Wilde at Heart Read Online Free PDF Page B

her three months ago. At the time, she’d been strapped into the back of an ambulance—skinny, dirty, and high as a kite—on her way to the hospital for a psych evaluation after attacking Shelby and Eva. Now her blond hair was clean and braided, her dress unwrinkled and modest.
    She stopped a short distance from Eva and clasped her hands nervously in front of her. “I wanted to see my daughter’s wedding.”
    “You weren’t invited,” Eva snapped.
    Shelby stepped between them and held out a hand as if to hold her sister back. “Evie…”
    Eva whirled on her. “Did you tell her about this?”
    “Of course I did. She’s our mother.”
    “Yeah, and there’s a reason I didn’t invite her, Shelby. I didn’t want her here.” She shrugged out of Cam’s grasp and stabbed a finger accusingly toward her mother. “How could you even want to see her after the way she attacked us?”
    Shelby glanced back at Katrina, then rolled her lips together and straightened her shoulders, preparing to face off against her much taller sister. “She wasn’t well back then, but she is now.”
    “Bullshit.”
    “At least she’s trying now. She’s been clean since that night, and she’s engaged to a nice man, a former cop like you and Cam—”
    “Engaged?” Eva spared her mother and the silver-haired man a disgusted glance. “Oh my God. Shel, we’ve been down this road before. Over and over and over. She’s never going to change.”
    “I don’t believe that. People can change.”
    “Not her!”
    “Eva,” Katrina said softly, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Honey, I know I’ve not been a good mother to you, but I am so, so sorry for what I put you girls through. I was selfish and…sick.”
    “See?” Shelby said and wrapped an arm around her mother. “Give her another chance.”
    “No.” Radiating disbelief, Eva shook her head. “No! I’ve given her more chances than she deserves.” She turned that accusing finger on her sister, poking Shelby’s chest. “I’ve given you more chances than you deserve, and all I ever get in return is disappointment. I can’t—” Her voice caught and she shouldered between her sister and mother, leaving a heavy silence in her wake.
    Katrina tried to hug Shelby, but she shrugged off the embrace and ran for the exit, too. Nobody moved for a solid three seconds after the chapel door banged shut behind her.
    “Shit,” Cam said under his breath and chased after his wife.
    Reece hesitated for only a heartbeat before he followed. He found Cam pacing the floor in the hallway outside the women’s restroom. “Are they in there?”
    “Eva is.” Cam dragged his hands over his head. “Goddamn Shelby.”
    “Hey, she was only trying to help.”
    “Yeah, well, Eva can do without her brand of help. You have no idea what a mindfuck it was for Eva growing up as the daughter of that woman.”
    “Shelby’s her daughter, too,” Reece pointed out.
    “But that’s the biggest difference between them. Shelby bounces back from everything. Eva doesn’t. She carries the hurt forever.” He stopped moving in front of the bathroom door and stared at the female stick figure like he wanted to set fire to it. Finally, he muttered, “Fuck this,” and pushed inside.
    Reece stood in the empty hallway and debated his next step. In a conference room several doors down, the reception revelry was already in full swing. A room full of cops with an open bar in Vegas? Yeah, he should probably go in there and keep things under control until the bride and groom returned.
    He took a step in that direction, but a flash of blue at the other end of the hall caught his attention and he glanced toward it in time to see Shelby step into the elevator. He didn’t think, just moved, striding down the hall and catching the door before it slid shut.
    Shelby sighed and wiped at her eyes with both hands. “What are you doing here?”
    “Making sure you don’t do anything stupid.”
    She jabbed the button for