Kitabı oku: «Laredo's Sassy Sweetheart», sayfa 2
“Let’s go back and tell everyone what you’ve decided,” Katy said, delighted.
“Oh, yes. By all means,” he agreed reluctantly. Longingly he glanced across the street, where a stunning blonde was deliberately trying to catch his gaze through the window. She was wearing a red shirt tied at the waist, and, even at this distance, he could tell she was a very healthy girl. To his surprise, she held a sign to the window that read Free Meal to Travelers in bold red, glittery letters.
Beside him Katy floated along, oblivious to the exchange. To be polite—because he’d only heard one side of the story, after all—he tipped his straw western hat to the blonde and then shook his head in the negative.
Fair was fair, and no matter how bright the invitation across the way—even if they served steak and mashed potatoes—he was going to be a man Katy could trust.
Chapter Two
“So what exactly was the big problem?” Hannah Hotchkiss asked as she walked into Katy’s bedroom.
“Problem?” Katy asked, eyeing her best friend and companion stylist warily.
“The one Laredo mentioned. By the time the two of you returned from your walk, you had a yes out of him, and he was wearing a distinctly cattywhumpussed expression.”
“A minor detail,” Katy murmured. “Nothing that was truly a problem.” She wasn’t about to share the worrisome detail that their knight in shining armor lacked experience in the saddle.
“I think you’ve caught that man’s eye.”
Katy glanced up, horrified. “Do not say that. He is not my type at all.”
“What is your type?”
Stanley came to mind, but Katy tossed that thought violently out of her brain. “I haven’t figured it out yet. But I’m certain I’ll know it when I see it.” She blew her bangs away from her forehead. “These bangs will not grow fast enough to suit me.”
“Why are you letting them grow out? They suit your face and showcase your eyes.”
“I look like a little girl. I don’t want to look like that anymore.” She handed a picture to her friend of a model dressed like a ballerina, her hair pulled away from her face in a severe topknot. “That’s the way I want to look.”
“Like you haven’t had a good meal in a month?”
Katy snatched the paper back. “Elegant. Sophisticated.”
“Like you don’t give a damn.”
“Exactly.” Katy nodded. “I don’t.”
“Now you just have to convince yourself.”
“Right.”
“What a bozo that Stanley must have been.” Hannah sighed and got to her feet. “Listen, pulling your hair back until you look like a scarecrow isn’t going to give you the mature edge you’re looking for.”
“You have a suggestion for maturing a permanent baby face?”
“No. The baby face is not the problem—and, by the way, it’s called a cute face. There’s nothing baby about you. Your challenge is to become more daring. Daring. Remember that word.”
Katy raised a brow.
“You’re masking your real worry by making it a hair issue, something all women do, and sometimes men, as well. The key is to face the issue dead-on, and pin it on the body part where it actually belongs. It’s never a hair issue. Could be the brain, could be the breasts, could be your—”
“I don’t need a body catalogue,” Katy interrupted.
“So, where’s your real issue?”
“My heart.”
“Not possible. Choosing the heart is a stall tactic. It means you’re still transposing and referring your denial. The heart is not part of the equation, as it is only a label for people’s emotions. A visual, if you will.”
“I don’t know if I will or not.” Katy groaned, unwilling to go down the path. “My womanhood,” she finally said. “If I’d been more of a woman, even Becky couldn’t have gotten Stanley away from me.”
“That’s a myth, you know. Women successfully steal men all the time. It doesn’t take much effort.”
“I will never believe that. There are a few men out there who have antitheft devices on their hearts.”
“Yes, but we’re not talking about their hearts, and I have it on good authority that antitheft devices do not fit on a man’s p—”
“All right!” Katy interrupted. “So any man is ripe for the picking. Then what’s the point of me trying to overcome my issue if their issue is unsolvable?”
“Because once you develop more confidence, your chance of a man ever straying from you is dramatically diminished. You put a certain amount of color on a lady’s hair to diminish her gray, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Katy said uncertainly.
