The Perfect Bride - By Kerry Connor Page 0,27

him. “What about your family?” he challenged. “Why aren’t they here with you?”

“I don’t have any.”

He didn’t know if he should believe her. It could be a lie, like he suspected so many other things were that she’d told him, a ploy for his sympathy, to get him to back off. But something in the simple way she said it—without hesitation, without emotion—made him think she was telling the truth. “I’m sorry,” he said, and was surprised to find he meant it.

“It’s all right. I’ve had a long time to get used to it.”

“Well, you won’t have to be used to it much longer. Once you’re married, you and your husband will be your own family.”

“That’s true.”

I don’t believe it is, he was tempted to reply, but it was clear she wasn’t going to budge from that particular story anytime soon.

“You know, the other bride, Courtney Miller, didn’t have any family, either. That was one reason she was here alone. The wedding was just going to be her, her groom and some of their closest friends. Just like you.”

“I didn’t know that,” Jillian said after a beat, not slowly enough for him to tell if she was lying.

“Interesting coincidence.”

“There seem to be a lot of those going around,” she noted wryly. “It makes sense, though. It’s a lot easier to have a wedding in an out-of-the-way place with a small wedding party than it would be when you have a lot of people who’d have to travel. And when you don’t have a lot of family, it’s only natural you’d want to do something extra special for the wedding.” She paused again. “At least that’s how I thought about it.”

Adam almost shook his head. She had an explanation for everything, didn’t she?

They fell back into silence. Adam did his best to focus on the road, but no matter how hard he tried, he found his gaze kept drifting back to her, unerringly drawn by the sight of her out of the corner of his eye.

He didn’t know what it was about her that he found so compelling. She was beautiful, but it wasn’t as though he hadn’t met plenty of beautiful women in his lifetime. She was strong, but he’d encountered any number of strong women in the business world and gone toe-to-toe with them, and none of them had captured his attention like this. She was smart and quick-witted and fearless, all qualities shared by plenty of other people. But he’d never met the unique combination of those particular qualities that was Jillian Jones, and that made all the difference. And no matter how much he knew he should look away, he simply couldn’t.

The appearance of lights up ahead provided a welcome distraction. Adam looked at the road to see they’d finally arrived back at Sutton Hall, the building looming in front of them, lights blazing from its many windows.

He almost sighed, a sense of contentment falling over him. A year ago when he’d first seen it, he never would have imagined a place this massive and imposing could feel like home. Yet it did, the feeling stronger than ever each time he found his way back to it.

He circled the driveway and pulled up directly in front of the house. By the time he got out and rounded the vehicle to her side, Jillian was already climbing out.

Closing the door, she turned to face him. “Thank you for the ride.”

“You’re welcome,” he said. “You should call the rental company about your car.”

“I will.”

At the reminder of her vehicle, a flicker of worry passed over her features, and she looked vulnerable for a moment. He’d never seen her look that way before. Even when he’d confronted her last night in the tower bedroom and she’d stood there, dwarfed by the size of the room around her, the wind blowing against her, she hadn’t seemed vulnerable. She’d exuded confidence. She didn’t now.

He didn’t like it. It looked wrong on her. The urge was there to reach out and say something comforting, to do what he could to erase that look from her eyes.

Which was foolish, of course. He managed to hold himself in check. Having her worried was exactly what he should want to get her to call off this lie he was convinced she was perpetuating.

He took a step toward her, forcing her to tilt her head back slightly to look up at him, and hardened his tone. “About what I said before... I wasn’t kidding. Meredith is the