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PROLOGUE

ROLAND’S FACE ACTUALLY ached fro, but he knew he had to keep it up Apart fro day—and of course Roland was delighted that Hugh had found the love of his life—he also knew that half the guests were re that Roland’s wife had been killed in a car accident nearly two years ago, and orrying that he was finding it hard to cope with today

As he’d said to Hugh at the altar, today had brought back good h and Bella would have a lot ether than he and Lynette had had—and none of the misery that they’d both kept secret, even from their family and their closest friends

He knew he ought to o and dance with the chief bridesh had opted to have two bestwith Bella’s sister right now, Roland knew that he couldn’t use that as an excuse If he didn’t dance with Grace, everyone would assu of Lynette, and the last thing he wanted right noas another dose of pity He’d had h of that after the crash

One dance He could do that All he had to do was ignore the fact that the ballroohts, creating the s about the chief bridesh the little he knew about her pressed all the wrong buttons Grace had been so drunk the first tih, that she’d thrown up over hi at the last minute Sure, everyone had an off day or made mistakes, but to Roland it sounded as if Grace was a spoiled princess who liked alcohol too much

And a spoiled, princessy drunk driver had shattered Roland’s life with her selfishness, nearly two years ago Having to be nice to a woman like that for even a few minutes really stuck in his craw But he’d do it for his best friend’s sake His best friend who, even noas dancing with his bride—and Roland was pretty sure that the glow around Hugh and Bella was due to hts This was real happiness

Which left hiht now Grace looked perfectly demure in her dark red bridesmaid’s dress with its ballerina skirt and sweetheart neckline, and she was even wearing flat shoes rather than spindly heels so she didn’t tower over the bride Though her dark hair was in a sophisticated up-do isps of hair curled into ringlets that frah-maintenance style—and her eyelashes had ht about the princessy tendencies And even Tarquin—who saw the good in everyone—had ad like sweet, bubbly little Bella

One dance, he reminded himself Do your duty and don’t let your best friend down

At the end of the song, he walked over to Grace and Tarquin ‘As the other best man, I believe the next dance is

‘It is indeed,’ Tarquin said, and clapped him on the shoulder ‘See you later, Grace’

‘See you later, Tarquin,’ she echoed, then turned to Roland ‘I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced yet I’m Bella’s sister, Grace You’re Roland, aren’t you?’

‘Yes’

‘Nice to meet you’ She held out her hand to shake his

Thinking, oh, please, just hurry up and let us get this over with, Roland took her hand and shook it And he was truly shocked to find a prickle of awareness running down his spine

Close up, Grace Faraday had the most incredible eyes: a deep cornflower blue Her mouth was a perfect cupid’s bow Her co that drew hi that made him feel protective

And that really threw him

Based on what he’d heard from the two people whose opinion he trusted most in the world, Roland had expected to dislike the woman Instead, he found himself attracted to her Attracted to someone he’d been sure was the last woman he’d ever want to date And he really didn’t knohat to do about it

‘It was a lovely wedding, wasn’t it?’ Grace said ‘And that song Hugh wrote for Bella—that was a’

‘M a coherent sentence together, and gave her his best attempt at a smile