Page 40 of The Wedding Wrecker

I skidded to a stop beside where she crashed with my heart in my throat.

Within a moment, all three of the handsome brothers appeared right beside me.

Emma lay still in the snow, and for a terrifying moment I thought the worst.

But then she groaned.

"That wasn't supposed to happen," she mumbled as I reached her.

"Don't move." I ran my hands over her legs, checking for injuries. "Does anything hurt?"

"Just my pride. And maybe my ankle. Just a teensy bit."

The brothers hovered anxiously. "Should we call ski patrol?" Theo asked.

"I've got her." I slid my arms under Emma, lifting her easily despite all the layers. She curled into my chest with another groan.

"Show-off," she muttered.

"Says the woman who just tried to ski Thunder Ridge after one lesson."

"I was doing great until gravity got involved."

I couldn't help laughing, relief making me a little giddy. "Come on, Pink Marshmallow. Let's get you inside before you try anything else crazy."

"My hero," she said sarcastically, but her arms tightened around my neck.

As I carried her toward the lodge, I couldn’t help notice Richard Wellington and Dick having a somewhat heated discussion as they shot occasional looks our way.

I couldn’t make out the words, but it was a reminder that I needed to find more time to look into them and their secrets.

As soon as I started looking into Marcus and Lily’s engagement, my alarm bells had begun to ring. She was young, beautiful, and the owner of a rapidly growing business that was poised to be worth multiple millions if she kept it up. She was the whole package, and supposedly, so was Marcus. He didn’t show any of the usual signs of a cheater. But there were signs. Little warning flags I’d picked up, and I was determined to get to the bottom of it.

But that could wait. Right now, I had a wounded marshmallow to take care of.

And if I enjoyed that job a little too much? Well, that was nobody's business but mine.

14

EMMA

"It was just a small tumble," I insisted as Lily fussed over my bruised knee and sore ankle. My sister looked perfect as always—long blonde hair falling in soft waves, her skin perfectly smooth and glowing. Meanwhile, I looked like I'd been put through a snowblower and then partially thawed.

"You went airborne," James corrected from where he was arranging pillows on the oversized leather chair. "And did a very impressive cartwheel."

"I did not?—"

"Two full rotations. I counted." He grinned. "Though your form could use work. I'd give the technical execution a six, but the dramatic flair was a solid nine."

“Well,” I said, smiling a little. “Thank you for appreciating my dramatic flair, at least.”

James gave me a sympathetic pat on the head, then walked off toward the lounge bar.

We'd found a cozy corner of the resort's main lobby, where a massive stone fireplace crackled and popped beside intimate seating arrangements. Outside, snow was starting to fall again, making the whole scene feel almost magical. It was so damn cozy I could almost forget my achingeverythingand the fact that my stubbornness nearly got me killed on a mountain today.

Okay, I probably hadn’t almost died. But my dignity might have.

"Here." James returned and handed me a steaming mug of hot chocolate, complete with tiny marshmallows. "Drink this while I grab more pillows."

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