Jilted: Promise Harbor, Book 1 (6 page)

“Did you just try to call her?” She nodded at the cell phone still in his hand.

“Yeah. No answer.”

She pursed her lips as if thinking. “I have no idea where Gavin’s been living.”

“Nobody else here does, either. His parents were at the church, but they didn’t come to the reception.”

“What about…where were you going on your honeymoon? Maybe they went there?”

“Oh for fuck’s sake…they wouldn’t…would they?”

She shrugged slender shoulders. “I have no idea. It was just a suggestion.”

“I booked the honeymoon suite at the Oceanside Inn on Greenbush Island. It’s already charged to my credit card.”

Her eyes went wide. “Seriously? Greenbush Island?”

“What wrong with that? It’s a nice place.”

“Um. Yeah. It’s a gorgeous place.” She blinked. Her eyes looked away, then back at him. She bit her lip. “And it’s paid for, you say?”

“Yeah.” He grimaced.

After another short pause, she said, “I could go see if they’re there.”

He stared at her. “What?”

“I’ll go see if they’re there.” She lifted one shoulder. “There’s still time to get the last ferry.”

“But…why would you do that?”

A smile flickered on her beautiful mouth. “Just trying to help.”

Thoughts jumbled up in his head. He needed to do something, to try to find Allie, to make sure she was okay. But this was Devon standing there in front of him, still so beautiful, offering to help him. Devon.

When he’d seen her last night at Barney’s Chowder House, he’d been stupefied. Dazzled. Blown away. He’d been drunk too, but the truth was, he’d been thinking about her before he’d even seen her. Thinking about the woman he’d loved and lost the night before his wedding. And now she was offering to go to Greenbush Island to try to find Allie.

“Okay,” he said. He set down his beer and slipped his phone back into his pocket. “Let’s go.”

She froze. “You’re coming with me?”

“Yeah. Why not?” He glanced around the room. “This isn’t exactly a fun night for me. Let’s go.”

Devon’s heart bumped in her chest. It was a bat-shit crazy thing to suggest, and even crazier to actually do it. She’d thought she could go over to the island to see if Gavin and Allie had checked into the honeymoon suite, which they probably had not, in which case
she
would check in and then hang around and see if she could bump into William Mudge and…

But she never anticipated that Josh would want to come with her. Holy fishsticks.

He grabbed her hand and started tugging her toward one of the doors. “Should you tell someone where we’re going?” she asked, tripping along after him in her spiky heels.

He paused. “Yeah. I’ll tell Jackson.” He looked around, and Devon followed his gaze to where Jackson stood across the room, talking to Hayley Stone. “Be right back.”

She watched him stride across the room and pause beside his best man. The two of them made a picture, both so tall and gorgeous in their dark tuxes. Josh spoke to Jackson briefly, gave his shoulder a squeeze, then turned and met her eyes as he walked back toward her. She swallowed.

“Okay, let’s go.” Instead of heading to the lobby, he led her down a hall in the other direction, and pushed through a door that opened directly into the parking lot the banquet room overlooked. She cast a glance at the windows. Was anyone watching them make their exit like this?

“My…my car.” She blinked. “I parked over there.” She lifted her chin.

“Okay. Get your car. Go home and get your stuff. Meet me at the ferry as soon as you can.”

“You can’t be serious.”

He gave her a mirthless smile. “Serious as a five-alarm fire, honey.”

Still she paused. Then, “Okay. I’ll meet you there in about half an hour.”

He nodded, squeezed the hand he still held and met her eyes. “Thanks, Dev.”

Devon had no idea what she was going to tell her father when she went home to get her things, but it turned out she didn’t have to tell him anything because he wasn’t there. She paused in the kitchen after letting herself in the back door. He was probably next door at Susan’s. She could go over there and see and tell him she was leaving.

But she took the cowardly way out instead and left a note on the kitchen counter.

Dad:
 

You probably heard about the wedding. It’s off. So I’m going home. I’ll give you a call. Thanks for letting me stay. See you soon.

She packed up the few things she had brought with her, jumped into her car and drove to the wharf where the ferry for Greenbush Island departed. For a moment she contemplated changing direction, hitting I-93 and heading back to Boston. But dammit, William Mudge was on that island.

William Mudge, director of human resources at Heffington International. One more verging-on-desperate chance to get her precious career—and her life—back on track before people found out about her embarrassing unemployment. She did
not
need people feeling sorry for her.

So she drove to the wharf and parked in the lot, assuming they would take Josh’s car on the ferry.

But where was Josh? For a brief moment, a flash of hope that he wouldn’t show up zipped through her. Because this was crazy. But that was stupid. If there was a man on this planet whom you could count on to do what he said he would, it was Josh Brewster.

And yeah, there he was. He had a duffel bag sitting on the ground beside him where he leaned up against a fence, looking at his phone and frowning. She grabbed her suitcase and dragged it across the parking lot through the lowering afternoon sun.

He looked up and saw her and his frown relaxed into a crooked smile. “Hey. You came.”

“Did you think I wouldn’t?”

His eyes shadowed. “My track record of being stood up isn’t so good today.”

Yeah, true that. “I’m sorry, Josh.” It wasn’t her fault, but she was sorry…sorry that he’d been embarrassed, inconvenienced…heartbroken? She studied his face.

“Don’t worry about it.” His phone buzzed and he frowned as he glanced at it. He rolled his eyes.

“Who is it?”

“Allie’s brother. People keep calling me to see where I am and if I’ve found Allie yet.”

“How do they know you’re looking for her?”

“I called my mother. I knew she’d wonder where I was. I told her I’m trying to find Allie. That made her happy.”

