Kaye Dacus - Stand-In Groom

Grinning, he knelt in front of her, took her hands in his, and kissed her palms. “Gladly and wholeheartedly.”

Leaning forward, she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m sorry for being so hard-hearted. It was just…seeing Cliff like that with no forewarning… I guess I really have a lot to work on when it comes to forgiving him, because that isn’t going to come easily. I know that now.”

He held her for a few moments until his knees started to ache on the tile floor. He kissed the side of her neck, rose, and stretched as stress rolled off his shoulders.

She slouched back in the chair. “There’s something else I want to ask you.”

He perched on the edge of the desk facing her, curiosity aroused. “All right.”

She bit the right corner of her bottom lip as she searched his face, then sat up straight, her knuckles turning white as she gripped her hands together. “I know we’ve only known each other for a little over a month. And during that time, we’ve had our share of misunderstandings and communication issues.”

Her skill with euphemistic understatements would put a parliamentarian to shame. He nodded, encouraging her to continue.

“I feel like we have a lot in common, and we obviously work well together.” She smiled nervously. “What I want to ask is: How about making this permanent?”

He nearly fell off the desk. Permanent? Had Anne Hawthorne just proposed marriage to him?

She rushed to continue. “As I said, I know it hasn’t been that long. And I know you’ll need time to think about making a major step like this.”

Every fiber of his being cried out, Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you. The miniscule part of his brain that clung to reason still controlled his tongue. “I’m flattered. But, Anne, have you thought this through? Are you sure this is what you truly want, and not just a reaction to seeing Cliff tonight?”

She frowned. “Cliff? What does he have to do with my asking you to be my business partner?”

Business partner? He chuckled and shook his head. Yet another example of their typical misunderstandings and communication issues. “Nothing, I suppose.”

“I mean, you may not make as much in a year working with me if we’re splitting the profits equally, but the cost of living here is a lot lower.”

And he’d get to see her every day. He tapped his thumb against his lips a moment. If he were going to stay here, he wanted the whole package—and he meant to have it before Courtney’s wedding. But given her nervousness at asking him to go into business together, convincing her to marry him would be a considerable undertaking. “Draw up a business plan, and I’ll take a look at it. I’ll have to look into the legality of changing jobs with my current work visa.” Of course, being married to an American citizen, he wouldn’t have to worry about work visas ever again. Not that where they would live mattered. He’d be happy living in a thatch-roofed hut in the bitter cold of Scotland, as long as he had Anne at his side.

Anne tried to ignore the pounding by pulling a spare pillow over her head. There. The noise stopped.

Something heavy hit her bed. She shrieked and bolted upright, nearly colliding with Jenn, who bounced up and down on her knees.

“When were you going to tell us?”

Anne glanced at the alarm clock. Not even eight o’clock. Less than four hours of sleep—again. Never before had she thought ill of a relative. But right now she hated the two auburn-tressed sisters staring at her like baby chicks waiting to devour a worm. She fell back against her pillow with a groan. “Go away! Let me get some sleep.”

“I told you we should have left her alone,” Meredith scolded her younger sister. “Come on, let’s go.”

“No. I want to hear it from her. Is it true?” Jenn crawled over and straddled Anne.

“Is what true?” She could very easily toss the skinny-minnie off the bed, maybe even out the window.

“You’re planning Cliff Ballantine’s wedding.”

She could have gone all day without being reminded of that. “Go away.” She pushed Jenn away, rolled onto her side, and covered her head with the pillow again.

“You’re on the front page of the newspaper, Annie.” Meredith’s soft voice filtered through the thick down covering Anne’s ears. “You looked really nice last night.”

She bolted upright again, this time bumping Jenn’s nose with her forehead. She snatched the paper from Meredith. Below a giant color photo of Courtney and Cliff on the front porch of Lafitte’s Landing was a smaller image of herself. When… ? Oh, she’d gone out to give Jonathan batteries for his radio pack.

“I’m surprised your phone isn’t ringing off the hook.” Jenn rubbed her nose.

“I turned the ringer off when I got home last night. I thought that would thwart anyone who might try to disturb me before I had a decent amount of sleep. I guess I’ll have to start using the door chain.”

