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Unexpected Bride

Lisa Childs

With great appreciation to Jennifer Green for

encouraging me to write a Harlequin American

Romance proposal, and to Kathleen Scheibling for

accepting that proposal for THE WEDDING PARTY

series, and to all the brides who included me in their

wedding parties.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Epilogue

Chapter One

Clayton McClintock pressed his cell phone to his ear. “I’m going to be late,” he told his date, as he studied the flight schedule posted in the terminal. All the flights were on time but one. Hers. It figured. Conversation swirled around him as people rushed through the arrival gates and met those waiting for them in the lounge area.

On his phone there was dead silence. He pulled the cell from his ear to study its small screen, but his call hadn’t been lost. “Ellen, are you there?” he asked.

“Yes,” was the reply, in a tone of long-suffering patience, followed by a sigh reminiscent of the dramatic ones his sisters had subjected him to in their teens. “This isn’t working, Clayton. You stand me up more often than you see me.”

He sighed, too—with frustration. “Things have been crazy with my sister’s wedding stuff.” Writing checks, that had been his primary duty. And then he’d been pressed into playing chauffeur. Everyone else was busy with the rehearsal this afternoon.

He glanced at his watch. If Abby’s flight was any later, they’d miss dinner as well as the activities at the church. His plan had been to pick up his date after the rehearsal and bring her with him to the dinner. This wasn’t the first time he’d had to set aside his own plans for the sake of his family, though.

“Things have been crazy,” Ellen agreed. “And your brother…”

Rory, who was in his teens, was going through a difficult time right now, also reminding Clayton of her. But she was hardly a teenager anymore. People grew up and matured—probably even Abby Hamilton. Clayton had to believe that Rory would do the same, provided his big brother didn’t kill him first.

“It’s always something with your family, Clayton,” Ellen said. “You never have time for me.”

He couldn’t argue with her. He didn’t have time for himself, either. Not with his job and his brother and sisters and his mom. How had his dad managed everything? Clayton had taken over family responsibilities eight years ago, and he had yet to figure out how to handle everything his father had managed so effortlessly. He lifted a hand and wiped it over his eyes. He was tired.

“I’ve known for some time that it wasn’t going to work out, Clayton. So don’t bother calling me anymore.”

“My sister’s getting married tomorrow.” That would take care of one responsibility. “Things will get better then.”

“How? Is she taking your mom and sister and brother with her? You don’t have room in your life for me or for any woman, Clayton. I’m sorry.”

The phone clicked and the call ended, not because of a faulty connection but because of a lack of a romantic connection. And except for going stag to the rehearsal dinner and the wedding, he wasn’t even too upset. Clayton hadn’t dated anyone long enough to say that he’d ever had a serious relationship. He blew out a ragged breath of relief. He didn’t want a serious relationship because it was just one more responsibility he didn’t need.

Waiting in an airport for Abby was bad enough. How like her to fly in at the last moment. Some bridesmaid she’d turned out to be. Fortunately Molly had asked her longtime friend, Brenna Kelly, to be maid of honor. Clayton couldn’t imagine Abby handling the responsibilities.

He headed over to the airport coffee shop and filled a disposable cup with strong black brew. When he passed his money to the clerk, he ignored her flirty smile and bright eyes. Maybe he’d stop dating for a while—it wasn’t as if he ever intended to get married, anyway. He’d leave that to Molly, Colleen and Rory. Heck, he wouldn’t even mind if his mom got married again. It was already eight years since his dad had died.

The same length of time Abby Hamilton had been gone. She’d taken off right after the funeral, even skipping her high school graduation. Not that she’d have been able to graduate with her class, since she’d just been expelled. If Clayton didn’t get a handle on Rory soon, the youngest McClintock would probably be heading down that same dead end.

What was she doing now? His sisters and mom kept in touch with her, but they didn’t tell him much. They knew how he felt. The last he’d heard, she was moving around, working temp jobs, which didn’t surprise him. Nothing had ever seemed to hold her interest for long.

“Flight 3459 is arriving at Gate B4.”

The announcement startled him and his hand jerked, spilling coffee over his fingers and burning them. Abby was back. Clayton’s stomach lurched, maybe from the bitter liquid, or maybe because he knew that Abby Hamilton had always been nothing but trouble. She might be older now, and maybe even wiser, but he doubted she had changed that much.

