Three Times A Bride

Adam inspected it with the tolerant awe of an uncle admiring his niece’s latest toy.“Very nice, Sammie.”

Flushed with annoyance at his continued lack of proper respect, Samantha unwisely attempted to punish him.“In case you haven’t heard, Georgia will be wearing one, too, next month at this time.”

His smoky blue gaze switched then and settled gravely on Georgia. His smile faded.“Will she?” he said softly.“Are you sure?”

If his first question was directed at her sister, his second was meant exclusively for her. Georgia knew Adam too well to be mistaken about that.

She tried to look away but he held her prisoner in his gaze and refused to let go. To her horror, she felt herself being drawn into those sultry blue depths and suffused with another bout of unspeakable longing.

“Very sure,” she croaked, her mouth so dry she could scarcely get the words out. But when she tried to relieve the situation by taking a sip of wine, her hand shook so badly that she had to set the glass down again in a hurry.

No, you’re not, his eyes said. You’re remembering how it felt when I kissed you this morning and you’re no longer sure of anything.

“Why are you here?” Samantha asked belligerently.

“To have lunch with my grandmother. Does that offend you?” Adam answered, never once allowing his gaze to stray from Georgia.

“Of course not, Adam. That wasn’t what Samantha meant at all. You can understand, I’m sure, that we’re…well, ‘taken aback’ scarcely describes it.” Fully in control of herself again, Natalie flicked her serviette much as a matador might have tried to deflect the attention of a wayward bull.“I’m sure you have a quite remarkable explanation for your absence and we’d love to hear it, but this is not the time. Your grandmother is obviously anxious to have you rejoin her. Please don’t keep her waiting on our account.”

“Oh, she’s waited fifteen months for the pleasure of my company at lunch,” Adam said, ignoring the hint and keeping his gaze glued to Georgia.“I think she can wait a couple of minutes more, or as long as it takes for me to offer my congratulations to the bride and her family.”

“Listen, Adam!” Samantha, who never had learned when to leave well enough alone, wagged a finger at him.“We don’t know where you’ve been for the last year or more and we don’t particularly care, but one thing we do want to make clear: we won’t stand for your causing trouble for the Chamberlaines again and disrupting another wedding. You’re not going to make us the laughingstock of this town a second time.”

“Were people laughing the last time?” he inquired mischievously.“How very unkind, considering that everyone thought I’d died a hero’s death.”

Samantha puffed up with righteous indignation.“Stop twisting my words. No one wished you dead in the first place and no one does now—as long as you don’t try to disrupt Georgia’s plans. But she’s finally making the right marriage and we won’t put up with your trying to spoil things for her.”

Adam lifted his shoulders in a puzzled shrug.“Why are you so worried?” he said smoothly, his gaze continuing to burn into Georgia’s soul.“If, as you claim to believe, everything’s perfect, nobody can spoil things. But if there are hidden flaws…” He smiled and dropped his glance to Georgia’s mouth, then down her throat to where her heart was fluttering madly beneath her silk blouse.“…well then, I’m afraid they’ll surface sooner or later, no matter how hard you try to ignore them. Have a nice lunch, ladies.”

“I never did like him,” Samantha declared, stating the painfully obvious as he wove a path back to where Beverley Walsh waited for him. But her sister was in a minority, Georgia decided, watching as his progress was hampered by a number of other diners eager to express pleasure in his return from the dead.

Natalie, however, had other things on her mind than taking a poll of Adam’s enduring popularity.“Georgia,” she said urgently, her pretty brown eyes full of anxiety, “you’re not having second thoughts about Steven, are you?”

“No,” Georgia said, feeling as if an intolerable weight were compressing her chest.

“Are you sure, dear?”

“Yes,” she said, because she wanted it so badly to be true. But the sad fact was, she couldn’t tear her gaze away from Adam Cabot flirting merrily with the waitress who’d come to take his order, and the sight sliced like a blade through Georgia’s heart. What had happened to those invisible lines of defense that had served her so well in recent months? Why had they fallen apart now, when she needed them most?

“Because you know, dear, everything’s in place for the wedding,” her mother went on.“The flowers, the caterers, the church—”

“Not to mention all the loot,” Samantha cut in.“You don’t want to go through that routine again, do you, Georgia, having to return all the gifts and write those tedious little notes of explanation and stuff. Remember how embarrassing that was?”

