Magical Weddings (61 page)

Lynda Haviland

Copyright © 2015 by:

Lynda Haviland

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief
quotes used in reviews.

This book was built at
IndieWrites.com
. Visit us on
Facebook
.

Special thanks to Joe, for sharing my love of romantic comedies. To Leigh, for friendship and mentorship. To Wendy, for pushing me every week to break through a two-year writer’s block. And to Angela, my best friend, for her unwavering support through everything.

I can do this. I am ready to crash this wedding. I think.
Veronica paused on the gangway and re-read the stolen invitation. She harnessed every ounce of courage she could find and prayed this would all be worth the effort she’d taken to be here.

Technically, she was crashing the welcome reception–a lavish gala for a hundred people while the
Beautiful Dreamer
was docked at the Pearl Key Marina. At midnight, the yacht would depart toward a private island with a more intimate group of family and friends.

Veronica nervously crossed her arms over her belly. She knew the smooth silk of her cocktail dress fit her perfectly. She’d picked it out specifically with this one mission in mind–to attract the attention of just one man. The groom. When she stopped fidgeting with her hands, she discovered several men following her with their eyes. She shivered with excitement and fear.

Courage.
She needed courage to get through this night.

She’d barely taken her first sip of champagne and surveyed the lush surroundings of the lounge on the main deck when she felt the presence of a Crowley approach her.

“Roni Milano?” Familiar cool blue eyes widened with recognition.

She met his gaze with her own, determination lending her temporary confidence. “Hello, Lucas. It’s Veronica now.”

“Veronica. You look great.” His voice was deeper than she remembered.

“All grown up.” She twirled the end of curl. “A long way from pigtails and freckles.”

“And food in your hair.”

His wide smile caught her off guard and she laughed. “Yeah. I’m much better with a knife now.”

He sobered quickly. “I will definitely keep that in mind.” He grabbed a champagne flute from a passing tray and drained it to the last drop. Veronica’s spine shuddered when his eyes fixed on her again–narrowed with suspicion. His stance stiffened. “Are you here with one of our guests?”

“Why? Couldn’t I possibly be an invited guest on my own?” She heard the defensiveness in her own voice, but she refused to be swept aside. He might have those same gorgeous eyes, but he wasn’t Davis. And she wasn’t going to leave without seeing Davis.

“Of course not. I know the wedding list.” He leaned in close to her ear to whisper. “Sorry. I have a very vivid picture in my mind of the last time I saw you.”

“Of course you remember me kissing your brother.” She knew he’d meant to shock her, so she winked back. “You were the one who interrupted us.”

“Then tell me you’re not here to pick up where you left off.”

“So this is my hello, Lucas?” She deepened her voice to mimic his. “
Wow, you look great but you shouldn’t be here. Davis is getting married this weekend.”

“Precisely. And you’re not the one who’s wearing the bridal gown.”

“You really don’t trust me.”

“You avoided my question.”

“I batted my eyes at the big bouncer at the door.”

“Hardly your style.”

“Lucas, most girls grow out of their tomboy phase.”

His eyes moved slowly down her body with obvious pauses over each of her assets. He trailed his fingers across the smooth silk hugging her hips. “Only
you
would wear black to his wedding.”

Before she could respond he grabbed the invitation from her hand to inspect it.

“It feels authentic.” He still sounded skeptical.

“I didn’t forge it.”

“But you could. You made a helluva convincing fake I.D. in high school so you could follow Davis into the dance clubs.”

She laughed bitterly. “You remember all the best things about me.”

Veronica took a step backward when a dark-haired older woman descended into the room on the marbled staircase. She looked stunning in a silver chiffon dress. She was tiny but her confidence and high heels made her seem taller than everyone else in the room.

“Mother?” Lucas beckoned her to join them. “Look who’s back in Florida. Come say hello to Roni. I mean, Veronica.”

Holy hell.
Now there would be two against one–an impenetrable wall of Crowley. Veronica wasn’t sure she had the guts to continue with her plan. It was such a weak plan to begin with. “Hello, Mrs. Crowley.”

