The Best Bride Read Online Free PDF Page A

faded. “You’re going to need help when they release you. Tell me who to call, Elizabeth.”
    She turned her head and stared out the window. “There’s no one to call. I told you, my parents are on a cruise in the Orient. They’re probably halfway between Australia and Hong Kong right now.”
    She didn’t bother mentioning that she deliberately hadn’t paid attention to her parents’ travel plans. She didn’t evenknow the name of the ship or the cruise line. In the past six months, she’d cut herself off from her family. She couldn’t bear to tell them the ugly, disgusting truth about her life. She couldn’t bear to see the shock and the shame in their eyes and to relive it all over again. She just wanted to forget everything. And she’d been on her way to doing just that. If only she hadn’t had to have surgery.
    â€œThen a friend from Los Angeles.”
    â€œNo.” All her friends knew what had happened. There’d been no way to keep it a secret. She hadn’t been able to face them, and had quickly cut all personal ties. There was no one left to call. What about tonight? Where would Mandy sleep?
    â€œSheriff Haynes…”
    â€œTravis.”
    â€œTravis,” she said and paused. “I have no family, other than my parents. I know this is an imposition, but would you or your housekeeper be willing to keep Mandy tonight? I’d gladly pay you.” Her hands curled into fists. She hated asking, but what choice did she have?
    â€œI’ll keep her and I don’t want your money. But that only takes care of today. What happens tomorrow?”
    Tomorrow she would handle whatever she had to. She turned toward him. “I really appreciate your concern, but it’s not necessary. I’ll be fine. In the morning, I’ll get a cab. You do have cabs in Glenwood?”
    â€œOne or two.”
    â€œGood. Then I’ll get a cab, collect my daughter from you and take her back to the motel. We’ll be fine.”
    He stood up and walked over to the window. The view from the back—she caught her breath—well, it was just as good as the view from the front, she thought, staring at his tight, high rear end. The pants of his uniform fit snugly at his hips, then fell loosely over his muscled thighs. A blackleather belt with snapped compartments hugged his narrow waist. His dark hair fell precisely to his collar, but didn’t touch the starched material.
    It was the anesthetic, she told herself. And the fact that she’d spent the last year living like a nun. It was the tension and the strain. It was the season, or the time of month, but it was certainly not the man. She wouldn’t let it be.
    â€œI have a couple of problems with your plan,” he said, keeping his back to her.
    â€œIt’s not your business.” She allowed her temper to flare and the heat of anger to burn away the other kind of warmth threatening her composure.
    â€œFirst,” he said, ignoring her statement, “you’re supposed to stay off your feet for a week. How do you propose to feed and take care of Mandy?”
    â€œI’ll—” She hadn’t solved that yet, but she would. She would get through it the same as she’d gotten through her other problems. One day, one step at a time. “I’ll think of something.”
    â€œYou’re not supposed to drive for three weeks,” he continued.
    â€œHow do you know?”
    â€œI asked the nurse.”
    â€œIf the town has a cab service, I don’t have to drive.”
    â€œThen there’s your job.” He turned toward her and rested one hip on the windowsill. “Which you still have.”
    â€œWhat?” She started to sit upright but the pain from the incision stopped her. She leaned back and stared at him. “You talked to Rebecca about my job?”
    â€œI explained the situation when I took Mandy over to her. She says to