Lucky in Love by Jill Shalvis Read Free Book Online

gorgeous woman stopped in front of her.
    “Wow.” She’d never seen Amy with makeup, or in a dress for that matter, but tonight she was in both, in a killer slinky dress and some serious kick-ass gladiator style heels, both of which emphasized endless legs.
    Amy shrugged. “The hospital thrift store.”
    “ Wow ,” Mallory repeated. “You look like you belong in a super hero movie.”
    “Yeah, yeah. Listen, I came out here to ask you if we need to review your mission tonight with Mr. Wrong.”
    “Nope. Mission cancelled.”
    “What? Where’s your date?”
    “We both know that I didn’t really have a date.” Mallory shook her head. “You look so amazing . I hardly even recognize you.”
    “Can’t judge a book by its cover,” Amy said casually. “Have you seen Grace? She didn’t know any guys in town, and there’s no one I’m interested in, so she’s my date tonight.”
    In the time since Amy had shown up in Lucky Harbor, Mallory had never known her to go out on a date. Whenever Mallory asked about it, Amy shrugged and said the pickings were too slim. “Maybe I should be making you two a list of Mr. Rights,” Mallory said.
    Amy snorted. “Been there, done that.”
    Matt Bowers walked by and stopped to say hi to Mallory. She was used to seeing him in his ranger uniform, armed and in work mode. But tonight he was in an expensive dark suit, appearing just as comfortable in his own skin as always, and looking pretty damn fine while he was at it. He was six feet tall, built rangy and leanly muscled like the boxer he was on his off days. He had sun-kissed brown hair from long days on the mountain, light brown eyes, and an easy smile that he flashed at Mallory. “Hey,” he said.
    She smiled. “Hey, back.”
    Matt turned his attention politely to Amy, and then his eyes registered sudden surprise. “ Amy? ”
    “Yeah, I know. I clean up okay.” Her voice was emotionless, her smile gone as she turned to Mallory. “See you in there.”
    Matt’s gaze tracked Amy as she strode across the lobby and vanished inside. Yeah, he looked very fine tonight—and also just the slightest bit bewildered.
    Mallory knew him to be a laid-back, easygoing guy. Sharp, quick-witted, and tough as hell. He had to be, given that he was an ex-cop and now worked as a district forest ranger supervisor. Nothing much ever seemed to get beneath his skin.
    But Amy had. Interesting. This was definitely going on the list of topics to be discussed during their next little chocoholics meeting. “You forget to tip her at the diner or something?” she asked him.
    “Or something,” Matt said. With a shake of his head, he walked off.
    Mallory shrugged and took one more look around. At first, she’d been so busy setting up, and then greeting people, that she’d been far too nervous to think about what would happen if Mr. Wrong didn’t show up.
    But she was thinking about it now, and it wasn’t going to be pleasant. She paced the length of the lobby again, stopping to look once more out the large windows into the parking lot. Argh. She strode back to the dining area and peeked in.
    Also filled.
    This was both good and bad news. Good, because there was lots of potential money in all those pockets.
    Bad, because there was also a lot of potential humiliation in having to go in there alone after it’d been announced that she had a date.
    Well, she’d survived worse, she assured herself. Far worse. Still, she managed to waste another five minutes going through the displays of the auction items for the umpteenth time, and as she had every single one of those times, she dawdled in front of one display in particular.
    It was a small item, a silver charm bracelet. Each of its charms were unique to Lucky Harbor in some way: a tiny Victorian B&B, a miniature pier, and a gold pan from the gold rush days. So pretty.
    Normally, the only jewelry Mallory wore was a small, delicate gold chain with an infinity charm that had been Karen’s. It had been