The First Move (Harlequin Super Romance, Band 1844) - Softcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Jennifer Lohmann is a Rocky Mountain girl at heart, having grown up in southern Idaho and Salt Lake City. When she’s not writing or working with public libraries to connect readers to the books they love, she wrangles three ridiculous cats. Fortunately, the boa constrictor is better behaved. She lives in Durham, North Carolina with her own personal Viking hero. Find her online at jenniferlohmann.com.

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Rey needed to sit down.

No one else knew it, but Miles could tell.

He'd been watching Rey—Renia—since before the ceremony. Cathy, already in her gown with makeup and hair done, had dragged him over to get their photo taken. He'd protested the entire walk down the church hallway, feeling more like Cathy's recalcitrant child than her ex-husband, as she pulled him along by his arm. His smug feeling at having convinced Cathy she couldn't go into the sanctuary to get the photographer vanished the instant Rey turned around and he looked into those large brown eyes.

He'd dreamed about those haunting, sad eyes all through high school.

Vows said and bubbles blown, Rey was still smiling at every wedding guest who came up to her and asked for a photo, putting her hand on their backs and nodding. She would guide them to the beautiful stained glass window or the dark wood of the pews, patiently pose them and snap the photo. By the time the camera clicked on one posed group, another set of wedding guests would be waiting to have their picture taken, then another.

The ceremony was over and guests had an hour to kill until the reception officially started. People were starting to get twitchy, so Cathy had taken it upon herself to offer up Rey's talent to them and Rey, with a cool smile that didn't quite make it to her eyes, was playing along.

Did she know he was watching her? Probably not. Rey hadn't noticed him when she'd seen him every day for a year and a half and she hadn't recognized him when he'd stood in front of her lens with his ex-wife. He'd either changed so much since high school that he was completely unrecognizable, or Rey's glances at him in English class had never been long enough for her to create a memorable mental image of him.

Miles shook his head at his ego. She'd looked through him in high school and was looking through him now. If he hadn't learned how to stand up straight when uncomfortable under the stare of the toughest drill sergeant ever to run basic training, he'd have ducked his head like an embarrassed boy and stammered his way through the photo session.

Every grown man dreams of collapsing into an awkward heap in front of both his high school crush and his ex-wife. Cathy had given him a bump on the hip when they were having their picture taken—she'd known him long enough to know something was up.

Maybe he should have spent the ceremony watching his ex-wife marry the man of her dreams or admiring his daughter standing in her maid-of-honor dress with her head held high and back straight. The ceremony was touching. Every guest, even his mother, was crying. She loved Cathy.

But, instead of watching the wedding, he'd concentrated on Rey in her light gray pantsuit and camera at her face. She managed to take pictures at all the important parts of the ceremony while blending into the background. The guests never seemed to notice her or the camera as it clicked away.

He was certain the wedding photographer was the Rey he'd loved from afar so many years ago. Unrequited teen love had meant her face was etched into his brain and nothing—not even twelve years of marriage—had been able to erase the image. But time had done more than age her. It had changed her.

The Rey he remembered from high school had been impossible not to notice. Tight white tank tops had invited every teen boy in Chicago to look, and skirts that barely covered her ass had encouraged them to touch. Only her eyes had hinted there might be a softer, less dangerously sexual teenager under all the makeup. Now, she was an elegant woman with chestnut hair tied in a fat bun and delicate gold hoops hanging from her ears.

But the sad eyes remained.

"Miles, are you ready to walk over to the reception?"

He turned at his mom's voice to find her standing with Sarah, forcing his attention back to his daughter. At sixteen, she was still playing around with her identity, but every once in a magic while, she would express an opinion so clearly her own that Miles wanted to pull her into his arms and hug her until she remembered she was still his little girl.

Parenthood still scared the shit out of him, even after sixteen years of practice.

Sarah stood with her head held higher than a queen in the maid-of-honor dress she'd picked out. Cathy had given Sarah free rein over the dress and never uttered a word of panic when Sarah had shown her pictures of slinky things a sixteen-year-old would confuse for sexy and grown-up. After letting Cathy stew silently in her own terror, Sarah had chosen a knee-length dress that bridged the gap between little girl and woman. It was the deep red of a Bing cherry, with short, fluttering sleeves, and she looked beautiful in it.

He thanked God every day that Sarah was still a touch too gangly, and her teeth were still a bit too big for her face, for the boys to notice her yet. He wasn't ready to be the dad with the shotgun greeting his daughter's dates.

And he thanked Cathy that Sarah was still wearing clothes that covered most of her body and only her ears were pierced. Sarah was a good girl.

Where had Rey's mother been when she was Sarah's age? Everyone at school knew her father, grandfather and younger brother had died in a horrible car accident. But her mother had still been around and yet she certainly hadn't kept Rey from wearing midriff-baring tops and piercing her belly button, much less keep her daughter from spending every Friday and Saturday night at some party or club.

Miles had never seen her do one of her famous stripteases at a party—he'd never been cool enough to be invited—but the naval piercing was no rumor; he'd seen it with his own eyes. The twinkling stud had been the object of many of his teen fantasies.

Rey had been only a little younger than Sarah was now when he had first seen her, and he'd fallen in love with the belly piercing. God, Rey'd been so young. Now a father of a teenager, Miles wanted nothing more than to go back in time and whack upside the head every boy who'd ever handed her a beer and asked her to take off her shirt. He couldn't imagine Sarah dressed like a young Rey and he hoped his daughter would never face the same rumors. He shuddered.

Then one day, Rey had just disappeared. Her mother, sister and older brother had still been around. Her grandmother had still sat at the cash register at the family's restaurant. But Rey had evaporated. No one knew where she went or, if they did, they weren't talking.

"Miles, are you all right?"

"Sorry, Mom. I'm just caught up in the moment." He'd never expected to see Rey again, and certainly not at Cathy's wedding. "We should head to the reception."

He kissed his mother on her dry cheek and turned to Sarah. She had Cathy's large brown eyes. "You look lovely, honey."

"Thank you, Dad. You know you've told me that several times." She tried to look sophisticated and mature, but a father knew when his daughter was secretly enjoying compliments.

"And I've meant it every time. I'm your father. I get to tell you you're beautiful whenever I want."

Sarah beamed all the way to the white flowers in her hair, even while she fidgeted with the pearls at her neck. Richard had given her the set of pearls before the wedding. Smart man, Richard. Smart to marry Cathy and smart to give Sarah the pearls. He deserved Cathy. God knew Miles didn't.

"Dad, if we don't leave now, we'll be late," Sarah said, her words rushed.

Miles didn't respond. They wouldn't be late. Receptions always started late, but Sarah didn't know that. He offered his elbows to the two most important women in his life and turned to leave the chapel.

Renia...