Stealing the Groom by Sonya Weiss Page B

had instructed the limousine driver to drop him off at the office, then take her home. It was seven o’clock at night for heaven’s sake. He couldn’t even take a night off on his wedding night?
    Fake wedding night , she reminded herself. So far, her plan to show Chad how to be more spontaneous wasn’t working out so well if she couldn’t get him to even pretend to be with her.
    Six months. No escape. Amelia groaned. The urge to run had hit her the night she’d learned what happened to her parents and it had never let up. She didn’t like that part of herself—that desire to run when she couldn’t make things right, the fear that if she stayed in one place too long she’d screw up again and lose someone else she loved.
    But maybe with Chad, if she was careful, she could make things right for him.
    She still hadn’t told her sisters about the wedding yet, but she would. Other than her marital status and this strange new desire to cross from friends to lovers with her sexy husband, she’d decided the wedding hadn’t changed her life and didn’t need to.
    She planned to remain right here at home, staying in the same bedroom she used whenever she came to town. Once this sham of a marriage was over, she could go back to her apartment in the city and get back to her life.
    As Chad’s ex-wife.
    Ugh. Would their friendship ever be the same again?
    Rising from the tub, she toweled off and slipped into a clean pair of jeans and a peach vee-neck T-shirt. She gathered her damp hair up into a loose ponytail, and barefoot, headed down the stairs to tell her sisters about the wedding. She wanted to tell them before her grandfather got home and delivered the news in his rather abrupt way.
    Abby had moved in with their grandfather after he’d fallen last summer and needed someone with him to help. She knew Abby benefited financially from the arrangement, hoping to save enough to buy the building attached to the diner so she could expand.
    Ann had her own house, but stayed over whenever Amelia came into town so that they could spend time together as a family.
    Amelia slowed at the sight of Abby stretched out on the sofa. Abby still worked as hard today at the diner as she had in the days after their parents’ death.
    Their grandparents were so grief-stricken that Abby had stepped in and helped raise her and her sister. She’d taken over running the family diner, working early-morning hours before school and late into the evening after school. Their grandfather eventually had signed over the diner to Abby.
    As if sensing a presence, Abby opened her eyes and smiled sleepily, letting the pillow she was holding slip to the hardwood floor. “Hey, you. You’re back from your man-grabbing adventure. How’d it go?”
    Amelia laughed, knowing the last thing Abby wanted was a man in her life after her own disastrous marriage ended. “Things were interesting, to say the least. Where’s Ann?” She bent to pick up the pillow and tucked it back onto the sofa.
    “She got here while you were in the bath.” Abby narrowed her eyes then sat up abruptly. “What’s wrong? Are you sick?”
    “No, I’m not sick, but I do have to tell you something important. Hang on a second.” She called out to Ann and her other sister emerged from the kitchen holding a glass of iced tea.
    “Well, I see our thieving sister has returned.” She came into the living room and perched on a flowered stool. “You look sick.”
    “That’s what I said.” Abby shot Amelia a worried glance.
    Amelia sighed. “No, guys, I’m not sick. The thing is…”
    “You have a wedding ring on!” Ann shrieked.
    “Please tell me that you did not steal and then marry Chad Walker,” Abby said.
    “Okay, but I did.”
    Abby pressed a hand to her chest. “What? How did that happen?”
    Ann said drily, “Stealing a man is lot more complicated than you imagined, I take it?”
    Abby said, “Married… You’ve always been so opposed to settling down. Have you thought