“Well, you have to wear confidence to attract and keep someone you love. Become a bright, new color. Remember our new word—daring.”
“Lack of confidence was not why Stanley married Becky.”
“He did that because he was already at the church, the guests had flown in, his mother was wearing Bob Mackie, and you, my sweet gullible angel, had footed the bill as the bride. Plus, he still had a smile on his face from what had occurred in the bridal changing room. Strategically, if he couldn’t wait another five minutes or so to enjoy your virginity, I’m thinking he didn’t have much staying power for the long haul. Not that I’m judging him, exactly, since I have never met him. However, sometimes actions speak louder than words, and I sincerely believe your wedding day was one of those loud action moments.” Hannah examined her nails casually. “By the way, you are going to send his parents a bill for the wedding.”
Katy gasped. “Maybe Stanley and Becky, but not his parents!”
“No way. His parents are filthy rich and worried about impressions. You got the shaft and they’ll be anxious to make certain you don’t pay for their son’s cruel indiscretion, lest you tell someone important like…Dear Abby. Oprah, even. The whole matter sounds very Jerry Springer to me. That’ll hit Stanley’s parents where they panic, and they’ll certainly cough up what you’re owed.”
Katy flushed, hating the humiliation she’d suffered that day. “I want to keep it quiet. Forget about it. Move on.”
“You are not as confident as you could be, Katy,” Hannah said softly. “And under the circumstances, I understand. But by the time I’m finished with you, confidence will radiate from you!”
She wondered what Laredo saw radiating from her. Messy ponytail and no lipstick—probably all he saw was a dull aura. “Okay, do your darnedest. I guess.”
Hannah lifted Katy’s ponytail and ran it through her hand; Katy could practically hear her friend’s creative brain whirring away.
Sighing, she reminded herself that she’d come to work at the Lonely Hearts Salon for just this reason. She needed the emotional support of women to help her get over her deepest fear: that she was sexually dysfunctional. Truth was, it hadn’t been all that hard to keep her virginity. She had never felt a point-of-no-return reason to surrender it. But her best friend was talking about men as if they were as easy to pick as a dessert from a menu, and for Katy that would never be the case. It would take a kind and gentle man eons to teach her any differently. “I’m like Rapunzel. Locked in my own ivory tower.”
“I think you should experiment on Laredo Jefferson, Katy. I believe romancing that man could knock a few bricks out of your tower. Rattle the foundation a bit.”
Katy shook her head. “The last person who could ever save me from myself would be the freewheeling Laredo Jefferson. I’ve been to his home at the Malfunction Junction Ranch, and his family is wild and woolly. Fun, but too much for a girl like me.” She shrugged. “Anyway, someone once told me that an ivory tower is really a phallic symbol—in Laredo’s case, I’d believe it! And right now, this is just a stop on his eastward hunt for adventure, so I’d never dream of allowing him to scale my walls. Even if he wanted to.”
“See, there you go again. If. Of course he does!”
“Do you really think so?” Katy asked doubtfully.
“A man does not agree to ride a bull unless he’s fairly sure there’s a helluva prize waiting for him once he’s hit the dirt, honey.”
Katy straightened. “I don’t think of myself in those terms.”
“Wait till I’m done with you. You’ll be thinking Scarlet O’Hara by Saturday. I promise.”
“Scarlet O’Hara was a flirt, a maneater,” Katy protested.
“Exactly.”
“YOU’RE DOING WHAT?” Mason shouted in Laredo’s ear over the phone. “Have you clean lost your mind?”
Laredo pictured Katy’s concerned face. “Not lost it, just temporarily misplaced it, maybe. Mason, I need some tips.”
“You want a phone course in killing yourself by stupidity.”
“Someone has to do this, and it’s going to be me.”
“Obviously,” Mason muttered. “This is not what I thought you meant when you said you were heading back east for adventure. You’ve barely left the county!”
“You know what they say about one’s own backyard.”
“Oh, hell.” There was an audible sigh from the other end of the line. “I guess I’ll send Tex over with the gear you’re going to need.”
