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Marrying The Wedding Crasher
Melinda Curtis
This bachelor's pretend girlfriend just made a shocking discovery – She's pregnant!Although they only dated for a month, Harley O'Hannigan just agreed to be Vince Messina's plus-one at a Harmony Valley wedding. Big mistake, given her deepening feelings for the tall, dark, unavailable bachelor. And what about Vince's long-buried family history? Then there's the growing secret that could transform this pretend relationship into the real thing…
This bachelor’s pretend girlfriend just made a shocking discovery—
She’s pregnant!
Although they dated for only a month, Harley O’Hannigan just agreed to be Vince Messina’s plus-one at a Harmony Valley wedding. Big mistake, given her deepening feelings for the tall, dark, unavailable bachelor. And what about Vince’s long-buried family history? Then there’s the growing secret that could transform this pretend relationship into the real thing...
Award-winning USA TODAY bestselling author MELINDA CURTIS is an empty nester married to her college sweetheart. She’s lived in three states in the United States—California, Georgia and Texas—and plans to move to a fourth when Mr. Curtis retires (because all their children live in Oregon). She and her husband are constantly remodelling something—their house, their parents’ homes, the abodes of their children. Check out social media for before/after pictures.
Melinda writes sweet contemporary romances as Melinda Curtis (Brenda Novak says Season of Change “found a place on my keeper shelf”) and fun, sexy reads as Mel Curtis (Jayne Ann Krentz says Fool for Love is “wonderfully entertaining”).
Also By Melinda Curtis (#u997cc1ae-8b72-5849-a261-c339932b624b)
Dandelion Wishes
Summer Kisses
Season of Change
A Perfect Year
Time for Love
A Memory Away
Marrying the Single Dad
Love, Special Delivery
Support Your Local Sheriff
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Marrying the Wedding Crasher
Melinda Curtis
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-08292-1
MARRYING THE WEDDING CRASHER
© 2018 Melinda Wooten
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
One moment, Vince and Harley were joking. The next, they weren’t. And after that? Her lips were pressed to his.
His eyes widened and then slowly drifted closed as he deepened the kiss.
Only to have her pull away and announce, “Time.”
He blinked. Disoriented. The willing woman in his arms was gone. Walking away from him. A swing to her step.
“Hang on.” He jogged to Harley’s side. “What just happened there?”
Harley wouldn’t look at him. She reached the crosswalk and looked both ways, more careful crossing the road than she was with her affections. “I got carried away in my role as your plus-one and you got a freebie.”
Vince wanted to haul Harley back into his arms and kiss her as senseless as she made him.
Not the wisest thought I’ve had today.
But certainly one of the best.
If only they weren’t in Harmony Valley...
Dear Reader (#u997cc1ae-8b72-5849-a261-c339932b624b),
Welcome to Harmony Valley!
Just a few short years ago, Harmony Valley was on the brink of extinction, with only those over the age of sixty in residence. Now the influx of a younger generation is making life in Harmony Valley more fun and definitely more interesting for its gray-haired residents.
I hope you enjoy Vince and Harley’s touching journey to a happily-ever-after—which begins with a harmless invite to a family wedding—as well as the other romances in the Harmony Valley series. I love to hear from readers. Check my website to learn more about upcoming books, sign up for email book announcements (and I’ll send you a free sweet romance read) or chat with me on Facebook (MelindaCurtisAuthor (https://www.facebook.com/MelindaCurtisAuthor/)) to hear about my latest giveaways.
Melinda Curtis
MelindaCurtis.com (http://www.MelindaCurtis.com)
To Anna J. Stewart and Cari Lynn Webb.
Thanks for understanding, making me laugh and keeping me strong.
Contents
Cover (#u2ad1d1ec-f634-5d62-a1ab-9a3049422c40)
Back Cover Text (#ua73e964f-ebe5-5e1b-93fa-8aa15f07c3b1)
About the Author (#ue470a2fc-7b6d-552d-845f-303ed62a14be)
Booklist (#u3fe13713-512c-5183-9bce-658952331563)
Title Page (#u1cef569f-f938-586a-a547-8df968579980)
Copyright (#ubbc22625-9bf3-508d-a956-0160ac4a7c19)
Introduction (#u32cc2715-1290-5b5e-8ca0-230a24c06378)
Dear Reader (#ub1deb260-ca2f-54da-8b56-7ea560082eb2)
Dedication (#u0cd6edd8-2580-5306-beb6-f545571b1c4e)
CHAPTER ONE (#u6abf5988-673c-5440-b02c-1121645b0fee)
CHAPTER TWO (#ue6965bf3-caef-5665-8409-fb6852881bf6)
CHAPTER THREE (#u88b2270e-351f-505c-b69c-e0dc7c9cf1cf)
CHAPTER FOUR (#uff386782-76b3-5259-8d96-965abd805490)
CHAPTER FIVE (#u32f97cb9-942f-525a-81e2-67b3ddb118a2)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINETEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#u997cc1ae-8b72-5849-a261-c339932b624b)
VINCE MESSINA CONSIDERED himself a survivor.
He didn’t think he’d survive his little brother’s wedding back home in Harmony Valley.
Bittersweet memories. Long-kept secrets. Family he hadn’t seen in years. It had all the makings of a serious crash-and-burn.
The Texas summer sun beat down on Vince, nearly as hot as an oil-fueled ball of flame.
“You’re going to come to my wedding.” His younger brother Joe wasn’t asking. “And you’re going to bring that girlfriend of yours. It’s long past time we met her.”
Ah, the girlfriend.
His brothers pestered him less when they thought he was in a relationship. Hence his make-believe girlfriend, the latest of which hadn’t been make-believe a month ago.
Vince’s gaze drifted across the job site to the blonde working the tile saw. Harley O’Hannigan wasn’t likely to go away with him again. “She’s not sure she can get off work.” Besides, Harley would think he was a jerk if he asked her. But she was just the kind of woman who could hold her own against his siblings.
“What’s her name?” His older brother Gabe was nearly silenced by the whir of the tile saw and the punch-punch-punch of a nail gun. “And what’s that noise? Where are you?”
“They’re remodeling my local Starbucks.” Lying, Vince pulled his focus away from Harley. He was part of a crew working on a huge remodel in a fancy neighborhood outside of Houston. “And, no, I won’t tell you her name. The last time I introduced you to my girlfriend, you stole her, Gabe.”
Mandy Zapien, a girl with a heart of gold. He hoped she was married to somebody stable and had three kids by now.
“That was high school,” Gabe scoffed. “There is no girlfriend, admit it. All the more reason Vince needs to come home so we can straighten out his life.”
Vince’s life was fine as long as his brothers stayed out of it. Not that he didn’t love them. He just didn’t want to answer for every decision he’d made, every confidence he’d kept.
“The fake girlfriend is your tell.” Joe sounded disappointed. “The last time you bluffed about one, you’d been clipped by a stray bullet in a bar fight.”
“I wasn’t actually in the bar fight.” He’d been collateral damage, which seemed to be the story of his life. Vince set his jaw. “I’m not bluffing. There’s a girl.”
Correction. A woman. Wearing worn blue jeans, a burgundy T-shirt with the construction company’s logo and scuffed work boots. She wiped a tile dry with a towel, examining the cut she’d made in the white marble.
