Married To The Wrong Bride

erent woman, but Claire Bennet

nd, Claire thought about ripping the seams open just to breathe. Instead she stood frozen in the churc

aid again, like saying it tw

rything. She left a note." Claire's stomach drop

father loses the store. We lose everything. You know this." Claire knew it the way she knew her own name. The Bennett family hardware store, the one her grandfather built with his own hands

him." "You do not have to love him." Her mother's voice cracked. "You

hands, rough and tired, the ones that had fixed half the broken faucets in Queens for free becau

red on either side, a wash of pearls and tailored suits and whispers behind cupped hands. Claire kept her chin up an

she sa

, tall and still as a statue carved out of ice. He was handsome in a way that made the room f

ole body went rigid, like someone had driven a blade straight through his spine. His jaw locked so hard a muscle jumped beneath his skin. For one terrifying seco

something flickered there that was not quite anger and not quite anything else Cl

said, low enough that

ng." His hand found hers. Not gently. He gripped her fingers the way a man grips somethin

vious or well pai

and unmoving, his thumb pressed into her knuckles like he was bracing himself against some

f watching her fall apart. When the priest pronounced them

signing a contract he despised. Then he leaned in, so close his breat

are no

n a smile for the cameras, and turned to face the che

miling the same practiced smile, while her h

an hate

ised to spend the res