Going to the Chapel Read Online Free PDF Page A

it was gone he assumed that someone
had stolen it. Chase gritted his teeth. He had never even met the
guy, but already he didn’t like him. He sounded like a pompous ass.
Chase couldn’t imagine what Caroline saw in him. But, then, that
wasn’t any of his business. It hadn’t been his business since the
day she left town.
    And left him. Chase’s jaw
hardened at the memory before he banished it.
    At the other man’s
prompting he extended the telephone in Caroline’s direction. “He
wants to speak to you.” Silently, he cursed himself for what he
knew was plain old unjustified jealousy.
    Caroline licked those
luscious lips and stood. She took the receiver in one hand and
smoothed the silk of her too-short dress with the other. “Hello,”
she said quietly. She turned her back to Chase then, stretching the
phone cord around her slim waist.
    His gaze traveled slowly
from the top of her dark head, down those slender shoulders, to the
firm derriere pressed against the edge of his desk. He licked his
hungry lips. Damn it. He had to be crazy as hell to be feeling this
way about the first woman to walk out on him. The first woman he
had ever loved...the only woman he’d ever loved. Chase closed his
eyes and silently swore at his stupidity.
    “ No, Tristan, I’m fine,”
she murmured. “Everything is fine. Yes,” she added, irritation
clear in her tone. “Your Porsche is fine, too.”
    Chase’s eyes popped open
and a grin tugged at one corner of his mouth. He wondered how she
planned to pull that off. The damned foreign job was far from fine.
Zac Phillips had shaken his head before pulling it away with his
tow truck. Chase had to admit that Zac was a pretty damned good
body man, not to mention the best mechanic in the county. Maybe he
could fix her car back as good as new.
    That grin spread unchecked
across Chase’s face. Then again, maybe he couldn’t. Old Tristan would probably be
as mad as a mashed cat when he found out the truth. The good doctor
hadn’t stopped talking long enough to give Chase the opportunity to
relate the rest of the details regarding Caroline’s situation. And
she obviously didn’t intend to tell him.
    “ I don’t know,” she
protested with a shake of her head. All that dark silk tumbled
around her shoulders. “I’ll call you in a few days. No . I’ll call you,” she
repeated firmly. “Good-bye, Tristan.” Pivoting sharply, she shoved
the receiver back at Chase.
    Caroline looked pretty
ticked off at the moment, he noted with pleasure as he dropped the
receiver into its cradle. The irritation had put a little color
back in her porcelain cheeks.
    “ Are we finished here?” She
brushed her hair back from her face and plunked one hand on her
hip, unconsciously emphasizing the sleek fit of her dress. “I have
to get to Memphis.”
    Chase shrugged. “Your
boyfriend—” she glared at him “—got you off the hook with the car,
and technically you weren’t driving under the influence.” He struggled to keep a smile
in check. “And since your insurance will pay for the property
damage, I suppose you’re free to go.” Denial rushed through him,
making him want to snatch those last words back. He mentally cursed
himself again for the fool he was. Caroline Gregory had always been
his weakness.
    She collected her purse
from the chair and Chase got another glimpse of one lacy black
garter as she leaned over. Hunger stirred in his gut. He crushed
it. Engaged , his
twisted mind repeated. Caroline and Tristan . Chase frowned. If they were
engaged, why would Caroline be rushing off to Memphis—apparently
without her fiancé’s knowledge? His gaze narrowed. Unless, the two
love birds had had themselves a little spat. His lawman instincts
hurdled into overdrive. Maybe , sweet little Caroline was
running out on Tristan, too. Chase’s frown relaxed into a faint
smile. So, big city life wasn’t so rosy after all.
    “ I do wonder, though,” he
ventured aloud, some sadistic urge propelling