The Bride's Curse Read Online Free PDF

officer was capable of talking to the stranger without giving offense.
    As she dithered about what to do, Kelly saw yet another customer stop and gaze in the window, move to come inside, and then hesitate, glance around toward the bench, and walk away.
That did it!
She had to do something. Her military training had taught her how to handle difficult situations, but this wasn’t some dusty town in Afghanistan. This situation needed tact and gentle diplomacy. Not really being the sort to run off to authority figures, having not always seen eye to eye with authorities herself, she decided to go out and tackle the man on her own. Surely he’d understand if she explained the situation to him calmly?
    She poured two cups of hot free trade coffee, liberally doused them with cream, and carried both out to the bench. On closer inspection, the old man seemed younger than he’d first looked. His skin had that kind of pallor that goes with long illness and Kelly felt suddenly guilty about her mission. After all, if he was convalescing and enjoying sitting out here in the sun, what harm was he doing?
    She almost turned around and headed back into Wedding Bliss when the old man spoke. His voice sounded rusty and unused, but his question startled her. “Why did you take the dress out of the window? I thought that woman had returned it.”
    Kelly slopped hot coffee down her shirt as she stared in shock. A shiver ran through her as he made no attempt to take the coffee mug she offered him. “What happened to the dress?” he repeated.
    “Why?” she asked, a tremor in her voice. “Did that dress catch your eye? We have many more inside that are just as lovely.”
    Without looking at her, he answered: “But that one is special. It’s the only one that will do.”
    “Are you planning a wedding? For your son or daughter, perhaps?”
    Still he didn’t look at her. “No. But a good friend of mine—someone I once wronged … ”
    Kelly drew in a deep breath. This really wasn’t going as she’d planned, and now she wished she’d waited until a time when Noelia was in the store. The older woman definitely had better people skills. Suddenly, the scar on her temple began to ache, the forerunner of the blinding headaches she’d suffered from time to time ever since she’d been wounded. She slopped more coffee as she tried to hold two cups in one hand while pressing the other to her head.
    He finally turned to look at her then, as if he knew she was in pain. “It will go away.” His voice, though still rusty sounding, held an unexpected kindness.
    “You need to go away!” There was something off about this man—how had he known about the pain in her temple? He was giving her the serious creeps now and what little ability she had to be tactful had flown. “You’re upsetting customers coming into my store, staring at them as you do …. ”
    Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a tall young man dressed in jeans and a denim shirt entering Wedding Bliss. Not the usual kind of customer for her store. The store was empty because Noelia was taking the morning off, so she had better go and see what he needed. She turned back to repeat to the old man that he had to go away, but he was already gone. He’d left quietly while she was struggling with the sudden headache, she guessed.
    Warily, she stood up from the bench, feeling woozy. She hadn’t had one of these headaches for a long time but when they happened she sometimes lost her balance and fainted. But the pain seeped away as she walked back toward the store and by the time she stepped inside, much to her relief, it had gone altogether.
    • • •
    Kelly blinked to adjust her eyes to the store’s interior after being out in the bright sunlight. She pushed the old man on the bench out of her mind as she stepped forward to introduce herself to the young man who stood in the middle of the store as if he were befuddled by all the lovely frilly, lacy, silky things.
    “Good