Shes having the baby! I need help. Fast.
Cecily felt like moaning. Eros had shot an arrow straight to her crotch. One look at Will and her heart had dropped to the tips of her unpedicured toenails. God help her, had he ever aged well.
Memories flooded back. That hair, short and tousled now. His shoulders had broadened and they held up a loose-fitting, short-sleeved white polo shirt that showed off muscled arms and a spectacular tan. Stone-colored pants hung casually off tight buns.
A shiver ran down her thighs. She felt hot and wet, and couldnt stem the sudden attack of heavy, dreamy lethargy. One look at him and shed fallen for him againdrippily, stickily in lust with a married man.
Dear Reader,
Speaking as one who has an out-the-car-window relationship with cows, I can easily see how life as a big-animal veterinarian in rural Vermont could have its limitations, even if you had eleven cats to keep you company. So I understood why Cecily Connaught would view an obligatory wedding weekend in Dallas as her time to break out, have a fling with a stranger. Nor was it difficult to imagine that Will Murchison, no matter how much he wants to be Cecilys weekend fling, could get a little distracted by the missing groom, his client, whom he suspects of tax evasion.
But how can these two encounter a host of problems, conflicting life goals and continual interruption and still manage to fall in love, all in twenty-four hours? Read on.
Cheers!
Barbara Daly
P.S. Share your twenty-four-hour romance story with me at bdalybooks@aol.com.
Books by Barbara Daly
HARLEQUIN TEMPTATION
859A LONG HOT CHRISTMAS
887TOO HOT TO HANDLE
953MISTLETOE OVER MANHATTAN
974WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT
HARLEQUIN DUETS
13GREAT GENES!
34NEVER SAY NEVER!
69YOU CALL THIS ROMANCE!?
ARE YOU FOR REAL?
Kiss & Run
Barbara Daly
www.millsandboon.co.uk
MILLS & BOON
Before you start reading, why not sign up?
Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!
SIGN ME UP!
Or simply visit
signup.millsandboon.co.uk
Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.
In loving memory of my own Cecily, who gave her family sixteen years of pure pleasure and unconditional love.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
1
KEEP THE CHANGE.
But lady, its a
Smallest the ATM had. Cecily Connaught got a grip on her luggage, leaped out of the taxi and ran hell-for-leather into the church foyer, narrowly avoiding collision with a person hauling a chicken-wire structure out of a florists van. Once inside, she halted for a moment, dizzied by the whirlwind of activity that surrounded her.
Cecily, is that you? Elaine Shipleys eyes were wide as she darted toward Cecily.
Now is not the time for chit-chat, said a woman wearing peach who followed closely behind Elaine. Youre late, she told Cecily.
At least shes here, said Elaine, which is more than I can say for
Now is not the time for gossip, said the woman in peach. Get out of those shoes and put these on.
But Apparently now was also not the time for protests. Someone took the bags out of her hands, sat her down, stripped off her comfortable, clunky sandals and slid her feet into a pair of mother-of-pearl satin stilettosinstant Misery by Manolo.
You must rehearse in the shoes, Miss Peach said firmly, hauling Cecily to her feet. We dont want any klutziness going down the aisle tomorrow. Now that youre here we have to get started, she muttered. I dont give a damn who else is missing.
She got a tourniquet-strength hold on Cecilys arm and rushed her over to a group of women. Cecily took one look at them and segued from dazed to fashion-panicked. They were perfectly made up and coiffed and were wearing cute little skirts, short but not too short, that showed off endless, thin, tanned legs and were topped with belly shirts that revealed flat, tanned tummies. In the long, droopy bachelors-button-printed sundress shed bought at the Blue Hill Thrift Shop when Vermont had an unprecedented heat wave and it got too hot for jeans, she was hands down the worst dressed among them. Her careless appearance explained Elaine Shipleys wide eyes. If Cecilys mother had been there, she would have died of shame.
But then, her mother had vegetated into a person who was incapable of understanding any choice Cecily made, especially her choice to be a veterinarian instead of afashion designer, maybe?
The maid of honor, Miss Peach said with a note of triumph in her voice, is present and accounted for.
A dark-haired beauty at the center of the group, whirled, and her eyes widened just as her mothers had. Cecily? Cecily! she said and pulled Cecily into a bear hug.
The bride, Sally Shipley, daughter of Elaine, was dressed even more sedately than her entourage and even more perfectly pulled together. Cecily got as far as saying, Sally, its been a long before Miss Peach, who had to be the wedding planner, interrupted.
No time for reminiscence. Much like a gravel truck, she scooped up all of them and hustled them down the aisle, shoving them into place. Leave a space, she said to Cecily. The matron of honor hasnt shown up yet. Reverend Justice, she commanded the cleric who already stood facing an imaginary crowd, go for it. Ill bring in the others when they choose to grace us with their presence. Her voice dripped annoyance.
The bride grabbed her groom by the elbow. This is Gus, she whispered to Cecily.
Cecily held out a hand. Nice to meet
No introductions now. Miss Peach practically yelled the words, then sprinted up the aisle.
Sally meekly turned toward the minister, who intoned, Dearly beloved
Feeling dizzy and disoriented, Cecily shifted her weight from one aching foot to the other. The rest of the wedding party might be dearly beloved by each other, but she wasnt even dearly beloved by the bride, whose maid of honor shed foolishly agreed to be. Barely remembered was more like it.
But however reluctant to be in the wedding of a woman she hadnt been friends with since they were five years old, she now had a mission, one she could start on while the wedding party was
gathered here today to share with Sally and Gus that most sacred moment when they join their lives in holy
Hell. Marriage was such a crock. It was a mistake Cecily didnt intend to make. Shed never do what her mother had donegive up a career to marry a man who largely ignored her.
