He might not have actually thought the words “aquamarine blue” without the books, but he would have had the wow, she’s something special thought trip through his head because of his DNA.
The Landry family had as much romance in their blood as red blood cells. They were genetically programmed and then nurtured from the crib to believe in love and fate and soulmates and romance.
Some of them just went with it. Some of them fought it.
But none of them were immune.
He cleared his throat and ignored the voice in his head that whispered she’s extraordinary. See? Even the voice in his head was romantically dramatic.
Good God. She wasn’t extraordinary. She was new.
She was a beautiful blonde. He loved blondes. And he’d hooked up with all the eligible ones in Autre. That’s all this was. She was new. And hot.
He cleared his throat again and put his cop voice on. “I was just wondering if I could be of some assistance.”
“Unless you have some unused hotel points, probably not.”
He blinked at her. “Hotel points?”
She wanted him to take her to a hotel? Just like that?
She nodded. “What I need right now is a hotel and he’s already cut off my credit cards.”
She’s in a fucking wedding dress, asshole, Zander reminded himself. If that didn’t make a woman off-limits, he didn’t know what did. Not to mention the gigantic diamond ring on the fourth finger of her left hand that glinted in the sunlight as she lifted it to tuck a strand of that thick, silky, golden hair behind her ear.
Thick, silky, golden hair? You need to get a murder mystery in your head ASAP.
That ring cost more than his truck. Both of his trucks. Put together.
Focus. You’re a cop and she’s… What was she? Gorgeous and in need of a hotel room. Okay, that he could do.
“What’s your name?”
“Caroline.”
“Caroline, I’m Officer Landry. So, you need a place to stay?”
She sighed and dropped her phone to her lap. “Well, I guess I need a pawn shop first.” She frowned. “How did he cut those cards off already? That was his first thought after everything went down?”
“Your new husband?”
Her frown deepened. “I don't have a husband.”
Awesome.
What? No. That’s not awesome. That is not even relevant. To anything.
It was simply an answer to one question. Or maybe part of one question. The wedding she was dressed for hadn't happened. “So your fiancé.”
“My father. I was expecting to be cut off eventually, but I didn't think it would be number one on his to-do list.” She chewed the inside of her cheek, looking past Zander, clearly lost in thought.
“So you don't have any money?”
“I had to give the rest of my cash to my driver for bringing me down here.”
“You had a driver bring you down here, but he left?”
“Well, I guess technically he's Brantley’s driver.”
“Your father.”
“My fiancé. Ex-fiancé. Brantley Anderson.”
Right. There were a lot of people in this scenario. “So the driver brought you down here, but didn't wait for you?”
“No, the bastard. And I'm sure he's going to tell them all where I am too.”
“And you don't want them to know where you are?”
“No. I need…a break.”
Okay, he was not going to delve into this any further. She was not crying, she was not hurt in any way, she had left her wedding, seemingly on purpose and not under the influence, and now she was more or less stranded here in Autre. That meant his job was fairly straightforward.
“Is there anyone I can call for you? To come help you?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Then how can I help?”
“Is there anywhere around here that would take me on my word that I would pay them back at a later date?” She wiggled her left hand with the enormous diamond ring on it. “I have the ability to get some money, I just don't have it on me at the moment.”
Hence the pawn shop reference. So she was planning to sell the ring. He knew lots of jilted women did that and honestly, he couldn't blame them. Maybe she'd found out her fiancé was cheating right before walking down the aisle. Maybe she'd been faced with a church full of people and realized that she simply couldn't promise to love this man for the rest of her life. It wasn't really Zander's place to judge why she’d left without even changing her clothes. She had, and that was her business. What she did with the ring on her left hand was also her business.
But he felt something he almost never felt: curious.
They did have a motel in town a few blocks away and there was a chance they’d let her stay if he acted as a reference. But there was another place that was a sure thing.
“My cousins’ aunt actually owns the bed and breakfast here in town. I'll take you over there.”
She looked puzzled. “Your cousins’ aunt? She isn’t your aunt?”
“She’s their aunt on their mother’s side. We’re cousins on their dad’s side.”
She went over that in her mind, then shook her head. “It’s really like that in small towns, huh? Related to everyone somehow?”
“It is here.”
“And she’ll let me stay just because you ask her to?”
“Yep.”
“I kind of thought it was just TV movie stuff.” Caroline seemed charmed by the information.
Zander shrugged and pushed away how charming he found her being charmed by his town and family connections. “Well, it works that way around here.”
“You’d really vouch for me?”
“Worst-case scenario, you skip out without paying your bill and Heather makes me scrub a few toilets in exchange. I've done worse.”
At that, she gave him a bright smile and Zander felt like she’d punched him in the gut.
Yeah, he needed to avoid having this woman smile at him.
She wasn't technically taken, but she’d literally walked out of her wedding mere hours ago. She came with baggage—literally—and he really tried to avoid baggage.
He wasn’t looking for anything serious. At all. No way. No thank you.
And wearing a wedding dress and an engagement ring big enough to knock out a guy's front tooth if she punched him just right, was an obvious sign that the woman was ready for something serious. With someone.
Did he believe in love? Absolutely. It was all around him. Everyone in his family had, or would, fall in love. A couple of them more than once.
Did he believe in love at first sight? Again, yes. Not only had he read about it over and over again—and enjoyed the hell out of it for reasons he couldn’t explain and had given up pondering a long time ago—but he’d seen it in real life around him in friends and family as well.
Did he think that he and this woman might actually have some kind of connection that was real? Sure, maybe.
But he didn’t care.
Believing in something and wanting it for himself were two different things.
“Here, let me help you with your bag.” He took a step forward as she stood and he was about to grasp the handle on her suitcase when he heard the sound of a car approaching.