Bride by Mistake

By Nicole Helm

Wedding fever has hit the little town of Marietta…

And Kaitlin Shuller’s groom of her dreams is marrying someone else… her sister.

Worst day ever. Her heart is broken, and all her carefully laid plans destroyed. Enter Beckett Larson, her older brother’s best friend and a very good bad decision.

Beckett has spent his life trying to outrun his bad reputation, but everyone already thinks the worst of him, so when Kaitlin offers herself to him — virginity and all— he just can’t say no.

But one night together has permanent consequences, and this time Beckett knows he can’t outrun his bad boy reputation. He’s determined to make Kaitlin his bride…even if he has to seduce her down the aisle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tule Publishing
• Release date: May 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9781942240556

Nicole Helm

Nicole Helm writes down-to-earth contemporary romance and fast-paced romantic suspense. She lives with her husband and two sons in Missouri. Visit her website: www.nicolehelm.com

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Bride by Mistake

A Montana Born Brides Novella

Nicole Helm

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B

ride by Mistake

Copyright © 2015 Nicole Helm

The Tule Publishing Group, LLC

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ISBN: 978-1-942240-55-6

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

The Montana Born Brides Series

About the Author

C

hapter One

"It looks beautiful, Kaitlin. You’ve outdone yourself."

Kaitlin Shuller blinked back tears while forcing herself to smile. Thank you, she croaked. She had been managing not to cry in front of him for weeks now, why should the actual day be any different?

But he was in his suit, and she was in her dress.

The man she had loved since the third grade, standing in a tuxedo, surrounded by altar flowers she’d put together herself. Beautiful white hydrangeas, unfurling white lilies, the deep green of the filler twirled and pinned artfully—if she did say so herself. Subtle and rustic burlap accent to the giant urn.

It was country chic perfection, no floral detail left ignored. The church looked and smelled like a magazine spread and high-end greenhouse brought to life.

All for her sister’s wedding to Carter.

Kaitlin had been so certain she’d come to terms with this, but right here, right now, there were no terms. Only pain.

She’d built her life around him. Since she’d been ten, Carter Finley McArthur had been meant for her. She’d been sure of it. Planned everything in her life with the utmost confidence it would be suitable for a McArthur, suitable for the future doctor, suitable for all the good they would do. Together.

The stability and assurance of the McArthur name was supposed to be hers. Instead, Sierra was marrying him.

He pulled a handkerchief out of his back pocket. I came stocked, he said with a charming smile. I hear these things bring out tears in everyone, though I never thought you’d be the first victim.

She stared at the square of cloth, only then realizing a tear had escaped. She never cried. Except at funerals and the occasional sad movie.

Kaitlin had never been known for being a sap. Driven. Determined. Organized. Charitable, when pushed, but never emotional. But she took the handkerchief because it was expected of her.

She had made a life out of discerning what people wanted from her and going after it wholeheartedly. She’d gone to school for accounting to suit her father, fell into floral design because it would please her mother. She’d done the flowers for Sierra and Carter’s wedding because it would make everyone she loved happy.

Except me.

She grasped Carter’s handkerchief, emotions she’d been banking down for six months swirling around her.

It should be me.

All Sierra had done since the day she’d been old enough to walk was cause trouble and follow the beat of her own internal drum. Sierra never cared about grades. She’d skipped school, missed homework assignments, failed tests. Sierra had been caught with beer in the ninth grade. She’d smoked all manner of things, and Sierra had definitely had lots and lots of sex.

Kaitlin had touched none of those things, all so sure she’d be rewarded for it.

She was no longer anywhere near sure.

You’ve been such a great friend to us, Carter said with an affectionate pat of the shoulder. Bare because her sister had picked the bridesmaid dresses. Kaitlin would much prefer to be in a nun’s habit. Anything to keep his palm off her shoulder.

Skin to skin.

I don’t know how you managed to pack it all in, he went on and on. She had no idea what to say to make him go away, and even if she had figured out some combination of words, no doubt she would have only squeaked.

This was it. End of the road. No terrible hope that Carter saw the error of his ways without hurting Sierra too too much.

They were getting married. He was going to be her brother-in-law. The man that had been a part of every sexual fantasy she’d ever woven. The man she’d idiotically, steadfastly saved herself for.

