My Lucky Groom (Summer Grooms Series) by Ginny Baird Read Free Book Online

spot before
a quaint white-bricked townhome, complete with flowering window boxes and a
wrought iron front gate.
    Two children bounded out the door as Ventura cautiously
exited the car.
    “Ventura!” little Ricky said, racing toward her. “You came!”
    Elisa shot her a shy grin and raced after her brother.
    Maybe this wasn’t going to be as bad as she’d thought. Kids
were kids, after all. And these were mighty cute ones.
    Ricky threw his arms around her with a hug. Ventura stooped
low to embrace him, and he sweetly patted her head. “We’re so glad you’re here.”
    Elisa silently stood by and nodded.
    “Why, thanks, Ricky.” She hugged him back, puzzled at the
rapid turn of events. Perhaps Richard had talked to them and warned them to
mind their manners.
    “Ventura,” Richard said, emerging from the door. “You made
it.”
    She straightened her spine and smoothed her hair, which was
as silky as satin by now. While she opted to weary it curly most days, she now
employed a deep conditioner that gave her soft ringlets instead of frizz. She
was also getting used to wearing her contacts and had decided Mary was right.
She did look better without the glasses. More importantly, she felt better too.
Ventura didn’t know when it was that she’d completely given up on her
appearance. Though perhaps it was more accurate to say, she’d never paid that
much attention to it. Now that she was starting to, things seemed to be coming
together for her. It was like she was developing confidence in herself as a
woman for the very first time.
    “It was a nice drive,” Ventura said, flipping back her hair.
She twitched suddenly, sensing something was amiss. Why did the top of her head
itch like something was on it? She raised her hand to her crown, then squealed in horror. “What is it?” she yelped as Ricky and Elisa giggled, scampering away. She
thrust her fingers into her hair and encountered a tiny solid object. Please, she prayed
plucking it free , don’t
let it be alive . And when
she examined it in the sunlight, she saw that it wasn’t. It was merely a little
plastic spider, the kind used to decorate cupcakes at Halloween.
    “The kids must like you,” Richard told her. “With the
others, the spiders were real.”

 
    When they entered the house, Ricky ran through the hall
chasing Elisa, who held a squishy, bug-eyed toad. “Blinkie! She’s got my
Blinkie!” Ricky cried with dismay.
    “Elisa! Ricky!” Richard warned. The kids skittered across
polished hardwood floors, then tore up the steps. “Slow down! Somebody’s going
to get hurt!”
    Ventura turned to Jason. “I don’t suppose it’s a plastic
frog?”
    Just then, Elisa catapulted something from the top of the
stairs. She’d raced up them, taking them two at a time, paces ahead of Ricky
and her father.
    Ventura stared down in horror as something landed at her
feet with a sprong! The life-like
toad split open, exposing electronic inner workings, tiny springs, and torn
wires.
    “Looks like another trip to the cyber-pet shop,” Jason
quipped.
    He disappeared for a moment, then returned with a broom and dustpan. “Your first clean-up mission,” Jason said,
handing it to Ventura. She looked down at the mess before her, her stomach
churning at the thought she’d imagined this thing to be real.
    “I need to talk to the kids,” Richard said, excusing himself.

 
    Two hours later, Richard sat at his large modern desk. A new
cyber toad croaked and bounced about in its cage beside his laptop computer.
None of her studies had prepared Ventura for a day this wild. The house was a
maze, the kids were a mess, and expectations for the nanny were exponential.
Richard handed over two hefty day-planners and Ventura squirmed in her chair.
    “The yellow one’s Elisa’s. Purple is for Ricky.”
    Ventura stared at him astounded. “These are their
schedules?”
    “Hard copies. Naturally, we’ve got e-files. I’ll have Jason
upload them to your smart