“Tex won’t want to be torn away from his roses right now,” Laredo warned. “He’s right in the middle of preparing for the oncoming spring season.”
“I’ll hire Martha Stewart to baby-sit his buds,” Mason growled. “In the meantime, Tex can come out there and share his vast knowledge with you.”
Somehow, the idea of his twin coming out and spending time around Katy wasn’t altogether appealing. “Well—”
“I can’t give you pointers by phone, if you’re determined to do this. What’s the name of the bull, by the way?”
“Bloodthirsty Black.”
“Is he a first-night bull or a marquee bull?”
Laredo scratched his head. “He’s an unknown quantity. The last cowboy who was supposed to ride him had a change of plans.”
“Maybe he was smart.”
Any man who chose having sex over bull riding probably had some sense. Laredo squinted around Katy’s room. Her bed was unrumpled and covered with a clean, white cotton bedspread. There were white lace curtains floating at the open window. Beside her bed, Rose the mouse stared up at Laredo, her pink-flesh ears and tiny paws quivering. She was smaller than his little finger, and for a mouse, quite adorable. Her red price tag was stuck on the side of her wire-covered box as a pretend welcome mat. Katy had drawn a door above the welcome mat, and placed paper lace cutouts around fake windows. Laredo sighed to himself, then sat straight up as he realized something white and lacy was poking out from under Katy’s pillow.
Gingerly, he tugged the lace. It left its hiding place with a smooth, gliding flash of froth. Holding it up, he realized it was sheer, it was very short, and Katy slept in this at night. His pulse raced as he glanced toward the door. He was pretty certain Katy wouldn’t appreciate walking in and finding him with her nightgown in his hands and very little room left in his jeans.
“Laredo?” Mason’s voice asked in his ear. “Laredo!”
Having sex or riding a bull.
He hadn’t been offered sex. But occasionally a lucky hero got gifted with such a prize. Shoving the nightgown back under the pillow, he said, “I’m riding that bull, Mason, come hell or high water.”
“DID YOU GIRLS NOTICE the new man in town?” Marvella asked as she stared out at her sister’s salon.
“Did we ever!” her girls chorused.
“Looked like a real cowboy to me,” Marvella said. “I so love cowboys! I do wonder how Delilah keeps coming up with these timely miracles.”
“I’ve got first dibs,” a stylish brunette called. “It’s my turn for a new customer.”
“Honey, he’s not a customer till you convince him he is,” someone corrected her. “And all’s fair in love until the moment one of us closes the bedroom door.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s over just because the door closes,” someone said. “If I recall, one of you managed to be in the bed waiting, while you had a fake phone call downstairs for the girl he thought he was going to be spending the night with.”
A few giggles went round the room, and a redhead in the corner blushed uncomfortably. “I should have known it was a trick. Extra points for creativity, especially since he didn’t seem to mind the switch,” she said.
“Well, this cowboy isn’t going to get his eight seconds onboard Bloodthirsty Black. If Delilah wants to be humiliated twice, we can accommodate her,” Marvella said. “But we can’t be obvious, because I can guarantee you, he’s been told in detail how truly mean, unkind and positively sex-starved we are. Delilah will be extracautious this time.” She tapped long fingernails against the windowsill. “In four days. I don’t want him to even lay a leg over Bloodthirsty Black. This calls for sweetness and light, and dainty coincidence.”
“Dainty?”
“Did you see that he was escorting Katy Goodnight on a walk? That’s dainty as powdered sugar on a doughnut,” Marvella pointed out.
“If her fiancé ditched her at the altar and married her best friend, she’s got something missing in her sugar bowl,” someone suggested. “Dainty is not always delightful.”
“Okay,” Marvella said with a snap of her fingers. “I’ve got just the plan.”
“Is it dainty?”
She smiled as she watched the lights coming on inside her sister’s salon. “No,” she said. “It’s a doozy.”
