Chapter One

     If Garrett Tucker was a betting man, he would have laid odds on his making it to the altar before Rhett. Neither of which he thought would ever happen. He cracked open the door of the vestry to peer out at the growing crowd inside the church. The sanctuary was already half-filled on both sides with more guests streaming in, all escorted to open pews by Rhett’s ushers. No sign of Lily or her maid of honor Tammy or her bridesmaids yet in the outer narthex from what he could see through the propped-open doors.

     Eyeballing the wedding attendees, Garrett spied many of his own friends and business associates. No surprises there since his best friend and boss, Rhett Buchanan, was the groom du jour. The first row on either side looked a bit bereft. Neither Rhett nor his bride, Lily Foster, had parents, aunts, or uncles still alive. The next few rows on the bride’s side were full—Lily’s friend, Rob, and a slew of familiar faces Garrett recognized from his numerous trips to her Bloom & Grow Nursery. As he scanned Lily’s rows, he noticed a woman at the end of the third row suddenly turn back around from searching the seated guests behind her.

     Garrett stilled.

     He knew that face, yet he didn’t.

     Her shoulder-length brown hair shifted like silk with her movement. Not beautiful in the classical sense, like magazine supermodels, she was beautiful in a unique sense . . . that fit just her. He could not stop staring.

     As though she felt his gaze, the brunette glanced up and smiled. The jolt of awareness hit Garrett so hard that it almost took his knees from beneath him. She had to feel it too. He stared into the most incredible blue eyes he had ever seen, like the sun-brightened sea in the Bahamas, almost a turquoise blue. Blue eyes that made him think of lazy days out on the water. Or swimming naked . . .

     Whoa! Where had that come from?

     The beauty blinked—twice—as though stunned, and her amazing smile slid to an all-out grin. Is she thinking the same thing I am? Dimples peeked out from her cheeks. Of course, the beauty would have dimples. Garrett hadn’t thought this blue-eyed girl could look more beautiful, but she just did.

     “Well? How’s it look out there?” Rhett asked impatiently.

     Mesmerized by the beauty in the third row, who was obviously amused by his blatant stare, Garrett ignored Rhett. Someone called to Blue Eyes from the row behind, and she turned away. The spell was broken.

     “Come here a minute,” he ordered Rhett.

     “I can’t. I’m not supposed to see the bride before the wedding.”

     “Lily’s not here yet. Come here.”

     “Wow,” Rhett murmured, as he peered over Garrett’s shoulder. “The church is filling up fast.”

     Unwilling to relinquish his spot at the cracked door, Garrett asked, “Who’s the girl at the end of the third row?”

     Rhett shifted for a better look. “Third row? Oh, that’s Andi Ryan, a college friend of Lily’s from Florida Atlantic. Lily didn’t go away to school, so she didn’t have a lot of college friends. I met Andi after Lily’s wedding shower. Why do you—”

     Garrett felt Rhett’s stare, ignored it too. Come on, Blue Eyes, smile for me again.

     “Well, damn,” Rhett said softly. “I know that look. Had it myself the first time I clapped eyes on Lily.”

     “What?” That got Garrett’s attention. “No, no. I just wondered, um, who she was.”

     “Why are you two peeking through the door?” Aidan Cross asked, as he entered the vestry from the outside door. “Do you know how goofy you two look?”

     “Yes, I do.” Rhett pulled the door shut in Garrett’s face. “We were checking the crowd.”

     “More like gawking. Do I need a peek?”

     “No. Apparently, everyone we invited is going to attend. The place is filling up, and no one needs another look-see,” Rhett said, ignoring the glare Garrett cast his way.

     “Not everyone is attending,” Aidan said cheerfully. “Chester Armstead and Delia aren’t coming.”

     Rhett rounded on him. “They weren’t invited, and you know it.”

     “Take it easy. I was just kidding, and I come bearing gifts.” Aidan held up an open bottle of champagne he’d held behind his back and tugged three plastic flutes from his tuxedo pocket.