She caught a flash of a dark head at the back of the church, and when she recognized the face she couldn’t stop a grimace.

Okay, there was one other man who had starred in her sexual fantasies, but only her subconscious ones. Where she had no control. While real-life Kaitlin wanted the sturdy, charitable, Doctor Without Borders, her subconscious had a thing for ugh.

Regardless of her feelings for Beckett Larson, conscious or subconscious, he was her one and only escape. So, she’d take it.

Beckett!

Both men in the room startled, but she would not undo the action no matter how much she disliked Beckett. No matter how much the task of having a conversation with him made her want to burn her skin off.

He was terrible, and one of the few people she’d never been able to pretend she liked. She couldn’t stand him, and everyone knew it.

So, it was no surprise Carter and Beckett looked at her like she’d been hitting the champagne early.

Uh, hello, Kate, he offered as she marched down the aisle toward him. Insisting on calling her Kate because she hated it, insisting on smiling because she hated it. Insisting on grating along every nerve ending she had.

He was dressed in a suit, an expensive one it looked. All black and well-tailored, but of course he wasn’t wearing a tie. He probably wouldn’t. Beckett took the role of bad boy about as seriously as...as...

Well, as she took the role of good girl, she supposed.

Hate you. Hate you. Haaaate you. But she forced herself to smile in much the same way she’d been forcing herself to smile since Sierra announced she’d been secretly dating Carter and they were engaged.

Engaged! Can you believe it? And then Sierra had giggled in the way only rule-breaking, careless, reckless, selfish youngest sisters could.

Easy there, tiger, Beckett muttered, presumably because she was no longer smiling. She was all but baring her teeth.

She took a deep breath. She was not used to all this...emotional upheaval. Usually she was calm and collected. Serene. Pleasantly moving toward her end goal. Happily ever after with Carter.

She wanted to stomp her feet and scream. She wanted to pound her fists against the pews until they cracked. Her plan was being demolished today and all anyone could do was smile and look gorgeous.

She wanted to curse. In church.

But you would never do such a thing, would you?

She glanced at Beckett, his sardonic smile, his jet black hair and ridiculous blue eyes. Stubble. Dimples. A small scar on his cheek. Underneath the suit he had more scars, tattoos. He even rode a motorcycle of all things, or at least he had on his last whirlwind visit to Marietta.

He was such a cliché she wanted to push him.

Get ahold of yourself.

She had never been violent in her life. She would not start now just because her plans were all coming apart at the seams. She’d designed the floral arrangements for this wedding. She had gotten through months of wedding planning without falling apart.

This day would not undo her. She just needed a new plan. A new goal. Something else to work toward. She would find it. She would find it as soon as possible.

You all right?

She looked up at Beckett’s concerned blue gaze. Normally it was the kind of thing that would set her teeth on edge. How dare he be polite to her? How dare he flirt so outrageously with her? How dare he...breathe half the time?

So, instead of gritting her teeth or letting temper steal over her normal calm, rational sense, she smiled. Sweetly.

Her attempt at sweetly anyway.

Such an emotional day, she said, waving Carter’s handkerchief. She wanted to light it on fire.

Beckett would have a lighter.

Such a strange thought, but he no doubt would, and as there was no love lost between the McArthurs and Beckett, he’d probably hand it right over.

Kaitlin let out a measured breath. She needed to be alone for a few minutes to find some semblance of her normal control. To find a goal to reach.

Making it through this wedding without imploding would be a start.

You seem a little pale. Would you like me to get your mother for you? Carter asked, making a point to stand between her and Beckett.

Again, she wanted to swear. In church. One of the more vulgar swears at that.

I just saw her, Beckett piped up, his big hand closing over her elbow, effectively boxing Carter out of the equation. I’ll take you to her.

With that, Carter was dismissed, and while usually Kaitlin would as soon chew off her own arm than let Beckett lead her anywhere, today Beckett was just the escape she needed.

Beckett had no idea where Mrs. Shuller was, but he kept his hand firmly on Kaitlin’s arm and ushered her away from Captain Douchebag.

Beckett was probably the only person attending this wedding who thought Carter was something of a tool for picking the youngest Shuller sister over Kaitlin. Even Luke, the oldest Shuller and Beckett’s business partner, didn’t seem to get it.