Chapter Three
The next morning Laredo met his brothers at the arena so they could get an eyeful of Bloodthirsty Black in his holding pen. The bull looked as if he had only ten more seconds before he busted out another perfectly good stall. Stepping back so they wouldn’t irritate the bull more, Tex and Ranger shook their heads in unison.
“You’re a nut,” Ranger said. “You’re going to need spine replacement if you ride him.”
Laredo glared at him. “Tex is the one who’s coaching me. You just came along for the laugh.”
Tex shrugged. “He came along to keep me company on the ride, and mainly to try to help me talk you out of getting yourself killed. How’s your health insurance, by the way? Both physical and mental? Maybe you should see a head shrink before you do this, ’cause I think you may have left your brains back in puberty.”
Twin or no, Laredo was duty-bound to argue. “If I was deranged, I wouldn’t be calling for reinforcement. Now, shut up and start coaching.”
“Let me ride him for you,” Ranger offered. “The Lonely Hearts girls just need a champion. They don’t care who it is.”
“It’s gonna be me,” Laredo said stubbornly.
“Why?” Tex demanded. “Ranger has the most wins besides me.”
“He’s too old. That was ten years ago.”
“Excuse me?” Ranger said. “I’m thirty-two. You are thirty-four. How am I too old?”
“Because you’ve always been old. Me, I’m just now trying to find myself. This is my midlife crisis,” Laredo said proudly, staring at Bloodthirsty Black. “All two to three thousand pounds of it.”
“Sheesh. Other men want a pretty woman. My twin wants a head-and-neck rearrangement from an animal born to hate him. Makes perfect sense to me.”
Ranger chuckled. “If Laredo’s suffering a crisis, does that mean you are too, Tex?”
“Just because Archer’s spending all his time writing to a Nicole Kidman look-alike in Australia, does that mean you’re burning up the stationery with Byronic sonnets?” Tex jutted his chin. “Pull your head out, Ranger. Being twins does not mean we’re split halves of the same person, as you very well know!”
Bicker, bitch, battle. For a moment Laredo thought his whole big fantasy of being a hero might go flushing downstream, until Katy Goodnight rounded the corner, bearing a basket with a cherry-printed cloth napkin inside. Instantly his whole day brightened. “Hi, Katy,” he said with a big grin he couldn’t control.
“Hi, Laredo,” she said with a smile, before turning to his brothers. “And another Laredo,” she said to Tex. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have forgotten your name since I met you only a month ago, but I do remember your face,” she said to Ranger.
“Well, that’s all that’s important,” he said gallantly. “If a pretty gal just remembers my face—”
“Howdy, fellas,” said another female voice.
They all turned as Hannah Hotchkiss came into view, carrying a basket decorated with blueberry sprigs. “This is Hannah,” Laredo began, then ceased his introduction when he realized Ranger had nearly swallowed his teeth as she smiled up into his face. “Ranger,” Laredo said sternly, “this is Katy’s best friend.”
“We brought you a snack,” Hannah said. “We didn’t know you had company, Laredo. But we have plenty.”
Ranger took the basket from her and peeked inside. “Mmm. Cookies and strawberries. My favorite.” He pulled Hannah with him until they were off by themselves.
Laredo rolled his eyes at Tex. “Did you have to bring him?”
“Oh, well. He can amuse himself now.” Tex smiled at Katy. “How’ve you been, anyway?”
“Just busy. What brings you to Lonely Hearts Station?”
“We came to give Laredo some tip—”
“They just stopped by to say hello,” Laredo said.
“It’s nice of you to check on your twin. Is it true that twins are really close?” Katy asked.
“No,” Laredo said.
Tex laughed. “We’re fraternal in mind-set, you might say. I’m the settled one, Laredo is the wild one. If one of us was ever in a fistfight at school, the teachers didn’t bother to check which one of us it was. They just automatically called Mason and said, ‘Come get Laredo.”’
“It wasn’t quite like that,” Laredo said, getting more annoyed with his twin by the second. “I wasn’t a hooligan.”
