family to recognize that the odds were against all six brothers being able to achieve eternal bachelorhood. When his oldest brothers had fallen victim, he had assumed that his odds for avoiding matrimony had improved considerably.
But there was a part of him that envied his five brothers—and even his little sister, Keely. They’d all found something that he’d never once experienced in his life. Sure, there had been women, even a few who imagined themselves in love with him. But not one had come close to touching his heart—a heart that he’d kept well protected over the years.
His attitude about marriage might not have been so harsh had he a decent example to follow. His father had been horrible at it. And his mother had been…Sean paused. He used to think of her as an angel, the perfect mother. But that had changed one day, shortly after his fourteenth birthday, when he’d learned the truth about his parents’ marriage.
He shook his head, pushing the thoughts aside. His father’s imperfections and his mother’s infidelities were in the past—so why couldn’t he forget them? A shrink might say he had trust issues, but Sean didn’t believe in that kind of psychobabble. He was who he was and there was no use trying to analyze it. He just had to live with it.
Sean took a deep breath, shrugging out of his jacket and dropping it over the back of a chair. Then he stripped down to his boxers and tugged on the finely pressed black trousers. He’d just pulled the zipper up when the door opened.
Laurel Rand slipped inside and hurriedly closed the door behind her, turning to face him. For a moment she froze, staring at him mutely, her gaze dropping to his naked chest, then flitting back up to his face. His eyes met hers and for a moment he was struck again by her beauty. But then he forced himself to look at her rationally. She’d just learned her groom wouldn’t be attending the wedding, yet she’d seemed to accept the news without hysterics and tantrums.
Sean rubbed his hand over his abdomen, his muscles still tense from when she had punched him. Every instinct told him that Laurel Rand shouldn’t be trusted, but the money was just too good to resist. Ten thousand dollars didn’t fall into his lap every day. “Yeah,” he murmured. “I’ll do it.”
A tiny smile curled her lips and Sean took satisfaction in the knowledge that what he was doing had pleased her. She really was extraordinarily beautiful, especially when she smiled. Some might think her mouth a little too wide or her cheekbones too high. Taken alone, each feature of her face wasn’t all that pretty. But when put together, she had a beauty that he found arresting.
She slowly approached and handed him a folded piece of paper. “I wrote it all out,” she said. “And…and I wrote you a check. It’s dated for the day after tomorrow.”
He took the paper and the check, then grabbed the tuxedo jacket and put them both into the breast pocket. “Thanks.”
“Aren’t you going to read it?” Laurel asked.
He shrugged as he slipped into the pleated shirt. “I trust you.” Sean stared down at the front of the shirt. “No buttons,” he said.
“Oh, there are studs,” she said, grabbing up the garment bag and fishing around until she found a card. “Here.”
Sean fumbled to get one off the card, but his fingers were clumsy with nerves. It dropped to the floor and skidded beneath the chair. “I never could figure these things out,” he said, bending to retrieve the stud.
“Let me,” Laurel said, taking the errant stud from his fingers.
He stood in front of her, the shirt gaping open. When her fingers brushed his skin, a current of sensation rushed through him. He held his breath as she worked at the studs, trying to focus his thoughts on something other than a vivid fantasy of her smoothing her palms over his naked skin and brushing away the shirt altogether. Of her damp lips trailing across his—
She glanced up at him and Sean sent her a weak smile.
“Do they fit?” she asked.
“They?”
She sank down, picked up one of the black patent leather shoes, and held it out. Sean slipped it on his left foot and found it had to be two sizes too big. “They’ll be all right.”
“No,” she said. To his surprise, she reached down the front of her dress and came back with a wad of tissues. “Here. Stuff some into the toes.” She pulled out more tissue and tossed it over her shoulder. “I didn’t need the cleavage anyway.”
He bit back a chuckle. Her honesty was disarming. “Aren’t you nervous?” he asked.
“Why would I be nervous?”
“Aren’t all brides supposed to be nervous?”
She ran her hand over the front of his pleated shirt. “I’m not getting married today,” she said. “You saw to that.”
A trace of anger colored her voice and he immediately felt regret for his part in her distress. “I’m sorry,” Sean said. “But I think it’s for the best.” He paused. “Did you love him a lot?”
Her hand stilled on his chest and she fixed her gaze on the shiny pink paint on her fingernails. “I obviously didn’t know him,” she said in a resigned tone. Laurel forced a smile. “I suppose we should talk about what’s going to happen. You have been to a wedding before, haven’t you?”
“Quite a few lately,” Sean said, thinking of his married siblings.
“Good, then you know how it works. You’ll go up to the front of the church and wait for me at the altar.”
“Do I have a best man?”
“No,” Laurel said. “Edward phoned me last night to tell me his brother, Lawrence, couldn’t make it. He had a family emergency, something about his pregnant wife. But then, that might have been a lie. He probably doesn’t even have a brother.” She reached for his tuxedo jacket, then held it out for him. “It’s a traditional service. Short and simple. Just listen to the minister and repeat everything he tells you to.”
“I can do that,” Sean said, turning away from her.
She slipped his jacket over his arms, then smoothed her hands across his shoulders. “That’s not such a bad fit,” she said. “I need to go get my bouquet and to talk to the photographer, so I guess I’ll see you at the altar.”
Sean slowly turned back to face her. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
Laurel nodded, then started for the door. But she stopped before she opened it. “One more thing,” she said. “Can you act as if this is the happiest day of your life?”
“I can try,” he said.
She slipped out of the room. Sean grabbed the shoes and stuffed a wad of tissue in each of the toes. He found socks in the garment bag and quickly pulled them on before slipping into the shoes. He wanted to make this work for her. He wasn’t sure why. He only knew that she was in trouble and she’d asked for his help.
And there was something about her that drew him. He didn’t have to measure every word he said with Laurel. She’d been bluntly honest with him, told him what she needed and how she felt. He hated the games that went on between men and women, the coy looks and the subtle innuendo,
