Read Always the Baker, Finally the Bride for Free Online Page A

before you hurt yourself, or someone else, huh?”
    A coarse mane of reddish-brown hair masked half of her face, and she glared up at him with one chestnut eye. “Sorry,” she muttered halfheartedly, wriggling away from him.
    “Wait a second. Where are you headed in such a hurry, huh?”
    “Nowhere.”
    “Well, this floor isn’t for hotel guests,” he informed her. “This is our suite of offices. Where are you trying to go?”
    “I told you, Nowhere.”
    “Well, Nowhere is not on this floor, so let’s turn right around and get back on the elevator, all right?”
    She thought it over, shrugged impatiently, and appeared to toss herself back into the elevator. Jackson followed her and pressed the Lobby button. “What about you? What floor is your room on?”
    “Two,” she said without looking up at him.
    “Okay,” he replied, and he pressed the button for her. “And when we arrive at the second floor, maybe you could dial it back, just a little, so no one gets run over?”
    She chuckled. “Yeah, okay.”
    When they reached the second floor, the little girl slid through a minuscule opening and tromped down the hall before the doors even opened completely. Jackson shook his head as he pressed the button to close them again.
    It wasn’t until he reached Morelli’s and Norma waved him toward her table that his thoughts drifted back to his conversation with Susannah.
    “You look like you’ve had quite a morning,” his sister observed.
    “You have no idea.”
    “What is that all over your suit, Jackson?”
    He glanced down at the smears of white powder and grimaced. One of them bore a strange resemblance to a small hand, and he groaned as he dusted it off.
    “A small hurricane barreled into me on the elevator,” he said. “I have no idea what she’d been into to make this mess.”
    “Is she a guest?”
    “I assume so. She said her room is on the second floor, but she was trying to get off the elevator on four.”
    “Ahh,” Norma nodded with a grin. “An explorer.”
    “A messy one.”
    “I would say so. Have a seat and let’s get a little lunch into you. Now tell me, when is Emma Rae due back?”
    “Later today,” he replied, still brushing the front of his jacket as he sat down. “Seems like she’s been gone for a month. Hey, did you know Susannah plans to retire?”
    “Oh, she talked to you, hmm?”
    Jackson looked up at Norma and glared. “You knew?”
    “She may have mentioned it.”
    The youngest of his three sisters, Norma was the one who knew Jackson best. In turn, the glint in her hazel eyes, and the way she brushed back her sandy hair as she opened the menu before her, told him all he needed to know. Like everything else around his hotel, Norma had no doubt known about Susannah’s plans even before she’d cemented them.
    “Anything else I’m not privy to around here, Norma Jean?”
    She giggled without answering his question. “I’m thinking . . . the beef stew in a sourdough bowl. What do you think?”
    “I think you’d make a lousy spy. You can’t bluff worth a dollar.”

    “I’m so proud of you, Em. Do you want me to order extra flowers for the cake, or will you make them out of sugar?”
    Emma grimaced at Sherilyn and shrugged.
    “Don’t tell me.”
    “Well, I was sold on this cake last night. It just seemed to fit Jackson and me so perfectly. But in the light of day—”
    Sherilyn’s groan cut her words in two.
    “What did I miss?” Fee asked as she blew through the front door. Sherilyn’s expression drove her to pivot onto another topic. “I’ve got all of the bags in the car. Who’s driving, Emma? Me or you?”
    “You’d better drive,” Sherilyn interjected. “Emma Rae is preoccupied. We might end up in Key West.”
    “Preoccupied with what? I thought things were great since she decided on the . . .” Fee paused, looking from Sherilyn to Emma and back again. “Ohhhh. That’s not good.”
    “I just think there might be—” Emma began,