He stared over the heads of other people gathered who waited to meet the late arrivals. They greeted each other with exuberant hugs and voices full of excitement. Somehow he doubted Abby would be that happy to see him—she had no idea he’d been called into service as her chauffeur.

He glanced in the direction of the approaching passengers. Where was she? Everyone moved toward the luggage carousel, its gears grinding as it began a slow rotation. Then metal clunked and the bags began to drop onto the carousel. Clayton ran his hand, which still stung from the coffee burn, across his face. Somehow the ground crew had gotten the luggage off the plane before she’d disembarked. Now, there was no hope of their making the rehearsal. He’d have to push her, in order to make the dinner.

So she hadn’t changed. He caught sight of her, finally, first spotting her fair hair as she strolled into view behind a group of stragglers pushing strollers. Until the others moved toward their luggage, he could barely see her. She probably wasn’t much over five feet tall. As she got closer, he studied her face, which was framed by a wild mass of curls. Her eyes shone a bright, clear blue between thick fringes of black lashes.

Clayton’s gaze traveled down her body, clad in a ribbed white tank top and tight faded jeans. His stomach lurched again. Abby was still going to be trouble; probably much more trouble as a woman than she’d been as a kid.

Then he noticed that her right hand was wrapped around another smaller hand. At her side walked a little girl of about four or five. With her own blond curls and those same bright eyes, she was the spitting image of her mother. His breath left his lungs as the shock slammed through him.

No one had told him that Abby Hamilton had a child.

Abby glanced around the airport, looking for Molly or Colleen or Brenna, and then her gaze collided with Clayton McClintock’s. His chocolate-brown eyes were wide with surprise. He rubbed a hand over his eyes as if he didn’t believe what he was seeing. Then the hand skimmed down his face, over sharp cheekbones and a square jaw. He didn’t look much different at thirty than he had at twenty-two, except that he wasn’t boyishly thin anymore. His black knit polo shirt strained across his chest and upper arms, and stone-colored khakis encased his long legs. Clayton McClintock was all man now.

Abby exhaled deeply, stirring her bangs so that strands of hair tangled in her lashes. “Oh, no…”

“What’s wrong, Mommy?” her daughter asked as she gave her mother a tug.

Abby’s feet stopped moving—she didn’t want to get any closer to Clayton. No one had told him about Lara. While Abby appreciated her friends’ loyalty, she wouldn’t have minded if they’d broken their promise not to tell anyone in Cloverville about her daughter. Why had she made them pledge their silence in the first place? She wasn’t ashamed of being a single mom. But a part of her was still eighteen, hurting from the disapproval of the townspeople. And no one in Cloverville had disapproved of her more than Clayton.

If only she’d worn one of her tailored business suits instead of her most casual outfit, but now it was too late to change either her clothes or Clayton’s opinion of her.

He walked toward them, eating up the short distance with just a couple of strides. “Abby.”

She drew in a breath and then pasted on a smile. “Clayton.”

“It’s been a long time,” he said, his gaze hard as he stared at her.

Not long enough. He obviously didn’t want her back in Cloverville any more than she wanted to be back.

Then his head dipped, and his gaze softened on her little girl. His throat moved as he swallowed, and then he asked, “So who’s this pretty young lady?”

“My daughter.”

“I can tell,” he said, his lips curving into a warm smile that etched creases into his cheeks.

Abby’s pulse quickened. She couldn’t remember if she’d ever seen him smile before. Lara, however, was more frightened than charmed and ducked behind her mother’s legs, grasping Abby’s hand tightly with one hand as she clutched a well-loved teddy bear with the other.

“You don’t have to be scared,” she assured her daughter, even though she’d spent much of her childhood fearing her friends’ older brother. But she’d grown up many, many years ago—she’d had no choice. “Clayton isn’t a stranger. I’ve known him a long time. Well, I knew him a long time ago.”

“I knew your mother when she was your age,” Clayton said as he dropped to his haunches, his slacks pulled taut across muscular thighs. “You look exactly like she did the first time she followed my sister Molly home.”

