Nantucket Romance 3-in-1 Bundle (35 page)
—RelzReviewz
“No one can write a story that grips the heart like Denise Hunter. If you like Karen Kingsbury or Nicholas Sparks, this is an author you’ll love.”
—Colleen Coble, author of
Abomination
and
Anathema
“In
Finding Faith
Denise Hunter once again brings me to tears with her thought-provoking story. For depth and emotion, this author always hits her mark.”
—Kristin Billerbeck, author of
Split Ends
“
Saving Grace
kept me turning pages from the minute I opened the cover and kept me up way past my bedtime . . . A story of triumph over heartache.”
—Deborah Raney, author of
A Nest of Sparrows
“You absolutely have to read
Mending Places
. . .”
—
Dancing Word
“[
Finding Faith
] kept me in tears as the characters struggled to find truth. A captivating story that will touch every woman’s heart.”
—Diann Mills, Writing Coach and author of sixteen books
Other novels by Denise Hunter include
Surrender Bay
Finding Faith
Saving Grace
Mending Places
© 2008 Denise Hunter
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Thomas Nelson, Inc. titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hunter, Denise, 1968
The convenient groom / by Denise Hunter.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-59554-258-2 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-1-59554-258-8
1. Women authors—Fiction. 2. Marriage counselors—Fiction . 3. Radio personalities—Fiction. 4. Advice columnists—Fiction. 5. Weddings—Fiction. 6. Temporary marriage—Fiction. 7. Nantucket Island (Mass.)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3608.U5925C66 2008
813'.6--dc22
2008003380
Printed in the United States of America
07 08 09 10 11 QW 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Jesus, my tower of strength,
my shelter in the storm
Contents
“The L
ORD
your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.”
Zephaniah 3:17
Let your face shine on your servant;
save me in your unfailing love.
Psalm 31:16
Dating is like shopping for a garment.
Everything looks great in the display
window. Once inside the store, some of
the dazzle disappears.
—Excerpt from
Finding Mr. Right-for-You
by Dr. Kate
The red light on Kate Lawrence’s cell phone blinked a staccato warning. But before she could retrieve the message, her maid of honor, Anna Doherty, waved her pale arms from the beach, stealing her attention.
Anna’s smooth voice sounded in her headset. “Kate, can you come here? We’ve got a few glitches.”
“Be right there.” Kate tucked her clipboard in the crook of her elbow, took the steps down Jetty Pavilion’s porch, and crossed the heel-sinking sand of the Nantucket shoreline. In six hours, thirty-four guests would be seated there in the rows of white chairs, watching Kate pledge her life to Bryan Montgomery under a beautiful hand-carved gazebo.
Where was the gazebo anyway? She checked her watch, then glanced toward the Pavilion, where workers scurried in white uniforms. No sign of Lucas.
She approached Anna, who wore worry lines as naturally as she wore her Anne Klein pantsuit. Anna was the best receptionist Kate could ask for. Her capable presence reassured the troubled couples she ushered through Kate’s office.
Right now, Anna’s long brown hair whipped across her face like a flag gone awry, and she batted it from her eyes with her freckled hand. “Soiree’s just called. Their delivery truck is in for service, and the flowers will be a little late. Half an hour at the most.”
Kate jotted the note on her schedule. “That’s okay.” She’d factored in cushion time.
“Murray’s called, and the tuxes haven’t been picked up except for your dad’s.”
Bryan and his best man had been due at Murray’s at nine thirty. An hour ago. “I’ll check on that. What else?”
Anna’s frown lines deepened, and her eyes blinked against the wind. “The carriage driver is sick, but they’re trying to find a replacement. The Weatherbys called and asked if they could attend last minute—they were supposed to go out of town, but their plans changed.”
Kate nodded. “Fine, fine. Call and tell her they’re welcome. I’ll notify the caterer.”
“Your publicist—Pam?—has been trying to reach you. Did you check your cell? She said she got voice mail. Anyway, your book copies did arrive this morning. She dropped this off.” Anna pulled a hardback book from under her clipboard. “Ta-da!”
“My book!” Kate stared at the cover, where the title,
Finding Mr.
Right-for-You,
floated above a cartoon couple. The man was on his knee, proposing. Below them, a colorful box housed the bold letters of Kate’s name. She ran her fingers over the glossy book jacket, feeling the raised bumps of the letters, savoring the moment.
“Pam wants a quick photo shoot before the guests arrive. You holding the book, that kind of thing. You should probably call her.”
Kate jotted the note. While it was on her mind, she reached down and turned on her cell.
“Ready for more great news?” Anna asked. Her blue eyes glittered like diamonds. The news had to be good.
“What?”
“The
New York Times
is sending a reporter and a photographer. They want to do a feature story on your wedding and your book.”
Fresh air caught and held in Kate’s lungs. Rosewood Press was probably turning cartwheels. “That’s fabulous. They’ll want an interview.” She scanned her schedule, looking for an open slot. After the reception? She hated to do it, but Bryan would understand. The
New York Times
. It would give Kate’s initial sales the boost it needed. Maybe enough to make the bestseller list.
“Here’s the number.” Anna handed her a yellow Post-It. “That tabloid guy has been hanging around all morning, trying to figure out who the groom is. I told him he’d find out in six hours like everyone else. The rest of the media is scheduled to arrive an hour before the wedding, and Pam’s having an area set up over there for them.” Anna gestured behind the rows of chairs to a square blocked off with white ribbon.
“Good. I want them to be as inconspicuous as possible. This is my wedding, and a girl only gets married once, after all.”
“One would hope.” Anna said. “Is there anything else I can do?”
Kate gave her a sideways hug, as close to an embrace as she’d ever given her assistant, her fingers pressing into Anna’s fleshy shoulder. “You’re a godsend. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Oh! I know what I forgot to tell you. The gazebo. It should have been here by now. I tried to call Lucas, but I got the machine, and I don’t have his cell number.”
“His shop’s closed today, and he doesn’t have a cell.” The man didn’t wear a watch, much less carry a phone. She should’ve known better than to put something this crucial in his hands. Kate checked her watch. “I’ll run over and check on it.”
The drive to town was quick and effortless, but Kate’s mind swam with a hundred details. She jotted reminders on her clipboard when she stopped for pedestrians, occasionally admiring the cover of her book. She called Pam for a quick recap about the
New York Times
reporter, and by the time she hung up, she was pulling into a parallel slot on Main Street, in front of Lucas’s storefront.
The sign above the picture window read “Cottage House Furniture.” On the second floor of the Shaker building, the wooden shingle for her own business dangled from a metal pole: “Kate Lawrence, Marriage Counseling Services.” She needed to remind Lucas to remove it; otherwise he’d leave it hanging for another year or until someone else rented the space.
Kate exited her car and slid her key into the rusty lock of the shop’s door. Once inside, she passed the stairs leading to her office and walked through the darkened maze of furniture to the back, where she hoped to find Lucas. She bumped an end table with her shin.
Ow!
That would leave a mark.