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She didn’t doubt that he had a lot to say to her on the subject of her heartlessness, but she had no desire to get into some long-distance slanging match about the choices she’d made ten years ago. It would only prolong the agony—and, although she despised herself for the weakness, she didn’t think she was quite strong enough yet to cope with his contempt—even from a distance of eight hundr
ed miles.
She shook off the depressing thought, and struggled to think of a way to deflect Reese gracefully. ‘What about asking Marnie to run interference with your tempting ex? She’s young, free and single—and she needs more practice than I do.’ She tilted her head as if assessing Dylan’s appearance—instead of measuring him against another man she couldn’t seem to forget. ‘And I bet he’d be her type.’
‘You are kidding, right?’ Reese did a double take. ‘Dylan’s exactly the opposite of her type. As you well know Marnie has a phobia of guys who command six-figure salaries and wear tuxes on a regular basis—something to do with the trauma of her debutante upbringing and having them thrown at her on a regular basis.’
Oh, yeah, there was that.
Reese gripped Gina’s arm to propel her towards the guys as Gina silently cursed Marnie and her Post-Traumatic Tux Disorder. ‘Come on, there’s no need to give him the full Gina today,’ she continued, sailing across the marbled hallway in full matchmaker mode. ‘We don’t want to blind him.’
* * *
The blushing bride arrived ten minutes later—in the nick of time to save Gina from slow death by polite conversation. Cassie’s low-cut silk dress looked incredible. The silver thread accenting the fabric shimmered in the afternoon light while the snug bias-cut displayed a figure that Cassie had hidden for far too long behind baggy T-shirts and jeans. But it was the expression on Cassie’s face as Tuck grasped her waist and swung her around in a circle that had tears threatening to ruin Gina’s mascara.
‘You look sensational, Cassiopeia!’ Tuck announced as his newly crowned Geek Goddess beamed with love and excitement.
The carefree laugh that floated across the antechamber brought forth memories of a certain wicked grin and seductive gaze that had once turned Gina into a giggler too.
She gnawed on her bottom lip—the abject feeling of loss warring with the foolish glow of nostalgia and starting to give her a tension headache.
Thank goodness, she would never lay eyes on Carter Price again or she’d be liable to turn into a complete basketcase.
But as the thought registered it was interrupted by Marnie’s choked whisper. ‘What’s my brother doing here?’
Gina’s head snapped up, her startled gaze focusing on a tall figure in a dark business suit weaving his way towards them through the other bridal parties waiting in the antechamber. Her mind steadfastly refused to acknowledge what her eyes were seeing, but as his gaze found hers the heavy weight pressing on her chest began to crush her ribcage.
‘Who is that guy?’ Tuck asked as he sent them all a questioning look. ‘He looks pretty mad about something and he’s headed this way.’
‘That’s Carter, Marnie’s brother,’ Reese said, stating the obvious. ‘Did you guys have a meeting?’ She turned to Marnie, who shook her head in confusion. He didn’t look pretty mad. Gina thought, her chest collapsing, he looked exceptionally mad—and his gaze was locked on her like an Exocet missile.
Cassie sent Gina a sympathetic look. ‘I’m not sure it’s Marnie he’s here to see.’
Gina wrapped her arms around her churning stomach as questions bombarded her from all sides.
‘Why is he staring at you, Gina?’ Marnie sounded wounded and confused.
‘Is something going on between you two, again?’ Reese’s voice rang out, urgent and concerned.
Gina shook her head but nothing would come out of her mouth. She could feel their worried looks but all she could see was Carter charging towards her and threatening to send her life into freefall again.
‘Cassie? Do you know?’ Reese’s anxious enquiry buzzed in her head.
Before Cassie could reply, Carter marched through the gathered throng and grasped her arm. Yanking her towards him, he snarled, ‘Why the hell didn’t you answer my emails, or my phone messages, or my damn texts, or the letter I sent with your stuff?’
‘Hey, buddy.’ Dylan was the first of her shocked friends to come to the rescue—which in some small part of her brain Gina thought was remarkably gallant of him, given that she’d almost bored him to death with her sub-par flirting. ‘Do you want to take your hands off the lady and ask her nicely?’
‘Butt out, Wall Street,’ Carter sneered back, not even sparing him a glance, his Southern manners apparently having gone the same way as his easy charm.
‘The hell I will,’ Dylan bristled, squaring up for a fight.
‘Calm down.’ Reese stepped in front of Dylan and touched Gina’s arm. ‘Gina, is everything okay?’
Gina managed a shell-shocked nod, all her focus on the pads of Carter’s fingers digging into her arm, and the glitter of temper in those painfully familiar blue eyes.
What was he doing here? Had he come all this way to humiliate her in front of her friends? Surely she didn’t deserve that? She tried to gather her outrage, her indignation, but she couldn’t stop trembling.
‘L-let go of me,’ she stammered, disgusted by the chatter of teeth. To her surprise, his fingers released and he stepped back to thrust a hand through his hair.
