Courted By The Cowboy. Sasha Summers

hurried up the aisle before the tears could fall and found her entire family waiting for her at the back of the church. Her sisters-in-law, Elizabeth and Angel, had joined the group, along with Zeke and Elizabeth’s daughter, Casey, and although they didn’t all agree with her decision, they were totally supportive.

      Tears glistening in her mother’s eyes, her smile tender with love, she said, “Your father would be so proud of you, dear. I know that wasn’t easy for you.”

      “It was the right thing to do,” she said simply. “I’m not going to hide away like I did something I should be ashamed of.”

      “If anyone should be ashamed, it should be Cooper,” Zeke said tersely as they all retreated to the dressing room again to wait for the crowd to thin out. “Damn, I’d like to give him a piece of my mind!”

      “Don’t worry,” Joe retorted in a low-pitched voice. “He’s going to pay. He’ll have to live with this the rest of his life, and he probably doesn’t even realize it.”

      Still furious with his old friend, Nick had to agree. “No, he doesn’t. He’s not thinking at all—he’s panicking. Once he calms down, he’s going to regret this, but by then, it’ll be too late. It’s already too late.”

      Nick had to only look at Merry’s pale, drawn face to know just how badly she was hurting. And there was nothing he or anyone else could do to help her. That, more than anything else, frustrated the hell out of him. Tonight should have been her wedding night, the night she’d planned to spend in some secluded, romantic setting with her new husband. Instead, she would dance the evening away with a bunch of drunk cowboys, then spend what was left of the night alone with dreams of what might have been.

      Nick didn’t know how she would bear it. No woman deserved that, especially one as kind and caring and beautiful as Merry. She could have graced the cover of any fashion magazine in the world—she was that gorgeous—and Thomas had walked away from her. He must have been out of his mind.

      Wishing he could get his old friend alone for just five minutes, he tore at his tie. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think I’m going to go change out of this monkey suit. This damn tie’s choking me to death.”

      Quickly seconding the suggestion, Janey said, “I think that’s an excellent idea. Merry, don’t you want to change? With all that bead work, your dress must weigh a ton. Your suitcase is still in my car. Why don’t you let one of the guys get it for you so you can put on something more comfortable?”

      Merry was tempted. Janey was right—the dress was incredibly heavy—and the most beautiful wedding dress she’d ever seen. She’d fallen in love with it at first sight and hadn’t needed to look at any others to know that this was The Dress, the one she’d dreamed of wearing when she walked down the aisle to Thomas. But that dream had turned into a nightmare. And the dress no longer represented her hopes for the future with the man she loved, but his betrayal.

      And that was why she wasn’t taking it off. Not yet. With every step, the weight of it tugging at her would remind her of Thomas and just how close she’d come to making the biggest mistake of her life. God, what a fool she was! She’d loved him, trusted him with her heart and soul. And what had he done? Kicked her in the teeth in front of the whole town.

      Numb, she still couldn’t believe it. They’d been friends their entire lives—she’d loved him for longer than she could remember. She’d thought she knew him inside and out, better than she knew herself. If someone had told her he was capable of hurting her this way, she would have called them a liar. She would have been wrong.

      “No, thanks,” she told Janey. “I’ll just wear this for now. It can’t be returned, so I might as well get some use out of it while I can.”

      Her eyes sad, her sister said quietly, “You don’t have to torture yourself this way, Mer. Why don’t you let me take the dress and get rid of it?”

      Just that easily, the tears she’d thought she had under control were back, filling her eyes and silently spilling over her leashes. “Maybe later,” she said thickly. “For now, I have to wear it. I have my reasons.”

      Afraid she was going to shatter if she didn’t get her emotions under control, she quickly changed the subject and forced a bright smile. “Enough of this. The church has cleared out, so let’s get out of here. We’ve got a party to go to!”

      The reception was held at her mother’s house, the large, sprawling family homestead that had been added on to by generations of McBrides over the last century. With porches stretching across the front and back of the house and a huge patio under the trees out back, there was more than enough room to accommodate half the county.

      Which was a good thing, Merry thought as she, Janey, and her mother approached the house in the limo that had been rented to drive her and Thomas to the reception. Cars lined the drive for a quarter of a mile, and still others spilled onto nearby pastures. Everyone in town appeared to be there, and Merry couldn’t say she was surprised. This was a party that no one in their right mind was going to miss.

      She’d wanted a wedding that people would talk about for years to come, and it looked like she’d gotten it. But Lord, she hadn’t expected it to be under these conditions! Thomas should be at her side, damn him, with his ring on her finger and hers on his! Instead, he was on his way back to Chicago with his tail between his legs, and she was the one left to deal with the consequences of his cowardice.

      Too late, she realized she should have cancelled the reception. She must have been out of her mind to think she could carry such a thing off. People would expect her to smile prettily and graciously accept their hugs and kisses and words of condolences, and she just wasn’t in the mood. She appreciated their support, but what she really needed was some time to herself.

      Reading her thoughts, her mother said quietly, “You don’t have to do this, you know. No one would think badly of you if you thanked everyone for coming, then slipped away by yourself.”

      “We can handle the party,” Janey assured her. “Why don’t you go back to your place and have a good cry? You’d feel better.”

      For all of two seconds, she actually considered it. Then she remembered Thomas’s things. His clothes hung beside hers in her closet; his pillow lay beside hers on her bed. Not wanting to have to move into her house after they returned from their honeymoon, when they would both immediately return to work, he’d spent the last week transferring his things from his apartment to Merry’s house. Just thinking about facing that now, when she felt like she would shatter at any moment, had her shaking her head in panic. “No, I can handle it. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

      The limo pulled up before the homestead then, and any time she had to compose herself was gone. Guests started swarming toward the car, and she was left with no choice but to paste on a smile and step out to greet them when the driver opened the door for her. Immediately enveloped in hugs and sympathy, she was passed from one person to the next, then the next, and carried along with the crowd to the back patio, where tables had been set up for the reception. There, even more people were waiting for their chance to talk to her.

      Overwhelmed, she felt tears sting her eyes, and in spite of her best resolve not to cry, she couldn’t help herself. Horrified that she was going to fall apart right there in front of everyone, she looked around for an escape route, but she was cut off by the crowd at every turn. Then, just when she thought she was going to thoroughly embarrass herself, a drumroll sounded from the band that was set up at the opposite end of the patio.

      “Ladies and gentlemen, if I may have your attention, please,” the lead singer called out loudly. “The guest of honor has arrived and the band would like to salute her with a song. Merry, this one’s for you.”

      Giving her a thumb’s up signal, he turned to the band. With a nod of his head, he and his musicians swept into a rousing rendition of “I Will Survive.”

      Chapter 2

      With one song,