Like a stray dog. That was how he’d always seen her. But then he hadn’t been all that wrong. She used to come to the McClintock house with her clothes dirty, her knees scraped and her stomach growling with hunger. And his mom had always cleaned her up and fed her. Mrs. Mick, as Abby had always called her, had been more of a mother to Abby than her own sad excuse for a mother had been. Mom had spent more time in the bar than at home, and Abby’s dad had always been gone because he drove a semitruck for a living.

“What’s your name?” he asked the child.

The small girl whispered her response. “Lara.”

“Lara?” Clayton glanced up at Abby.

She nodded, then confirmed what he had to be thinking. “Lara Hamilton.”

He straightened up. “So you’re not married.”

“Nope. The closest I’m getting to an altar is Molly’s wedding tomorrow.” The one reason she had come back to Cloverville: she was going to watch her friend make the biggest mistake of her life, unless somehow she could manage to talk Molly out of it. If not for all the projects Abby had had going on in the past couple of months, she would have come back to Cloverville much sooner. She hoped she had enough time to talk Molly out of the wedding. “I’m sorry you were sent to get me, Clayton. I thought one of the others…”

“They’re already at the rehearsal.”

She glanced at her watch, then closed her eyes. “We’re late.”

He probably held her responsible for the computer problems at O’Hare that had delayed their flight. She blamed herself, too, for not coming in earlier. But Clayton was one of the reasons she hadn’t wanted to come back to Cloverville at all. No matter what she’d accomplished since she’d left, everyone here—and especially Clayton—would always see her as the poor, screwed-up Hamilton kid who’d been failing high school even before she’d been expelled for malicious mischief and vandalism.

“Is it too late for me to be the flower girl, Mommy?” Lara asked.

Abby’s lids lifted, her gaze on her daughter’s concerned expression. Lara had been looking forward to her “job” in Molly’s wedding, and she’d be disappointed if Abby convinced her friend to cancel.

Clayton turned back to Lara, too, offering reassurance before her mother had a chance to speak. “No, honey, the wedding is tomorrow, and you’re going to be the most beautiful flower girl Cloverville has ever seen.” He closed one dark eye in a wink, his lashes brushing his cheek.

Abby’s heart fluttered. It had to be an aftereffect of flying. Not that she was an anxious flyer. Nope, the nerves were because she was here, less than an hour away from the Cloverville city limits.

“But we do need to get to the rehearsal,” Clayton continued. “So we know what to do tomorrow. And after the rehearsal, we’re having dinner at Mr. and Mrs. Kelly’s. They own the bakery and they always have lots of goodies around, including the best cookies in the world.”

Lara tugged on Abby’s hand. “Can I have a cookie, Mommy?”

Abby nodded. Even though it would be awfully close to Lara’s bedtime when the rehearsal concluded, if it wasn’t finished already, sugar didn’t affect Lara as it did her mother.

“I’ll get your bags and we’ll be on our way,” Clayton said as he headed toward the carousel.

Abby rushed after him, pulling Lara along with her. She didn’t want to accept his help. She really should have rented a car, but Brenna Kelly, the maid of honor and one of Abby’s oldest and closest friends, had insisted that it would be easier and faster for someone to pick her up from the airport. “I’ll get my own bags, Clayton. You don’t know what my suitcases look like.”

“I imagine they’re the only ones that are left,” he said with a smug smile, turning toward the conveyor.

Abby clenched her free hand into a fist and wished she had something to whip at the back of his head. Clayton McClintock had always irritated the heck out of her, with his smug I-have-everything-under-control personality. Why had her friends sent him to get the two of them? Just how crazy had this wedding made everyone?

“He’s nice, Mommy.”

Clayton McClintock was a lot of things. Judgmental, humorless and uptight. But he was not nice. While all the other McClintocks had always accepted her as one of the family, Clayton made her feel as if she didn’t belong.

Then again, she really hadn’t. But most of the time when she was growing up, she’d had no place else to go.

“Mommy?”

She blinked, then gazed down at Lara. “What, honey?”

“Don’t you like Clayton?”

She turned to watch him lift their suitcases from the carousel, his impressive biceps straining his shirtsleeves. Then she lied to her daughter for the first time in her life. “Sure I do.”

