The Tycoon Takes a Wife Read Online Free PDF

stay steady as she clasped them in front of her, leaning against the table beside Audrey, her half sister topping her by five inches. Her willowy sister looked more like her blond father.
    But they both had their mother’s long fingers. What would it have been like to turn to her mother right now? And how much it must hurt Audrey not having their mother around to help plan the biggest day of her life.
    Certainly their mother’s shocking death from an allergic reaction to medication had stunned them all. Eloisa had been numb throughout the entire funeral, staying in the fugue state all the way back to Spain, to her study program.
    And into Jonah’s bed.
    Waking up the morning after with that ring on her finger… She’d felt the first crack in the dam walling up her grief. She’d barely made it out of Jonah’s rented manor home before the tears flowed.
    Which brought her back to the dilemma of Jonah.
    What was the scoop? Why had he shown up now when he could have sent a lawyer? It wasn’t like he wanted to see her or he could have contacted her anytime in the past year. “His arrival tonight came as a total shocker to me.”
    Audrey set aside her plate, plucked a pink stargazer lily from the beach-themed centerpiece and skimmed it under her nose. “You never mentioned meeting him before.”
    She hadn’t mentioned even the working relationship because she’d been afraid they would hear in her voice what she could barely admit to herself then, much less now. “Like I said earlier, this is your time, your wedding. I wouldn’t want to do anything to distract from that.”
    Audrey bumped her waif-thin shoulder against Eloisa’s. “Could you please drop the altruistic gig for just a few minutes while we squeal over this like real sisters? He’s a Landis, for crying out loud. You’re rubbing elbows with American royalty.”
    “Who wouldn’t squeal over that?” She couldn’t resist the tongue-in-cheek retort.
    “You, apparently.” Audrey twirled the lily stem between her fingers. “Heaven knows I would be calling a press conference.”
    Eloisa laughed, then laughed some more, so much better than crying, and let all the tension from the evening flow out of her. Audrey had her faults, but she never pretended to be anything other than who she was.
    Which made Eloisa feel like a hypocrite since she hid from herself every damn day.
    Her laughter faded. “Forget all about this evening and Jonah Landis. I meant it when I said these next couple of weeks are totally about you. This is the wedding you’ve been planning since you were a kid. Remember how we used to practice in the garden?”
    “You were always the best maid of honor.” She tucked the stargazer lily behind Eloisa’s ear. “I wasn’t always a nice bride.”
    “You were three years younger. You got frustrated when you couldn’t keep up.”
    “I still do sometimes.” Her smile faltered just a bit.
    “Remember the time we picked all the roses off the bushes?” Eloisa steadied the lily behind her ear, the fragrance reminding her of their childhood raid on their mother’s carefully tended yard. “You took the rap.”
    Audrey rolled her eyes and attacked her cake againwith her pointer finger. “No huge sacrifice. It’s not like I ever got in trouble. I cried better than you did. You were always into being stoic.”
    “I’m not the weepy sort.” Not in public anyway.
    “Tears can be worth their weight in gold. I may be the youngest, but you should take my advice on this one.” Audrey fixed her stare on her father, her fiancé and Jonah. “When it comes to men, you have to use whatever tools you have.”
    “Thanks for the advice.” Not that she could see herself taking it even in a million years. “Now can we get back to focusing on your wedding? We have a lot to accomplish in the next couple of weeks.”
    She tried to stem her reservations about Audrey marrying a guy with questionable connections. Her little sister had ignored all the