Prologue
Cicadas buzzed in the trees outside the small church and warm June sunlight poured through the high arched windows. The sky looked clear and as blue as forget-me-nots.
Brady McLeod’s chest tightened as he stood looking down the long aisle between the pews. The air smelled of the abundant pink roses and carnations and the musty smell of the church that was as old as the town of King Creek, Arizona.
He’d finally done it—he’d decided to take the plunge with a woman he’d grown up with and had known since he was three years old. Elena Garcia was smart and beautiful, and everyone said they made a good match.
She had a firecracker temper and a streak of impatience a mile wide, but Brady’s laid-back personality balanced out their relationship. He was looking forward to their honeymoon cruise in the Bahamas and spending the days on white sand beaches eating his fill of fresh seafood and drinking Mai Tais.
It was hard to believe that pretty soon he’d have a wife. He had a ranch of his own that he would have up and running in no time, and she could give the home a woman’s touch. Elena liked to shop, so no doubt she’d fix up the place on the inside while he worked on the outside. She wasn’t much of an outdoors woman, but in relationships you had to compromise.
Colt, one of his four brothers and Brady’s best man, leaned closer. “About time, bro. First comes marriage, then comes?—”
The music they’d picked for the bridesmaids started, jarring Brady, and cutting off Colt. Brady’s guts twisted into knots and his heart thrummed as he waited for the woman he was about to marry to come walking down the aisle behind her bridesmaids.
The song continued and his heart only beat faster. He never knew it could take the women so much time to come out of the back chamber and head down the aisle.
He sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Not long and he’d be a married man.
It appeared like every person in the church now looked over their shoulders, and murmurs shuffled around the room. The organ player missed a key, and the murmurs grew louder.
Brady held back a frown. Where were Elena and her bridesmaids?
The rear door opened and a blonde in bubblegum pink with pink flowers in her hair strode down the aisle, her jaw set—his younger sister, Haylee.
His heart dropped as he watched his sister grasp the skirts of her bridesmaid gown in her fists and hurry toward him.
Haylee reached him, her cheeks flushed with anger. She blew out her breath, her harsh words following. “Elena up and left for the airport. She’s going to Austria to be with a man she met on the Internet.”
Brady’s gut bottomed out.
The organ player crashed to a stop.
The entire assembly went so quiet you could have heard a church mouse’s squeak.
The preacher let out a humph of disapproval.
Colt grasped Brady’s shoulder. “I’m so damned sorry, Brady.”
Brady barely heard him as Haylee’s words bounced around the insides of his skull.
Elena had jilted him at the altar.