Read Online His Darling Bride (Echoes of the Heart #3) by Anna DeStefano - Free Book Online

accidentally made out with him Thursday night?” Her friend smiled between Bethany and Mike. “Did you trip and fall?”
    “He was lurking in the corner,” Bethany insisted.
    “I was eating soup,” Mike corrected. Soup that was now cold. He’d have someone pack up the rest of his food to go.
    “I wanted to settle things,” Bethany said. “And I guess we have.”
    “Once you two finish talking”—Nic directed a mockery of a sultry smile at Mike—“maybe I’ll settle a few things myself.”
    “Don’t you have a business to run?” Bethany snapped. “Customers to schmooze?”
    Nicole gave Mike a schmoozy smile. “How’s your lunch, Cowboy?”
    “You make soup”—Mike checked out the lettuce wraps she’d placed on the table—“and sandwich magic.”
    “Nic’s brunch is the yummiest in town.” Shandra beamed at Bethany’s friend. “The best cheesecake in three counties.”
    “I’m sure it is.”
    “I’ll send you over some,” Nic offered. “On the house.”
    “I appreciate it, but I’ll have to pass. Dessert and I aren’t a good fit.”
    “You mean like food allergies?” The teenager glanced to Bethany. “Like Camille?”
    The house phone rang over the voices and brunch sounds around them.
    “It’s for you, Nic,” a male voice shouted from the other side of the place.
    Nicole’s chin dropped to her chest.
    “If that’s your sister-in-law again,” she said to Bethany, “I’m going to drive over to her and Oliver’s new house and beat her senseless with her lesson planner. I know helping with Dru and Brad’s wedding is her first official contribution to the Dixon family, but—”
    “Besides Camille,” Shandra corrected.
    “But,” Nicole said, “Selena’s obsessing. All over town. And the event’s a month out. Everything with the catering is on track, including her special orders. She needs to give it a rest, but she keeps checking the plans, rethinking them. Maybe we’ll do lemonade. Or should it be just iced tea? What about hot tea and coffee? It might be chilly after sunset, even in early September . . .”
    Nicole’s rounded eyes and OMG expression made Bethany laugh.
    “She just wants Dru and Brad’s day to be perfect.” Bethany swiped off a piece of her cake with her finger and licked it clean, torturing Mike. “We all do.”
    “It will be perfect,” Nicole insisted. “I have all the sub-vendors lined up. I’m personally doing the project management on this one. It’ll be frickin’ incredible. Even if I have to shoot Mrs. Selena Rosenthal Bowman with a tranquilizer dart.”
    Nicole took the edge off her threat by circling an arm around Shandra.
    “You come eat your dessert with me while I take this call,” she said to the teen. “Then you can learn how the barista machine works.”
    “We’re supposed to be having girl time.” Bethany looked guiltily from Mike to her sister. “I didn’t mean to throw another wrench in that.”
    “I don’t mind,” the kid insisted.
    “Good,” Nicole said. “That way when I steal you away from the Dream Whip, you’ll already have started your training.” She steered the teenager toward the coffee bar, glancing back over her shoulder. “You two sit, so everyone else can get back to their food.”
    Bethany surveyed the roomful of people waiting to see what she’d do next. The flash of vulnerability in her bright eyes blasted away at Mike’s best intentions. He shoved the wad of money he’d meant to toss onto the table back into his pocket along with his money clip. He palmed her elbow and eased her toward the chair across from the one he’d vacated, letting her go almost as soon as he’d touched her.
    She stared daggers at him in a way that he found perversely enticing.
    “You could cut and run.” He planted himself in his own chair. “But that’s not your style, is it, Bethie?”
    “I’ll stay for a few more minutes.” Her spine ramrod straight, her plate of cheesecake clutched in her hands, she