“Yes,” Georgia said, clenching her hands under cover of the table to prevent herself from racing over and yanking out that brassy blond waitress’s hair by the fistful. Wouldn’t that set Piper Landing on its ear!

Completely out of patience with her daughter’s inattention, Natalie gathered up her purse, gloves and daughters.“Girls, I think we should get out of here before another disaster occurs.”

“I agree,” Samantha said, her first sensible comment of the day, as far as Georgia was concerned.“For God’s sake, Georgia, stop staring at him like that. You’ll be drooling next.”

They hustled her out of the club and into the car with a speed that verged on panic.“You drive, Samantha. I want to talk to your sister,” Natalie ordered, handing over the keys to the Cadillac before climbing into the back seat with Georgia.

And talk she did, all the way back to the studio. Nonstop and frantically, pointing out all the things that Georgia already knew: that she’d got her life on track finally; that Steven was the most eligible bachelor in town and was completely devoted to her; that Adam Cabot had always been too much of a maverick to make good husband material and she was lucky—blessed, in fact-not to have ended up marrying him because it would have spelled disaster.

And somehow, Georgia wrapped herself in the remains of that fuzzy shroud of remoteness that had been her salvation in the past, and managed to nod and smile in all the right places. Did it so well, indeed, that when they dropped her off in the square outside her studio, she stood on the pavement and waved calmly until the car turned the corner.

Then she let herself into the studio, pulled the blind down over the window, turned out all but the security lights, and set the alarm system before letting herself out into the street again and locking the door. She wouldn’t be designing any more custom jewelry that day, nor the next, either.

It took very little time for her to drive home and pack a few essentials. Steven arrived just as she took the last load out to her car.

“Well,” he said, taking in the suitcase stowed neatly in the open trunk.“It seems I got here just in time.”

“I was going to stop by the bank and leave a note,” she said.

“Note, Georgia?” The gentle reproof in his tone made her feel very, very small and unworthy.“Don’t you think I deserve better than that?”

“You know what’s happened, don’t you?” she said miserably.“I wondered when you’d find out.”

“Everybody knows,” he said.“The whole town’s buzzing.”

“I imagine he’ll be in touch with you before the day’s over.”

Steven eyed the suitcase again.“I gather he’s already been in touch with you and that’s why you’re running away.”

“I’m not running away,” she insisted.“I’m in a state of shock and I just need to spend a little time alone to sort through a few things.” She made a helpless gesture with her hand.“I can’t do that here, Steven, so I thought I’d go up to your family’s chalet. Between commissions at work and a social calendar that’s fully booked from now until the wedding day, I won’t have a minute to myself and….”

He watched her, his honest gray eyes full of compassion.“Are we still going to have a wedding day, Georgia?” he asked, when at last she dribbled into silence.

He was a good man, a fine man. He was her best friend. If she married him, she would never know a moment’s insecurity or want. He would love her, cherish her, and gladly forsake all others for her. At the very least, he deserved her honesty now.“I don’t know,” she said.

He nodded sadly.“Then you must go and find out. Take your time, love. I’ll cover for you here.”

The fine thread by which she’d been hanging on to her control snapped at that. Like a child, she covered her face with her hands and burst out crying.

He reached out and held her, sheltering her in his arms, and she wished with all her heart that she could stay there and not have to face tomorrow.“I hate him,” she sobbed.“I don’t want things to be spoiled like this, and it’s all his fault.”

Steven stroked her hair.“It’s nobody’s fault, Georgia.”

“But I was so sure about us, until he showed up again.”

“I know.” He pulled away a little and just for a moment his resolution wavered enough to let his own pain show.“Georgia, marry me tonight. Let’s just go away and leave all this behind. So what if Adam has come back? You and I have been happy together, haven’t we? We can be again.”

Temptation lured, promising the easy road. But for how long? She shook her head.“I can’t,” she whispered.

He sighed heavily and slackened his hold.“No, I suppose not.”

She pulled away and accepted the handkerchief he offered.“Will your parents mind my using the chalet?”

“Of course they won’t. But will you be all right by yourself? There’s already been snow in the mountains and more is expected. The road might be bad.”