“I grow roses,” Tex said.
“Oh, I love roses,” Katy replied.
The dreamy tone in her voice as she stared into his twin’s eyes was almost more than Laredo could stomach. Her reaction was the same as every other woman’s when Tex mentioned those stupid roses. Clearly, the roses were a conversational prop Tex employed just to get a woman’s attention—he probably grew the stupid things just to get on women’s good sides. “Okay, enough with the flowery stuff. Can we get on with the lesson?”
“Lesson?” Katy repeated.
“Yeah, I’m teaching Tex everything I know about bulls.”
“I thought you didn’t know anything,” Katy said, her voice innocent.
Tex snickered, and Laredo made a mental note to punch him later. “I know a few things,” he said, trying to hang on to his bravado. Something about Katy just got him so mixed up and confused! He wanted to brag in front of her, wanted to strut his stuff just a little, but somehow he kept goofing it up.
“What Laredo means,” Hannah said, as she and Ranger moved back to the circle, “is that he knows more about Bloodthirsty Black. He’s filling Tex in on the history.”
“That’s right.” Laredo straightened with a grateful glance at Hannah. “History’s important.”
“Yeah, we all remember your report card,” Ranger said.
Silence descended. “Excuse me,” Tex said. “I’m going to go find a gents’.”
He left, and the conversational void stretched. Laredo frowned at Ranger, who sighed.
“Now, just what is it about this bull we need to know?” Ranger said, clearly deciding to leave off the sibling rivalry and let Laredo get his neck broken if he was determined to do so.
“He pulls to the left,” a voice said. “And then, just when you lean, he jerks to the right with a mean midair kick. Every time.”
All four of them whirled to look at the woman who’d spoken. Laredo felt his jaw go slack, and heard Ranger’s jaw hit the pavement with a resounding thunk.
This woman was simply stunning. As fresh and cute as Katy was, as punky-funky cute as Hannah was, this woman would set records for head-snapping stares.
Beside him, he could feel Katy stiffen.
“Hell-oo, there,” Ranger said. “Thanks for the tip.” He tipped his hat to her, and grinned.
The woman smiled back, one hand on her hip, the other casually resting against Bloodthirsty Black’s stall. “You’re welcome.”
Laredo glanced at Katy for an intro. Hannah didn’t seem too happy about the woman’s presence, either, especially since she and Ranger had just spent a cozy five-minute chat together.
The woman ignored the female frostiness and extended a delicate hand to Ranger. “Staying in town long?” she asked softly, her voice full of hints.
“He’s leaving in a couple of hours, actually,” Laredo replied.
“And you?” she asked smoothly, looking back to Laredo.
He probably shouldn’t tell what he was up to, Laredo thought. Katy probably wanted him to be the surprise weapon. “Uh, a guy can’t hang around beautiful women in a quaint town forever, I guess.”
“That’s too bad. We’re real nice to strangers here in Lonely Hearts Station.” The woman smiled, and imperceptibly tightened her posture so that her breasts thrust forward in an invitation even the greenest male could understand.
Laredo thought he could see Ranger’s eyes spinning around in their sockets. Wow! He didn’t think he’d ever seen his hard-edged brother so…softened up.
“This is Cissy Kisserton,” Katy said reluctantly. “Cissy, meet Ranger and Laredo Jefferson.”
“Real cowboys?” Cissy asked.
“Born and bred, ma’am,” Ranger said. Hannah rolled her eyes, which Laredo thought was appropriate.
“Well, I don’t want to keep you,” Cissy said. “Just wanted to be friendly to the visitors in town. You send them over our way for a cup of cocoa, Katy. We’ll make sure they’re well taken care of.”
“It’s a bit chilly in here, after all, isn’t it?” Ranger said. “I’ll take you up on that cup of cocoa right now, Miss Cissy,” he said, following after the beautiful woman like a lovestruck puppy.
