Bolted (Promise Harbor Wedding) - By Meg Benjamin Page 0,1
in the church. She could approve of the sentiment in general but not when it was applied to her big brother’s wedding in particular.
“Gavin?” Allie blurted.
Greta narrowed her eyes. She sort of recognized the guy standing in the aisle, but not exactly. He was from the harbor—that much she was sure of. Named Gavin, according to Allie the Even More Perfect. Probably the same age as Josh and Allie, which made him too old for Greta to have hung out with in the past.
On the other hand, right now he looked a little like a refugee from the North Woods come to claim his mail-order bride. Beard, hair down to his collar, jeans, T-shirt, hoodie that was turning gray at the elbows. On second thought, he looked a lot like the Unabomber. Greta found herself edging discreetly to the side.
Josh’s expression was somewhere between shock and fury. “This is Gavin?”
Allie gave a jerky nod.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Josh snarled at the interloper.
Oh come on, it’s obvious what he’s doing. He’s breaking up your wedding. Greta studied the Unabomber wannabe more carefully. Maybe the guy was another marriage survivor trying to stamp out the whole practice. Or maybe he’d been left off the invitation list. Hell, if that was the problem, Greta would gladly have given him her own.
“I’m here to talk to Allie.”
Greta took another look at the North Woods refugee. Much as she loved her brother, she had to admit this Gavin had a certain…something. Which, of course, made his current actions even worse. Hunky guys were supposed to move on to the next girl instead of moving in on someone who was already taken.
Josh stepped between his fiancée and his competition. “We’re kind of in the middle of something.”
“Yeah, this can’t wait.” Gavin looked past Josh to Allie. “I need to talk to you. Now.”
Allie’s eyes were wide and she looked even more pale. Faint-at-any-moment pale. Greta stiffened. If Allie fainted, whose responsibility was it to catch her? Greta’s own hands were currently full of two bouquets. She wondered if she could toss them to one of the other bridesmaids in time to keep her almost-sister-in-law from hitting the floor.
On the other hand, given how much Allie had had to drink the night before, there was also a very good chance she might be throwing up soon. Greta really considered taking care of that to be somebody else’s responsibility. This wasn’t anything she’d seen discussed in the various wedding guides she’d consulted before her own little trip down the Aisle Straight to Heartbreak. Nobody had said the matron of honor was in charge of cleaning up after the bride’s mistakes.
Gavin started toward Allie, but Josh moved to block him. “I don’t think so, Gavin.”
Greta relaxed. At least one of the guys could catch the fainting bride if worse came to worst. And wherever Allie might be throwing up, it wouldn’t be anywhere near Greta. She went back to studying Gavin-the-interloper. Definitely hunky. He seemed to have that whole tough guy with a heart of gold thing going. The opposite of her ex, the shifty guy whose heart was actually made out of polystyrene.
She glanced at the front pews. Her mother had dropped her Kleenex for once. Her bright blue eyes were wide, her red lips pursed in a grimace. Greta guessed this wasn’t her idea of proper wedding procedure. She widened her survey to include the rest of the church. Holy crap, people were actually taking pictures of this fiasco. It looked like they were all going to end up on the Internet. Once this video hit YouTube, it should go viral in a matter of seconds.
“Listen, I can do this here in front of the whole town. I don’t mind. I’m leaving here with Allie one way or another. But I think keeping some of this private might be appropriate.” Gavin leaned around Josh to look at Allie. “I have some things I need to say before you say I do to another man, Al.”
So now he wanted privacy? After stomping down the aisle in front of the entire population of the harbor? Well, at least no one could suggest the guy didn’t have a pair, probably brass-plated too.
Josh sighed, lowering his own voice so that only the people at the front of the church could hear. “Don’t do this, Gavin. Haven’t you messed with her enough? Just let her be happy.”
“That’s exactly what I want to do. Is that what you want?”