day.
Well, the least she could do was feed them. And give them a good story to tell on the dinner-party circuit.
‘No,’ she said as firmly as she could manage. ‘I’ll go tell the venue to get the bar open and prepare to serve dinner. Everyone else should enjoy the day, at least. Excuse me.’
And with that Dawn hitched up her heavy, lace-covered skirt and made for the mansion as fast as she could in her satin heels.
She needed a drink, and a toilet cubicle to hide in, fast.
That way, no one would be able to see her fall apart.
Again.
* * *
Cooper watched his brother’s jilted bride make her way towards the ridiculously fancy mansion she’d chosen for what was supposed to be her big day. She seemed strangely composed for someone who’d just had their entire future torn away from them.
Which, given the contents of the note Justin had left for him, probably shouldn’t have been such a surprise.
I can’t go through with it, Cooper. I’m sorry for all the upset this will cause Mother, but I know you’ll understand.
You see, this week I’ve found that I just can’t shake the feeling that Dawn has ulterior motives for wanting to marry me. I thought she loved me as much as I loved her. But now I’m worried she loves my money a lot more. I can’t face her—not now. I need some time away to think everything through, figure out the truth about our relationship, our feelings.
If I’m wrong I’ll make it up to her somehow. But I can’t marry her when I’m not one hundred percent sure that it’s the right thing to do.
I’m heading up to the beach house for the week to think. I’m sorry to place this on you, brother, but I knew you would be the only one to understand exactly what I’m going through...
Yeah, Cooper understood. Apparently neither Edwards brother was any good at spotting a gold-digger until it was too late.
At least Justin had got out before he reached the altar, which was more than Cooper had managed.
Justin had done the right thing. Even if it kind of screwed up Cooper’s plans for kicking back, getting hammered on high quality whisky and maybe even seducing an attractive guest to help him forget how much he hated weddings. Traditionally, he supposed he should have lined up a bridesmaid, but since they all appeared to be A: married and B: sisters of the bride, he was happy to spurn tradition on this one.
Although maybe his plan, such as it was, wasn’t completely ruined—especially since Dawn intended to let the celebratory part of the day go ahead despite not having anything to celebrate.
He just needed to break the news to the dearly beloveds gathered for the non-event.
Couldn’t be any harder than facing his father’s shareholders after that debacle with Melanie and the Reed takeover, right? Or telling his parents that he’d been conned by the woman he loved and they were all about to get screwed in the divorce courts.
Yeah, this was nothing.
Cooper took a deep breath and walked down the aisle, thankfully alone.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, I have some sad news for you all.’ Everyone’s attention was instantly on him, of course, and Cooper smiled his best reassuring smile. ‘I’m afraid that there will not, after all, be a wedding here today.’ The expected whispers and groans went up from the crowd. Cooper knew better than to expect real disappointment from any of them. More likely they were mentally preparing their gloating renditions of this story for anyone unfortunate enough not to be there to witness it. Goodness knew there’d been enough stories told about him after his divorce, not all of them even close to the truth.
Not that he cared. What difference did it make to him what people said about him anyway?
But he didn’t want them saying that stuff about Justin.
‘The bride has requested that you all still stay for dinner, however,’ he added, and a more enthusiastic murmur went up at that. ‘And I believe the bar will be open imminently.’
Then he stepped out of the way to avoid the stampede.
‘Cooper? What’s happening? Dawn’s parents are in pieces over there, and her sisters...well. Where’s Justin?’ A dark-haired woman in a too-short pink dress pushed through the crush to get to him. Cooper frowned at her for a moment before recognising her as someone he’d been introduced to at the rehearsal dinner two nights before. Not a bridesmaid, so not one of Dawn’s numerous sisters. American, so not Dawn’s family, either—apart from her mother’s transatlantic twang, they all had the same regional British accent that she did. A friend, then. There hadn’t been many of those at the dinner—it had mostly been family. So she had to be... No, he had nothing.
‘I’m sorry, have we met?’ He smiled his most charming smile, but received only a scowl in return.
‘Yes. Last night. I’m Dawn’s friend, Ruby.’
‘Right. Ruby. Of course.’ Yeah, no way was he going to remember that more than a few minutes this time, either. Why waste time on people who weren’t going to matter to him in the future? And, since Dawn was no longer going to be his sister-in-law, he didn’t need to worry about it.
‘So? Where’s Justin? Where’s Dawn, come to that?’
‘Last I saw, Dawn was heading into the venue to demand they open the bar early,’ he replied. ‘And Justin... I can’t say exactly where he is. But I know he’s not coming.’ And if for some reason his brother lost his mind and suddenly appeared to try and make up with his bride—if he decided that his love would be enough for both of them, even if Dawn’s had never existed—well. Then Cooper would be there to stop him. To keep them apart until Justin came to his senses again and appreciated his lucky escape.
‘The bar?’ Ruby shook her head, turned on her heel and stalked away from him towards her gold-digging friend—stopping briefly to talk to Dawn’s confused parents on her way. Maybe they’d been in on it together, he thought absently. Well, Dawn might not be a heartbroken jilted bride, but if nothing else she had to be bitterly lamenting the loss of all that money. The thought made him smile.
Love, Cooper knew from bitter experience, could make a man act crazy. Justin had done the right thing, and Cooper would make sure he kept doing it.
There was no way he was going to let his little brother make the same awful mistakes he had.
* * *
Dawn had found the perfect hiding spot: in the ladies’ room on the second floor, furthest from the bar. There were at least two other bathrooms between there and the ballroom where the not-wedding breakfast would be served, and Dawn couldn’t imagine anyone traipsing this far away from the complimentary alcohol if they didn’t have to.
She was completely alone, just as she needed to be.
‘Dawn?’
Completely alone except for Ruby, that was.
‘In here,’ she said, unlocking the door with a sigh. Ruby, she’d learned over the last couple of years since they’d become friends, never took silence for an answer.
Ruby bustled into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her and handing over the bottle of Prosecco she was holding.
‘Okay, can someone please explain to me what the hell is going on? Because that idiot of a best man was basically useless.’
Reaching into the tiny clutch bag she’d retrieved from her sister Elizabeth on her way back to the mansion, Dawn pulled out the letter from Justin and gave it to Ruby. It wasn’t as if she needed to read it again, anyway. The words were already burned into her brain.
Dearest Dawn,