The two of them disappeared around the corner, but not before Laredo saw Ranger slip his arm around her. Laughter floated over the stalls to them. Laredo groaned to himself. Ranger was the most steadfast of the brothers! Certainly he had his share of wild hairs—he’d been bluffing about going to do some military service for nearly a year now…of course, he’d never leave Malfunction Junction Ranch, but he’d sure been trying to put action where his big mouth was. He’d actually started hanging around the police station, trying to act civilized.
But nothing like a beautiful woman to make a man’s mouth run away from him. Laredo looked at Katy, who appeared dumbfounded; Hannah seemed disappointed down to her very orange toenails, peeping out of cut-open tennis shoes.
The expression on Hannah’s face told Laredo that Cissy wasn’t the only woman around who thought Ranger was a hunk.
Oh, boy.
“Where’s Ranger?” Tex asked, coming back to join them.
“He went off with a woman,” Laredo said. “Cissy Kisserton. You should have seen her.”
“You should have seen him,” Hannah said. “It was like watching a giant tree get felled by one termite.”
“Oh. I apologize for my brother’s behavior,” Tex said.
“Is Cissy a Never Lonely Cut-N-Gurl?” Laredo asked.
“Obviously,” Katy said.
“Whoa.” He’d have to be very careful to avoid that Venus fly trap. There was a real sensitive issue between the two salons for certain, and it clearly wasn’t all about who gave the better haircut. “By the way, Tex, Cissy was awfully helpful. She says Bloodthirsty Black pulls to the left. And when you lean, he jerks to the right with a midair kick every time.”
“Does he, now?” Tex eyed the bull speculatively. “And why was the competition being so helpful?”
Laredo looked at Katy and Hannah. “I guess she just wanted to be nice to the strangers in town.”
Katy and Hannah made disgusted sounds, gathered up their baskets with the food in them and marched off without a word.
The parting looks they shot the men spoke loudly, however.
“You just blew it,” Tex told his twin.
“What did I say?”
“First rule of girlhunting—never let a woman you like believe another woman has anything to offer you. Anyway, I’m supposed to be giving you tips on Mr. Bloodthirsty, here, not love. It’s unseemly for a brother to have to coach his twin in things any freshly minted teenage boy knows.”
Laredo’s heart sank. “Cissy was awfully friendly. I thought she was nice. And she didn’t have to tell us about the trick this old bull plays.”
“True.”
“Ranger stuck on her like glue. He didn’t see anything wrong with her, either.”
“There, then. You don’t have anything to worry about.”
Laredo frowned. Nothing to worry about except he’d upset Katy, and that was the last thing he wanted to do.
“Pulls to the left, huh?” Tex said. “When I went to the gents’, I noticed the arena was empty. There’s no one around. Let’s sit you up on Bloodthirsty and see exactly how hard he kicks.”
“Have you lost your mind? I’m not getting up on him.” Laredo eyed the bull, who was pawing at something in his stall as if he were sharpening his hooves for the kill. “Don’t we need about four other men helping us hold him?”
“If we were loading him in a chute, yeah. But you’re just gonna get up on top of this bull and get used to the feel of him underneath you.”
Laredo shook his head. “I’ll wait till Saturday.”
Tex sighed. “Look. It’s not that hard. Watch me.”
He pulled on his glove and looped a rope around the bull’s neck. The animal snorted, demonstrating his displeasure by slinging his head. Tex jumped up on the top rail, squared himself up, jumped and landed briefly on the bull’s back.
There was silence for an infinitesimally split second, and then all hell broke loose.
“I DON’T THINK the Jefferson boys are the men we thought they were,” Katy said to Hannah as they walked home. “Laredo brags, Tex is a ladies’ man and Ranger’s off with the enemy.”
Hannah nodded. “For a minute I thought Ranger might have liked me. He sure seemed to.”
Katy’s heart melted at the sound of sadness in Hannah’s voice. “It’s just that darn Cissy Kisserton. She knocks men down at their kneecaps.”
“But if he’d really liked me, he wouldn’t have even seen her,” Hannah said. “You notice Laredo didn’t so much as shake her hand.”
