Read Online A Case For Trust by Gracie MacGregor - Free Book Online Page A

That’s how I get most of my wedding business: word of mouth. My style isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I do get quite a few recommendations.’
    â€˜You’re good at what you do.’ It wasn’t a compliment, or not the way Matt said it. He made it sound like a simple statement of fact, but still, Pippa felt her cheeks flush with pleasure.
    â€˜Thank you.’
    â€˜It doesn’t seem much like a career. Is it very lucrative?’
    The pleasure faded as quickly as it had emerged; she bristled at his dismissive tone. ‘I don’t do it as a career. I don’t do it for money. I do it for pleasure, for the pleasure of helping people make their special day, their wedding day, beautiful and memorable, of making it the happiest day of their lives.’
    â€˜Are you that hard-up for friends? That you have to muscle in on other people’s weddings?’
    â€˜I have friends! I have a lot of friends—’
    Pippa bit back the retort, aware even before she saw his amused eyebrow just how like a petulant six-year-old she’d sounded. But it was an old and tender point. At school, and then at uni, she’d had no time for friends, no money for friendship outings, no happy home to bring them back to. Mostly, after class, she’d cut and run. And now her life was about building her business. She had no energy for Friday night drinks or Sunday barbecues, even if she’d still been receiving invitations.
    â€˜And all these friends you have—none of them live close enough for you to call them when you couldn’t get a taxi this morning?’
    â€˜It didn’t occur to me to ask them. Anyway, you offered.’
    â€˜So I did. I may have been mistaken but it looked to me like you were all out of options.’
    â€˜You were mistaken.’ The twist of his mouth irked her. ‘Impossible though that might seem.’
    â€˜Not impossible. Just unlikely. So if I hadn’t offered you a lift, you’d have called a friend? My brother, perhaps?’
    Here we go. Pippa took a deep breath and let half of it out again before answering.
    â€˜Look. I appreciate you driving me to this wedding, but I’m not, not going to engage with you in some pointless review of my career choices or my friends. And before you ask—’ she’d seen his sharply indrawn breath and decided to cut him off at the pass—‘I’m not going to discuss Justin with you. Pick another topic to beat me up with.’
    His acutely raised eyebrow made his face at once saturnine and ironic.
    â€˜Fine. Tell me about your family.’
    â€˜I don’t have a family.’
    That rated another speculative glance before he returned his eyes to the road.
    â€˜No parents?’
    â€˜Dead.’
    â€˜What, both of them?’
    â€˜My father was a drunk and my mother killed herself to escape him. He wasn’t far behind her.’
    â€˜No siblings?
    â€˜Nope.’
    â€˜I see.’ And the self-satisfaction in his voice had Pippa spinning in her seat to confront him.
    â€˜ What do you see? Enlighten me. What does my lack of family add up to in your narrow, legalistic little mind?’
    He shrugged carelessly, a long finger flicking the indicator switch equally carelessly before he changed lanes and finally answered. ‘You tell me. You’re the psychologist.’
    â€˜I’m not a psychologist. I told you. I studied psychology. I’ve never worked as a psychologist, nor claimed to be one.’
    â€˜Another career going begging?’
    She gave an impatient snort and turned her head to face out the window again.
    â€˜It’s a reasonable question, Philippa. Psychologist, marriage celebrant, landscape gardener slash business owner. You have to agree, it somewhat gives the impression of a person who can’t settle to anything, who doesn’t know what she wants.’
    â€˜I know what I want.’
    â€˜And what’s