Chapter One
Samantha Dare’s stomach churned with anxiety. She recognized the feeling, one she’d become familiar with as her wedding day approached. She’d tried to shake it off and did the same now, reminding herself that marrying her business partner was the smart thing to do. Just because the passion had fizzled didn’t mean they wouldn’t have a solid relationship based on shared interests.
She smoothed the lace bodice of the ballroom wedding gown she wore and chewed on her bottom lip.
“Samantha, are you okay?” her older sister, Olivia, asked. “Stop that or you’re going to need to touch up your lipstick.”
“I’m fine.” She patted her bare lips. Dammit. She would need to have it put on again.
“Spill,” Olivia persisted. “I know all your tells.”
Their conversation caught the attention of Samantha’s other bridesmaids: her sister, Avery, her half-sister, Sienna, her cousins, Lucy and Brianne, and Samantha’s best friend and office manager, Brandy. They sat on the sofa and club chairs, picking from the charcuterie board filled with a variety of cheese, smoked meat, and tiny fruit. Half-empty champagne glasses were spread around the table. All the women looked beautiful in differing metallic colors with a variety of silhouettes.
Once Samantha became the center of attention, they all questioned her at the same time.
“Stop, I’m fine!” Samantha raised her voice and immediately regretted it. “Sorry. I’m just having nervous, walking-down-the-aisle jitters.” She sighed. “I need some fresh air and a few moments alone to clear my head.”
The bridal suite was located on the fourth floor of the Meridian NYC Hotel, on the same floor as the ballroom where the ceremony would occur. The hotel was once owned by her father, a man she neither respected nor wanted to think about on her special day. The Meridian Hotel Group was now in the hands of her cousins, something that worked for the entire family, so no hard feelings for anyone… except her father, Robert Dare.
The door to the terrace was already open and she stepped outside, then walked to the balcony. Bracing her hands on the top of the heavy stone railing, she drew a deep breath of beautiful spring air and wondered why she couldn’t calm down.
Her gut told her it wasn’t every day wedding jitters but voices from another terrace distracted her and she focused on those instead of the unwelcome thoughts running through her mind. All would be well once she said I do.
“I know what you promised me,” a distraught-sounding female said, the voice coming from the terrace around the corner from the one where Samantha stood.
Curious, Samantha couldn’t help but step closer. Was she eavesdropping? Yes, but better to focus on someone else’s issues than her own.
“But seeing you in this tuxedo, ready to get married… I don’t like it,” the woman continued, but now Samantha thought she recognized the voice. Marley, her soon-to-be husband’s personal assistant, was speaking.
“We had an understanding.” And that coaxing reply came from Samantha’s fiancé, Jeremy Rollins.
“How long will it take before you’re able to get rid of her?” Marley asked.
Shocked, Samantha’s belly fluttered with nerves. Certain she’d misheard, she waited to hear her fiancé’s reply—and what the hell was he doing alone with Marley right before their wedding, anyway?
“Calm down,” Jeremy said in the patronizing voice Samantha hated. No woman liked being talked down to. “We’ve waited this long, surely you can hold out another year or two. The breakup has to look real if I’m going to get my hands on any of her money. Her brothers will make sure of that,” he muttered. “It’s you I love, Marley.”
Silence descended, followed by an obvious-sounding moan.
Samantha sucked in a horrified breath. That no-good, low-life, cheating son of a bitch. He was having an affair with his personal assistant. The same woman he insisted he needed with him when he traveled to meet clients. He’d claimed his ADHD kicked in during long meetings and Marley took the most detailed notes. And Samantha had believed him.
She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her hand to her rolling stomach. She was an idiot. He’d duped her into using her trust fund money to start their joint PR firm and she’d agreed, believing he was the brains when it came to creating potential campaigns. After they’d launched, his ideas had impressed many big-name clients to join them. Jeremy was smart. Apparently smart enough to put one over on her.
She lifted her skirt and stormed back into the suite, his false words ringing in her ears. I love you, Samantha. We’re going to be such a great team, Samantha. We have so much in common. We’re a dynamic duo, Samantha.
“Bullshit,” she muttered, fury coursing through her veins.
“Samantha? What’s wrong?” Her mother, Emma St. Claire, strode over.
Wearing a beautiful silver beaded gown, looking elegant as ever, her mother was Samantha’s rock. There was no one she admired more for her strength and dignity, especially after everything her ex-husband had put her through. She was married a second time and extremely happy.
“Samantha?” Emma repeated, lines creasing her forehead, her concern obvious.
Samantha shook her head, already feeling the heaviness in her throat and the angry tears welling up in her eyes. “I don’t… I can’t… This wedding isn’t happening.”
“What? Why not?”
Samantha wasn’t sure whose voice she heard the loudest as her family shouted questions her way.
Brandy strode over and grasped her hand. “Give me a few minutes,” she said to everyone else. “Let me talk to her.”
“Go ahead,” Olivia said softly.
But her mother shook her head, clearly wanting to hear the problem now. Despite her hurt and anger, Samantha managed a smile. She wouldn’t shut her mom out. The same with her sisters.
She squared her shoulders. “I just overheard my bastard fiancé reassuring his mistress that they’ll be together one day, she just needs to be patient. To give him time to stay married long enough to get my money.”
She ground her teeth as her family exploded in righteous anger on her behalf. “I need to go,” Samantha said.
“Where?” her mom asked.
