Chapter 2

Iwas harboring a runaway bride. Was that illegal? Would the town sheriff show up to arrest me for it?

"I have water and orange juice," I called out as I stood in front of the open fridge. "Unless you like beer."

"Beer would be perfect," she said.

Those words caused me to straighten and look over at her. The bride still wore that white sparkly dress, but she'd removed the veil. And she kept staring at the gigantic diamond on her finger like she wanted to do something about it.

Toby, Zack and Ashlynn's golden retriever, had gotten over his initial excitement that he had a visitor. He was on his bed, but he didn't take his eyes off me as I carried an open bottle of beer to the bride.

"Thanks," she said as I handed the bottle to her. She took a long swig. When finally she lowered the bottle, she looked around. "Are you house sitting or dog sitting?"

I smiled as I settled onto the recliner. "A little of both, I guess." I looked over at Toby. "Let's just say Zack calls it house sitting because he doesn't want to admit he can't kennel his dog."

"Spoiling a dog is an admirable trait in a guy."

I watched her as she took another long sip. More of a guzzle. She'd already emptied half the bottle.

"You okay?" I asked.

That brought her gaze to my face. It also notched my up attraction to her—an attraction that had been there since the first time our eyes met. I was trying to shove those feelings aside. Obviously, this woman had a lot going on right now, and I didn't need the drama.

"No," she said. That word came out as a long sigh, and it seemed to make her immediately relax. It was as though just saying the word brought relief. "I made a mess of everything." She looked at her left hand—at the ring that was so big it didn't look real. "I was saving myself for marriage, but he's not the guy I'd want to lose my virginity to."

My eyebrows arched. Had she just revealed she was a virgin? This gorgeous creature, sitting in front of me? Whoever this guy was, he'd almost been a lucky, lucky man.

"So, you basically ran out on your wedding?" I asked.

She looked up at me. "That's exactly what I did. All that money, wasted. We rented out the whole retreat center for the weekend. Did you know that?"

I shook my head. I hadn't kept up with what was going on at the retreat center. Zack was my neighbor and one of my buddies long before his now-wife came to town and built the place. I heard plenty about the retreat center during construction, but now that it was open with a steady stream of guests flowing through each week, we didn't really talk about it.

"Then there were the flowers. The string quartet." She laughed. "We even had butterflies to release when the preacher pronounced us man and wife."

"Husband and wife," I corrected. At the stunned look she shot me, I added, "That's how I look at it. Marriage is a partnership. I'd be the husband, she'd be the wife. The old way sounds like the man is taking property."

She tilted her head slightly and narrowed her eyes. "Did you know he wanted the preacher to give a whole speech about how man is head of the household? I said no."

I nodded. "Red flag. I don't blame you for running out."

She picked up the bottle again and took another sip. Had my words been too harsh? Hell, it wasn't like I had experience with this sort of thing.

Eyeing her getup, I was suddenly inspired to change the subject. "You know, Ashlynn has some clothes you could probably wear until you can get yours from the retreat center."

Maybe I should volunteer to go over there and pack up her stuff. Or I could call up my buddy Zack and see if Ashlynn could contact one of her employees to do it.

"My parents will grab all that, I'm sure." She sighed. "I don't even have my phone. I'll bet my mom's blowing it up right now, totally forgetting that I ran off without it."

"So, what's your plan?"

I immediately regretted asking the question. Her body tensed and her eyes jerked to the beer bottle still in her right hand. She lifted it to her lips and took another long swig. It was almost empty. I'd never seen a woman down a beer that quickly.

As she lowered the bottle from her lips, she turned to the table next to her. She lifted a coaster off the stack and set it down, along with the nearly empty beer bottle.

"I'll go home and face the music. Or maybe I'll stay here forever." She laughed. "Lord knows I won't have a job to go back to."

I frowned at her. "You lost your job too?"

"My ex-fiancé works for my dad. My ex-fiancé is also my boss."

My frown only deepened. I wasn't sure why she wouldn't be the boss at her own family's company. But she did look young—early twenties, was my guess. Maybe twenty-two or twenty-three. If she'd gone to college, she'd probably graduated recently and now needed to learn the ropes.

"I can loan you my cabin." I shrugged. "I'll be here until Monday. That'll at least buy you a couple of days."

"I can't take your cabin." She looked around. "I could just sleep here on the couch."

I shook my head. "I won't be using it, anyway. You'll have the whole place to yourself. I promised my buddy I wouldn't leave this spoiled mutt alone."

Toby was hardly a mutt. He was a purebred golden retriever, as far as I could tell. But "spoiled mutt" sounded good. We both paused to look down at him as he lay on his bed, deep in sleep, probably bored with the conversation happening in front of him.

Suddenly, my gaze darted over to her. "I guess you haven't eaten. Dinner was probably part of that fancy wedding of yours."

Her hand immediately went to her stomach. "I haven't eaten all day. I was too nervous. And then we were getting ready. I think I've been running on adrenaline since I woke up."

"I'll tell you what." I pushed myself to my feet. "You go change into something in Ashlynn's closet and I'll pull some leftovers out of the fridge and warm them up for you. Do you like tacos?"

A growl came from the general direction of her stomach at the same time her eyes lit up. "Love them. Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. You haven't tasted my cooking."

At least that brought a laugh out of her. And I decided as I headed to the kitchen that getting this devastated bride to laugh was the biggest accomplishment I'd had in a while.