How to Romance a Runaway Bride Page 2

  Her heart started pounding again. Her tummy did a little flip. But she didn’t feel panicky. No, this was something different. Something not as frightening as a panic attack. In fact, it almost felt like attraction.

  Odd.

  And wrong. So very wrong. This was Zander. Her friend. Or at least he’d been her friend. Now he was just...nothing. And Allegra was still wearing the dress she’d chosen to wear to her wedding. To another man. So there was nothing remotely appropriate about the butterflies swarming in her belly.

  She swallowed and decided they weren’t butterflies at all. She was overwhelmed. Period. It had been quite a day. A lump formed in her throat, and she suddenly had to blink back tears.

  Zander came to a stop directly in front of her. A furious knot tensed in his jaw. His very square, very manly jaw. Zander Wilde had done quite a bit of growing up since she’d seen him last.

  “Allegra.” He gave her a businesslike nod, as if she was a total stranger.

  Why on earth was he acting so ridiculous?

  “Zander.” She threw her arms around him in a bear hug. Maybe it was a little presumptuous since they hadn’t seen each other in so many years. But gosh, it was good to see him. Better than she would ever have imagined. The lump in her throat grew threefold.

  Zander stiffened and promptly peeled her arms away from him. “Could everyone let us have a word for a minute, please? In private.”

  Chloe smiled at Allegra over Zander’s shoulder, then wandered to the far side of the ballroom along with the others. Emily, however, lingered.

  Zander seemed to sense her presence. “You, too, Mom.”

  She shook her head. “Zander, maybe you should—”

  “Mom, please. This is between Allegra and me.” For a split second, his steely gaze grew soft. Allegra caught a brief glimpse of the boy she’d once known. Then before she could even smile at him, he was gone. “No one else.”

  “Fine.” Emily glared at the back of her son’s head, then aimed a parting smile at Allegra. “It’s nice to see you again, dear. You look gorgeous. Such a beautiful bride.”

  Bride. Oh, goodness.

  In her shock at seeing Zander again, she’d forgotten all about her dress. He clearly hadn’t. The way he was staring, she might think Zander Wilde had never seen a woman in a wedding gown before.

  “What was that all about? Clearing the room.” She glanced at the hotel staff nervously hovering just a few yards away. “Are those your minions? Are you going to have them escort me off the property or something?”

  Allegra laughed.

  Zander didn’t. Not even close. “Those are my employees. I’m the CEO of this hotel. No one is going to escort you off the property, but come on, Allegra. You can’t be serious right now. What are you doing here? And why on earth are you wearing that?”

  He waved a hand at her gown, but didn’t seem to look directly at it. In fact, he appeared to avoid looking directly at her altogether and instead focused on a spot somewhere above her head.

  This was getting more annoying by the minute. She’d just bailed on her wedding. She was mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted. She needed a nap and a good long cry. Not an argument. Especially an argument that had somehow started without her.

  “I’ll tell you why I’m wearing this as soon as you explain why you’re being such a jerk. You used to be nice.” She had no intention of confiding in him. Frankly, she couldn’t think of a more humiliating idea. And she didn’t want to cry in front of him, but bitter tears were already stinging her eyes. A sob caught in the back of her throat.

  She should be married right now, but here she was. Alone. Just like always.

  How had everything gone so horribly wrong?

  She looked Zander up and down, from the top of his perfectly groomed head to the tips of his wing tip–clad toes. She wished he wasn’t so good-looking. It made his new, smug attitude much more annoying. “What exactly is going on here?”

  Zander’s gaze narrowed. He crossed his arms over his chest, and Allegra pretended not to notice how much broader that chest had gotten since eleventh grade.

  “What’s going on is my birthday party. My thirtieth birthday,” he said with a tone that implied she should have known.

  Ten years ago, maybe even five, she would have. But Allegra had spent more than a decade trying so hard to eradicate bad memories that some of the good ones slipped through the cracks. The bad ones never did.

