Once Upon a Wedding / Accidental Princess: Once Upon a Wedding / Accidental Princess

He’d offered the same pitiful excuse as an explanation for using her, for taking advantage of her feelings, for making love to her and imagining Emily in her place.

Her ex-boyfriend had the grace to hang his head in shame but not enough sense to know when to give up. “Maybe if I could talk to her—” Matt pressed.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake, get over it!”

His eyes widened in surprise, but Kelsey felt a shock when the words sank into her soul, and she realized the real object of her anger. She was tired of feeling like a fool for believing his lies. Of accepting his unacceptable behavior. Of shouldering the blame for the failure of their relationship when Matt was at fault.

“Let it go, Matt, and move on. I have.”

Maybe that wasn’t entirely true. As far as love was concerned, she certainly wasn’t ready to take the plunge again, but might it be worthwhile to test the water?

“The lady asked you to leave.” Connor crossed his arms over his broad chest, suddenly seeming to take up twice as much space and ready to literally enforce her advice for Matt to move on.

With a single, pitiful glance at Kelsey, Matt shrank back into the shadows. She didn’t know if he’d heard a single word she said, but it didn’t matter. She’d listened.

“Man, you’ve had your work cut out for you, haven’t you?” Connor asked, once Matt had left. “How many of Emily’s exes have you had to deal with?”

Emily’s exes. Kelsey crossed her arms over her stomach, some of her earlier pleasure fading. The toe she’d stuck in the deep end felt chilled by frigid water. “So far, you’re the only one. Matt isn’t one of Emily’s ex-boyfriends. He’s mine.”

Kelsey didn’t know why she spilled that bit of information. It wasn’t as if she wanted Connor to feel sorry for her. She didn’t know what she wanted from him.

He kicked at the asphalt and glanced in the direction the other man had disappeared. “Hell, Kelsey, you shoulda told me that before. I wouldn’t have been so gentle.”

The unexpected comment startled a laugh from her. It bubbled inside, shaky at first but growing stronger until she felt lighter, buoyed by the emotion and perhaps the chance to let go of the past. “How exactly do you throw a man gently against a wall?”

“Gently means he gets to slink off under his own power. Not so gently requires an ambulance.”

“I guess Matt doesn’t know how lucky he was.”

“You’re right, Kelsey. Something tells me he has no idea.”

Certainty filled Connor’s deep voice. Just listening to him made her feel free from the shame and embarrassment that had held her down for so long. Stepping closer, he crooked a finger beneath her chin. “You okay?”

She nodded, feeling his finger slide along the sensitive skin beneath her jaw. “Yes.”

Concern gave way to relief and then anger. “You should have had someone walk you to your car. You have no idea what could happen—”

“Connor, I’m okay,” Kelsey interrupted, worried by the tension that was evident in the set of his shoulders. A tension that seemed rooted in a different incident from a different time. “I wasn’t in any danger.”

Exhaling a breath, Connor seemed to release the pressure building inside and shake off whatever memories had caught him in their grasp. “You still need to be more careful.”

True, Matt had startled her, coming out of the shadows the way he had, but he’d lost the power to hurt her long ago. And despite Connor’s warning that she should be more careful, he was the most dangerous threat around. His lethal charm tore through her defenses, and a question that should have come to her much, much sooner sprang to mind. “What are you doing here, anyway? How did you even know we’d be having dinner tonight?”

Connor glanced at the front of the restaurant. A frown darkened his expression before he shook his head and blew out a breath. “Well, I was following Todd.”

“What!”

“That’s how I knew he was at the restaurant,” he explained slowly, as if she had trouble keeping up. “So, tell me about dinner.”

“Not so fast. You first.”

“Okay,” he said agreeably. “I haven’t had dinner yet, and I’m starving!”

“I meant, tell me what you found following Todd.”

“I will, but I really am starving. Come on.” With a last look at the now-empty spot in front of the restaurant, he caught Kelsey’s hand and said, “Let’s go.”

“Go where?” she demanded even as she followed alongside, far too aware of the tingle that raced up her spine as his fingers entwined with hers. The innocent touch certainly shouldn’t have weakened her knees, but Kelsey could barely concentrate beyond the heat of his skin pressed to hers.

“To find someplace to eat.”

Despite the extreme heat during the day, the temperature had lowered with the sunset. A gentle breeze carried the scents and sounds of nearby shops: gourmet coffee, decadent chocolate, the rise and fall of laughter and the faint strains of jazz music.

A group of girls walked toward Kelsey and Connor, heading in the other direction. Tall and beautiful, long limbs left bare by short skirts and tank tops, their not-so-subtle glances at Connor quickly turned to confusion as they shifted to Kelsey.

She didn’t need a thought bubble over their heads to know what they were thinking: What is he doing with her? And after the run-in with Matt, Kelsey couldn’t stop that question from digging deeper and deeper.

“Hey.” Connor tugged at her hand. “You still with me?” he asked, as if he had somehow lost her interest.

