Suspect. Jasmine Cresswell

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СКАЧАТЬ well, that would work for me.” Megan’s laugh was rueful.

      “I take it Mr. and Mrs. Fairfax Senior are still less than thrilled that their favorite son is engaged to Ron Raven’s daughter?” Liam pressed the button to summon the elevator, which was currently ten floors away.

      “Less than thrilled barely begins to describe it. Try frothing-at-the-mouth furious, interspersed with occasional patches of icy disdain just for variety. They’d have a hard time reconciling themselves to the fact that their Southern gentleman son is living in sin with a damn Yankee, but the fact that I’m Ron Raven’s daughter sends them over the top.”

      “They’ll come around, Meggie. Eventually, they’ll get tired of hating our father.”

      “Will they?” She sighed. “Is that happy day going to arrive this century, do you think?”

      “It’ll arrive when their daughter and granddaughter stop hurting because of what Dad did to them. You need to give everyone a few more weeks, Meg. It’s only three months since Avery Fairfax learned that her supposed husband was dead and that her marriage had never existed as a legal reality.”

      “You’re right, I need to be patient, which is never my strong suit,” she said. “I guess I’m feeling extra sensitive because Adam and I were in Wyoming with Mom last week and the tension at the ranch just never let up. And then we flew back to Georgia and found even more hostility waiting for us. After a while, having your prospective in-laws fall silent every time you walk into the room gets kind of old. Adam gets it from Mom in Wyoming and I get a double dose from the Fairfaxes in Georgia.”

      Liam was sorry to hear that their mother still wasn’t at ease with Megan’s choice of fiancé. He would have been more than willing to put in a positive word for Adam and his sister, but his own relationship with their mother was sufficiently rocky that interference from him was likely to do as much harm as good.

      “Dad managed to mess with everyone’s emotions,” he said, giving another frustrated push to the elevator call button. “Even though Mom likes Adam and wants you to be happy, it still must seem to her as if you’re siding with the enemy.”

      “You’re so right.” Megan smothered another sigh. “She tries hard, but she’s really uncomfortable when she has to spend time alone with Adam. If she finds herself in the same room with him, without a cushion of other people around, it’s obvious she’s thinking about just one thing—”

      “The fact that Adam is not only a Fairfax, but Avery’s youngest brother.” Liam had no trouble finishing his sister’s sentence.

      “You’ve got it. I know it’s hard for Mom to accept that Dad was the only villain in what happened, but he was. Avery and Adam were both his victims, just like she was.”

      “Mom will accept that soon. She’s coming around.” Liam hoped he was speaking the truth. “Give it a bit more time, and I’m betting Mom won’t see Avery’s brother every time she looks at Adam. She’ll see Megan’s fiancé and a good guy.”

      “God, I hope so. By the way, speaking of fiancés—” Megan’s voice turned a little breathless. “Adam and I are thinking of getting married at the beginning of next month. We thought we’d slip away for a few days over the Labor Day weekend.”

      “Hey, congratulations! I’ll make sure to clear my calendar.” Despite his general disdain for the married state, Liam was surprisingly happy for his sister. He’d met Adam three times now and really liked the guy. “Will you have the ceremony in Wyoming? At the community church or at the ranch?”

      There was a slight pause. “Neither place,” Megan said.

      “In Georgia, then?” Liam was careful not to sound surprised by her choice. Megan loved Wyoming and the ranch; he’d simply assumed she would get married there.

      “Adam and I can’t get married in Wyoming or in Georgia,” she said, and he could hear the regret in her voice. “And we can’t invite our families to the ceremony. Think about it. If we don’t invite the Fairfax clan, Adam will be sad and his family will be justifiably offended. If we do invite them, especially if we invite Avery, Mom is going to hate every minute of my wedding day.”

      She had a valid point, Liam thought grimly. Jeez, what a mess. The elevator finally arrived and he stepped in, pushing the button for the seventh floor. In a perfect world, the Fairfaxes and the Ravens would be so happy for Megan and Adam that the past would have no importance. In the real world, Ron Raven’s bigamy cast a long and chilling shadow. It was unrealistic to expect the two widows to sit in church, smiling benevolently as Ellie’s daughter married Avery’s younger brother. And although Megan hadn’t mentioned anything about the media, unless they hired armed guards to surround the church and the ranch, the whole ceremony would probably end up being filmed for some sleazy tabloid TV show. Ron’s death had become one of those stories that the world of cable refused to let die.

      “What are you going to do, then?” he asked. “Do you want to come to Colorado and get married in Denver? It would be easy for me to make all the arrangements and I might even be able to keep them secret, since I’m in the marriage business, so to speak…”

      “Thanks. I appreciate the offer, Liam, but we’ve decided the best thing for us is to elope to Vegas.”

      In normal circumstances, Vegas would have been just about the last place Megan would have chosen to get married and Liam felt a spurt of resentment on his baby sister’s behalf that the wedding of her dreams could never be. He was so taken aback at the thought of Megan in a wedding chapel on the Vegas strip that for a crucial moment he couldn’t come up with a damn thing to say.

      “I know what you’re thinking,” she said softly. “Don’t worry, Liam. I’m not regretting the white dress and the flower girls and the endless family conferences about who gets to sit at which table—”

      “Why not?” he asked, sending a silent curse in the direction of his dead father, the most recent in a long and useless line of similar curses. “It’s a huge day in your life and it ought to be as special as you can make it.”

      “It will be special.” Megan sounded completely sure of herself. “I’ll be marrying Adam, so it’s bound to be wonderful wherever we have the ceremony.”

      The elevator clunked to a stop. Liam got out on his floor, amazed by his sister’s quiet exuberance. “You really love the guy, don’t you?”

      “Yes, and fortunately he loves me, too.” She laughed. “That kind of puts the where-shall-we-have-the-ceremony issue into perspective. Before I met Adam, I used to fantasize about the perfect wedding. The only problem was that I had this huge hole where I was supposed to have a mental image of the groom. Now I realize the only thing that matters about a wedding is having the right person as your partner when you make your vows. The bridesmaids, the cake, the fancy dress and all the rest of it are basically irrelevant.”

      “Speaking as a divorce lawyer, I can only say that I’m sure you’re right. I wish more people were as smart as my little sister.”

      “No, you don’t, or you’d be unemployed!”

      Liam laughed but there was a lump in his throat. Since he couldn’t deal with his emotions, today of all days, he spoke with deliberate briskness. “Adam seems like a good guy. Nowhere good enough for you, of course, but almost in the ballpark. Be happy, Meggie.”

      “He’s СКАЧАТЬ