  Her gaze strayed toward the birthday cake on the table in the center of the room. She’d run out on a wedding and crashed her oldest friend’s birthday party all on the same day. And if the woman standing beside the cake looking slightly forlorn was any indication, she’d also interrupted Zander on a date.

  “I’m sorry if I’ve ruined your party. Happy birthday.” She swallowed. Something still didn’t seem quite right. Why would Zander, who so clearly had grown into an adult man, be so upset about a birthday party?

  She didn’t care. This painful little reunion was over. Allegra had more important things to worry about—things like picking up the shattered pieces of her life. Again.

  She gathered her billowing skirt in her hands and moved in the direction of the ballroom’s grand double doors. With any luck, she could somehow make it to the hotel’s registration desk without bumping into any of her wedding guests. Or, heaven forbid, the press. “I’ll just get a room and—”

  Zander cut her off. “Stop, Allegra. This isn’t happening.”

  “What’s not happening?” Ugh, was the hotel full? Couldn’t Mr. Hotshot CEO pull some strings and get her a room?

  She hated to ask him for a favor, especially when he was looking at her like he’d love nothing more than to turn her out on the street in her Vera Wang. But there were reporters outside. She needed a room. And she really, really needed to get out of her wedding dress and into something else. Anything else. Pronto.

  “This. Us.” Zander inhaled a deep, measured breath. Then he finally looked at her. Really looked. Allegra almost wished he hadn’t, because these weren’t the same eyes she remembered from her childhood, full of innocence and hope. She didn’t know the man who belonged to these eyes. “I won’t marry you, Allegra. Not now. Not ever.”

  Chapter Two

  Zander crossed his arms and told himself he’d done absolutely nothing wrong, despite the glare his mother was currently aiming at him from across the ballroom. He’d probably get an earful from her later on. Emily Wilde was no shrinking violet. She was a woman with strong opinions and a tendency to meddle, and now that Zander’s younger sister was happily engaged as well as dancing with a major ballet company, Emily no longer felt the need to hover over Tessa. The family matriarch had moved on to Zander’s personal life instead.

  Oh, joy.

  She wanted him married. She wanted grandchildren, preferably a boy, who could ensure that the Wilde family name and legacy would live on long after she was gone. Thus she made Zander curse his status as the only male offspring on a regular basis. He’d just as soon let some other guy get married and carry on the family name. Except there wasn’t another guy. Just him, a fact that was all the more painfully obvious now that he had a bride standing in front of him.

  I won’t marry you, Allegra. Not now. Not ever.

  Granted, it might have sounded a bit harsh, but he’d only said what needed to be said, plain and simple. Emily would no doubt accuse him of causing a scene, which was absurd. If anyone was causing a scene, it was Allegra.

  She’d crashed his birthday party. In a wedding gown. Had she honestly expected him to just run off into the sunset and marry her? Had she gone insane since she’d left town?

  She peered up at him, lush lips pressed together and a cute little wrinkle in her forehead. She didn’t look crazy. She looked confused. Confused and undeniably gorgeous. Looking into her luminous blue eyes made Zander’s chest hurt for some strange reason. He focused once again on the sparkling chandelier hanging over her head. That dress...those eyes—it
was all too much.

  “Marry me?” Her voice rang with incredulity. And if Zander wasn’t mistaken, a fair amount of amusement.

  He lifted an eyebrow. You’re the one in a wedding dress, sweetheart.

  “You can’t be serious,” she said, deadpan.

  Zander didn’t say a word, but simply held her gaze. He’d said his piece. There was no way he’d be held to a silly promise he’d made as a kid. Now she just needed to go back to wherever she’d come from before she embarrassed herself further.

  Allegra’s gaze narrowed, as if she was trying to peer inside his head. Then her pretty pink lips curved into a grin. She was smiling? Now?

  Maybe she really was unstable. The poor thing.

  Zander reached for her hand. A mistake. A huge one. A long time ago, he’d read something in a magazine article that said a simple touch could possess memory, a notion he’d dismissed as sentimental nonsense. Memories lived in the realm of the mind. They were made up of thoughts, images and unflinching emotions. How could a person’s flesh be capable of such complexities?

