “You knew already, too, didn’t you?”

With moonlight turning her hair to silver and liming her skin with an ethereal glow, she looked like a mythical fantasy brought to life. Javy wasn’t a particularly imaginative man, but had Emily suddenly sprouted gossamer wings, he wouldn’t have been that surprised. She was amazing, and her ex was an ass.

“I did. When Connor first came back to town, he told me he thought Todd was bad news,” he admitted. When Emily’s face immediately fell, he cupped her chin until she met his gaze. Her skin felt like silk against his fingertips, and he had to force himself to pay attention to what he was saying instead
of her wide, luminous eyes or the pale pink of her lips. “And, yeah, he told me why you broke it off. But Todd’s the one who should feel ashamed, Emily. Not you.”

“That’s what I keep telling myself.”

“Eventually, you’ll start to believe it. Hell, that’s probably why everyone here is talking about what happened. Because they can’t believe Todd would be stupid enough to cheat on you.”

A corner of her mouth lifted in a smile, which he longed to taste. “Tell me something. Did Connor send you out here to cheer me up?”

Javy gave a short laugh. After the way his friend had warned him off, the last thing Connor would have done was send Javy out to be alone with Emily. “No. That is definitely not why I came out here.”

He saw the doubt in her eyes before she turned away from his touch, and Javy really wished he’d been there to see Connor put Todd Dunworthy in his place. But he knew Emily’s former fiancé wasn’t entirely to blame. After all, something had pushed her to agree to marry a man Javy didn’t believe she loved…despite her insistence to the contrary.

As they walked along the imitation river, with only the sound of the water and the distant reception breaking the silence, Javy said, “You know, I didn’t think I’d like you. No offense.”

After a blink of surprise, Emily recovered and said, “None taken. I’m still not sure I like you.”

“Yeah, you do.”

She quickly averted her face, a telltale sign she was blushing, even though it was too dark to see.

Denying the temptation to show her exactly how much she was starting to like him, Javy instead said, “I thought you’d be a typical spoiled, rich girl.”

“I am.”

“Rich, yeah, but not spoiled.”

If anything, Emily had a sweet innocence that made Todd Dunworthy’s betrayal even more despicable. And gave Javy even more reason to stay away. He didn’t do sweet. He didn’t do innocent. It was exactly why Connor had warned him away from Emily. And yet here he was…alone with her in a moonlit garden.

“Emily—”

She grabbed his hand, effectively cutting off whatever he might have said. “Did you hear that?” she asked suddenly.

Figuring she wasn’t talking about the pulse pounding in his ears at the feel of her soft skin against his own, he asked, “Hear what?”

“It sounded like…It is! That’s Ginny and Duncan!”

“Who?”

“The flower girl and ring bearer, also known as my niece and nephew. Their babysitter took them to their room an hour ago, and my sister went up to tuck them in. I’m sure Aileen thinks they’re still there.”

Emily led the way around a corner, her heels clicking against the cool decking, and sure enough, a pint-size girl stood at the base of a tree, staring up at the branches. Her golden hair was a wild mop of corkscrew curls, and she was wearing a purple T-shirt and plaid pajama bottoms, but earlier she had looked like a miniature version of Emily. Her hair had been swept up into ringlets crowned with miniature roses, and her dress had been a girlish version of Emily’s pink gown. Her smile had grown wider with every petal she tossed along the lace runner. Javy guessed she was around six years old.

She wasn’t smiling now, though. With her hands on her hips, she announced, “You’re gonna be in big trouble, Duncan!”

Only then did Javy realize Duncan, the ring bearer, was somewhere in the tree above them.

“What do the two of you think you’re doing out here?” Emily demanded.

As the little girl spun around, her instant look of guilt quickly turned to indignation. “I told him not to, Aunt Emily. I told him he’d get in trouble, but he said if he climbed to the top of the tree, he could see our house. I told him not to, but he did it, anyway, and now he is stuck and is gonna have to stay in the tree forever!”

“Am not!”

