The Wedding Pact Box Set - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,41

not.

“Megan.” He pulled her to a halt. “Hold on for a second.”

She stopped in front of him, looking up at him with questioning eyes. She was so agonizingly close, and she looked so vulnerable. All he wanted to do was take her in his arms and kiss her, assuring her that everything would be okay . . . but he couldn’t. He wasn’t sure everything would be okay once the dust finally settled.

“Give me a minute, okay?” he asked, certain she would afford him the time she thought he needed to collect himself. He felt less guilt over this small duplicity. It was for her benefit, so he could live with it.

They were still holding hands, he suddenly noticed. He thought about dropping his hold, but couldn’t seem to let go. “She’ll get over it,” he finally said.

She let out a deep breath, then forced a smile. “I’m not so sure.”

“Libby will smooth things over.”

Her smile turned genuine. “Yeah, she can’t stand it when we fight.”

“I like Libby.” He reached his free hand around Megan’s back and pulled her to his chest before he realized what he was doing. Touching her was as natural as breathing, and while that was dangerous, he didn’t much care at the moment.

She relaxed into him, resting her cheek on his chest.

They stood still for nearly a minute, and with every ticking second, Josh felt more and more certain this woman was different than every other woman he had ever met. The question was what did he do with that information? He didn’t see any way to achieve a positive outcome.

Nicole Vandemeer poked her head through the back door. “There you are! Aren’t you too precious, stealing a moment for yourselves? You can hug later. Your father wants you out here for an official introduction.”

Josh wasn’t fooled. The introduction had to be Nicole’s idea, but at the moment he was Nicole Vandemeer’s golden boy, and he wasn’t about to say a word.

Chapter Ten

Josh dropped his arm but held Megan’s hand again, lacing their fingers together. She liked it more than she should, just like she’d felt when he was holding her. Somehow he’d known she couldn’t handle facing her mother’s friends immediately after her run-in with Blair. The confrontation had upset her more than she was willing to admit to either of them. Josh had used the excuse of needing a moment for himself, but she wasn’t fooled. He’d done it for her. In the entire time she’d known Jay Connors, he’d never once been intuitive about her feelings, and this man she’d known for less than a day could see right through her.

She looked up at him, suddenly feeling shy, although she wasn’t sure why.

He gave her a warm smile that reached his eyes, filling her with reassurance. “We want to keep Knickers happy, don’t we?”

She laughed. “You picked up on that quick.”

He didn’t answer as they headed out onto the deck. All the guests were still in the process of being ushered down to the patio around the pool. Her mother led Megan and Josh to the railing that overlooked the yard. Her father stood to the side, looking embarrassed and totally out of his element.

Megan’s mother cleared her throat, a delicate sound that garnered everyone’s attention anyway. “We’d like to thank you all—our dearest friends—for coming to celebrate the engagement of our only daughter, Megan Nicole Vandemeer.” She paused and gave Megan her best fake smile, a look convincing enough to fool ninety-nine percent of the people she met, but not her own daughter. Then she turned back to the crowd. “Bart would like to say a few words.”

Megan looked down at the sixty or seventy faces of her mother’s dearest friends, who stood around the pool and spilled into the edges of the yard. She’d only seen three of those faces before tonight. Libby, a hopeless romantic who was currently glowing with excitement. Her grandmother, who looked like she was privy to some private joke. And Kevin, still manning his position at the bar while he shot daggers of contempt at the man standing next to her.

If she could ignore the fact that her mother had set this up—and, of course, all the blatant Disney references—the view in front of her was breathtaking. The sky had darkened, and the floating candles on the water and the candle chandelier hanging from the tent emitted a magical golden glow. If she were a woman prone to falling for romance, this display would have