“I’m here,” she said. Now if she could only focus on why she was there. “Did you find anything on Todd?”

Connor took his time answering, waiting until he’d found a casual dining restaurant with outdoor seating. Cooling misters hissed overhead, the sound blending with the distant strains of an acoustic guitar being played on an outdoor stage. After giving the waiter his order, Connor leaned back in his chair and said, “If I’d found anything, you’d be the first to know. Unfortunately, all he did was shop.”

“All afternoon?”

He laughed at her startled response. “I thought you’d be impressed.”

“Surprised is more like it,” she muttered, thinking of Todd’s excuse. Still, she hesitated before confessing, “Todd was late for dinner. He said it was because of a business meeting.”

“What? That five-second trip to his office this morning?” Connor scoffed.

“Maybe he didn’t want to tell Emily he’d gone shopping for her.”

“Except he was shopping for himself—unless Emily’s taken up imported cigars.” “Um, no.”

After a waiter dropped off glasses of ice water and Connor’s steak sandwich, he said, “What else?”

“It was dinner, Connor, not an inquisition,” she said as Connor dug in with both hands.

Truthfully, Kelsey hadn’t wanted to find anything. She wanted to believe Todd and Emily would have a beautiful wedding followed by a happy marriage. “It’s probably nothing but—” she paused, not believing her own words “—none of Todd’s family are coming to the wedding.”

“Did he say why?” he asked, sliding his plate of fries her way.

Kelsey shook her head at the offer and said, “His parents already had a trip to Europe planned, and his sister is pregnant and didn’t want to travel.”

Connor shrugged. “So it could be nothing.”

She blinked. Connor had jumped on even the slightest inconsistency in Todd’s behavior. She couldn’t believe he was letting this one go. “Are you serious? Can you imagine my aunt and uncle not showing up to Emily’s wedding?”

“Not every family is like yours.”

“Okay, fine. Forget the Wilsons. You might be the P.I. expert, but I’m the wedding expert, remember? And families always come to weddings!”

Connor’s gaze cut away from her as he balled a paper napkin between his fists, and Kelsey knew. This wasn’t about Todd’s family or her family or families in general. It was about Connor’s. A family she knew nothing about, one she couldn’t recall Emily ever mentioning.

“You know, I don’t think Emily’s ever talked about your family.”

“Why would she?”

Because, at one time or another, Emily had told Kelsey nearly everything about Connor. So much that Kelsey felt she’d known him long before she first caught sight of him at the airport. But she certainly couldn’t tell Connor how she’d listened to those stories the same way a teenager might pore over celebrity magazines for the latest gossip on the current Hollywood heartthrob.

“I don’t know. Maybe because if things had worked out like you’d planned, they would have been her family, too.”

Connor gave a rough bark of laughter. “Emily had enough family to deal with without adding mine to the mix. Besides, my parents died before I met Emily.”

The abrupt comment hit Kelsey in the chest, and she felt ashamed for pushing. She ached for his loss, an echo to the pain she still felt over the death of her own mother.

“Oh, Connor.” Her defenses crumbled to dust, and with her heart already reaching out, her hands immediately followed. The heat of his hands—strong, rawboned, and masculine—sent an instant jolt up her arms. Her heart skipped a beat at the simple contact, but it was the emotional connection that had her pulse picking up an even greater speed. For a second, as their eyes met, Connor looked as startled as she felt.

Taking a breath deep enough to force her heart back into place, she focused on the reason she’d dared touch him in the first place. “I’m so sorry. I lost my mom when I was sixteen. Do you want—”

“It was a long time ago,” he interrupted, jerking his hands out from hers in a pretense of reaching for his wallet to pull out a few bills. “I should get going. I’ll walk you back to your car.”

Stung by his abrupt withdrawal, Kelsey ducked her head before he could see the embarrassed color burning in her cheeks. Focusing on her purse, she searched for the keys she knew perfectly well were in the outside pocket.

“No need. I’ll be fine,” she insisted, and started walking. But if she thought she could out-stubborn Connor, he quickly proved her wrong.

“You will be fine,” he agreed, his light touch against her lower back a complete contrast to the steely determination in his voice. “Because I’m walking you to your car.”

Kelsey didn’t argue, even though Matt was probably long gone. Thanks to Connor, he’d learned his lesson. Too bad she had yet to learn hers. Because no matter what Connor said about how beautiful she was, actions spoke louder than words, and all the compliments in the world couldn’t erase the hurt of reaching out to Connor only to have him pull away.

Chapter Six

Early the next morning Kelsey stood outside her shop, gripping the key tightly enough to dig grooves into her palm. The unexpected phone call from her landlord couldn’t have come at a better time. She still had plenty left to do for Emily’s wedding, but she couldn’t think of Emily without thinking of Connor. And Kelsey definitely did not want to think of him. Last night, she’d felt a connection—that loss and difficult childhoods gave them something in common. But Connor didn’t want common.

He didn’t want her.

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