go out with his baby sister. Kyle never did anything without a reason, and that reason was rarely favorable to Campbells.
At least the conversation had shaken Grant out of his self-pity and given him something to think about. He sure needed it.
“Go ahead and kiss the bride,” the minister said to Adam.
As Christina’s already wet eyes brimmed with fresh tears, Adam turned to Bailey, caressed her cheek, and pressed a kiss to her lips.
No one should really whoop in church, but the Campbell boys did it anyway. Even Carter grinned as Tyler, Grant, and Ross made noise, all of them happy for Adam.
Bailey, in her body-hugging white dress, white flowers in her hair, flushed as Adam’s kiss deepened. She brought her hand up to cup his neck, and the kiss went on.
Tyler laughed and the church filled with aws and whistles. The minister, who was a family friend, said, “Now, now, Adam. Time for that later.”
Christina, next to Bailey as her maid of honor, watched her sister with warmth in her heart. Bailey had gone through a long period of stress and misery, until Adam had come home. The pair’s feelings for each other had rekindled—more than rekindled. They’d built a bonfire. Adam and Bailey had needed each other; they’d come together and life was good.
Christina’s gaze flicked to Grant, who stood with Adam as best man.
Damn, but he looked good. Grant wore a tux, as all the brothers had today, though they’d insisted on cowboy boots. Grant’s coat stretched across broad shoulders, the suit hugging his lithe body.
As though he felt Christina watching, he turned his head and looked at her, his eyes so blue in his Texas-tanned face. Their gazes met, and Grant lost his smile.
Should have been us. The words whispered through Christina’s mind as though Grant had spoken them. Christina and Grant had lived together a long time before the breakup. They’d have made it permanent if they both hadn’t been so angry and stubborn.
And young, Christina thought. We were too young to be so serious about everything. Stupid decisions made in the heat of youth.
Grant’s mouth set in hard lines and one hand curled at his side. She wondered if he were thinking the same thing.
Grant’s brows pinched together. He moved his head the slightest bit, as though shaking it in the negative, and he pulled his gaze from hers. Christina looked away, steel fingers of hurt clamping around her heart.
Adam and Bailey finally stepped apart, neither looking ashamed of their passionate kiss. The minister, now that he had quiet again, pronounced the final blessing.
The organist played a fervent recessional as Bailey turned with her new husband and walked arm-in-arm with him back down the aisle.
Now came the part Christina had been dreading. As maid of honor, she was to take Grant’s arm, and let him lead her out.
They hadn’t practiced it at the rehearsal—Christina’s mother had said, Then Grant and Christina go out, but she hadn’t made them go through the motions.
Christina had been standing out of the way, in a cluster with the Malory girls. Grant hadn’t even looked at her.
Christina’s eyes were sandy from the bachelorette party—though she’d avoided the Jell-O shots, she’d done too much rollicking dancing with the guy dressed as a fireman, trying to erase the memory of the blond woman straddling Grant’s lap and kissing him. Hadn’t worked very well.
The stripper had been hot but once his stint was over, he’d simply packed up and gone home. Probably to his boyfriend, Lucy Malory had said regretfully.
Grant was looking at Christina now. Blue eyes like summer skies put a lump in her throat the size of a baseball.
He walked stiffly off the step that led to the altar rail and stuck out his arm. Christina, heart beating too fast, lightly put her fingers on his sleeve.
Even that one touch was a mistake. Christina felt the warmth of Grant through his coat, the vibrant power of him through the thin fabric.
Grant’s athleticism never ceased to amaze her. He was a large man, with muscles to match, yet he could leap onto and off of a horse with the grace of a big cat. He’d taken falls that would have seriously injured many a man, only to roll away and come up lightly on his feet.
That controlled power came to Christina now through her fingertips. She’d loved running her hands over his beautiful body when they’d lain together in the dark. She’d loved doing it in the heat of the afternoon,