Title: The Wedding Crasher and the Cowboy by Robin Bielman
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 368 pages
Summary:
Kennedy Martin is shocked when her ex calls days before his wedding, expressing serious second thoughts. Doesn’t he see his fiancée’s actually the glaze to his doughnut? Now she’s got no choice but to crash his wedding and convince the man he’s with the right woman.
Instead, she crashes into the absolute last man she ever wanted to see: Maverick Owens, her old college nemesis. Maverick is still as awful, infuriating, and just The Worst as ever—even if he looks way too sexy in his cowboy hat. And of course he’s convinced she’s actually at the seaside ranch to ruin the wedding.
Now the only way to get some face time with the groom and save this marriage is to participate in all sorts of pre-wedding events…with Maverick. Stuck on a canoe, making small-talk at cocktail hour, and even a hoedown with her worst enemy? This just might be the longest week of her life
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Excerpt #1
What indeed? Maverick Owens had planned to do what he always did when there were big events on the ranch: make himself as scarce as possible, keeping to the animals rather than the people. But five minutes in Kennedy Martin’s surprising presence had him changing his mind. Suddenly, there was nothing he wanted more than to once again ruffle her pretty feathers. In college she’d proven a worthy adversary, their competitions some of his favorite days.
He didn’t like feeling this way. Correction: he didn’t want to feel this way. This urgent desire to have some fun with her, to pick up where they’d left off all those years ago. That her caramel-colored eyes sparkled with intelligence and defiance didn’t help matters.
“Well?” she said, clearly impatient with his silence.
Which only made him want to stay quiet. She’d been a thorn in his side from the first day they’d met in Biology 101, always offering unsolicited advice and vying for the best grades. The only time she’d given him some peace and quiet was when he got a TA position over her. Yeah, she hadn’t liked that.
The antagonism between the two of them became something of a spectator sport, classmates taking bets on the country boy versus the city girl. But now they were on his turf, not the urban collegiate environment she’d thrived in.
“Fine,” she said, intruding on his memories. She struggled to lift one heel, then the other, from the confines of the damp grass, so he offered his arm for leverage before he could rethink it. She reluctantly wrapped her soft hand around his forearm and freed herself. Her touch warmed his skin.
“Fine?” When a woman said “fine” it meant anything but.
“That’s right. It’s clear we can’t remain in the same space together, so like I said, pretend you never saw me.” She took one step and almost sank back into the earth.
Impossible. He still saw her occasionally in his thoughts, even after all these years. “I hope you brought some appropriate footwear,” he countered, falling in step beside her. He didn’t want her to trip and dirty those nice white pants. Yeah, you do, the devil on his shoulder said.
“Don’t worry about what I did or didn’t bring with me.”
“I give consideration to every guest who stays on this property.” Technically, guest relations fell to his older brother Cole and sister-in-law Bethany, but Kennedy didn’t need to know that.
“Isn’t there a mule you need to see to?” she huffed out.
Eventually. Not while he had Kennedy exasperated. Which got him thinking further… “Jeans and cowboy boots don’t seem like your style.”
“You know nothing about my style.”
He knew something. In college, Mondays were black pencil skirts and heels, like she had a corporate job to go to after class. Fridays were casual pants and heels. On the occasion he ran into her over the weekend, she’d wear a flowery dress and heels. Not that he ever took notice of those things…much.
“I know the wedding we have scheduled this week is the reason you’re here.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Okay, I suspect that’s the reason, given what I overheard.”
She stopped dead in her high-heeled tracks. Pushed her shoulders back like that might gift her a few inches in stature. Nice try, but nope. She still came eye level to his chest. “It’s very rude to eavesdrop.”
“Is it eavesdropping if I’m standing in clear view a few feet away?”
“What exactly did you overhear?”
“You know the groom and…” He studied her pretty face. “You’re worried he’s making a mistake.”
Her lips parted in surprise, her head tilting a few degrees to the left. A couple of seconds of silence ticked by before she said, “Please disregard everything you heard.”
Something in her tone had him heeding her dismissal instead. “I can’t do that.”
“You mean you won’t.”
He ran a hand through his hair. He didn’t want any trouble, and he was certain he was looking at it.
