He fought the temptation to grab her hand again, to hold on tight while he gave her the news. "You… you look-" Sean took a deep breath, searching for a word to adequately describe her. "Beautiful. Stunning. Actually… I'd say… breathtaking." For a guy who had trouble talking to women, he certainly wasn't having any trouble now.

A tiny smile curled the corners of her mouth. "Thank you."

Sean wanted to turn and run, content to keep the memory of Laurel Rand in his head just as she was when she smiled. To hell with Eddie. He was a bigamist, nine times over. But still, some inborn instinct to protect her from humiliation kicked in. "Can we talk?" he asked, reaching out to take her by the elbow, anxious for any excuse to touch her again.

"Talk?"

He shut the door, then gently steered her toward a chair, just in case she decided to faint. "Who are you marrying today?"

She stared at him for along moment with a confused expression. I-I'm marrying Edward Garland Wilson. But you should know that, if you received an invitation to the wedding." Her brow furrowed slightly. "Are you crashing my wedding? Who are you?"

"Just one more question," Sean said. "Is your groom about six-one, dark hair, graying at the temples?"

"Yes," Laurel said. "Are you a friend of Edward?"

"Not exactly. But he did send me here to give you a message," Sean said.

Her expression brightened. "He did? Oh, that's very sweet. But he could have come himself. I don't care about those silly superstitions about seeing the bride before the ceremony. What's the message?"

Sean cursed silently. Jeez, why had he agreed to do this? He should just turn around and get the hell out of Dodge. He didn't need to break this woman's heart. And he certainly didn't want to see her cry. But he suspected there was no way he'd get out of the room without doing both.

He took a deep breath and gathered his resolve. "Edward won't be coming to the wedding."