Maybe Beckett saw it because he’d spent some inappropriate time fantasizing about Kaitlin, or maybe it was simply because he was the only person she didn’t like so he could see past all the polish she kept the real Kaitlin hidden under. But he’d known, as apparently most people hadn’t, that Kaitlin had set her sights on Carter a long, long time ago.

The man who didn’t fall for those sights was a douchebag indeed.

He didn’t remember much about the first summer he’d spent with his grandmother here in Marietta. Mostly just being a dick and trying to hurt anyone in his path. Thirteen and angry would never be a good combination, even for a better person.

Kaitlin had been ten or eleven, had stood between him and some kid who’d dared get in his way, and called Beckett a bully without an ounce of fear in her. She had been matter-of-fact, certain, and so contained. At ten.

He’d been in awe of her ever since, and for a long time, determined to wipe that polish right off. As a teen, he would have settled for any outcome. A punch to the face. Tears. A kiss.

He wouldn’t say he’d quite given up on getting a reaction out of her, but time and space and some semblance of maturity had dulled the impulse on the few times a year they ran into each other.

But sometimes, old habits felt like home, when he could really use one.

I don’t particularly want to find my mother, she said. He couldn’t pick out her tone. Tired, maybe. Anything but the sharp-edged razor that made up so many of their interactions.

That’s handy. I don’t have a clue where she is, he replied cheerfully. Cheerful because it would annoy her and a wilted Kaitlin was...well, it was a thing.

Reviews for Bride by Mistake

[ash_p-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Of the first 3 books out so far in this series I like this one the best. The emotion is raw, the pain and confusion quite palpable. You can feel the struggle that the characters are going through and I found myself rooting for team bad boy from start to finish. I wish it was a little longer but as with all the books in the Montana Born series I'm sure we will come across Kaitlin and Beckett again before too long.

Free copy provided in exchange for an honest review.

[kmt01_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Bride By Mistake is a romantic novella, part of a larger series, Montana Born Brides. The man Kaitlin Shuller has loved all her life is marrying her sister, who swooped right in to capture his heart. Naturally upset and disappointed, Kaitlin has kept herself busy with wedding preparations, but, when the big day arrives, is filled with a mixture of anger and sadness--anger that this man is marrying her sister and sadness that she is not his bride, as she had dreamed of for years. Kaitlin, in her state, decides to stop being the “good girl” everyone knows and loves and to do some things she would not normally do—like leaving the wedding reception with the town’s known “bad boy”. After a one-night stand, Kaitlin finds herself pregnant with his child. How she and this bad boy, Beckett Larson, resolve their issues is the story. The story was, as I said, short, and there was no other plot besides that of Kaitlin and Beckett’s night and the consequences they both must deal with. Though they get together one night, there is little romance or chemistry between the couple. I think the author did this deliberately because of the nature of the story and how things get resolved. Beckett is quick to accept responsibility for his part in this, but Kaitlin has some reservations. As I read the book, I became frustrated with how both handled things. Beckett does a quick about face and, in my opinion, begins acting like a totally new character. I am not sure this is how things would have happened. Kaitlin, on the other hand, shows a definite lack of acceptance, maturity and also becomes a totally new character dealing with the issue. Again, I am not sure just how realistic the author’s portrayals in the book are. I found myself shaking my head in wonder at words and/or actions. Then, when the ending arrived, Kaitlin has another quick change of heart, which again seemed rather sudden. There was little or no build up to this (or anything else, for that matter) in the book. Of course, this is a novella, and novellas do not always leave room for that. I am not sure why the author wrote this as a novella, since I personally think it would have been better served as a full-length novel, where the author could have developed the characters and situation better and could have also included a few sub-plots to keep interest. However, this is a short book and an easy read. If you have read the other books in the series or if you have a need for something quick and easy to read (it can be read as a stand-alone), this might be the book for you. The story moves quickly, you will be finished before you know it and you will find a short, sweet romance to boot. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.

[bette_hansen · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Excellent read! Kaitlin and Beckett have always been verbal sparring partners, but when Kaitlin is forced to watch the man of her dreams marry her own sister, it appears Beckett is the only one who really gets how hard it is for her. When one night of passion turns into an unplanned pregnancy Beckett is determined to do the right thing. The right thing turns into the thing he really wants the most. Now to convince Kaitlin of that!!

I definitely recommend this one