A Bride In Waiting. Sally Carleen

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      Nerves, he told himself. That’s all it was. Because of Analise’s disappearance, he was hyped, his adrenaline pumping. He’d get away from here, do some deep breathing and get back to normal.

      A tiny blond woman pushed through the crowd. “I can’t believe my baby’s getting married!” Clare Brewster exclaimed, reaching upward to embrace Sara. Lucas held his breath. Did Sara look enough like Analise to fool her own mother? He needed to get her out of there fast...to protect her identity as well as to protect his out-of-kilter libido.

      Sara leaned stiffly to accept Clare’s embrace.

      “Oh, good grief, Clare, don’t start already,” Analise’s father admonished.

      “Hush, Ralph. Go remove an appendix or lift a face or something. Do you feel all right, Analise? You look a little pale.” She squinted upward, and Lucas repressed a smile at his future mother-in-law’s vain reluctance to wear glasses. “You need some lipstick, sweetheart, and a little blusher. I’m not sure I like that new hairstyle. It makes you look so old, so grown-up. And where did you get that dress? Oh, I know, that look is trendy. It’s just that it’s so...so—”

      Lucas placed-a hand on Sara’s shoulder. “Analise isn’t feeling very good today. Why don’t you all do another run-through of the wedding without us? We know our parts.”

      “You don’t feel well, baby? What’s the matter?”

      “She’s a little queasy, that’s all. Prewedding jitters.” Lucas wanted to bite his tongue as soon as he said it. Would anybody believe a mere wedding could make Analise jittery? “Or maybe a bug of some kind,” he hastily added.

      “We can’t do this without the bride and groom,” the coordinator protested.

      “You certainly can,” Clare said. “I’m taking my baby home. I’ll have Annie make some of that potato soup you like, and you’ll be all better by the rehearsal dinner tonight.”

      “No!” Sara and Lucas exclaimed in unison.

      He’d forgotten about that stupid dinner and hadn’t even considered the possibility that Clare might drag Sara home with her.

      Ignoring them both, Clare clutched Sara’s arm and tugged her toward the door.

      Lucas flinched, expecting the worst. His future mother-in-law didn’t know she was dragging off an ersatz daughter who was skilled in the art of self-defense.

      When Sara merely gave him a panicked look over her shoulder rather than mauling Clare the way she’d done him, he sent up a short prayer of thanks.

      He grabbed her other arm. “She needs to go with me,” he said. He’d bargained with Sara for a couple of hours of her time, not an afternoon trapped by Analise’s demanding parents who’d be sure to figure out immediately that Sara was not their headstrong daughter. For everybody’s sake, he had to get her out of there. “We have some, uh, wedding arrangements to take care of.”

      “Nothing that can’t wait,” Clare argued. “My little girl’s sick. She’s coming home with me. You’re not married to her yet.” Clare was taking full advantage of her “daughter’s” unaccustomed weakness.

      “They’re really important,” Sara said in a strangled voice, “those arrangements Lucas and I need to take care of.”

      Clare patted Sara’s cheek and smiled softly. “Can’t it wait for one more day, sweetheart? Can’t you be my little girl and let me take care of you one last time?”

      A glazed expression came over Sara’s face as she looked down at Clare and, to Lucas’s astonishment, she nodded slowly.

      “Then I’m coming with her,” he said. “After all, I’m a doctor.” It was the best he could come up with on such short notice.

      Clare frowned at him. “So is her father.”

      “And two doctors are better than one.”

      Right now he needed a doctor of a different sort, one to figure out why he’d ever thought this crazy idea would work in the first place. Unlike Analise, he wasn’t given to doing impulsive things, and his first attempt was turning into a major disaster.

      The three of them headed out of the church with Clare clucking and fussing over Sara’s health.

      Lucas caught a fleeting glimpse of Ralph’s confused expression as Analise’s father followed behind them. He knew something wasn’t right with his daughter. Rather, the girl he thought was his daughter.

      Somehow Lucas’s attempt to keep the situation smooth had resulted in a sticky mess.

      “Lucas, where’s your car?” Clare asked as they exited the church.

      “On Main Street,” he answered truthfully. “It overheated.”

      “How did you get here?”

      “I borrowed that car.” He pointed to Sara’s white sedan.

      “Well, take it back and we’ll see you at the house later.”

      “Analise has the keys.”

      “Give him the keys, baby.”

      Sara gave him another panic-stricken look as she handed him the car keys. He took them and Clare guided her into their Cadillac. Lucas gave her a smile he hoped was reassuring. “I’ll be right behind you,” he called.

      Oh, boy, he thought as he trotted over to Sara’s car.

      Not only did he have to figure out some way to get Sara out of that house, but he’d forgotten about that damn dinner tonight.

      He’d bridged a stream only to have a chasm open at his feet. He couldn’t possibly ask Sara to pose as Analise again. All he’d done was delay the town’s and her parents’ knowledge of her defection. Ralph would be disappointed at Lucas’s failure to bring stability to Analise’s life. Clare would be a basket case. They were good people. He didn’t want to see either of them upset.

      And, since his acceptance in Briar Creek hinged on Ralph’s acceptance of him, if Ralph’s daughter rejected him, all the old talk would start again.

      He pulled onto the street behind Ralph’s car.

      Maybe if he begged Sara...

      Maybe if he let her attack him again, she’d feel guilty again and agree to this second favor.

      In spite of the remembered pain, he had to smile at the way she’d defended herself. For someone so timid, she certainly knew her self-defense techniques and wasn’t afraid to use them.

      Sara Martin was an enigma, a tantalizing enigma, one he’d be tempted to explore if he weren’t marrying Analise.

      He frowned at his own thoughts.

      He was engaged to Analise. He shouldn’t be having thoughts like that about another woman. He never had before, and this was certainly no time to start.

      So what СКАЧАТЬ