Clayton stood only a few feet away. Despite the grinding of the conveyor belt, he heard her and smothered a laugh. Abby had never liked him, which was fine with him. She’d been such a brat in her day. Her daughter might look exactly like her, but apparently she acted nothing like the wild child her mother had been.

“I wouldn’t let them leave again,” a male voice commented near Clayton’s shoulder.

He glanced over at a gray-haired man who was standing beside him. “Excuse me?”

“Your wife and daughter,” the older man said, gesturing toward Abby and Lara. “I flew in from Chicago with them.”

Clayton’s mouth went dry, too dry for him to respond and correct the misconception. His wife and daughter? He’d never take a wife, never have children of his own. That was one plan he didn’t intend to let his family change.

“Despite the computer problems at the airport, they stayed so sweet and patient. They’re beautiful,” the stranger continued. “You’re a lucky man.”

Clayton simply nodded, not wasting any time with explanations. They were already late. After the rehearsal dinner he would dump Abby, her daughter and suitcases at his mother’s house, and his responsibilities to her would be over.

“SLOW DOWN, CLAYTON,” Abby said. Sun-streaked fields and dappled woods whipped past the windows of the hybrid SUV. She turned toward the backseat, where Lara’s head bobbed in her sleep with each bump in the road. Less than a foot of console separated Abby from Clayton’s broad shoulder. His jaw was rigidly set as he stared straight ahead at the road leading into Cloverville.

He hadn’t even heard her request. She reached over and touched his thigh. Muscles flexed beneath her fingers and the SUV surged forward as his foot pressed harder on the accelerator.

“Clayton, slow down!” she whispered, not wanting to wake her daughter, even though Lara could sleep anywhere and through anything.

“Grabbing my leg isn’t going to slow me down,” he said tersly, as he eased off the gas. “It’s actually a good way to wind up in the ditch.”

Fingers tingling, Abby snatched back her hand and knotted her fingers in her lap. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you, but you didn’t hear me.”

“Telling me to slow down?” he said. “I thought you were kidding, considering the way you drive. You thrive on speed.”

“I used to,” she admitted. Although speed had had little to do with her poor driving. Undiagnosed attention deficit disorder had been the real reason for her erratic youthful driving—that and bad brakes.

“Did having a kid finally settle you down?”

Diet and exercise had gotten the ADD under control, but nothing had affected her as much as becoming a mother. “Yes,” she agreed.

“Responsibility will do that to you,” he said, his voice thick with bitterness.

She’d always figured that after he’d mourned the loss of his father, he’d enjoyed stepping into the patriarch’s shoes and taking control of his family. Even before his dad had gotten sick, Clayton had bossed his younger siblings and Abby around so much that they’d all looked forward to his leaving for college.

Maybe his bitterness was because he’d never gotten over his father’s death. It had affected all their lives so much. “Clayton…”

He turned his head slightly, his gaze skimming over her. The tingling spread from her fingertips throughout her body in reaction to that look. What the heck was that about? He’d never looked at her like that when they were younger, when she’d secretly wished he would; wished that he’d return from college and notice that she was all grown up.

“What?” he asked when she remained silent with remembered self-disgust. In the end, she’d actually missed him when he’d gone away to college. She doubted he’d missed her at all these past eight years.

She expelled a soft, shaky sigh. “So are you speeding to the church?”

He shook his head. “When I went to get the car, I called Brenna’s cell. Reverend Howland had another commitment and couldn’t wait any longer, so they had to rehearse without the missing members of the party.”

“Us,” she acknowledged, bracing herself for his accusatory stare. He’d always blamed her for any trouble his sisters had gotten into. Like the tattoos, for instance. But in Abby’s opinion, this wedding was the most trouble Molly had ever gotten into, and she wanted to get her out.

“We weren’t the only ones who missed the rehearsal,” Clayton admitted. “Neither the best man nor Eric was there.”

“Eric.” Eric South been the lone male member of a group of friends that included Abby, Brenna Kelly, Molly and Molly’s sister, Colleen, who was a few years younger than the classmates. “I hope he makes it to the dinner.” He could help Abby talk Molly out of marrying a stranger.

“I hope we do,” Clayton muttered as he pressed down on the accelerator.

