Read The Bad Luck Wedding Dress for Free Online Page B

look away, and he wasn’t too pleased that his stare landed on the naked dressmaker dummy. What was the matter with him? He’d never looked twice at this woman before, and today she had him pole-axed. “You can let Maribeth in on it if you need to, but Kat can’t keep her mouth shut. Now, if that’s all you need, I’d best get back to work.”
    “This will do. For now, anyway.”
    Her low-pitched voice and the soft look in her eyes sent a wave of heat washing through him. Then she startled him—shocked him—when she crossed the room and took his hand in hers. Her touch had a kick like hundred-proof moonshine.
    “Thank you for your business, Mr. McBride.” She gently pumped his arm and the faint spice of her perfume filled his senses. “And thank you for sharing your daughters with me.”
    Before Trace quite knew how it had happened, she had ushered him to the doorway. He stared down at the hand that clutched the doorknob, his skin still warm from her touch. How curious. He glanced over his shoulder. “Why did you do that?”
    Her look was all innocence and fire. “Do what?”
    “Shake hands with me. Just like a man.”
    She looked him straight in the eye, telegraphing messages he thought he surely must be misreading. “Why did I shake your hand? It’s something my mother taught me to do.”
    Trace was halfway back to Hell’s Half Acre before he realized he’d forgotten to find out why, earlier that afternoon, Jenny Fortune had been crying.

    ON HER hands and knees in the front parlor, Emma McBride watched through a knothole as one floor beneath her, Miss Fortune collapsed into a nearby rocking chair following Papa’s exit. Her sister, Maribeth, sat against the parlor wall, a loose chimney brick at her feet, her ear fitted to the hollow space as she listened intently. Katrina paced the floor between her siblings.
    “I can’t do this!” Jenny groaned, loud enough for all the girls to hear. “I don’t have it in me to act like Monique. It was a silly idea, anyway. It never would have worked. I’ll simply have to come up with a solution of my own.”
    Emma saw Jenny’s chest lift in a heavy sigh; Maribeth heard the soulful sound. Minutes passed without further action. Finally, Emma lifted her head and looked toward her sister, thinking that the entertainment was over. She realized she’d missed something when Maribeth’s eyes rounded and her mouth dropped open in shock.
    “What?” Emma demanded, putting her face to the knothole once more. Miss Fortune continued to rock in her chair, her pretty face a picture of sadness. Emma glanced at her sister and asked, “What did she say?”
    Maribeth bent, scooped up the brick, and returned it to its spot. She stared at her sister, excitement sparkling in her eyes. “It’s working. Oh, Em, I think it’s working.”
    “What?” Katrina asked. “Y’all are too mean to me. Next time I get a peephole, too.”
    “Hush, Kat.” The eldest sister pushed to her feet and glared at the other two. “And Mari McBride, if you don’t tell me what Miss Fortune said I’ll put grass burrs in your sheets!”
    Maribeth’s wicked smile was a copy of her father’s. “She said, ‘What foolishness made me think I could make a man like Trace McBride take notice of me.’”
    “It’s working!” Emma flew across the room and swept her sisters into a quick, but fierce, hug. “Oh, Mari, you were right. I didn’t think Miss Fortune listened to any of our talk about Papa, but I must have been wrong.”
    “What about me?” Katrina’s lips pursed into a pout. “I’m right, too.”
    Emma and Maribeth shared a rolled-eye look, then the latter lifted a superior chin and said smugly, “I told you so. Twice this last week I saw that peculiar look on Miss Fortune’s face when we got to talking about Papa. She likes him. I just know she does.”
    Emma began to pace the room, her expression gathered in a thoughtful scowl as she contemplated the latest developments. Shortly