Forever His Bride. Lisa Childs

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      Bestselling, award-winning author Lisa Childs writes paranormal and contemporary romance for Harlequin/ Silhouette Books. She lives on thirty acres in west Michigan with her husband, two daughters, a talkative Siamese and a long-haired Chihuahua who thinks she’s a rottweiler. Lisa loves hearing from readers, who can contact her through her Web site, www.lisachilds.com, or snail mail address, P.O. Box 139, Marne, MI 49435.

      To Al & Kim—couldn’t have gotten this one done

       without your help! Thank you!!!

      Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Chapter Twelve

      Chapter Thirteen

      Epilogue

      Chapter One

      As the first notes of the wedding march played, Dr. Joshua Towers closed his eyes. His gut twisted, and a wave of dizziness washed over him. God, he’d made a mistake. A terrible mistake.

      The music stuttered, the verse died away, and a murmur arose from the guests. Had the old lady playing the organ had a heart attack? He lifted his lids and looked over at the woman, who wore a wide-brimmed hat bedecked with flowers. Although her hands were frozen above the keys of the old organ, she appeared fine. Her gaze met his, then slid away.

      Josh turned toward the pews in front of him, noting all the people watching him as he waited at the altar. Like the organist, their gazes dropped from his. What the hell…? Weren’t they supposed to be facing the back of the church, where the bride was about to come down the aisle, holding the arm of her older brother, who was giving her away?

      But Molly’s brother stood alone in the aisle. Unlike everyone else, Clayton McClintock wasn’t staring at Josh. The dark-haired man focused instead on one of the bridesmaids, probably the blonde. Josh turned toward the bridesmaids, too, but his attention was drawn to the red-haired maid of honor.

      Brenna Kelly returned his look, her wide green eyes warm with concern. For him? Despite weeks of e-mails and phone calls regarding the wedding, she barely knew Josh. But then again, she probably knew him better than his bride did. Brenna had been the one handling the wedding details. He’d thought his bride had been too busy, but maybe she just hadn’t cared. Did Brenna Kelly care?

      As she drew in a shaky breath, her breasts strained the bodice of her strapless red satin dress. The red should have clashed with her bright auburn hair, waves of which flowed around her bare shoulders. But instead the crimson satin highlighted her alabaster skin, glowing with myriad colors from the sunlight streaming through the arched stained-glass window behind them.

      Guilt tightened the knots in his stomach and he closed his eyes in shame, breaking the connection between himself and Brenna Kelly. There he was, in church, about to marry another woman. It didn’t matter that Molly McClintock had apparently changed her mind. Josh had no business ogling his fiancée’s best friend, her maid of honor. Maybe he had no honor.

      A hand closed around Josh’s shoulder, squeezing. “God, man, I’m sorry,” the best man murmured in a hoarse whisper.

      Josh turned his head toward his friend and narrowed his eyes, trying to gauge Dr. Nick Jameson’s sincerity. He’d known Nick since they were in preschool, and together they’d fought playground bullies, chased girls and crammed all night for tests. Because they’d known each other so long, they were more like brothers than friends, so they were always honest with each other. Nick had thought that Josh was even crazier for proposing to a woman he hadn’t known that long than he’d been in marrying his first wife, who’d left Josh when their twin boys were just babies. Nick had been right about both women. But he was such a good friend that he genuinely was sorry.

      Clayton, the brother of the bride, finally tore his attention from the blond bridesmaid, Abby Hamilton. At the rehearsal dinner the Kellys had hosted, Josh had met everyone in the wedding party except for the one groomsman who’d backed out. Now Clayton addressed the guests. “The wedding is going to be slightly delayed,” he announced. “The bride is not quite ready yet, so we appreciate your patience. Thank you.”

      Finally, his eyes full of regret, Clayton faced Josh. He knew this was not going to be just a slight delay. The bride wasn’t ever going to be ready to marry him.

      Abby, probably anxious to see if her friend was all right, took off down the aisle at a run. As Clayton caught up with her and slowed her to a trot, the music resumed. Josh’s four-year-old twins, Buzz and TJ, in their black tuxedoes, ran after Abby, probably thinking a game of tag had begun. When the rest of the wedding party filed out, leaving Josh standing alone at the altar, he realized he was it. The loser who still couldn’t catch a bride after the first one he’d caught ran away. He’d been dumped once after the altar, and now, this time, before.

      A woman’s hand wound through his arm, tugging him toward the aisle. He hadn’t been left alone. The maid of honor led him out of the sanctuary, past all the gawking guests. While the pews on both the bride’s and groom’s sides were equally full, only a few of the guests were there because of him. So he wasn’t too embarrassed at being stood up. In fact, his heart lifted. The pressure on his chest, which had been there ever since he’d proposed to a woman he hadn’t known that well, finally eased.