Following the sound of the voice overhead, Javy spotted Duncan. He let out a low whistle when he saw how high the little boy had climbed. The gasp at his side told him the moment Emily spotted her nephew.

“Look at that branch!” Her grip tightened on his hand. “We need to call the fire department.”

“It’s all right. I’ll get him,” Javy assured her.

“But—”

“Look, whoever you call, it’ll be a while before they arrive. I’m here now. I’ll get him down. Trust me,” said Javy.

Emily looked back up at the tree. The branch Duncan had climbed out on looked too fragile to hold a kitten. The longer it took to get the little boy down…“All right. But be careful.”

“See?” Javy said with a cocky grin. “I knew you liked me.”

“I’ll like you even more if you get my nephew down in one piece,” she retorted, doing her best to stay cool and unaffected and knowing she failed by the gleam in his dark eyes.

And when Javy let go of her hand and shrugged his tuxedo jacket off one broad shoulder, cool and unaffected melted into a puddle of desire. Every bit of moisture evaporated from her mouth, and Emily snapped her jaw shut with an audible clink.

Taking off the fitted jacket made perfect sense; acting as if he were stripping down in the privacy of her bedroom did not.

But while Javy’s actions might have been completely cir
cumspect, the promise in his eyes was downright scandalous. As if he knew she’d pictured him in her bedroom, and fully intended to one day be there.

“Hold this for me, will you?” he asked.

Emily set her purse aside on the half wall lining the walkway to take the jacket. It was warm from his body heat and held a hint of aftershave, and Emily forced herself to simply fold the garment over her arm, instead of burying her face into the fabric.

Turning back to the tree, Javy studied the branches as he undid the cuffs of the shirt and rolled the sleeves back to reveal muscular forearms dusted with dark hair.

Emily’s stomach did a slow roll. She crossed her arms tightly at her waist, trying to stop any more somersaulting from her internal organs, and hoped the jacket hid the telling action. But when Javy bent down to slip off a shoe, she had to ask, “What are you doing?”

He glanced up at her, his teeth flashing in the dim light as he smiled. Whatever he’d used to hold back his hair lost the battle as a thick lock fell across his forehead. Emily’s fingers instinctively burrowed deeper into the wool jacket. “Ever climb a tree in dress shoes? It’s a sure trip to the emergency room.”

Emily glanced down at her strappy gold heels. She’d spent hours practicing on pencil-thin platforms, insuring she could walk gracefully in even the most fashionable—and uncomfortable—shoes. “I don’t think I’ve ever climbed a tree.”

After kicking off the second shoe, Javy straightened. He pushed his hair back only to have it spring forward again. “You’re kidding, right? Did you have a deprived childhood, or what?”

It was the first time anyone had ever referred to Emily’s life as anything other than privileged. Her friends always commented how lucky Emily was to have everything she’d ever wanted. But she wondered if maybe Javy didn’t have it right, after all.

“Believe me, socks are the way to go,” he added as he stared up at a branch overhead.

Emily would have sworn it was out of reach, but he took a few steps back, enough to give him a running start, and easily caught the limb. Within seconds, he pulled himself up with a move Emily thought was reserved for stuntmen and gymnasts.

“Wow,” Ginny whispered in awe. “He’s like…a superhero.”

“I think you’re right, Ginny. And he’ll have Duncan down from that tree in no time,” Emily agreed with her niece as she watched Javy make his way from branch to branch until he reached Duncan. She heard a mix of voices, her nephew’s childish whisper and Javy’s low murmur in response.

Honestly, Emily’s heart was pounding out of her chest as the top of the tree swayed and leaves rained down, and they decided to stop and chat. She bit her lower lip rather than call out, afraid she might startle either one of them.

The moment of male bonding over, Javy held out a hand. Duncan unhesitatingly reached out, and Emily felt something in her heart give way at the trust she saw in the little boy’s face and the confidence she saw in Javy’s. Slowly, he led the way down, guiding Duncan every step of the way until their feet—Javy’s in black socks and Duncan’s bare—hit solid ground.