Jilted: Promise Harbor, Book 1 Read Online Free

it to a fat, red candle on the kitchen table. That was new too.
    She dragged her suitcase to her bedroom. Here, things hadn’t changed at all. She’d left ten years ago for college. She’d been back since then, of course, and had made some changes herself, but the same blue flowered duvet covered the twin bed, the same white blinds hung in the window, the same little white lamp sat on the painted white nightstand. And yet…there was another candle sitting on the dresser, this one blue and scented with something lovely and floral.
    She was pretty sure Dad hadn’t put that candle in there.
    She unpacked a few things, mostly to keep busy. She should hang up her wedding dress—gah! She went very still and closed her eyes as one of those stupid stabs of pain in her chest hit again. Her dress wasn’t a wedding dress. It was just a dress to wear to a wedding. Josh’s wedding.
    She’d spent a fortune on the damn Badgley Mischka dress. It was so beautiful.
    But she hadn’t known she was going to lose her job when she’d bought it. It was too late to return it, so she was stuck with it. She set her shoes—also expensive—on the floor of the closet and hung up a couple of other things. She hadn’t brought much, since she only planned on staying a few days. The wedding was Saturday, and she planned to leave first thing Sunday morning for Greenbush Island. She couldn’t afford to stay in the luxury resort William Mudge was staying in, but she could go hang out there and take the late ferry back to Promise Harbor.
    The last few weeks had been exhausting. She hadn’t slept at night and had spent her days job hunting. Her so-called friends had pretty much disappeared when they’d learned she lost her job, as if they were afraid her misfortune was contagious. Rejection sucked the life out of a person, and she’d spent her evenings watching horrid reality TV shows, eating ice cream and drinking a lot of wine.
    So, yeah, really looking forward to the wedding now.
    Fuck my life.
    She heard a car pull in to the driveway and a door slam. Dad. She drew back her shoulders, pasted a smile on her face and headed out to greet him.
    God, he looked as happy to see her as she did to be there, his weathered, tanned face tight, his eyes narrowed. “Hi, Devon.”
    “Hi, Dad.” She moved toward him and they exchanged a brief, barely touching hug. As she drew away, his eyes flickered and she almost thought his hands trembled a little. Could he be…nervous?
    “Did you get the key from Susan?” he asked.
    “No, I broke in.”
    He didn’t appreciate her attempt at humor, since he didn’t laugh.
    “Yes, I did,” she said with an inward sigh. “She seems like a nice neighbor.”
    He shrugged and avoided her gaze. “I guess. She offered to watch for you since I’d be at work. And there’ve been some robberies in town, so I don’t like leaving a key out anymore.”
    “Susan mentioned that,” she said. “I almost came down to the office. I knew where you’d be.”
    Dad ran a charter fishing company. He owned a couple of boats and took people out fishing for bass and bluefish. He didn’t make much money, but he loved the ocean and being outside and on the water a lot. After Mom had left, he’d spent even more time there. And less time with Devon.
    “How was your drive?” he asked.
    They made superficial small talk. And then a knock at the door sounded and Susan’s face appeared in the window. She held a large casserole dish.
    Dad moved to let her in, and she greeted him with a smile that immediately had Devon’s female senses tingling. “Hello again,” Susan said. She held up the covered dish. “I brought over a homemade seafood lasagna for your first evening back.”
    “Oh.” Devon just blinked at her. “Wow. That’s so nice of you.”
    She looked back and forth between Susan and Dad as Dad took the dish and set it on the counter.
    “Thanks,” he said, with a quick glance at Susan and, holy shnikes, a smile.
    “I