The woman had the kind of beauty that had always made her feel inadequate, as though she shouldn’t be standing anywhere near this person. She did her best to hide it, pasting on a smile and meeting Haley’s eyes long enough to not seem rude.
Jessica Burke was also beautiful, but that wasn’t what Meredith immediately noticed about her. It was the hostility glittering in the woman’s dark eyes as she stared back at Meredith, her lips compressed in a thinly concealed frown. Meredith barely managed to keep from frowning herself. She didn’t remember Jessica well from school, was pretty sure they’d never said two words to each other. She couldn’t imagine what the woman would have against her.
Before she could figure it out, several more figures suddenly burst through the doorway. Meredith quickly took stock of the newcomers as they began casting off layers like the women had. She recognized Alex Corbett, having worked with him on the school paper back in college. He’d gone on to become a respected journalist, making quite a name for himself as an investigative reporter. He was going to be officiating the ceremony. The man beside him had to be Greg Radford, she guessed, remembering the name of the best man from the guest list. The man behind them pulled off the scarf covering his face, revealing Scott Pierce, Rachel’s fiancée, a tall man with dark hair and eyes.
But it wasn’t the groom-to-be who grabbed her attention.
It was the man behind him, brushing snow from the hair that was as blond and thick as the last time she’d seen it. Everything inside her went utterly still.
Tom Campbell.
Recognition slammed into her like a blow to the chest. His was a name, a face she hadn’t thought of in years, had actually forgotten somehow. As soon as she realized that fact it seemed impossible to believe.
In an instant, she was eighteen again, staring across a crowded room at the most beautiful boy she’d ever seen in her whole life, everything within her freezing as it did now.
How many times had she stood exactly like this, staring at him, unable to look away....
Desperately hoping he’d notice her.
Terrified that he would, not wanting to see the look on his face when someone that beautiful cast his eyes on her.
He hadn’t noticed her, of course. Then, or ever. Why would he? He was beautiful. And she was...
Her.
No, when someone had finally noticed her, it had been Brad.
And her nightmare had begun.
Meredith tried to shake the onslaught of memories even as the emotions they raised threatened to rack her body. She didn’t have time to go down that path. Not now. Not ever, really.
She’d just begun to get a grip on her emotions when Tom Campbell suddenly raised his head.
For the first time, his eyes met hers. And her heart suddenly, stupidly, stopped dead in her chest.
He was somehow even better-looking than he’d been before. But of course, he’d only been a boy then, all of eighteen or nineteen. The years had added maturity to his face, deepening its character, wiping away all traces of boyishness. The face before her was a man’s, his jaw strong, his features lean and chiseled. The eyes were the same, though, still a deep, startling blue, the color so rich it seemed she could lose herself in them if she looked long enough.
His lips curved upward slightly in a polite but vague smile, as if she was a stranger.
Which she was to him, of course.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” Rachel suddenly said, jolting Meredith’s attention away from the man who’d held it so fully. Meredith realized she’d probably been staring. Oh, God, she hoped she hadn’t been staring....
Grimacing apologetically, Rachel gestured toward Tom. “Meredith, I hope it’s not a problem, but there’s been a small change in plans. This is Tom Campbell, Scott’s best man.”
Meredith didn’t have to fake her surprise. “Oh, I thought— His name wasn’t on the guest list....”
“Campbell was my first choice, but he originally couldn’t make the date, so Radford was going to stand in,” Scott explained with a nod toward the third man who stood a few feet away. “But at the last minute Campbell was able to make it after all.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to let you know beforehand that there’d be an extra guest,” Rachel said. “It really was last-minute and I had so many other things to keep track of....”
“I hope it won’t be an imposition,” Tom said, his voice so warm and deep she