Devon’s stomach tightened. “I guess she was pretty happy you two were getting married.”

“Ecstatic.” Josh’s mouth thinned into a flat line. “So she’s glad I’m trying to rescue her from being kidnapped.”

Devon’s mouth fell open. “Kidnapped? People think she’s been kidnapped?”

“You know how rumors get started in this town.” He rubbed his face. “I told her Allie left of her own free will, but even so, people make up their own versions of what happened.”

“I guess everyone’s worried about her.”

“Yeah. Hence all the phone calls.”

The truth was,
Devon
was a little worried about Allie. Running away with Gavin like that was something so impulsive and crazy and so unlike Allie, it was no wonder everyone had been in shock. What had gotten into her? Although Gavin was known by many in Promise Harbor, he’d been gone for a long time and was primarily now known as the man who’d broken Allie Ralston’s heart. He hadn’t even showed up when Allie’s mom had died, for the love of Jeebus. Why on earth would she go with him like that? She’d thrown away marriage to the most decent, loyal, honorable man there was to run away with a guy who’d been nothing but trouble.

They left her car on the mainland and took Josh’s vehicle onto the ferry. After parking, they climbed out and joined other passengers on the deck of the ferry as the boat glided away from the wharf and slowly moved out into the channel toward Greenbush Island.

Devon leaned against the railing, the ocean breeze tossing her hair around her face. She pulled strands away from her mouth and held them at her nape with one hand, watching the town of Promise Harbor recede as they chugged out of the cove.

Josh leaned beside her and she glanced at his profile: the short, straight nose that gave him a boyish look, the strong jaw, his long eyelashes. Something stirred inside her, a flutter of attraction, a curl of heat, along with sympathy. Damn. She’d felt it that night at Barney’s too.

Josh had broken her heart, something that had taken her a long time to get over. Coming back here had been meant to prove to everyone, and hopefully to herself, that she’d gotten over him, that she’d moved on with her life. But the way her insides tightened when she looked at him, the way her body tingled, the way her heart ached thinking about him being hurt, told her she wasn’t over him.

Which only meant this was an even worse idea. Helping Josh find his fiancée? Yeah, that sounded like a lot of fun.

At that moment, Devon was tempted to climb over the railing, jump off the boat and swim to shore. Her heart picked up speed and her breathing went shallow as anxiety gripped her. What the hell was she doing?

She forced herself to breathe normally, drawing air into her lungs slowly, fresh, briny sea air, forced herself to relax her death grip on the railing. William Mudge. The position at Heffington International. The job she so badly needed, not just to pay her rent, although yeah, that was pretty damn important, but because her career was who she
was
. It was, sadly, all she had. So,
that
was what she was doing. This was going to work out perfectly. She stole a glance at Josh.

What if they found Allie there? Then what would they do? Was Josh going to try to fight for her? This could get ugly.

But what if they didn’t find Allie? She had no idea what would happen then.

Josh leaned on the rail beside her, and they both stared out at the ocean, undulating in shades of gray and blue, creamy whitecaps dotting the surface here and there. Seagulls soared above, the lowering sun illuminating them, pure white against the clear blue sky.

“So,” Devon said. “You and Allie planned to spend your honeymoon on the island.”

“I planned it,” he said. “I just told her about it yesterday so she’d know what to pack.”

“Oh. That’s a beautiful inn.”

“Yeah.” He lifted one big shoulder. “I thought it would be nice. Not too far away. And there are lots of things to do on the island.”

Devon pursed her lips. On a honeymoon, you wouldn’t think they’d care about things to do—beyond getting out of bed to answer the door for room service. But what did she know about honeymoons? Nothing, that’s what.

“I haven’t been over here for years,” she said.

Josh’s phone buzzed again.

“Oh for Chrissake,” he muttered. “I feel like tossing this thing overboard.”

“Um. That’s an expensive-looking phone.”

“Yeah.” He sighed. “And I need to keep it on in case anything comes up at work.” After a brief pause, he added, “Or if Allie calls.”

“So if a fire breaks out, you might have to interrupt your honeymoon to go put it out?”

He turned and looked at her, and she caught the glimmer of humor in his amber eyes. “I’m not on my honeymoon.”

“True.” Her own lips quirked. “You know what I meant.”

“Yeah.” A smile ghosted over his lips. “I doubt if I’d have to go fight a fire, but I’m a shift captain, and you never know what might come up.”

“I didn’t know you were a captain. Congratulations.”

“Thanks.”

“When did that happen?”

“A few months ago.”

“Do you like it?” Devon studied his face. “It must seem awfully tame after what you were doing in Boston.”

Josh had graduated at the top of his class in college, and it hadn’t taken him long with the Boston Fire Department to work his way into the special operations command. That was the department responsible for all the special rescue services for the fire department, things like confined space rescue, structural collapse rescue, hazardous materials and decontamination operations and a whole lot of other scary things she couldn’t even remember.

“I do like it,” he said slowly. “Yeah, it’s different. But I’ve worked my way up, and I like being a captain and having more responsibility. Chief Langley is retiring in a couple of years, and I might have a shot at being chief.”

“That would be awesome. And not surprising at all.”

He gave her a look. “Thanks.”

“What was the look for?”

“What look?”

“The look. You know. Like you’re surprised I’d compliment you.”

He grimaced and looked away. “Maybe I am.”

She went silent. She chewed a little on her bottom lip. Why would he think that? He had to know how much she admired him—his bravery, his dedication to his career, the way he put himself on the line to save other people. He was like a superhero to her. He’d been like a superhero to her since the day she’d met him, and after he’d become a firefighter she’d been even more in awe of him.

She just wished he’d been a superhero for
her
.