The Wedding She Always Wanted. Stacy Connelly

had warned him away from Emily. And yet here he was … alone with her in a moonlit garden.

      “Emily—”

      She grabbed his hand, effectively cutting off whatever he might have said. “Did you hear that?” she asked suddenly.

      Figuring she wasn’t talking about the pulse pounding in his ears at the feel of her soft skin against his own, he asked, “Hear what?”

      “It sounded like … It is! That’s Ginny and Duncan!”

      “Who?”

      “The flower girl and ring bearer, also known as my niece and nephew. Their babysitter took them to their room an hour ago, and my sister went up to tuck them in. I’m sure Aileen thinks they’re still there.”

      Emily led the way around a corner, her heels clicking against the cool decking, and sure enough, a pint-size girl stood at the base of a tree, staring up at the branches. Her golden hair was a wild mop of corkscrew curls, and she was wearing a purple T-shirt and plaid pajama bottoms, but earlier she had looked like a miniature version of Emily. Her hair had been swept up into ringlets crowned with miniature roses, and her dress had been a girlish version of Emily’s pink gown. Her smile had grown wider with every petal she tossed along the lace runner. Javy guessed she was around six years old.

      She wasn’t smiling now, though. With her hands on her hips, she announced, “You’re gonna be in big trouble, Duncan!”

      Only then did Javy realize Duncan, the ring bearer, was somewhere in the tree above them.

      “What do the two of you think you’re doing out here?” Emily demanded.

      As the little girl spun around, her instant look of guilt quickly turned to indignation. “I told him not to, Aunt Emily. I told him he’d get in trouble, but he said if he climbed to the top of the tree, he could see our house. I told him not to, but he did it, anyway, and now he is stuck and is gonna have to stay in the tree forever!”

      “Am not!”

      Following the sound of the voice overhead, Javy spotted Duncan. He let out a low whistle when he saw how high the little boy had climbed. The gasp at his side told him the moment Emily spotted her nephew.

      “Look at that branch!” Her grip tightened on his hand. “We need to call the fire department.”

      “It’s all right. I’ll get him,” Javy assured her.

      “But—”

      “Look, whoever you call, it’ll be a while before they arrive. I’m here now. I’ll get him down. Trust me,” said Javy.

      Emily looked back up at the tree. The branch Duncan had climbed out on looked too fragile to hold a kitten. The longer it took to get the little boy down. “All right. But be careful.”

      “See?” Javy said with a cocky grin. “I knew you liked me.”

      “I’ll like you even more if you get my nephew down in one piece,” she retorted, doing her best to stay cool and unaffected and knowing she failed by the gleam in his dark eyes.

      And when Javy let go of her hand and shrugged his tuxedo jacket off one broad shoulder, cool and unaffected melted into a puddle of desire. Every bit of moisture evaporated from her mouth, and Emily snapped her jaw shut with an audible clink.

      Taking off the fitted jacket made perfect sense; acting as if he were stripping down in the privacy of her bedroom did not.

      But while Javy’s actions might have been completely circumspect, the promise in his eyes was downright scandalous. As if he knew she’d pictured him in her bedroom, and fully intended to one day be there.

      “Hold this for me, will you?” he asked.

      Emily set her purse aside on the half wall lining the walkway to take the jacket. It was warm from his body heat and held a hint of aftershave, and Emily forced herself to simply fold the garment over her arm, instead of burying her face into the fabric.

      Turning back to the tree, Javy studied the branches as he undid the cuffs of the shirt and rolled the sleeves back to reveal muscular forearms dusted with dark hair.

      Emily’s stomach did a slow roll. She crossed her arms tightly at her waist, trying to stop any more somersaulting from her internal organs, and hoped the jacket hid the telling action. But when Javy bent down to slip off a shoe, she had to ask, “What are you doing?”

      He glanced up at her, his teeth flashing in the dim light as he smiled. Whatever he’d used to hold back his hair lost the battle as a thick lock fell across his forehead. Emily’s fingers instinctively burrowed deeper into the wool jacket. “Ever climb a tree in dress shoes? It’s a sure trip to the emergency room.”

      Emily glanced down at her strappy gold heels. She’d spent hours practicing on pencil-thin platforms, insuring she could walk gracefully in even the most fashionable—and uncomfortable—shoes. “I don’t think I’ve ever climbed a tree.”

      After kicking off the second shoe, Javy straightened. He pushed his hair back only to have it spring forward again. “You’re kidding, right? Did you have a deprived childhood, or what?”

      It was the first time anyone had ever referred to Emily’s life as anything other than privileged. Her friends always commented how lucky Emily was to have everything she’d ever wanted. But she wondered if maybe Javy didn’t have it right, after all.

      “Believe me, socks are the way to go,” he added as he stared up at a branch overhead.

      Emily would have sworn it was out of reach, but he took a few steps back, enough to give him a running start, and easily caught the limb. Within seconds, he pulled himself up with a move Emily thought was reserved for stuntmen and gymnasts.

      “Wow,” Ginny whispered in awe. “He’s like … a superhero.”

      “I think you’re right, Ginny. And he’ll have Duncan down from that tree in no time,” Emily agreed with her niece as she watched Javy make his way from branch to branch until he reached Duncan. She heard a mix of voices, her nephew’s childish whisper and Javy’s low murmur in response.

      Honestly, Emily’s heart was pounding out of her chest as the top of the tree swayed and leaves rained down, and they decided to stop and chat. She bit her lower lip rather than call out, afraid she might startle either one of them.

      The moment of male bonding over, Javy held out a hand. Duncan unhesitatingly reached out, and Emily felt something in her heart give way at the trust she saw in the little boy’s face and the confidence she saw in Javy’s. Slowly, he led the way down, guiding Duncan every step of the way until their feet—Javy’s in black socks and Duncan’s bare—hit solid ground.

      Emily immediately scooped her nephew into a tight hug, as if she still needed to protect him now that he was safely on the ground. Relief quickly gave way to exasperation as she leaned back to meet Duncan’s gaze. “You are in such big trouble, young man.”

      Exchanging glances with Javy, Duncan nodded. “I know.”

      Expecting a wealth of denials, Emily blinked in surprise. “You know?”

      Her nephew nodded. “I should go back to the room now. Meggie’s probably worried.”

      The words had barely left his mouth when a high-pitched female voice called out, “There you two are! Do you know how worried I’ve been?”

      Meg, Aileen’s longtime babysitter, ran toward them, worry and relief combining on her young face. “Emily, I am so sorry. I left the room for a few minutes to go get a drink from the soda machine. I thought Ginny and Duncan were still in the bedroom suite, watching a video. When I went to check on them and they weren’t there …”

      Her voice broke, and Emily wrapped an arm around the teenager’s shoulders. “Everything’s okay. Why don’t you take them back to the room now? I’m sure they’ll be more than willing to stay put now and finish that