     “How did—”

     Aidan grinned at Rhett. “I heisted them from your limo.”

     “Are you nuts? Bringing champagne into the pastor’s study?”

     “Hey, stop yelling at me. You and I kissed and made up after I helped you save Lily’s nursery. And I gave you a half share of my Cypress Key project as penance.”

     Rhett rolled his eyes.

     “Good thinking.” Garrett reached for a glass. “Rhett could use a glass to calm him down.”

     “I don’t need calming.” Rhett scowled at him but took Aidan’s proffered flute and downed half in one slug. “I just don’t like hearing the name Armstead on my wedding day.”

     Garrett chuckled and got an added glare from the groom.

     Today, Rhett Buchanan was marrying Lily Foster, his fairy-tale princess, in the biggest Jupiter Island wedding of the year. After the couple’s rocky start and Rhett losing Lily twice—thanks to the nasty shenanigans of Delia Armstead, Rhett’s ex-girlfriend—he had whisked Lily off to Vegas one evening when he had coaxed her back for the third time, unwilling to take any more chances with their future. But he had promised the love of his life a big church wedding later with all the trimmings, and today was the big day.

     Dressed in their tailored tuxedoes, Garrett and Aidan were standing up for Rhett. Both had played matchmaker for the happy couple, and Garrett now played best man along with Aidan as his groomsman for the biggest day in their friend’s life.

     Garrett grabbed the champagne bottle and refilled their glasses. “Is this illegal to drink champagne in the pastor’s office?”

     Aidan shrugged. “Nah, he’s Lutheran. Pastor Mark will just be glad the groom is calm and won’t pass out during the ceremony.”

     Garrett’s pocket loudly buzzed in the quiet room with an incoming text.

     “I told you, no cell phones,” Rhett said and glared at Garrett’s pants. “Lily made me promise.”

     Garrett checked the readout, a text from his grandfather’s personal assistant that said only, Call me ASAP.

     Everything was ASAP with Halbert Horton, Samuel Tucker’s personal assistant for more than a decade. Halbert doted on Garrett’s grandfather. If Sam wanted a cup of coffee, Halbert got it ASAP. Garrett turned off and pocketed his phone.

     Rhett’s glare softened. “Everything all right?”

     “Just Halbert wanting a call back ASAP.”

     “Oh.” Rhett went back to pacing, and the three best friends resumed their wait for the wedding ceremony to begin.

     “Maybe I’ll just check the crowd again,” Garrett said.

     “Get away from that door,” Rhett snapped, stepping in front of him. “Focus. You’re about to be my best man, and I don’t want you screwing up.”

     “What’s on the other side of that door?” Aidan wanted to know.