“She would have just stood there pounding on the door until you opened it.” Meredith came around and sat on the edge of the bed. “Did you know?” She pointed at Cliff’s picture.

Anne shook her head. “No. George was under strict orders to keep his employer’s identity secret. No one knew until just before the press conference.”

“Hello?” Forbes’s voice rang through the apartment.

“In here,” Jenn yelled.

“What is it with you people and Saturday mornings?” Anne flipped the folded paper over to look at the top of the page again. BALLANTINE TO MARRY LOCAL GIRL, the headline proclaimed. Poor Courtney. She tossed the paper aside as Forbes entered her bedroom.

“Aren’t you going to read the articles?” Jenn caught the section before it slid off the far side of the bed.

“I was there. I planned it. I think I know what happened.” She propped a couple of pillows against her headboard and scooted up to sit against them. She reached for the tall paper cup of coffee Forbes held in his hand and took a big gulp before handing it back to him. “Ugh. Gross. Skim milk and artificial sweetener. I always forget.”

“Everything okay?”

Why did he look so nervous? “Mostly.” She cocked her head to one side. “Did you know anything about this? No, wait.” She held up her free hand. “I don’t want to know. Anything you say will probably just make me mad, and then we’ll sit here all morning analyzing why I’m mad and I’ll never get any more sleep. So now that everyone is reassured that I’m okay, can you please leave so I can go back to sleep?”

His relief palpable, Forbes leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Yes. Yes, we can do that.”

Meredith patted Anne’s knee through the quilt. “Yeah. Sorry we woke you up like that.”

“Jennifer, let’s go.” Forbes stood at the end of the bed like a nightclub bouncer.

“But—”

“No buts. Now.” He snapped his fingers and pointed at the door. He waited until his younger sister huffed out of the room, then turned back to Anne. “Rest up. If what they wrote in the paper is true, you’re not going to be getting a lot of rest anytime soon.”

As he walked out the door, Anne rearranged her pillows and curled into her favorite position. She yawned and closed her eyes. Ah, sleep.

If what they wrote in the paper is true… Forbes’s words bounced through her mind. What had they written about her in the paper? The feature they’d done on her after the article in Southern Bride had been extremely complimentary and had driven most of this summer’s business. But with whom had the reporter spoken last night?

Her head throbbed. She wouldn’t worry about that now. She needed sleep. Sleep. She tapped her fingers on the mattress. Sleep. Yes, that’s what she needed.

One professional photographer had been allowed in last night. George said Cliff’s publicist, that very nice young woman named Tracie, would choose certain photos from inside the party to be released to the major entertainment magazines. Anne hoped she wasn’t in any of them. She hated what the camera did to her already large frame.

Stop thinking about it. Sleep!

How many messages would she have on her voice mail at work? After the Southern Bride article, she’d changed her home number and kept it unlisted. But not only was her cell phone number on her business cards; she’d bought a display ad in the Yellow Pages this year. She was the only one out of the five planners listed in the category who’d done so. She was also the only one to ever be featured in a regional magazine. Or to have her own office in Town Square, just a few doors down from the store that did the most bridal clothing business in town. How much was this kind of national exposure going to grow her clientele?

She tossed onto her other side. She already had the answer to that in her appointment with Alicia Humphrey in a few hours. The girl was by no means a major star like Cliff, but her fiancé’s latest film had won several awards at this year’s independent film festivals. Buzz had already started about the possibility of an Academy Award nomination for best director. At least, that’s what she’d heard most often last night.

What if Alicia wanted Anne to come out to California to meet with her? She rolled onto her back and stared at her high, whiteplaster ceiling. No. Not even for a client could she board a plane. In this day and age, technology should allow her to do whatever necessary from here. Baton Rouge was only a two-hour drive, so that was no problem. But she had to make Alicia understand that Anne Hawthorne would not be flying anywhere.

All possibility of falling asleep again gone, Anne pushed up into a sitting posture and reached for the newspaper. The article contained mostly fluff. A truncated guest list. The reporter should have stayed later, as the most interesting names weren’t on it. A reference to the Mardi Gras–themed decor with Pamela Grant and the Delacroix Gardens Nursery & Florist both mentioned. Excellent, free publicity for her vendors. When she found her name, she took a deep breath before continuing on.