Unless she didn’t.
Dawn eyed the rubbish bin in the corner of the room. It was obviously designed for nappies and other baby-related rubbish, but it was larger than she’d have expected. Maybe even large enough for a ridiculous quantity of silk and lace.
She hesitated, biting down on her lip as she held the wedding gown against her. She shouldn’t. It was a horrendous waste of money and craftsmanship, and even sentiment.
But, on the other hand, the dress was a stark reminder that nothing about her wedding day had gone to plan. From the preparations being railroaded by her family and Justin’s mother, to Justin not actually showing up, why on earth would she want to keep the dress as a reminder of the day she hadn’t got married?
So, she shouldn’t. But she was going to.
Biting back a gleeful grin, Dawn crammed her wedding dress into the bin and pressed the lid down on top. Then, feeling a hundred pounds lighter, she grabbed her shopping bag and unlocked the door, striding out to begin her life over again.
Starting with dinner with her non-brother-in-law, and ending when she finally looked Justin in the eye and understood why he’d jilted her at the altar.
After that? All bets were off.
* * *
Cooper had secured a table near the window, so he could watch for Dawn crossing the parking lot to join him, but in the end she still took him by surprise.
As a petite, fresh-faced young woman slid into the booth seat opposite him, her dark ponytail bobbing cheerfully, he opened his mouth to tell her that he was waiting for someone—before he realised it was Dawn.
He snapped his jaw closed again and stared.
‘What looks good here?’ Dawn asked, her attention already on the menu, rather than him.
But Cooper’s gaze was fixed on her unfamiliar face.
When he’d first seen her, dressed in a tailored dress that showed off her figure, and a matching jacket that he knew his mother would approve of, he’d known her type instantly. The glossy, carefully waved hair, the perfect make-up, the nude heels... She was the sort of woman he’d dated for years, the sort of woman he’d married, come to that. She’d even looked a little like Rachel, now he thought about it.
Maybe that was why he’d been suspicious of her from the start.
But now, with her face scrubbed clean until her cheeks shone pink, her hair pulled back from her face and wearing a short denim skirt, pale pink tee and sneakers...she looked like a different person.
One far too young to be marrying his brother. Or conning him out of his fortune, for that matter.
Which was probably why she’d got as far as she had, of course. Justin wasn’t an idiot. He’d have spotted a gold-digger a mile off if she’d been obvious about it.
Suddenly, his brother’s last-minute revelation and flight made more sense to Cooper.
‘Do you have your UK driver’s licence with you?’ he asked, ignoring her question about the food.
Dawn frowned at him over the top of the menu. ‘Actually, yes. I keep it in my phone case. Why?’
‘Because I’m not sure you look old enough to drive in that outfit, and if we get pulled over I want to know how much trouble we’re in.’
Her face cleared at his words and she laughed—high, bright and far happier than he’d expect from a woman who’d just been jilted by the love of her life.
‘That’s why I have it,’ she admitted. ‘I’ve been ID’d so often in bars since I arrived in this country, and I couldn’t face being turned away from the bar at my own wedding.’
‘How old are you, anyway?’ he asked, suddenly curious. He knew so little about this woman who had almost been his sister-in-law. And, looking at her now, he wondered how much of the stuff he did know was an act, an attempt to be the sort of bride Justin would expect.
‘Twenty-eight,’ she said promptly. ‘And, yes, I know, I look younger. I’m actually the third-eldest of my sisters.’
‘How many of you are there?’ He had a vague image of a gaggle of women all wearing the same pink bridesmaid dresses, but he hadn’t actually stopped long enough to count them.
‘Five, including me.’
‘So you’re right in the middle.’
‘That’s right.’ Dawn’s smile was too tight, which made him question what part of this conversation she felt uncomfortable about. Her entire family had flown out for the wedding, so she couldn’t be embarrassed by them. Could she?
‘You don’t get on with your sisters?’ he asked, probing the obvious wound. If he was stuck travelling with Dawn for the next handful of days he might as well use the time wisely, learning as much about her as possible, to help keep Justin safe from any attempts on her part to win him back.
‘Oh, no. I love my sisters.’ Dawn didn’t sound entirely convinced by her own words.
‘But?’
She gave him a weak smile. ‘You know siblings. They always think they know what’s best for you.’
‘Most of the time, I’ve found that they do.’ He thought back to Justin’s comments about Rachel the week before Cooper had married her.
‘Are you sure it’s the real thing, Coop? That she’s in love with you, not just the idea of being part of the Edwards legacy?’
And here he was, playing exactly the same part for Justin. He just hoped he could do a better job of it. That Justin would believe him, even though Cooper hadn’t believed his brother last time.
That still rankled, he knew. Cooper’s lack of faith in Justin had caused a gulf between them that neither brother seemed to know how to cross. But maybe now, having lived the same experience, they would find their way back to each other again. Cooper hoped so.
He’d never blamed Justin for what had happened with Rachel, only himself. The same way he’d never blamed his mother for introducing him to Melanie and asking him to mentor her as she learned the ropes of the company.
His mother couldn’t have known that wasn’t all her beautiful young friend was hoping to learn, and Cooper had been so inexperienced and keen to show off his place in the company that it hadn’t even occurred to him that Melanie might have ulterior motives. That she was less interested in him than his knowledge of company secrets. Or that she’d use everything he showed her and take it back to her boyfriend’s rival company—leaving Cooper to deal with his furious father and desperately trying to rebuild trust with the board.
Which only made the whole situation with Rachel more galling. Having been taken in once, he’d thought he was too cynical, too knowing, to fall for the same tricks again. Until Rachel had swept into his life, blinding him with her polish and beauty. Suddenly he was spending his fortune on keeping her in jewellery and designer clothes, on being seen in the right places and with the right people. And Justin was the only one who’d called him on it.
Time to return the favour.
‘Come on,’ he said, lifting the menu again and studying it. ‘We need to get a move on if we’re going to make it to Reno before we stop for the night.’
The sooner they made it across the country, the sooner he could help Justin extricate himself from his gold-digger fiancée—for good.
CHAPTER FIVE
DAWN HADN’T DRIVEN much since her arrival in America—but she was damned if she was going to let Cooper know that. This was her road trip he was gate-crashing, so of course she was going to drive most of it. On the right side of the road and everything. She just needed Cooper to add her to the insurance first. One quick phone call and she was good to go.
At least, now she was no longer weighed down by her wedding dress, driving wasn’t the impossibility it would have been before. So all she had to do was figure out the controls and dashboard of the vintage Cadillac and try not to crash into anything between Sacramento and Reno. How hard could that be?
Cooper gave her a quick primer on the car as she started the engine, an