To Love and Protect (Must Love Diamonds 4)

He appeared to be studying the stained glass windows to his right, so she took a moment to study him. The past two times they’d met she’d been too emotionally keyed up to really get a chance to take him in.

Raine was right. The boy had become a man over the past ten years. Light from the window highlighted the angles of his face. The snowy-white of his shirt seemed to deepen his tan, though he’d always sported a little darker complexion thanks to his Spanish heritage. That same ancestry also blessed him and his siblings with model-like cheekbones, but they were sharper than she remembered. His whole expression was harder in a way that made her wonder what he’d all been through.

At most, he might have finger-combed the top of his dirty-blond hair, where he’d let his military cut grow out some compared to the short sides. The tousled look only accented his good-looks, especially with the slight beard shadow on his jaw adding a rugged edge that made her belly dip.

Abstractedly, she registered the pastor telling Loyal he could kiss the bride just as Dev started to turn his head back toward the couple. Shelby quickly averted her gaze, but not before she noticed Solana watching her watch her brother.

Heat warmed her face, and she had to fight the urge to fan her burning cheeks as the ceremony concluded.

Standing in the receiving line a few minutes later, her pulse kicked with stupid anticipation when she saw Solana and Dev’s parents, Elena and Estefan. It slowed when she realized Dev wasn’t with them. She didn’t dare examine how she felt about him skipping, and then she forced herself to put him out of her mind as she rode with the wedding party in the limo over to The Piñon Hotel for the dinner reception.

Except, she couldn’t help noticing his empty chair at dinner. It taunted her curiosity. Why was he not sitting with his parents and sister?

Why do you care?

After dinner was over and the music had started, she ventured out into the lobby to get a breath of fresh air near the doors. She hadn’t quite realized how alone she’d been feeling lately. With the romance of the wedding, seeing Loyal and Roxanna so happy, and other couples in her family all lovey-dovey, it left her feeling a little melancholy.

Worse, it had her longing for her own romance and casting

Dev in the role he’d turned down years ago. After how long it took for her to get over his rejection the last time, she knew her heart couldn’t take another trip down that road with him.

Doesn’t mean you can’t make the journey with someone else.

For so long her focus had been on school, and then setting up her veterinary clinic. When that had been delayed, she’d thrown herself into her job at the animal hospital to get some experience under her belt. But clearly, there was so much more to life than working all day and going home to an empty apartment.

Restlessness had been building for a while, maybe even since Asher and Honor’s wedding the previous May. Nine and a half months ago. Almost a year of her life had passed as she sat on the sidelines through two births and two—three weddings.

It was way past time to get herself out there and actively start dating.

With a bodyguard in tow?

Yeah. That’ll be so much fun. Not.

“Shelby?”

She startled at the unexpected voice behind her, then forced a polite smile as she turned around to see one of the staffers from her father’s senatorial campaign two years ago. “Hey, Chad.”

“Hi. I thought that was you.”

He was the one date she’d gone on in the past year. Well, kind of date. She’d only agreed out of obligation after he’d helped with some permit issues related to her veterinary clinic.

Because, though he was good-looking in a pretty-boy way with his blond hair and blue eyes, there wasn’t anything about him that stirred her interest. If only he did. He was nice enough, extremely smart, and he had a good sense of humor. Most women would consider him a catch.

He moved in to give her a hug, and she stiffened against an instinctive reflex to step back. The smell of his cologne made her nose wrinkle. It had an odd feminine note to it, and she held her breath to keep from coughing when he held on a tad longer than was socially polite.

Lightly pushing free, she asked, “What are you doing here?” Because she knew he wasn’t one of the hundred and two guests.

“Just hanging out with some buddies at the bar. You remember Jeff?” He gestured across the lobby to another of the guys from the campaign two years earlier. “He had a work thing down the road, so we stopped here after.”

“Oh.” The Piñon’s upscale hotel lounge struck her as an odd place to hang out, but what did she know? Her life had been school and work for the past eight years.

She took in his mussed blond hair and found herself thinking the style looked so much better on Dev.

Chad dipped his light blue gaze down and back up. “You’re really dressed up.”

“Loyal’s wedding.”

“Ah,” he nodded. “You look beautiful.”