Lone Star Wedding Read Online Free

the world were the chances that the same man who had mistaken her for a hooker not only knew the man who was going to marry her mother but knew him well enough to be invited to an intimate party honoring his intended engagement to her mother? If the odds of that weren’t slim enough to constitute bad luck, they were close.
    â€œDo you know the dark-haired man on Ryan’s left, Mom?”
    Still smiling, Lily answered, barely breaking eye contact with Ryan across the room. “That’s Parker Malone.”
    So much for Hannah’s identical twin theory. “Is he a friend of the Fortunes?”
    â€œTheir families go way back, but Parker is Ryan’s divorce attorney.”
    Malone, Malone & Associates. Ryan’s divorce attorney, who was adamantly opposed to Ryan’s wish to make his engagement to Lily public. And the first man Hannah hadbeen completely attracted to in a long, long time. Three separate identities all rolled into one. Hannah couldn’t believe her run of lu—
    â€œLuck,” Ryan said.
    Hannah started, because Ryan said the word in the exact moment she’d been thinking it.
    â€œIt was a fluke, really,” he added, “that has reunited Lily and me. Therefore, I’d like to propose another toast. To the divine wheel of fortune that brought Lily back into my life. To chance and circumstance and a marvelous coincidence that changed my life.”
    Hannah’s gaze was inexplicably drawn to Parker once again. He lifted his glass to her in a private toast and graced her with a smile that was stark and white and so intimate she had to remind herself to breathe.
    While Ryan made his way toward Lily, people throughout the room drank to his health and future and patted him on the back as he passed. Hannah admired the way her mother held her ground, raised her chin, as regal as a queen, and waited for Ryan to stroll gallantly across the room. She was old-fashioned that way, wanting the man to come to her. The Cassidys had never had the Fortunes’ money, but they equaled them in pride.
    Although Ryan accepted congratulations on his way by, his attention on Lily was steadfast. The degree of his devotion to her mother brought a lump to Hannah’s throat. It was the kind of love she was waiting for.
    Ryan kissed Lily’s lips, and then Hannah’s cheek. “Thanks for coming, Hannah,” he said.
    â€œYou’re welcome.”
    â€œI mean it,” he said. “It means so much to me to have both you and Cole here. I understand Maria isn’t as pleased about Lily’s and my upcoming wedding as you and Cole.I only hope that in time, she will come to realize how deeply I care for your mother.”
    Lily and Hannah shared a long look and a heartfelt sigh. Maria was every bit as beautiful as Lily, but there was a hard edge to Maria that simply didn’t exist in her mother and sister. Although Lily had spoken with Maria by telephone a month ago, neither she nor Hannah had been successful in connecting on a meaningful level with the youngest Cassidy in a very long time.
    â€œI don’t like to admit it,” Lily said, looking earnestly into Ryan’s eyes, “but I’m afraid Maria is ashamed of her meager roots.”
    Ryan placed his hand on Lily’s cheek as if he couldn’t get enough of touching her. “Families are complicated. God knows, mine is.” His gaze strayed over Lily’s head where his son, Matthew stood, all alone.
    Hannah had heard rumors that Matthew and his wife, Claudia, had separated. Her heart went out to the couple, whose lives had become twisted in tragedy and haunted by unanswered questions since their newborn son had been kidnapped and another child returned in his place. Matthew and Claudia were both here, but not together, the events of the past year etched in each of their faces.
    Ryan shook his head. “My family history is riddled with enough twists and turns to fill several books.