Katy brightened a little. “I suppose he didn’t.” Then she faded again. “But he’s still a braggart. If I were to fall for another man, I know I’d want one whose actions match his words.”
“That may be the impossible holy grail, Katy. All men pad their résumés. So do women.”
“I don’t.”
“You do,” Hannah insisted. “I’ve noticed that since Laredo hit town, you’re trying to stand like our competition does. Tush out and breasts stuck forward.”
Together, they walked up the back-stair entrance of the salon and went upstairs to Katy’s room. “It’s true,” Katy said. “That’s exactly what I was doing. But if I don’t shift things around, I’ll never stand a chance against a girl like Cissy. She’s got all the moves. And it’s only a matter of time before those girls set their aim on Laredo. I just don’t want to be around when they score a bull’s-eye.”
“Now, now.” Hannah sank onto the bed and stared down at Rose the mouse. “Courage. Laredo seems loftier in morals than most men.”
“I don’t know. I noticed a marked decrease in loftiness when Cissy came by. We brought picnic baskets, and Cissy brought a tight skirt and high heels.”
Hannah frowned slightly. “I thought I might like Ranger, but it was one of those moments where you look at someone and see someone they’re not because you want them to be something else. I must be in a needy phase. I’ll have to be more careful.”
Katy sat beside her, and patted Hannah’s hand. “What happened to daring?”
“That’s you, not me.” Hannah perked up. “Katy, stand up,” she said.
Katy complied, her eyes widening when she saw the scissors Hannah picked up from the table. “Not my hair, Hannah,” Katy protested. “I know you’ve been itching to cut it for a long time, but it’s unwise to give up an inch for a man. Truly, short and sassy isn’t me.”
“It is when you’ve got nice legs you never show,” Hannah said, picking up the hem of Katy’s long dress. She decisively cut up to Katy’s knee.
“Hannah!”
“Hold still, I’m gauging your siren potential. I think another two inches,” Hannah murmured, continuing to cut.
“I’m too short for short dresses,” Katy protested. “I’ll look even more like a baby-faced doll than I do!”
Hannah tossed the red fabric aside. “Nope,” she said happily. “Now that’s enough to give Laredo whiplash.”
“Hannah.” Katy knelt down to look into her friend’s eyes. “Listen to me. Laredo Jefferson is the last man I need. He doesn’t fit the description. In fact, in some ways he reminds me of Stanley.”
Hannah cocked a wry brow. “In what ways? Stand back up so I can gauge the hem length.”
“Laredo’s ogle-meter. And that’s enough to tell me that he’s not even remotely close to…date material.”
“Did Stanley ogle Becky before the two of them met like ships passing in the bridal chamber?”
Katy wrinkled her nose. “Not that I ever noticed. I think that was why I was so shocked.”
“Something doesn’t add up about that. What made those two suddenly jump in each other’s arms?”
“My virginity.”
“No.” Hannah sighed, pulled out a needle from a drawer in Katy’s nightstand and threaded it with red thread. Industriously, she went to work turning up the hem of Katy’s dress by an eighth of an inch. “Linen’s hard to sew by hand,” she murmured. “I’m going to take tiny stitches, so stand very still.”
“Don’t you need a chalk or tape?”
“This will do for the lunch hour. I need you to concentrate. Did you ever tell Becky anything about Stanley?”
“I told her everything! She was my best friend, my maid of honor.”
“Did you tell her anything personal? Like, oh, that you two hadn’t slept together?”
“Everybody knew that, even my mother. We had a nine-month proper engagement. Stanley used to say he was proud to be marrying a virgin.” She wrinkled her forehead.
“Don’t do that. Your face will look like a race track,” Hannah instructed.
“I told Becky everything a girl tells her best friend. Just like I tell you. She also knew that Stanley didn’t like to kiss me.”
Hannah stopped sewing. “What?”
“Stanley didn’t like to kiss me. Why are you looking at me like that?”
Hannah shook her head. “Why didn’t he?”