     “Nothing!” Rhett and Garrett barked in unison.

~~~~~

     Garrett focused on the ceremony as Rhett had ordered. He had the ring ready when asked, smiled for five hundred pictures, made the perfect best-man-for-the-wedding-couple toast, and didn’t step on Tammy’s toes when he led the maid of honor out for the bridesmaids’ dance.

     All of that out of the way, Garrett now concentrated on securing a beer from the bar and finding his blue-eyed beauty in the crowded hotel ballroom where the wedding guests had adjourned after the ceremony. He had spotted Blue Eyes surrounded by a large cluster of people near the back door, right before he marched up to the microphone for his big toast. Now, he couldn’t find her, but he knew who could.

     Waiting until Rhett was pulled away from his bride by one of their bankers, Garrett tugged Lily out of earshot of nearby guests. “I need a favor, Lil.”

     “You were amazing today, Garrett,” gushed the beaming bride. “Your toast was so sweet.”

     He rolled his eyes. “Guys’ toasts aren’t sweet.”

     “Okay, wonderful.”

     “Come down out of the clouds for a minute and pay attention, Lily. My favor?”

     “Anything for Rhett’s best man.”

     He stifled another eye roll. If anybody deserved to be over-the-moon happy, it was Lily Foster. “I want you to introduce me to one of your friends.”

     “Really? Which one?”

     “Andi Ryan.”

     Her smile evaporated.

     “What’s wrong? You don’t want me to meet her?”

     “No, I do, but she’s gone.”

     “Gone? What do you mean gone? You mean left the wedding?”

     “No, Garrett. Left the state. She had to take off right before your toast. She’s on her way to Mississippi and has a long drive ahead of her.”

     “What’s in Mississippi?” He couldn’t believe Blue Eyes had given him the slip. “When will she be back?”

     “I’m not sure. She said at least a week, maybe a little longer. She went to Mississippi to take care of her godmother who needs her.”

     “Well, damn.”

     “What’s with the scowl, Hotshot?” Rhett asked, sliding an arm around his wife and kissing her cheek. “You look like someone just stole your Corvette.”

     “He wanted to meet one of my friends, but she’s already left,” Lily said, as she moved off to greet wedding guests who had called to her.

     Rhett eyed him. “Third row at the end?”

     Garrett nodded.

     “Damn.”

     Garrett nodded again, and his pocket buzzed.

     “I thought I told you to shut that thing off,” Rhett groused.

     “I turned it back on after my toast.”

     “Why does everyone look so solemn?” Aidan sauntered over. “This is a wedding. Everyone is supposed to be joyous.”

     Rhett chuckled. “Hotshot here got shut out on meeting the girl of his dreams.” When Garrett glared, he added, “Go ahead and check your phone. Might make you feel better.”

     He slipped the phone out, thumbed it open, and read the text.

     Then read it again.

     And yet again.

     “What the hell?” Aidan grabbed his arm. “You went a little pale there, bud. You’re wobbling.”

     “What is it?” Rhett moved to his side.

     Garrett kept staring at the text. His legs suddenly felt numb, and his lungs wouldn’t work.

     No way.

     He couldn’t believe it. His grandfather might have some rather unique challenges, but he was strong as an ox.

     Aidan slipped the phone from Garrett’s hand and read aloud, “You are needed in Vegas immediately. Your grandfather had a stroke. He didn’t . . . make it. Halbert Horton,” Aidan finished quietly.

     Rhett squeezed Garrett’s shoulder.

     “He put that in a text?” Aidan growled. “He couldn’t call you on your damn cell?”

     “Halbert is grandfather’s personal assistant. He never calls. He texts everything, wants a written record,” Garrett said flatly, shoving back at the pain trying to pummel him.

     “I’m sorry,” Rhett murmured. “I’ll charter you a plane. You better get going.”

     Garrett frowned at him. “I’m your best man. I’m not going anywhere. Granddad’s gone. I’ll leave for Vegas later tonight.”

     Rhett and Aidan exchanged glances.

     “Garrett, I’ll understand,” Rhett persisted.

     “No!” he half-shouted.

     “Easy, partner,” Aidan soothed. “Look, you and I will take my jet to Vegas after the reception. I’ll call my pilot and have him fuel it. We can be there by morning.”

     “No,” Garrett argued. “I don’t need you. I can do this myself.”

     He was being an ass, and he knew it. He just didn’t know how to stop. The pain in his heart and the feeling of complete helplessness made him crazy. His beloved grandfather was gone.

     No, don’t think about that now.

     This was his best friend’s big day, the day Rhett had planned for months. No way would Garrett spoil it. Rhett had looked out for him for fifteen years, and Garrett owed him. He would shove the grief down deep until he was alone.

     He stared at the concerned faces of his two best friends. Aidan wouldn’t back off, and Rhett wouldn’t let him. Rhett had to leave on his official honeymoon tonight and wouldn’t go unless he knew Garrett had been taken care of. He would do the same thing for Rhett or Aidan. He gave a resigned nod. He loved his two friends like brothers, but damn he wanted to be alone tonight with his grief. He had just lost the most important person in his world.