“To have a word with my fiancé and then I need to get out of here. I can’t…” She sniffed, a small piece of her heart breaking at what a fool she’d been. “I can’t face everyone. Especially Ian.” Her brother, well, brothers plural, if she was being honest, had never liked Jeremy. Apparently, they had better taste and instincts than she had.
If Ian only knew how badly she’d nearly screwed up… As the oldest, he’d been like a parent to all the Dare kids, first when their father was traveling for
business, and later, after he’d dropped the bomb that shattered their lives. That he had a second family nobody knew about. Ian would be so disappointed in her.
“Do you want me to go with you?” Brandy asked.
Samantha shook her head. “Thanks for the offer but I’m too afraid you’ll punch him in the face before I get a chance to tell him to go fuck himself.” If nothing else, Samantha was surrounded by a solid support system. So why hadn’t she listened to their subtle but honest comments about the man she’d planned to marry?
She’d have plenty of time to ponder and figure out the whys later. “I’m sorry, everyone. I just…”
Her mother placed her hands on Samantha’s shoulders. “You will be fine. Go do what you need to do and I’ll handle the rest. But call or text and let us know where you decide to go. I want to know you’re okay.”
Samantha nodded. “I will. Thanks, Mom.” She hugged her mother, taking comfort in the familiar scent of her perfume, then did the same with her sisters and cousins.
Brandy walked her to the suite door. “Are you sure you don’t want support? I won’t deck him until after you tell the bastard off.”
Laughing, Samantha shook her head. “No thanks, but I love you for offering.” She headed out the door, walked down the hall and around the corner leading to the groom’s suite.
Stopping outside the door, she raised her hand to knock, pausing when she realized it was quiet inside. She supposed it made sense. If Jeremy wanted to be able to talk to his mistress, he’d probably sent his groomsmen away so they’d have some time alone.
At the reminder, she rapped on the door with her knuckles and when the bastard didn’t open it immediately, she knocked hard again.
“David, I told you I needed time alone!” He opened the door partway, obviously expecting to see his best man. “Samantha! What are you doing here? It’s bad luck for us to see each other before the ceremony.”
“Since when are you superstitious?” She slammed her hand on the door, surprising him
by pushing it open. She lifted her skirt once more, walked inside, and looked around the empty room. “Where is she?”
“Samantha, darling, what are you doing here?” He reached out his hand to touch her.
She snapped, slapping him across the face. “You bastard.”
He reared back, holding his cheek in his hand. “What was that for?”
“For screwing your assistant behind my back,” she said, with her heart pounding hard inside her chest.
He opened his mouth and she shook her head. “Don’t. Our balconies are right next door to each other and I heard every word.”
His cheeks highlighted with color. “Whatever you heard, you misunderstood. She was wishing us good luck. I love you, darling.”
“Again, don’t. Don’t darling me. Don’t patronize me. Don’t try to twist what I heard or lie about the fact that you were marrying me for my money, you asshole.” She worked the engagement ring off her finger and held it in front of his face. “The wedding is off.”
“But—”
He didn’t deserve another second of her time. She tossed the ring at him, turned, and walked to the door, ignoring his pleas to let him explain.
She returned to the bridal suite to find her bridesmaids in the midst of changing into their regular clothes when she walked in.
“Samantha!” her cousin Lucy said. “What happened?”
“I slapped him, threw the ring, and left. Now I’m here for my luggage.” The plan had been for a hotel bellman to bring her bags up to the honeymoon suite for the wedding night. She was grateful that at least she’d have clothes wherever she decided to go to think about how she’d gotten to this place in her life.
“Good for you,” her mother said. “Jeremy had better hope none of your brothers run into him because—”
“They know already?” she asked, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks.
Her mother grasped her hand. “Honey, they need to know in order to explain to the
guests. But don’t worry, they won’t reveal why there won’t be a wedding.”
“Unless you want them to,” Olivia said. “In which case, Dylan and your brothers would be more than happy to take him on in front of everyone.” Her husband was as much part of the family as their blood relatives.
She pressed her fingers to the throbbing in her temples. “I can’t handle this. I’m just going to change clothes and get out of here.”
“You don’t have time,” Avery said. “Ian is on his way up. He’s hoping to talk to you before you leave.”
Dammit. The last person she wanted to face right now was the sibling she thought would be the most disappointed in her. “I need to leave.”
“Come on.” Brandy, the best friend ever, strode out of the bedroom, wheeling Samantha’s luggage behind her. “I’ll walk you downstairs and play bodyguard. If anyone tries to question you I’ll—”
“Beat them up?” Samantha laughed despite the pain in her heart; she refused to believe there was also relief.
In order to avoid her brother, they took the stairs and paused by the revolving doors in the hotel lobby. So far, they hadn’t run into anyone they knew and Samantha intended to keep it that way with a brief goodbye.
She turned to Brandy. “Thanks for being you.” She hugged her friend, well aware the tears she’d been holding back were welling again.
“You’d better keep in touch when you figure out a plan. Where are you going?” Brandy asked.
Samantha pulled back and tried to blot her eyes with her fingertips. “I can’t go home since I live with the asshole. Maybe a hotel? I’ll let you know where I land.”
Before her friend could ask more questions, Samantha grabbed the handle of her luggage and headed out the doors. Tears she hadn’t let fall did just that, blurring her vision as she rushed forward, hoping to find a taxi instead of digging for her phone so she could order a rideshare and have to wait. ...
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