Read Online A Great Catch by Lorna Seilstad - Free Book Online Page A

than three minutes, a woman stalked away from him.

    Emily waded in the waist-deep water toward the toboggan slide with Marguerite and Lilly flanking her. Complete with a bathhouse attached for sled rental and refreshments, the thirty-foot-tall structure sat off the shore of Manhattan Beach, ready to thrill bathers.
    As they paddled toward the slide, Emily let the ripples carry away her anger and humiliation. The least he could do. The words echoed in her ears. Carter felt sorry for her, and it stung. She didn’t want it to, but it did. She hated pity. Everyone felt sorry for her. She could hear them now. Poor Emily can’t cross a room without tripping. She’d drop her own head if it wasn’t attached. She’ll probably trip down the aisle at her wedding.
    She bit her lip, silencing the voices. No one needed to worry about her wedding. There wasn’t going to be one. Marriage was a complication she didn’t need, and she had more important things to consider. Later this afternoon, she was speaking on the pavilion steps. The other ladies were joining her, and a rousing speech was necessary for both them and the community.
    They reached the dock surrounding the slide’s bathhouse and climbed the wood ladder onto the platform.
    “Stop right there.” Marguerite put her hands on Emily’s shoulders. “You need to get rid of whatever it is you have going on in your head. The next hour is for fun.”
    Emily shrugged. “Maybe I should head back and work on my speech.”
    Lilly linked her arm in Emily’s. “No, ma’am. Marguerite and I don’t get away without our little ones very often, and you need a break. Before all your suffrage work, you used to be the one dragging us off to have a good time.”
    Marguerite’s blue eyes sparkled, and Lilly’s no-nonsense expression left little room for argument. Emily laughed. She’d never win with either of them. Besides, they were right. More and more, the suffrage fight had consumed her time. “Okay. Let’s go enjoy ourselves.”
    Plopping a dime on the counter, the three ladies rented a long toboggan from the clerk to share. Giggling, the three of them carried the heavy toboggan through the passageway and up the staircase leading to the slide. At the top, Marguerite sat in the front, and Lilly wiggled into place behind her.
    “Your turn.” Lilly tilted her head, looking back. “No bolting to practice your speech.”
    Emily rolled her eyes and eased one stocking-covered foot onto the toboggan. She froze when she heard a familiar voice behind her. Her heart thundered against her rib cage. Carter and his teammates were climbing the stairs. Heat rose from her sailor collar to her flower-covered cap. She grabbed Lilly’s shoulders. She couldn’t face him again—not yet.
    “Emily, be careful.”
    Lilly’s warning came too late. Slipping on the slick wood, Emily shoved the toboggan forward with her foot. Her friends careened down the chute, and she landed with a thud on the deck. Tears pricked her eyes. Her bottom hadn’t hurt this bad since her father caught her putting a frog in her brother’s pocket.
    Laughter surrounded her, accusing her of what she already knew. She was clumsy, plain and simple.
    “Emily?”
    With hooded eyes, she peered up at Carter standing over her. What she wouldn’t give to sink into the water below and never resurface.
    He offered his hand and pulled her to her feet. “Everything okay?”
    “Yes. I slipped getting on.”
    “I sort of guessed that.” His eyes danced with amusement. “It happens sometimes.”
    The cleft in his chin deepened with his grin, and he stood there, broad-shouldered and so male she couldn’t breathe. Escaping him became a necessity. She whirled, intending to head back down the stairs.
    Carter caught her wrist. “You can ride down with me.”
    More heat flooded her face, and the afternoon sun seemed to pour down with greater intensity. She considered walking away, but the pain in her backside predicted a less than