“Heavens, you look fantastic. Are you still in culinary school?” Regina, the matriarch of the Crowley universe, smiled like a southern belle, but her voice lacked its full air of hospitality and her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“No, ma’am. I graduated last year.”

“Good. Then it’s time to focus on your career.”

The words
Now go away again and forget about Davis
were left unspoken, but Veronica read it clearly in the tight, wary expression on the older woman’s face.

“I am. I have an apprenticeship with a master chef in New York.”

“Wonderful.” Regina’s whole body relaxed. “New York is the best place to be for a chef.”

“But I’d like to find a position as a personal chef, like my father was.” Veronica swirled the champagne in her glass and inhaled the light fruity scent. “He showed me how inspiring a more intimate setting could be.”

“Your father was a great chef. Incredibly talented.” Regina’s eyes filled with genuine sympathy. “I hope you know we miss him. We were all very sorry to hear of his passing.”

“Yes, thank you.” The Crowleys’ flower arrangement had been larger and the card more thoughtful than Veronica had expected from her father’s former employers. He’d died a year after retiring from his job as their personal chef.

“Good luck in New York, my dear.” Regina Crowley patted Veronica’s hand and slipped away to carry on her hostess duties as mother-of-the-groom.

“I miss your father too.” A wistful smile softened every corner of Lucas’ face. “Chef Milano made the best bread with black olives and hunks of garlic.”

Veronica couldn’t help but smile back. “The garlic smell had a way of spreading through your house. Your mother didn’t appreciate that at the time.”

“I used to sneak into the kitchen and snag the black olives that escaped the cutting board.”

She caught herself drifting into the reverie of old, cherished memories. It was distracting her from her purpose, and she realized Lucas was doing it on purpose. “I would like to speak with Davis now, please.”

He waved the card in front of her. “Whose invitation is this?”

She gulped down the rest of her champagne and dropped the glass on a passing tray. “Nobody is stuck on the dock waiting to get in, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

One dark eyebrow lifted as he silently insisted on an answer.

Familiar, hearty laughter drifted down the stairs from the sky deck.

“It’s
your
invitation, Lucas.” She pasted on the sweetest, most syrupy smile. “It was right there tucked into the visor of your convertible. I guess you were pretty sure you didn’t need one. It is
your
boat, after all.”

She moved swiftly through the crowd and up the staircase. The evening breeze off the Gulf was still cool enough at this time of year to feel good against her skin. From across the length of the deck, Veronica found her goal in sight. Davis stood with a group of friends near the jacuzzi.

He was every bit the image she’d burned into her memory. His gold hair waved loosely around a strong face, wide-set piercing blue eyes and a rugged jaw line. His tall body posed in a confident stance with one hand casually tucked into a pocket.

Davis had just turned his head in her direction when Lucas twirled her around. She spoke slowly through her clenched teeth. “You are only delaying the inevitable. I need to see him.”

“Stop obsessing over him, Veronica. He’s moved on. So should you.”

“You owe me, Lucas. You broke us up.”

“What did you think you were going to get from him? A declaration of love? A proposal? There would never have been a happy ending for you there.”

“Don’t try to make me believe you were protecting me from heartbreak.”

“I won’t.”

She didn’t move away from him, even as an uncomfortable silence stretched between them. “I knew him better than anyone. Better than you, even.”

“If you knew him so well, then how did you convince yourself that you’d last longer than any other girl he’d seduced?”

“Because I was different. Even he said so.”

“Wow. And you believed that?”

She had. Davis had always talked to her like an equal. Like a friend. She’d followed–
okay, stalked–
him enough to know all of his “lines”. She knew he was a player. She’d seen it. Heard it. She knew his pickup lines word for word. The night he’d finally kissed her, the playboy was nowhere in sight. She’d been listening to him talk about his fears of failure. Heard the raw emotion in his voice. Felt the loneliness in him. Everyone around him was depending on him to follow in his father’s footsteps. And he’d said he hated the very idea of doing just that.