  But the moment his fingertips connected with Allegra’s, something strange happened. His limbs felt looser all of a sudden, and his spirit lifted. He remembered the soaring sensation of holding Allegra in his arms and twirling across the dance floor. He remembered ice-skating in Central Park, a lacy veil of snow in Allegra’s hair and his heart pounding hard in a darkened museum. He felt like a kid again. It was like being knocked flat by a New York blizzard.

  He dropped her hand and recrossed his arms. Revisiting the past had no place on his current agenda. She needed help. Obviously. He should call someone, but who? She no longer had any family in New York.

  Did she have any family left at all? Anywhere?

  “Look, Allegra—” he began.

  She cut him off. “You seriously think I’m here because I want to marry you?”

  She let out a giggle, then appeared to make a feeble attempt to keep her mouth shut. It was no use. Another giggle escaped, louder this time, until she was quite literally laughing in his face.

  Allegra’s laugh hadn’t changed a bit. Once upon a time, it had been one of Zander’s favorite sounds. Not anymore. “You find the idea of marrying me amusing, do you?”

  “Actually...” She cleared her throat and managed to collect herself. For the most part. There was still far too much snickering going on for his taste. “I do.”

  “‘I do.’” Zander lifted an eyebrow. “You even sound like a bride.”

  That managed to stop her snickering. “Oh, get over yourself. I haven’t even seen you in thirteen years.”

  Actually, it was closer to fourteen. Not that Zander was counting. He clenched his jaw to keep himself from opening his mouth and saying it out loud.

  Allegra’s smile faded. “You’re serious, aren’t you? You actually think I came here after all this time to drag you to the altar. Tell me, Mr. Suit, what kind of evidence do you have to support this delusion?”

  Mr. Suit.

  Her voice dripped with disdain. Zander probably should have expected that. He hadn’t. Then again, everything about this insane night was coming out of left field. Happy birthday to me.

  “You mean other than your attire?” He ordered himself not to look at the dress again. But then he fixed his gaze on the delicate row of tiny shimmering crystals that ran along the curves of her shoulders.

  “Circumstantial evidence,” she said, sounding like the lawyer’s daughter she’d been. Then she shrugged, and those glittering crystals dazzled beneath the soft light of the chandelier. “You’re going to have to do better than that. Who says what I’m wearing has anything to do with you?”

  “We did. You and me. Fourteen years ago.”

  He waited for her expression to betray her resistance, for a hint of what had transpired between them so long ago to show on her porcelain face. They’d loved one another once. Not romantic love, but something quite different. Something deeper.

  Or so he’d thought.

  She blinked but kept on looking at him like he was the one who was acting nuts. “I don’t know what in the world you’re talking about.”

  He had to give her credit. She was doing a good job of feigning innocence. A great job, actually.

  Zander took a step closer. He didn’t want to humiliate her in front of Manhattan’s glittering elite. He just wanted to put a stop to things once and for all. If he was being honest, he also wanted her to leave. The sooner the better.

  He’d grown accustomed to life without her. Things were simpler now. Rational. Predictable. Sure, it had been hard at first. There had been times when he’d closed his eyes and still seen her wild thicket of dark hair and those legs that seemed to go on forever as she struck a ballroom-dance pose. And maybe the warm vanilla scent of her perfume had lingered on his favorite sweatshirt for a time after she’d gone. But eventually it had faded away.

  As had his questions.

  Why had she left without saying goodbye? Why hadn’t she ever come back, even for a visit?

  Had she missed him the way he’d missed her?

  He didn’t want to ask those questions anymore, but if she stayed too long, he would. He knew he would. And he wasn’t altogether sure he’d like the answers.

  After the accident, she’d gone to live with her aunt in Cambridge. That much he knew. But Boston was just a train ride away. He’d never for a moment suspected she’d gone away for good.

  Zander lowered his voice. “You can stop pretending, Allegra. We both know the truth. You’re here because of our deal.”

