The Wedding Audition by Catherine Mann, Joanne Rock Read Free Book Online Page B

the long driveway toward Heath’s house shortly before sunset, pleasantly surprised she’d convinced him to let her stay. Either way, she wouldn’t turn her nose up at a break.
    After the strange visit with her grandmother, Annamae needed to regroup and plan for their meeting tomorrow. The beginning stages of senility might account for some of Hazel Mae’s odd behavior, but what if she truly had information to share about Annamae’s father?
    Besides, getting to know her grandmother would be easier if Annamae lived a stone’s throw from the retirement center that Hazel Mae had warned her not to visit. She hoped the marigold patch was as quiet as the older woman believed. Annamae had the feeling her soon-to-be landlord would not appreciate any more celebrity buzz coming too close to his private apple haven.
    He was definitely not the sort of guy who lobbied to meet her and her sisters just to be on television. Even though show producers would have fainted to have such a—er— virile man making appearances on the show. They’d asked for months to get Boone on Acting Up last season, but his game schedule had been too busy. And Heath Lambert was every bit as good-looking, along with a dangerous, tough guy edge.
    Speaking of Heath…
    Holy shitake mushrooms, he was hotter than she remembered. Damn it. Her memory of their last meeting had been defined by his efforts to judge her, to pigeonhole her as a brainless TV personality and a liar. She’d come away with a vague impression of hard, unforgiving eyes and rough, angular features.
    Apparently her brain had edited out the memories of broad, tanned hands and muscular arms. And she’d been denied the view of six-pack abs last time, a sight she saw for all of two seconds as he pulled a shirt over his head on his way toward her car.
    “No one was at the gate when you pulled in, right?” He covered the ground between them in long, purposeful strides, his focus narrowing to just her in a way she found disconcerting.
    “Right. Just me and my dog.” She didn’t bother rolling up the window since the top was down anyway. She left her keys in the ignition and unfolded out of the driver’s seat while Bagel ran a few circles around her feet until he spotted a cat to chase.
    Or, as it happened, a cat to bark at.
    The black and white tomcat perched on a forgotten old brick well merely glared down at Bagel with a haughty feline stare.
    Annamae smoothed a hand over her scarf, tucking a stray lock of brittle, over processed hair back under the silk, and then regretted it as Heath’s eyes followed the movement. Instinct told her this guy expected flirtation and feminine wiles from her and those same instincts said he didn’t respect those kinds of games.
    Too bad her need to smooth the wrinkles from the skirt of her dress didn’t have anything to do with a desire to flirt and everything to do with feeling rumpled, tired and out of sorts. She wished she could turn off the internal voices that second-guessed what everyone around her was thinking, a habit engrained growing up in a household that had been watched constantly. But like it or not, she cared what other people thought of her.
    “Did you notice anything in particular about the car following you, or the person driving the vehicle?” Dark concern transformed his eyes and his whole face as the sun dropped lower in the sky behind him, casting purple light around them.
    Feminine awareness fluttered even though she told it to damn well shut up. Now was not the time to take a sudden shine to bad boys. She had enough trouble on her heels.
    “I’m always being followed. I stopped taking notes a long time ago.” She would not capitalize on his worry for her since she’d weathered plenty of unwanted attention in Atlanta. “It comes with the territory when you’re on TV. I just didn’t want to upset the people at the retirement community with a lot of cameras. Besides, it was your guy this time, right?”
    Was she missing