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CHAPTER ONE

DAWN FEATHERINGTON STARED down the aisle at the perfect floral arrangerass The string quartet was playing Pachelbel’s Canon—again—the officiant soda steps The late-afternoon sun shone down on the manicured lawns of the Californian coastal mansion Justin’s mother had insisted would be the perfect venue for the two hundred and fifty guests they needed to invite, lighting up the delicate white ribbons and lace strung around the pagoda

Everything looked perfect Until she turned her attention to the expectant guests, all waiting slightly less patiently than they had been twenty o, and felt her stomach twist

Because the only thing room

Dawn ducked back behind the screens that the venue staff had put in place to keep the bridal party’s arrival a secret until the last st the with the, but then she didn’t really need to

Can you believe this is happening again?

No They rong Justin loved her, he wanted to ht in a different hotel—although he’d insisted they had to, for tradition’s sake He’d be here any moment Probably

Dawn bit back a sigh It wasn’t as if this exact thing had happened before, anyhatever her sisters hispering She’d never got quite as far as the altar with any of the others They’d all called it off before it reached this point

Two broken engagements—one at the rehearsal dinner, but that still wasn’t the actual altar, right?—three long-terot as far as the ring and now Justin Forty

It wouldn’t be quite so bad if every single one of her boyfriends hadn’t gone on to , in one particularly soul-destroying case,her own sister

‘The Dry Run’ That hat her sisters called her Daas the wo doith before they picked the woman they actually wanted to spend the rest of their lives with And for some reason that woman was never Dawn

But Justin was different Wasn’t he?

From the moment they’d first met, she’d felt it She’d been at a work event, one held at an estate

not unlike this one, with vineyards stretching back fro on the terrace, looking out at the sunset, when he’d approached her and made some comment about the hosts that she could barely remember All she had taken in was his s—well, okay, s to say! Then, the next day, he’d sent flowers and a note to her office, asking her to meet him at some ridiculously exclusive bar across town

She went, and the rest was history They’d announced their engagement four months later and, now, here they were

Or rather, here she was Justin’s whereabouts were still a mystery

The whispering behind her grew louder and Dawn turned to see the bestacross the lawn froain, she hadn’t seen him smile yet in the twenty-four hours since they’d n

Dawn sucked in a breath and braced herself

‘He’s not co’ Cooper stood a few feet away, his expression blank As if he hadn’t just torn her whole world apart with three little words

She’d suspected that Cooper didn’t like her since she’d first met him at the rehearsal dinner But then, he’d never seemed particularly enthusiastic whenever Justin had talked to him on the phone either And, really, what best ement party?

‘Way to break it to her gently,’ her sister, Marie, said sharply She wrapped an arm around Dawn’s shoulders as their other sistersnoises

Daould probably have felt a lot more coo

She could feel all the usual eaping e to happen again It couldn’t

And, if it did, she wasn’t going to give any one of her perfect sisters—or Justin’s sanctimonious brother—the chance to see it break her

‘Is that for me?’ Dawn pointed to the envelope in Cooper’s hand, proud of how steady her voice was Her finger didn’t even shake

She could al on the inside

Cooper gave a short nod and handed it over—but not, she noticed, before re a second envelope One that had his name on it

Apparently Justin had more to say than just to the bride he’d stood up

Focusing on keeping her hand steady, she took her letter and untucked the envelope flap So like Justin, to write an old-fashioned letter He wasn’t the sort to due—like her second fiancé—or even by eentleman

Or he had been, until now

Inside the envelope she found a single sheet of crea—one that Daas pretty sure Justindesk in his mother’s immaculate front rooain and pushed it back into the envelope, e at all

They were not going to win

‘Right Well, it see today after all’ Her voice didn’t even sound like her own

‘Oh, Dawn!’ That was her mother, of course, who’d coain, honey!’

Dawn kept her gaze fixed on Cooper’s face, even as he raised one eyebrow at the word ‘again’

‘Will you help uests?’ she asked neutrally

‘I believe that unfortunate task does fall to the best man, traditionally,’ Cooper said