Abby lifted her hand from her lap but stopped herself from reaching across the console again. “I’m surprised an insurance agent would drive so fast. I remember the lecture about driving responsibly that Mr. Mick gave me when I got my license.”

“You listened?” he asked, sounding surprised. Probably remembering his father’s patented lecture himself, he slowed down.

“Since you run the agency now, do you give the safe-driving speech, too?” she asked.

He nodded. “At the high school and the office.”

Just as his father had done. Had Clayton chosen to be an insurance agent or had he just assumed the job when he’d taken over his father’s business after he died? She couldn’t ask something so personal. They weren’t friends nor were they ever likely to be.

“The Kellys always make plenty of food.” She doubted that had changed. “Why are you in such a hurry to get back to Cloverville? Do you have to pick up a date for the dinner?”

Under his breath, he muttered, “Not anymore.”

Her lips twitched into a smile. Apparently even the Clayton McClintocks of the world got dumped. “Then you just don’t want to be alone with me.”

He didn’t deny her assumption. “How long are you planning on staying?”

Obviously he didn’t want her in Cloverville any more than she wanted to be back. Since he’d slowed down, the scenery enveloped them. Fields and woods, trees thick with green leaves gave way to subdivisions crowded with new houses, streets lined with strip malls, box stores and fast-food restaurants. “This is Cloverville?”

“It’s grown since you’ve been away. Did you think it would stay the same?”

She shook her head. “Nothing stays the same.” She’d learned that at a young age. Sadly enough, so had Lara—it was time for Abby to put down roots for the two of them. To give her daughter a home they would live in for more than a year or two. Time to establish permanent headquarters for the temporary employment agency Abby owned. Abby had already given up her apartment in Chicago. She’d been so busy packing that she couldn’t fly in sooner. Now she just had to decide on where she and her daughter would settle.

It was only the two of them. The moment Abby had gotten pregnant Lara’s father had wanted nothing to do with either of them. Almost five years later, the hurt had faded, but she couldn’t fathom how she’d been so wrong about him. She’d thought he’d been such a nice, responsible guy, but maybe it wasn’t his fault he couldn’t love her. Her own parents hadn’t.

Clayton turned the SUV onto Main Street, where nothing had changed. Mrs. Hild’s Cape Cod still crowded the corner lot, her prize roses climbing over the carved wooden sign denoting the Cloverville city limits. In the middle of the block was Mr. Carpenter’s hardware store, the windows ablaze with the reflection of the setting sun. They also passed the McClintock Insurance Agency, the same gold logo on the front door as the one embroidered on Clayton’s shirt. The three-story redbrick building that housed the agency was one of the biggest on the block, taller and wider than the diner and pharmacy flanking it. A For Lease sign had been posted in the window of the first-floor office next to the insurance agency.

“Dr. Strover moved?” she asked.

“He retired,” Clayton said. “So I’m looking for a new tenant.”

Clayton’s dad had owned the building, and now it was Clayton’s responsibility—like so many others he’d taken on at twenty-two years of age. The same age Abby had been when she became a mother.

“I was hoping Josh would put his practice there, but his partner thought they needed more space. They’re putting up a new building on the west side of Cloverville, closer to Grand Rapids and the hospitals.”

“Josh?” she asked, not following his conversation, probably because she was so surprised he was making the effort to talk to her. Eight years ago, except for one night, he’d never bothered to say much of anything to her other than an occasional curt, “Don’t you have a home?”

She hadn’t then. Or now. She glanced into the backseat where Lara still slept peacefully, her curls tangled around her face. Love filled Abby’s heart. Until she’d had her baby, she’d never known how much love one could feel.

“Dr. Josh Towers is the man Molly’s marrying tomorrow. I thought you and my sister kept in close contact,” he said with a hint of his old disapproval. As if he didn’t understand why Molly would want to remain in contact with her. “You don’t know the name of her fiancé?”

“Molly and I talk every day either by phone or e-mail.” And she’d hardly mentioned her fiancé. Of course, Molly had only just gotten engaged—to a man she obviously didn’t love. Not that Abby knew anything about love except what she felt for her daughter. “Don’t you think it’s too soon?”

“What?”

