Read Online Whose Bride Is She Anyway by Dakota Cassidy - Free Book Online Page B

magic mark, he’d come riding in on his white steed to whisk her away to the land fondly known as Skinny. Her dating experiences were limited and Tara kept it that way. No one wanted to date her when she was fat, so screw them now just because she wasn’t. “Nope, nobody waiting anywhere for me, I’m free as a bird.”
    “Maybe you can have one of the leftover lover boys here.”
    Tara’s cheeks burned. No Kelsey leftovers, damn it. “I don’t need
anyone’s
leftovers. I actually
like
being single,” Tara said through clenched teeth and a falsely bright smile.
    “Of course, you do, dear. Who wouldn’t if they looked like you? Men must be lining up at your door. Andy here has no one to call his own. ” Mary hinted suggestively with a wink.
    Jeez, she could have used Mary in the airport back on the mainland. Maybe she could have rustled that August up for her, Tara mused.
    As sweet as Andy was, it wouldn’t happen, not in this stratosphere, anyway. Tara wasn’t on a manhunt. She was hunting Kelsey Little’s…
    Andy smiled at Tara over Mrs. DeWitt’s head and shrugged his shoulders with a helpless gesture.
    So Mrs. DeWitt was a born matchmaker and experienced in working a crowd. “And what brings
you
to the show, Mrs. DeWitt?”
    Mrs. DeWitt peered at her from beneath her owl-like glasses and nodded to her plate. “The food. I live on a senior citizen’s budget you know. Cat food just doesn’t fill this old broad up like it used to.”
    Tara choked on her drink, catching the twinkle in Mrs. DeWitt’s grey-blue eyes. “I know what you mean, ” she teased back. “I was becoming bored with cheesy liver bits myself. But a single girl has to make ends meet.”
    Mary DeWitt cackled. “You have a sense of humor. I like that in a girl. So, you’re our foreman. ”
    “That’s me, at your service.” And God willing, a master manipulator.
    Jeez
, manipulator?
She was already thinking like the full-on bitch she desperately wanted to be and she hadn’t even begun.
    “You stole my job,” Mary accused. “I wanted to be foreman of the jury, ” she sniffed mockingly. “But after this afternoon’s little display from our bride Kelsey, I think I’m glad
you
got to be the head honcho. Is she really like that? I mean you know her, right?”
    Tara fought a sneer. That was only the beginning. If Ms. Mary thought Kelsey was horrible
briefly
, just wait until she’d spent a month with her. And then Tara froze at Ms. Mary’s reference to Tara and Kelsey knowing one another. “She did sound angry. Maybe she was just tired or something,” Tara offered. Impartially, objectively…”and yes, I did know her briefly in high school. We only had a class or two together so there isn’t much I can offer in the way of information about her other than we dated some of the same boys.”
As if…
    Ms. Mary clacked her knitting needles down on the table. “Hmph. All I know is we were
all
tired, but we didn’t behave like she did. She sounded like a spoiled rotten child.”
    Tara didn’t agree or disagree, but Andy chimed in with, “Maybe these guys better think twice before marrying her, huh? ”
    Ms. Mary gave him a wink. “I know I wouldn’t marry a shrew like that. I’m sorry, Tara. I spoke before I remembered you were friends in high school. I hope I didn’t offend you if you were close friends.”
    HAH! Offend-schmend. “No, Ms. Mary, I’m not offended at all. Everyone has a right to their opinion and like I said we only knew each other brie fly.”
    Andy nodded his agreement.
    “So what was our big-mouthed, ill-tempered bride like in high school? ” Ms. Mary asked, her eyes looming large behind her glasses.
    Tara leaned back in her chair and hoped the dim lighting worked in her favor, because her face was on fire again. God, she hated lying. “Kelsey was very popular. A cheerleader and homecoming queen. We moved in different circles for the most part.” Brief, to the point, not exactly a lie. All of these