LITMIR.BIZ

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companion, anyway.”

      “I know you didn’t. But I am hopeful that, in time, we might be friends instead.”

      Alice eyed her warily. She obviously didn’t trust Gia any more than Landen did.

      “Be a good wife to him.”

      Gia blinked at Alice’s candor.

      “He’s my brother, and I love him. Promise me you will not hurt him.” Alice’s voice dipped so low Gia barely heard her. “I could not bear to see him hurt again.”

      “Again?”

      Alice fidgeted with her hands. “He was jilted on the eve of his wedding day.”

      Gia stared, speechless. “He…when?”

      “It happened several years ago,” Alice said. “Her name was Isobel Harrison, and Denny met her while away at school. On the night before the wedding, Denny received a message from her parents informing him that she’d married another man. Denny never speaks of it and would hate that I’m speaking of it with you, but I felt you should know.”

      The depth of Alice’s sorrow and love for her brother ached through the hollow void in Gia’s soul. She missed her own brothers so much. Their smiles and laughter, their lively eyes filled with all their hopes for the future. She stiffened against her rising grief. “Thank you for telling me, Alice.”

      “We’ll be sisters soon,” Alice said. “And although I’ve no choice in the matter, I am willing to give you a chance, so long as you’re a good wife to Denny. My brother is not perfect. Even under the best of circumstances, he’s loathe to show it, but he does have a heart. A good heart.” Alice straightened her spine and met Gia’s eyes. “If you do anything to hurt him, Gia, I shall never forgive you.”

      The fire in her eyes proved she meant it. Alice had a bit of her aunt Clara in her, and her warning to Gia hit home.

      “Alice! Gianna!” Clara’s voice grew louder. “Where are—Oh, there you are,” she said as she poked her head between the open glass doors. “Come inside now, ladies. Our guests are arriving.”

      Alice blanched, clasping her hands as though about to unravel.

      “You’ll do fine, Alice,” Gia said with a smile of reassurance. “I’ll be right at your side.” Gia stood and held out her hand.

      Alice remained firmly planted.

      Gia’s heart sank. Even now, in the throes of her crippling shyness, Alice spurned Gia’s aid. “Alice?”

      With a huff, Alice finally took Gia’s hand.

      But the girl’s desperate act did little to close the awkward distance between them as they walked inside to receive their guests.

      * * * *

      Landen watched Gia from across the patio. On the outside, she seemed perfect. Gracious and lovely and chaste. He frowned. Unlike the fools she was charming, he knew better.

      She sat with Alice on a bench in the corner, engaged in conversation with one of the young men loitering around them. Alice remained as stagnantly silent as the potted plant on the table beside her, but the look of stark terror she’d worn earlier had diminished to an expression of acute discomfort. A definite improvement for Alice.

      At least Gia’s presence would be good for one of them.

      The male attention Gia was drawing might be a benefit to Alice, and yet Landen found he didn’t like it. For all he knew, Gia was a cheat as well as a liar. The fear of being humiliated again by a cheating woman clenched in his gut.

      Recollection of his last meeting with Gia fueled his unease. That she had appeared so distressed about marrying him confused him. Vexed him. Made him want to marry her just to spite her.

      “She’s lovely, Denny.”

      Landen turned, surprised by Charlotte’s presence. He’d broken the news of his engagement to Charlotte the other night, and she’d taken it as well as expected. He’d ended their affair prior to being caught in his room with Gia, but reiterating this detail to Charlotte had done little to soften the blow.

      While he’d taken a risk by trusting Charlotte with the truth of the matter, he felt he owed her that much. She’d never struck him as a vindictive woman, and despite her obvious disappointment about his upcoming marriage, he knew her well enough to know she’d maintain a dignified silence for her own sake, as well as his.

      “I didn’t think you’d come,” he said.

      Charlotte shrugged. “My curiosity got the best of me,” she said. “Besides, my mother will want to know all about her, and I’ll have to tell her something.”

      Landen stiffened at the reminder. Charlotte was understandably upset, but her mother would be furious. Maude Devenshire wanted Landen to marry Charlotte and had made no secret of this desire to anyone who would listen. Maude’s aspirations for her widowed daughter were a force to be reckoned with. The only thing Landen had dreaded more than the bane of marriage was the bane of a mother-in-law like Maude Devenshire.

      He glanced to Gia, stung by the irony he’d dodged one bullet only to be struck by another.

      But Gia had no mother—no family—and Landen couldn’t help pitying her for that. A woman alone in the world was a vulnerable target. He feared to imagine his sister’s plight in the absence of his protection. Yet even in the most desperate of circumstances, he couldn’t image Alice would trap a man into marriage as Gia had.

      “Cheer up, Denny,” Charlotte said. She placed a hand on his arm. “If I can manage a smile today, so can you.” She tilted her head. “I’m looking forward to meeting her.”

      Landen frowned. Introducing his former mistress to his fiancée was not a task that he relished. While he had faith in Charlotte’s diplomacy, their affair had been no secret, and people talked. He wondered how much Gia had heard. Not that he gave a damn. She’d schemed to marry a total stranger and would have to live with the consequences. He took a breath to manage his spiteful emotions. He wasn’t a cruel man by nature, which, at present, seemed more than Gia deserved.

      With any luck, she’d atone for what she’d done to him by maintaining propriety. The illusion of it, at minimum. If nothing else, he hoped to be spared the endless melodrama his father had endured. His mother’s erratic behavior, the tirades and rants that had punctuated her public appearances and caused terrific sensations, had nearly destroyed his father. And still the man had loved her more than he’d ever loved his second wife.

      Landen thought about his own past. After all these years, the memory of Isobel’s face had become as vague and intangible as his love for her had. All that remained of that infatuation was self-loathing and the brutal reminder that he’d been a fool.

      He inhaled a sharp breath, arming himself to the teeth with the truth. Marriage was not the ruination of men. Love was.

      * * * *

      Hours later Gia was still reeling with what Alice had confided to her about Landen’s past. He’d been jilted. No wonder he hated Gia for trapping him into marriage. Gaining his trust would be a daunting feat, but she’d not dwell in hopelessness now.

      She scanned the assembly of people around her. The suspects. Some were summer guests in town, others year-round residents of Misty Lake, but all were the upper echelon of society. Clara had introduced her as a dear friend of the family, preferring to wait until all the guests had arrived before making the engagement announcement.

      As Gia sat planted with Alice in the corner, she watched Landen closely and kept her attention well honed. She quickly discovered she wasn’t the only one who was drawn to Landen. There wasn’t a moment since the party began that he didn’t have someone at his ear. Presently, that someone was a pretty woman with an affinity for touching his arm.

      “Who’s that woman with your brother?” Gia asked.

      Alice

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