“The wedding. They hardly know each other.”

The muscles in his arm rippled as he gripped the steering wheel. “Since her first year of college, Molly has worked summers at the hospital where he’s on staff. She’s known him a long time.”

“No, she hasn’t. They’ve only just started dating.” Frustration churned Abby’s stomach. She’d tried to talk to Molly, tried to convince her to wait before she leaped into something as serious as marriage. Molly wasn’t the type to act impetuously—she’d always been as responsible as her older brother. “I thought you, of all people, would be against this shotgun wedding.”

“It’s hardly that.”

“You’ve always been so practical, so…”

“Boring?” he finished for her, a muscle jumping in his jaw. He knew how she’d seen him in the past, and he could only imagine what she thought of him now since she’d lived in big cities and he’d stayed here. In Cloverville. Not that he cared what she thought of him. His concern was for Molly. Abby couldn’t be right about the wedding. Molly was too smart, too responsible to act as impulsively as Abby always had.

“Judgmental,” she answered.

The comment stung, even though it shouldn’t have, even though he knew she was only trying to get a rise out of him, just as she always had. No matter how hard he’d tried, she’d made it impossible for him to ignore her.

“I’m judgmental? Really?” he challenged her, then pointed out, “I haven’t said anything about…” He lifted his gaze to the rearview mirror, which reflected back the image of her daughter. Damn, she was a cute kid, just like her mother had been.

A breath hissed out of her with an offended whisper. “Clayton!”

He didn’t care that she was a single mother. Despite her accusation, he didn’t judge anyone. But he really wanted to know why she was a single mother. Had she decided to raise her daughter alone or hadn’t she had a choice? Had she turned down the father’s offer of marriage, turned off the idea from the poor example her parents had set for her? Or had the guy taken off on her? “Why aren’t you married, Abby?”

She snorted. “I should have known you were just acting back at the airport, when you were being nice to Lara. You’re still a judgmental jerk.”

Instead of anger, amusement coursed through him. She remained a combination of sass and attitude. He could see her turning down marriage, determined to maintain her independence. He persisted. “Why aren’t you married?”

“None of your damned business, Clayton.”

She was right. Her life was none of his business, but he wanted to know about Lara’s father. He could imagine the kind of guys Abby dated: wild, irresponsible, exciting. His guts twisted into knots at the thought of Abby in some other guy’s arms, in some other guy’s bed, naked…

He tapped the brakes on his thoughts and the SUV slowed almost to a stop at the entrance to Cloverville Park. “Look there, Abby. Not everything’s changed. They still haven’t managed to fix the colonel.”

Her head turned to where the bronze statue of the town founder, Civil War hero Colonel Clover, stood among the ornamental trees and flowers. His hat was dented, his left ear mangled, his neck at an odd angle with a crude welding job only just holding his head in place, as well as his arms and legs. Her breath hissed out again. “Can’t the damn town hire someone to fix him properly? It’s been eight years.”

Eight years since she’d been expelled from high school for vandalizing the town park by plowing her car across it and knocking over Colonel Clover. She’d been lucky to come out of the crash without even a scratch. His younger sister, Colleen, who’d been in the car, too, had been hurt however. Her face had been cut by the broken windshield and her ribs bruised.

The harsh words he’d said to Abby that night rolled through his mind. “Troublemaker” had been the nicest thing he’d called her. God, if Colleen had been hurt any worse…With his father dying, his family hadn’t been able to handle any more tragedy.

He glanced to the backseat, to the little girl who was dependent on Abby alone. Poor kid. That was what his father had called Abby, when he’d told Clayton to go easy on her, to give her a chance since she was a remarkable young lady. That was one of the last things his father had ever said to him, because he’d died just a few days later.

Clayton blinked. He should have listened to his dad and been easier on her then. She’d only been a kid. Now, sitting next to him, staring wide-eyed at the park, she didn’t look a lot older despite the eight years that had passed and motherhood.

“I guess it’s true what they say,” Abby said, her voice soft. “You can’t come home again.”

When she turned to him, her blue eyes bright with unshed tears, his guts twisted with regret over how she’d left town, and with anxiety over her return. Although Abby Hamilton had grown up, he had no doubt she would still cause trouble.

For him.