  She frowned. “What deal?”

  If Zander hadn’t known better, he’d have thought she’d actually forgotten. But that wasn’t possible. Was it?

  Of course not.

  Still, her acting skills had improved since her disastrous audition for the eighth-grade play. She’d cried in Zander’s arms for hours after school that day.

  He swallowed. “The deal we made to marry one another if we were still unattached by our thirtieth birthdays.”

  “Oh.” She shook her head. “I’m afraid I don’t remember that at all.”

  Zander stared. If Guy Lombardo’s orchestra had appeared out of nowhere and begun to play “Happy Birthday to You,” he’d have been less surprised. She wasn’t here because of their deal. She didn’t even remember it.

  Unbelievable.

  “Are you sure you didn’t have that arrangement with somebody else? Gretchen Williams, maybe?” Allegra said.

  “Gretchen Williams?” She couldn’t be serious. He’d gone out with Gretchen exactly three times, and that had been three times too many. Besides, the last he’d heard, Gretchen had moved to Connecticut and had five kids. She hadn’t needed a backup plan. “Absolutely not. It was you.”

  It was always you.

  Zander’s temples throbbed. He needed to get out of here.

  But this was his place of business. He practically lived here. Disappearing wasn’t an option. Besides, wasn’t that Allegra’s specialty?

  “I see.” Allegra’s voice went soft, and she looked at him for a long silent moment. And somehow the silence between them seemed more truthful than anything they’d yet to say to one another.

  Zander had the sudden urge to reach for her, to pull her into his arms and greet her the way he should have the moment she’d walked through the door. When she’d gone away all those years ago, her absence had just about killed him. He’d missed her, damn it. He still did, even after all this time.

  Then Zander’s cousin Ryan appeared at his side. The fact that Ryan was wearing his serious hotel-management face rather than his party-going-family-member face ensured that whatever sentimental moment Zander and Allegra might be on the verge of sharing was officially ruined.

  Ryan cleared his throat. “Zander, I hate to interrupt. But we’ve got a problem. A big one.”

  “Right.” Zander nodded. He couldn’t decide if he should curse the interruption or be grateful for it. He gave Alleg
ra a tight smile. “It was good to see you again. My apologies for the misunderstanding.”

  Then he turned his back on Allegra Clark without waiting for an explanation or even a goodbye. After all, parting words had never been their strong suit.

  * * *

  The sight of Zander’s retreating pinstripes jarred something loose inside Allegra. Something that almost made her knees buckle. Something that made her feel dangerously close to coming apart at the seams.

  She took a deep breath and counted to ten as she watched him walk away. He murmured something to the man beside him, strode past the untouched cake and disappeared through the ballroom’s gilded double doors.

  He’d walked right out of his own birthday party without so much as an apology. Or even an explanation.

  Typical suit.

  Allegra couldn’t remember any of her own birthday parties that hadn’t been interrupted in a similar fashion. Until she’d turned sixteen, obviously. On her sweet sixteen, she would have given anything to have her father there, kissing her cheek as he dashed off to some kind of work emergency.

  Her throat grew tight. She squared her shoulders, slipped out of the ballroom and marched toward the registration desk. She’d managed to walk out on her own wedding today without shedding a tear. She would not let a brief encounter with Zander Wilde reduce her to a weepy mess.

  Anyway, she was perfectly fine. She’d just been rattled to see him after so many years, which was totally normal. There was nothing to be emotional about at all as far as Zander was concerned.

  Except that he thought you’d come back to marry him, of all things.

  “Can I help you?” The young man behind the registration desk beamed at her. “Let me guess—you’re checking into the honeymoon suite?”

  “Um, no.” She shuddered. “Definitely not.”

  “Oh.” He glanced at her dress. Allegra couldn’t wait to take off the horrid thing. She just wanted to wrap herself up in one of the hotel’s thick terry-cloth robes, climb into bed and sleep for a while. A century, maybe. “Well, uh, how can I assist you, then?”

  “I just need a room.” Before he could ask, she added, “A single, not a double.”