She was here to remind him of that fact. And maybe, she’d finally earn more from him than a few kisses.

“Who is
she
?” Davis didn’t need to emphasize his words. His interest was clearly advertised across his face.

Lucas prayed that Veronica would keep her word and stay where he’d left her. “Not someone you should think about right now, Davis.” He’d promised to bring Davis to her, but a conversation was in order first.

“Impossible. I’m pretty sure I would love thinking about her
all
the time. Everywhere. Doing everything, and definitely doing it in that dress.”

“That’s unfortunate.” Lucas signaled the bartender for a drink.

“Not for me.” Davis winked over the rim of his glass.

“Where’s your bride?”

“I think she’s still putting on her face. That’s what she calls it.” His cell phone chimed with an incoming text. “Her face is done.” He pointed the screen in Lucas’ direction. “She’s live-posting every minute of this damned thing online for all of her fans to experience.”

“Why not let the paparazzi in to do all the work?”

“Lucas, for a smart guy you know nothing about social media. This way she controls the message.”

“Does she like to control everything?” Lucas took weird pleasure in seeing his brother momentarily uncomfortable. “She’s wonderful, Davis.”

“You and Mother love how she handles me.” Davis signaled for a fresh drink.

“That’s a bonus.”

“So, who is the gorgeous girl waiting for me?” Davis smiled. “You thought I’d forgotten. I think you’re stalling me.”

“It’s...She’s Veronica.”

“Veronica who?”

“Really, Davis? You even forget the ones you
almost
slept with?”

Lucas waited for the light bulb to go on.

“Oh, Roni?” Davis scoped her out again. “Incredible. She’s filled out in all the right places. Wow. The skinny chef’s daughter goes off into the world and comes back home a knockout.”

“Yes, our very own swan story.” Lucas let out a very long sigh. Apparently the universe wanted to throw one more at him. One more
Davis situation
to manage. Lucas couldn’t get his brother to the altar fast enough. Then he’d be someone else’s problem to handle.

“I knew there was something about her. Something special inside her, waiting to come out. And that’s not a sexual joke.”

“Coming from you, that’s a first.”

They clinked their glasses in a toast.

“I’m serious, Lucas. Never underestimate the plain ones. They have a way of blossoming.”

“She was never an ugly duckling.” Lucas stared into the amber liquid in his glass. “She was just shy and quiet.”

“She followed me everywhere.”

“Your own little stalker.”

“She doesn’t seem so shy and quiet anymore. Maybe she’s more my—”

“Shut up, Davis. You’re getting married in less than forty-eight hours.” Lucas dropped a heavy and controlling hand on Davis’ shoulder.

“Well, I’m not married at the moment.” Davis finished his drink. “And I want a dance with her.”

“That is a terrible idea.” Lucas stressed each word carefully, trying to make it sound more like a warning.

Davis pulled up to his full height and started to swagger confidently across the deck.

“Davis?”

He paused but didn’t turn around.

“She was far from your type back then, but you almost slept with her. Why?”

Davis shrugged. “I’ve known many women, Lucas. Maybe I was smart enough to know that I had something special within reach.”

“But you let her go away.”

“I guess I did. Maybe I shouldn’t make the same mistake twice.”

“Dance with me.”

“Hello, Davis.” She’d never taken her eyes off him as he walked toward her. She accepted his outstretched hand and followed him to an open section of the deck. Two other couples swayed with the music.

“Am I still the handsome Crowley you remember?”

“You do not disappoint.”

“You’ve been gone a long time, Roni.”

She didn’t correct him. She’d waited so long to hear him whisper her name again. “Maybe not long enough. Um, maybe too long. Long enough for you to forget me.” Her senses soaked in every smell and feel of him. The overload fractured her determination.

“I never forgot you.” He smiled. “The memory was tucked away in a special place.”

“Very smooth line.” She smiled back. “You
have
changed.”