Jeanne Glidewell - Lexie Starr 04 - With This Ring by Jeanne Glidewell Read Free Book Online Page A

involved to the extent I’d be putting myself into jeopardy, and, of course, I still don’t.”
    “I’ve heard that before, and yet you were nearly killed because of your involvement those other times. You just don’t know when to quit. ‘Self-preservation’ and ‘self-restraint’ simply aren’t in your vocabulary, are they? I don’t mean to sound cruel or controlling, but I love you more than life itself, and if anything happened to you, I’d be lost and extremely devastated.”
    “I’m sorry. Really I am, Stone. I’m just so worried about how we’re going to continue with our wedding plans, and who we’re going to get to conduct the ceremony. I have quite a long guest list, and they’ve already received invitations and marked the date off on their calendars. Postponing the wedding at this late date would be terribly difficult and inconvenient,” I said.
    “Inconvenient? I’m sure Pastor Steiner didn’t mean to inconvenience you.” He sounded sarcastic now, and irritated by my ‘it’s all about me’ attitude. I instantly felt about two inches tall, like I could walk under the four-poster bed without bending over. Hiding under the bed sounded like a good idea right now.
    “You know what I meant,” I said, nearly pouting. I really can’t stand it when grownups pout like four-year-olds, but Stone had driven me to the point of not knowing what else to do. Maybe I should call off the wedding and let the chips fall where they may, I thought.
    “Our pastor and close friend, has been murdered! You don’t think our wedding guests will understand why we’ve had to alter our plans? And you don’t think they’d be willing to change theirs too?”
    “Of course, they’d understand and change their plans. I just hoped it wouldn’t come to that. It would be so disappointing if we had to delay the wedding. I can’t wait to become your wife, and I’ve looked forward to our special day for so long. If we don’t get married next Saturday, no telling for how long we’ll have to postpone the ceremony,” I said. “We’ve got guests booked at the inn for many weeks to come after our honeymoon. I can’t call and cancel out on guests who have already booked a room. It would be so unprofessional. And this is our only opportunity to take a honeymoon in the conceivable future. Who wants to go to Jamaica in the middle of the summer?”
    I reached out, with tears welling up in my eyes, and stroked his hand. I could visibly see his attitude soften. He was so tenderhearted that my tears had provoked his softer side to emerge. That hadn’t been my intention, but I was glad to see my heartfelt words were affecting him.
    “Oh, I know you have, honey. Don’t cry. I’ve looked forward to our wedding too. I’m not anxious to postpone it either, but I don’t see that we have any choice in the matter. We had no way of predicting the pastor would be killed. Sometimes things just happen that we have no control over and we have to bend and roll with the punches.”
    “I know. But if they arrest the suspect and have Thurman laid to rest by next Saturday, I don’t think it would be entirely inappropriate to go ahead with our scheduled plans. We’d have to find a replacement for the pastor, of course, but I’m sure that’s doable,” I explained. “And if we can possibly help speed the investigation up—”
    “Okay, Lexie. You win,” Stone said with a long drawn-out sigh. “I’m going to be pretty busy getting the grounds and everything ready for the wedding and all the guests we’re anticipating at the inn. I want to put a fresh coat of redwood stain on the gazebo, weed out all the flowerbeds, and do a number of other landscaping things around the inn in the next few days. I also have some squeaky floorboards I need to replace in two of the upper suites. So I’m not going to be able to help much in your little personal investigation, nor do I think you should be intricately involved. And I don’t want you