Something Borrowed Read Online Free PDF Page A

food. Vaughn’s restaurant is apparently quirky but perfect.’
    ‘Unlike Vaughn the man. Who is arrogant and conniving. He said to that journalist that Jason and I had been a bad match from the start. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d talked Jason out of marrying me in the first place.’
    In fact, next to Jilting Jason, Vaughn Brooks was on Chloe’s list of men she’d like to kill. It was a list of two, and it wasn’t strange at all that they were related.
    So it was more than her ego was worth to go there and negotiate a deal that would advantage him in any way. And it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she’d accosted him with a bunch of flowers at St Catherine’s Church altar and would wear that mortification forever.
    She clutched at the only straw she could think of. ‘He doesn’t do weddings.’
    ‘Since when?’
    ‘Right this second.’
    Jenna sighed. ‘Oh, Chloe, honey, he does do weddings, actually. Stacey rang him while she was here. She was so excited; she had the review in her sticky little hand. He said they could have the service in his walled garden if she wanted. They have a canopy for rainy days. He has some time this afternoon before they open for dinner and said he could squeeze her in. I said that would be okay. It is okay, right? I mean, we have to at least allow our clients some independent thought?’
    ‘Not if it messes with my head.’ Chloe squeezed the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. But what choice did she have? Keep the customer satisfied no matter what the personal cost. The clutched-at straw moved ever further from her grasp. ‘You’ll come with me? Safety in numbers?’
    ‘Ah, no. Evie has Ballet Tots at four thirty. He wants Stacey there at five, timing’s all wrong.’
    ‘Traitor. Matchmaker. And now you want me to smile sweetly at Vaughn Brooks, too? Double traitor.’
    Jenna sighed. ‘Hey, he wasn’t the bad guy there. At least he actually turned up at the church; give him a break. And I’m sorry about matchyou.co.uk . I was trying to help, honestly. It was so easy in the olden days when people made the match for you.’
    ‘This is not Pride and Prejudice , Jenna. This is my life. Mr Darcy is not going to walk through a pond for me.’
    ‘It was a lake, actually, and more’s the pity. Because it’s a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman, in possession of a teeny misfortune, must be in want of a bloody good shag. Or just a date. Some fun?’ She laughed. ‘Sometimes I get carried away with ideas and don’t always think things through. I didn’t mean to upset you, really. Truth is, I’m worried about you. I love you, and I don’t want you to be so down in the dumps.’
    ‘Oh.’ There was a little clutch at Chloe’s heart. Jenna had meant well. Even if the emails had given Chloe a bit of a panic. But her family needed to learn she could handle her love life on her own, or, in other words, avoid ever having one again. There was no way she was going to risk everything on a man. Bad enough that her business was breaking, but that was nothing in comparison to how her heart had felt when Vaughn Brooks had walked up the aisle with that smug yet pitying look in his eyes. Her whole life had stopped then. Everything had broken, and she was only just starting to feel she had a handle on things. Surely only a masochist would ever risk that kind of hurt again? ‘Oh, it’s okay. I know you were trying to do a good thing. Just unsubscribe me, please?’
    ‘Consider it done.’ Jenna’s voice was upbeat again. ‘So, go on, girl. Face your demons and go to Vaughn’s. You just need to look him in the eye once and then it will all be forgotten.’
    ‘Never in my whole life will I forget. But if Stacey wants to go, then who am I to say no?’ Great. A meeting with a man who everyone thought she’d tried to disembowel with white roses, silver pine cones and a delicate but not overpowering smattering of heather.
    And now she had an