His Sister's Wedding Read Online Free PDF Page B

me?"
    "Where do you want to go?" he said, glancing at her, his tone meaningful as his smile
     turned molten.
    Lillie swallowed hard, the air in the van suddenly sizzling. "Let's just focus on
     our goal," she suggested, her voice less firm than she intended.
    He smiled, not making any comment as he turned on to a gravel road.
    "I don't know of any chapel out this far," she said, her foreboding increasing by
     leaps as they bounded over the rough road, the tree tops seeming to merge with the
     dark sky.
    "I know you don't," Luke replied, smugly. "This is a place you wouldn't have found
     in a million years."
    The road wound through a mixture of forest and meadow before coming to a low wooden
     bridge. Luke drove over it and stopped the van in a clearing in front of a tiny, quaint
     Victorian cottage.
    A mixture of stone and gingerbread trim, the cottage sat solidly in the clearing like
     a place out of a fairy tale. It even had that deserted, faintly desolate air of a
     place once loved and now abandoned.
    Around the house, gardens rioted. Roses and rhododendrons grew wild. Spanish moss
     and trumpet vines hung in tangled swags of green from several huge, ancient trees.
     Through a gap in the greenery, Lillie thought she saw the sluggish expanse of a river.
    The whole place whispered of romance and mystery.
    Luke came around to open the van door for her, taking her hand in his to ease her
     step down. The gentlemanly gesture startled Lillie, but she said nothing, assailed
     by a strange sense of affinity between them and disturbed by how comfortably her hand
     fit in his.
    The air around them was heavy and humid, adding to the sense of being surrounded by
     the damp woods. The gray sky seemed to hang over them like the lid of a box.
    "I'm not dressed for this," Lillie mentioned as they walked across the over-grown
     lawn, not expecting him to pay any attention to her protest.
    Luke's glance lingered on her silky polyester skirt and blouse. "You look terrific.
     Come on."
    "Sure," she retorted under her breath, trying to dispel the illusion of intimacy.
     "Someday I'd like to see men forced to tramp over wild country wearing pantyhose and
     high heels."
    Ignoring her, Luke looked around, a deeply satisfied expression on his face. "The
     guy I used to work for owns this place. Mac got me started in landscaping. Taught
     me everything I know. He created these gardens himself, but he had to retire a few
     years back and things have really gotten out of hand."
    A few years back? This garden looked like it had been deserted fifty years ago, almost
     as far gone as the roses that grew up around Sleeping Beauty's mythical castle.
    Lillie fought the fairy tale analogy her mind had conjured up. Luke was no Prince
     Charming even if he did have the power to make her think of long, warm kisses.
    "It's great, isn't it?" He stood surveying the enchanted clearing.
    "For what?" She dreaded the answer to that question, but it had to be asked.
    "For Mel's wedding." He swung around to look at her with an impatient frown.
    "Here?"
    "Yes, here. Right out here in the garden."
    Dumbfounded, Lillie looked around at the deserted, weathered house and the tangled,
     overgrown, weedy garden, dull in the overcast light.
    "Yep. This place will do." Satisfaction laced his voice.
    He actually seemed excited. Lillie almost hated to burst his bubble, but reality forced
     her to overcome her scruples in this area. "You've got to be kidding."
    "What's the matter?" Luke demanded. "Don't you like it?"
    Lillie's gaze wandered over the misty garden with its pockets of flowers and the weathered
     stone house situated in the middle like an unpolished jewel in a green setting. It
     was a lovely place. A place to get lost in, a hideaway for lovers, a treasure-laden
     jungle for children.
    But not a place for a wedding. It would be insanity. Almost as insane as her sudden
     desire to agree with his plan, just because he had taken this step to be involved
     in the