A Bride For Crimson Falls by Cindy Gerard Read Free Book Online

ghost, and her thinly veiled hope that she’d spooked him with her little tale, had been charming.
    He glanced around the dining room again, his gaze landing momentarily on the table of women. They burst into a frenzy of giggles. When he heard a not-so-subtly concealed “hubba-hubba” followed by another round of laughter, he realized they’d been sizing him up. One of them—a blonde with a big smile and a bigger chest—gave him a shy, three-finger wave, which sent her cohorts into another chorus of squeals and giggles.
    He offered a polite, if baffled, smile and averted his attention to his coffee.
    “They think you’re a hunk.”
    It was Scarlett who popped by his table this time, coffee carafe in hand.
    “And I think they had a little too much wine with their dinner,” he said.
    She grinned. “That, too. But I’ve got to tell you, they are impressed. I think you’ve made their vacation. Not to worry, though. Most of them are married, so you’re relatively safe. They’re just letting their hair down.”
    “Quite an assortment of guests you’ve got here.”
    “They’re nice people. All of them.”
    “All fifteen of them,” he clarified, then wished he hadn’t.
    The brightness in her eyes faded. “Yes. Well, I’m hoping to change that soon.”
    He wanted to ask how and what she had in mind, but felt he didn’t dare. She might construe it as meddling. and he didn’t want to set her on edge again.
    “I’m sure you will,” he said instead, and complimented her on the meal.
    “It’s not the Rainbow Room,” she said with an undercurrent of pride he found admirable, “but it’ll fill an empty stomach and taste good going down.”
    “Very good,” he assured her. “The cake tasted like one my brother makes.”
    “Your brother? Ah. Now there’s a compliment a girl can take to heart.”
    “Why, Ms. Morgan. Is that a gender-biased conclusion I see being drawn?”
    Her cheeks turned the prettiest shade of pink. “I stand corrected—and properly put in my place. I’m the last person in the world who should be making assumptions based on gender. My apologies to your brother. I’m sure he makes a delicious devil’s food cake.”
    “Almost as good as yours, if that’s what it was.”
    Her smile was soft and friendly. “I’ll be able to get away in about an hour. Would you like that tour then?”
    “Sure. Why not.”
    “Good. When you’re finished, you can wait for me out on the verandah, if you’d like. It’ll be cooler out there, and you can take your coffee with you. Or if you’d rather, the bar is through that door and to your left. Geezer makes a mean Manhattan.”
    He snorted. “I’m sure he does. At this point, however, I’m a little leery of just how mean it would be.”
    They shared another one of those smiles that hinted at friendship. The implied intimacy had him clearing his throat.
    “In any event, I’ll err on the side of caution and pass on the drink. Another cup of coffee sounds good, though.”
    “That I can do.” She topped off his cup. “See you later, then.”
    “Right. Later.”
    It was only after she walked away that he realized how much he was looking forward to later , and how long an hour suddenly seemed.
     
    Forty-five minutes later Scarlett faced herself in the mirror in her room—and could have cheerfully buried her head in a sack! Train wrecks didn’t leave this much devastation behind.
    She brushed a straggling curl away from her face with the back of her wrist and gave in to a groan. In the rush to get dinner ready and then clean up the kitchen and the dining room, she’d forgotten about her hair. She looked like a brillo pad that had mated with a dust mop.
    Her French braid had lost any semblance of style by noon, when the heat had coaxed strand by curly strand to break free. The episodes with Casey’s puppies—who were going to be fish food soon if they didn’t clean up their act—hadn’t helped, either. Twice today she’d had to chase