The Lawson Boys: Marty by Angela Verdenius Read Free Book Online Page B

clothes shops and ordering clothes from a
dressmaker.
    Oh no! Mentally cringing, she hurriedly stood up. “I need - I need to go
to the bathroom.”
    “You do?” Marty
repeated stupidly, his expression confused.
    “Um - I’ll be
back.” Maybe. Probably not .
    She fled to the
bar, asked directions to the ladies, and almost ran down the stairs
and behind them to where the toilet doors were secreted out of
sight. Once inside, she was relieved to find it empty and bracing
her hands on one of the basins, she sighed and hung her head, her
cheeks burning and insides shrivelling at just the thought of what
she’d insinuated.
    Of course he
wouldn’t look at her like that! Marty was legendary for dating
beautiful women, the slender picks of the crop, the high society
women who dressed like models with their model figures and
expensive clothes and elegant manners.
    No way would he
be mentally undressing her, not Belle Broune with her overblown
curves, her foolish behaviour and her big mouth.
    Ooohhh, this
is so not good . Belle shook her head. She’d made a fool of
herself yet again. Marty looking at her as though mentally
undressing her, geez, of course he hadn’t! Stupid stupid
stupid! She thunked the heel of her hand against her forehead
several times.
    “Man troubles,”
a sympathetic voice said behind her.
    Glancing into
the mirror, Belle saw a woman smiling in commiseration as the door
swung shut behind her.
    Grimacing,
Belle straightened. “I’m starting to wonder if I’m the
problem.”
    “Sweetie, trust
me, it’s always the man,” the woman replied cheerfully.
    Belle couldn’t
help but give a small laugh.
    “You can either
take a taxi home or make him pay exorbitantly for the most
expensive drinks in the pub.” The woman flashed a grin over her
shoulder as she entered one of the stalls.
    “I’m his
guest,” Belle replied. “And unfortunately I’m the big mouth. No one
to blame but myself for this one.”
    “Make him pay
anyway,” the woman advised right before the door shutting cut her
from sight.
    Washing her
hands, Belle did a last check of herself. She couldn’t very well
skulk in here all night. She had to go back out there, apologise to
Marty and try not to make a fool of herself. Again. The only good
thing to come out of it was that he’d undoubtedly find a way to
drop her back off at the house quickly. Then she’d die of
embarrassment in privacy. But first she had to face him.
    Sometimes being
a grown up sucked lemons.
    Coming out of
the bathroom, she ascended the stairs a lot more slowly than she’d
come down them. At the top she glanced around, half expecting Marty
to have done a runner, though commonsense told her that a Lawson
would never be so crass.
    Sure enough, he
was still sitting and talking to a young man who was standing by
his table and pointing at a newspaper in front of him.
    A feeling of
dread prickled through Belle. Surely not…
    The young man
shook his head and Marty laughed. The man picked up the newspaper
and started laughing as well. Marty’s gaze lifted and he looked
toward the stairs, his smile fading as he saw her.
    Oh great, no
doubt remembering of what she’d accused him. Please God, let a
big hole open up and swallow me whole right now. Mentally
bracing her spine, she force a polite smile and started across the
room, only to falter again when Marty tried to take the newspaper
from the man talking to him, only to have the man snatch it back
and then follow Marty’s gaze with his own when Marty muttered
something to him. The man’s gaze fell on Belle before flickering
back to the newspaper and once again at her, his eyes widening in
his boyishly handsome face.
    “ Her ?”
The shock was clear in his voice even from where he stood half a
room away.
    Marty
swore.
    The bastard had
betrayed her and told his friend!
    Furious and
humiliated all over again, Belle swung on her heel and went right
back downstairs.
    “Belle!”
    Ignoring
Marty’s call, she forged