There Goes the Groom by Rita Herron Read Free Book Online Page A

fifteen.”
    Marci threw her hands up in frustration. “I took a pair of lace panties because all the other girls in gym made fun of my old lady ones. It’s not like I hurt anybody.”
    He couldn’t imagine Marci ever wearing old lady panties. “But it proves that if you want something you take it.” He laid a photo of the house Pendergrass had supposedly bought for them on the table in front of her.  “Is this Buckhead mansion you told me you and Pendergrass were moving into?”
    A heartbeat passed. The chair rattled. “Yes.”
    “It was a lie, too, Marci.”
    She lifted those beguiling eyes toward him, tears suddenly filling them. “You’re lying. That house is ours. We were moving in there next week when we returned from our honeymoon.”
    “No, you weren’t, Marci. Pendergrass never bought this place. My guess is he took the money he told you he used to pay for it and put it in his pocket.”
    “Paul wouldn’t do that,” Marci said in a raw whisper. “He loved me. He wanted me to have that house. He paid for my school tuition, too, so I wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore.”
    Cade grimaced, then laid another printout on the table.  “I hate to break this to you, but your fiancé didn’t pay your tuition.”
    Marci gasped. “No…that can’t be true.”
    He hated to dig the knife in deeper but she had to face reality.  “It’s true, Marci. He also emptied out your bank account.”
     
    *~*~*~*
     
    Marci shuddered as she stared at the papers in front of her.  Her tuition hadn’t been paid.
    Her bank accounts were wiped out.
    Paul had…lied to her. Cheated those innocent, sweet little ladies out of their savings.
    Cheated her out of hers !
    The door swung open, and that female cop clomped in. “Pendergrass was spotted at the airport.”
    “Did they catch him?” Detective Muller asked.
    “No, he saw the cops and he got away. He’s in the wind now.”
    Detective Muller looked back at Marci.  “Where’s your lover boy going now?”
    Marci ripped the rest of the hem off her dress. “I don’t know but I’m going to kill him when I find out.” In fact, she might save this dress and choke him with it when she did.

C HAPTER F IVE
     
     
    Marci woke up with a crick in her neck, then realized Dottie had curled up behind her on the same cot and was spooning her.  She twisted sideways and stared at her, the idea of sleeping with another woman so close reminding her that she should have  been having wild sex on her honeymoon last night instead of sharing a prison cot with another inmate.
    Then she reminded herself that Dottie was in here by mistake, too. She had a right to slug her no-good, two-timing bastard of a husband.
    A rumble echoed off the walls, and she extracted herself from the woman’s chunky arms.
    Bless her heart.  Dottie must have sleep apnea because she was snoring like a hippo.
    Birdie Waller from the Curl Up & Dye where she’d been doing her practice work said her mama told her to put a butter knife under her mattress and that had helped her snoring. But the guards here probably wouldn’t let Dottie have a butter knife.
    She sat up and stretched, her muscles yearning for her morning yoga. But reality hit her with a vengeance, the horrific events of the day before flashing through her mind on speed dial as she looked down at her disheveled wedding dress which was torn, thanks to her nervous energy, and wound around her ankles.
    The orange jumpsuit Detective Muller had offered her to sleep in mocked her from the floor. She’d told him in no certain terms that orange wasn’t her color and asked for pink or blue but the SOB had just grunted.
    The man didn’t have a heart.
    But he sure did have some sexy bedroom eyes.
    And a body that made a woman break out in a sweat. Very unladylike, but hey, some men just had that effect on a girl, and Detective Muller with his dark-as- sin eyes, and that chiseled face, and that stupid lock of hair that kept falling across his