Her father. He didnt understand Cecilys choices, either, the only difference being that he didnt particularly care. He loved only one thing, making
that most honored of all commitments, most binding of all vows, to love, honor and cherish
news in the academic world by writing brilliant papers in his field, finance. Her mother had wanted her to be a socialite. Her father had wanted her to go into marketing. No wonder shed chosen to hang with cows.
Cecily took a deep, calming breath. She was in a bad mood because her mother had conned her into accepting Sallys maid-of-honor position. Because shed had to get up at four this morning in the frosty cold of May in Vermont to make it to the searing heat of May in Dallas for the rehearsal. But most of all because the four-inch heels with long, witchy toes were killing her feet. Not even a mature, professional woman, a large-animal vet, for heavens sake, could go from thirty degrees to ninety-plus, from Teva sandals to torture devices, and still stay grounded.
But as Sallys maid of honor, she had to act nice. Shed always acted nice, and this was no time for a personality change. Besides, this was merely the rehearsal. Sally, who was doing the wedding two-step for the second time aroundas if the disastrous first time hadnt taught her a lessonstill had twenty-four hours to come to her senses. With any luck, Cecily might be able to kiss these shoes goodbye after one wearing.
And she had her mission to accomplish. Thered once been a boy who might have changed her mind about love and marriage, and with any luck at all, he was here right now, standing in the line of groomsmen winging out behind Gus. Through pure serendipity, this weekend might be her second chance with him. She zeroed in on the last groomsman in the line.
He had bleached light blond hair cut short and charmingly disheveled. Blue eyes. Stone-colored chinosHugo Boss. White polo shirtCalvin Klein. Burgundy loafersGuccino socks. She knew the designers because the logo was visible on each piece of clothing. He was cute but definitely not Will Murchison. Too bad.
It wasnt that she was hoping she and Will would fall in love and start planning their own wedding. Now that she was a sensible, career-oriented adult, she was determined never to marry, never to make the mistake her mother had made, giving up her own career in business to follow her father from one university position to a better one. All Cecily wanted was a weekend fling with a boya man by nowshe had, for some odd reason, never quite forgotten.
The memory had come back like the crash of waves on the shore when she had finally, on the plane this morning, looked at the wedding itinerary and seen Wills name on the list of groomsmen. That boys name was Will Murchison. Shed heard him say he was from Dallas, and until the afternoon in the groundskeepers cottage, the most exciting thing hed ever said to her was, I rode her pretty hard. Give her a good rubdown, okay?
Hed been talking about a horse. He was a senior at Exeter, the prestigious boys school, while she was a senior at a day school in Boston and, because she was already intrigued by the idea of being a veterinarian, worked weekends at the stables where he rode.
She hadnt said more than two words to him. She might have opened a conversation by telling him shed been born in Dallas, for heavens sake. She might have mentioned that her parents still had friends there. She might have dropped the names of those friends, looking for a connection, and they would probably have found one. But no. She was too shy, too awed by him, to do anything but goggle and occasionally stammer, Youre welcome, because he always said, Thanks, with a smile that shot heat through her from head to toe.
She eyed Groomsman Number Three, looking for that sexy smile. Blue eyes. Khaki chinosCalvin Klein. Yellow polo shirtLacoste. Sandalsmore Gucci. No socks, naturally. Was it possible his hair had blond highlights? But no sexy smile. He wasnt Will, either. The odds were diminishing.
Will had usually been surrounded by a gaggle of horse-crazy, man-crazy girls, but that stormy afternoon when shed been sent out to find him on the trail and lead him to shelter, theyd been alone, and hed tried to kiss her. Instead of accepting a dream come true and kissing him back, whatever the cost, shed fled out into the storm. The school year had ended and shed never seen him again. And nobody like himoozing with an overabundance of adolescent testosterone and still kind and mature for his agehad come along to take his place.
She looked over the second groomsman. Dirty-blond hair and green eyes. The sunglasses perched on top of his head had the Gucci logo on the earpiece. He wore running gear that was covered in logos and sweat and, like her, he wasnt paying attention to the minister. He was too absorbed in his cool-down stretches.
All the groomsmen had fashion-victim facial hair, Numbers Three and Four with cheeks unshaven and Number Two with a manicured goatee.
They all looked alike, but none of them looked in the least like the Will she remembered. Murchison was an important Texas name. There might be dozens of Will Murchisons. Now disappointment washed through her. But in front of Groomsman Number Two was a wide, empty space. The wedding planner had said something about people missing. There was still hope.
Faint hope. Will had come into her life a gazillion years ago, but she hadnt been able to stop herself from thinking what if. What if shed let him kiss her? The psychiatrist her mother had forced her to see had said she was using the memory of him as an excuse not to get involved with anyone else and had suggested in a most un-Freudian way that Cecily should get over it.
Obedient as always, she had. She was happy with her lifes plana successful career and a succession of lovers. The career part was going fine. As for the succession of lovers, she was tanking. And that, of course, was why shed been so excited to see Wills name on the roster of wedding attendants.
If they connected this weekend, there was always the possibility she might be able to use the opportunity to catch up on her sex life. It wasnt shoes, sleepiness or submission to her mothers will after all, she decided. It was her deprived and complaining libido that had put her in a bad mood.
But what if Will did show up among the missing? Why hadnt she spent a little time in New York checking out current fashion and then bought some of it? And some decent underwear! She shuddered just thinking about the white cotton bras and panties she bought three to a pack at the Ben Franklin store in Blue Hill, Vermont. This might be her chance to