Third Time Lucky

Third Time Lucky
Allison Leigh

Fast Fiction Romantic - short stories with a Happy Ever AfterDane Dalton was proud to be a rancher. He loved to work the land his family had owned for generations in his hometown of Red Rock, Texas. He'd never wanted anything else…except Charlene Kelley.But Charlene didn't want to be a rancher's wife: she was a fashion designer. While Dane reveled in dirt and sweat and flannel, she adored lace and beads and sparkle. Charlene believed she and Dane were too different, and she'd turned him down flat. Twice. Dane was a proud man, but he was also stubborn. He'd loved Charlene all his life, and he wasn't going to let her just walk away from what they shared….

Third Time Lucky

Allison Leigh

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Contents

Cover (#ub756113b-621a-5638-85a7-cb32f466341c)

Title Page (#ude74c398-502e-54bc-9fed-247c3ed11a57)

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter One (#u868a65fa-f995-5816-be4d-c12694c27366)

“It’s going to be the most rockin’ wedding gown ever.”

Charlene Kelley smiled at the reverent tone in her sales assistant’s voice. Meredith was ten years younger than Charlene’s own thirty and had been the first person she’d hired after opening Charlene’s two years earlier. And the young redhead thought everything inside the downtown Red Rock boutique was “rockin’.”

“It’s turning out nicely,” Charlene agreed.

Meredith rolled her eyes. “That’s like saying the Fortune family is mildly successful.” Then she grinned and ran a fingertip lightly down the skirt of the gown. “Emily Fortune was smart to have you design her gown. She could have gone anywhere. But she chose you.”

And Charlene was still having a hard time believing it. Who knew that by finally coming home to Red Rock she’d find the sort of success in Texas that had eluded her for ten years in California?

The tinkle of the crystal bell hanging above the entrance to the boutique warned them that another customer had come in, and Meredith promptly headed out of the workroom.

Leaving Meredith to deal with the customer, Charlene leaned back against her sewing table and studied the gown draped around a dressmaker form. It really was beautiful.

The silk was imported; the cut was divine. And even unfinished as it was, she knew the gown would be a triumph. When it made its appearance at the church on New Year’s Eve—just two weeks from now—it would be the culmination of months of designing, planning, fitting.

Too bad she wasn’t the bride wearing it.

She shook her head. The only reason that particular thought kept creeping into her head was because she’d been working so hard on Emily Fortune’s wedding gown.

It was a convenient excuse, if nothing else.

She rubbed her tired eyes, then studied the sweep of white silk with a critical eye. The embroidery embellishing the skirt and bodice was nearly done. The design was subtle; only someone looking closely beyond the shimmer of delicate crystals would see that the pattern resembled daisies. Sophistication flowed from the gown, yet that daisy element added the perfect touch of vulnerability. The gown would suit Emily to perfection.

The front bell jangled again, breaking her reverie. Before the gown could suit Emily, Charlene had to actually finish it.

She straightened, flexing fingers that were stiff from the hours already spent stitching that afternoon, and went to the supply shelves. She needed a fresh embroidery needle and she was just ready to tuck the thin, sharp needle into the pin cushion wrapped around her wrist when she heard a deep voice from the direction of the front of the shop. A deep, painfully familiar male voice.

Her fingers closed spasmodically around the needle and her knees turned to water. She actually had to lean against the desk for support.

Six months. The thought screamed through her mind. She’d known Dane Dalton all of her life, but she hadn’t heard his voice in six months.

Not since the evening he’d asked her to marry him.

And she’d said no.

Chapter Two (#u868a65fa-f995-5816-be4d-c12694c27366)

If she hid out here in the back room, Charlene wouldn’t have to see him.