Bride by Mistake by Marilyn Shank Read Free Book Online

to work things out.”
    Meg sighed. “Make it a fast twenty-four hours. This vacation has turned into an exercise in torture.”
    “Is it exquisite torture?” Liza teased.
    “Stop it, sis. I’m warning you.”
    “Bye-bye, sweetie. I’ll call you soon.”
    Meg sighed. So much for resigning as Zach’s stand-in sweetheart. But since Liza was her only means of escape, she’d have to endure the playacting a little longer. When Liza returned, Meg would hop the next plane home and end the masquerade.
    While she’d never tell Liza this, being with Zach Addison
did
feel like exquisite torture. And while Meg wasn’t falling in love with him, the possibility loomed overhead. Like a giant dirigible.
    Just think about Martin
, Meg told herself. Martin was her stable, reliable, good-looking, if not handsome, steady boyfriend. They were on the brink of taking their relationship to the next level. And Meg couldn’t—wouldn’t—put that in jeopardy because Zach Addison made her heart flutter. She wasn’t seventeen anymore. She’d grown up and now knew what she wanted from life.
    And she wanted Martin. Martin and the happy future they would create.

    Meg and Zach sat cross-legged on the living room floor of the condo perusing brochures. “I didn’t realize planning a birthday dinner was so complicated,” Zach said.
    “You want to make this meal special, don’t you?” Meg asked.
    “I do.”
    “Well, that takes planning.”
    Poor man
, Meg thought as Zach buried his nose in yet another brochure. “If there’s one thing I know how to do properly it’s plan a party,” Meg affirmed.
    Zach’s gaze lifted to hers with a questioning glance. “Oh, really? Who are you inviting to these shindigs? Certainly not me.”
    Meg pretended to get a tickle in her throat. “Excuse me a second. I need a drink of water.”
    Meg hurried to Liza’s kitchen, grabbed a glass, and filled it from the tap. Liza never threw parties. If Meg couldn’t remember that she
was
Liza for the week, she’d never adapt. It was like suddenly becoming Russian. Or Japanese. Totally foreign territory.
    She shook her head, wondering how to dance around the current crisis. Fortunately, an idea dawned, and Meg went to rejoin Zach, who was up to his ears in catering information. She plopped down beside him.
    “To answer your question, Mr. District Attorney, I plan the staff parties for our law firm. I’m quite good at it, if I say so myself.” Hmm. Had her nose started to grow yet?
    Zach shrugged. “That’s unusual. I leave all party planning in my secretary’s capable hands. You mean Burns, Logan, and Grant actually pays your huge salary so you can coordinate social gatherings? Seems a waste of your high-powered brain.”
    Meg sighed. If her own brain had more amperage, maybe she would stop making comments that got her into trouble. Trouble with a capital
T
.
    Zach looked bewildered again. It was an expression that had become a permanent fixture the moment Meg had turned into Liza.
    “I only plan the important affairs,” she countered. “The firm’s Christmas party, retirement dinners, and anything the public attends. Our corporate image is very important. And we take it seriously.” There. Hopefully that would end this interrogation. At least for the moment.
    While Zach didn’t look convinced, Meg felt relieved when he picked up another brochure. “I bow to the party-planning expert. I certainly need your help with Gram’s special event.”
    Whew! Off the hot seat. At least momentarily,
Meg thought, expelling a deep breath.
    “What kind of food does Eloise enjoy?” she asked, more than happy to shift the focus.
    “Gram’s heritage is French. Her maiden name was Chapelle.”
    “Aha.” Meg dug through the brochures she’d picked up at the Chamber of Commerce and thumbed through them until she found the right one. “There’s a new catering company in town that specializes in international cooking. It’s called World Wide Cuisine. And