The Best Bride. Сьюзен Мэллери

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СКАЧАТЬ and rose to her feet. “Just don’t let word get out. I have my own reputation to keep up. Now I’m going to get to work on lunch. I heard Travis’s truck in the driveway. He can tell you all about Mandy’s classroom. Don’t worry, honey. You’ll get to see it soon enough.”

      She left the room and passed Travis in the doorway. Elizabeth half turned to face him. “How did it go?” she asked.

      He studied her for several seconds. There was an odd look in his eyes, as if he’d never seen her before.

      “Travis, is something wrong?”

      “No. Everything went fine. Mandy loved her teacher and when I left, it looked like she’d already started making friends.”

      Elizabeth sagged back in the sofa. Some of the tension left her body. Maybe, just maybe, she hadn’t destroyed her daughter’s life.

      “These might help,” he said as he walked toward her. He held out several instant photos.

      “You took pictures?”

      “I thought they might make you feel like you’d been there.”

      She smiled up at him. “That was so thoughtful.”

      She took the photos and looked through them. The first showed Mandy smiling in front of the school. There were three shots of the classroom and one of Mandy with her teacher. The little girl was laughing at something the woman had said. Elizabeth felt tears forming in her eyes. She blinked them away.

      “This is wonderful. I don’t know how to thank you.”

      Travis shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “It’s nothing special. I didn’t even think of the idea. Craig does it for his kids. He says it’s fun to look back later. You’re not going to cry, are you?”

      She sniffed. “No.” She touched one finger to the smooth flat surface, as if she could touch Mandy’s warm cheek. Her daughter’s smile made her own lips curve up in response. “She does look happy, doesn’t she? And the teacher looks nice. Did you talk to her?”

      “I know her.”

      There was something about the way he said the words. “Oh?”

      “I sort of, you know.” He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. “We dated for a while.”

      “Ah. Is she—” Elizabeth paused, then found the correct word. “Is she nice?” She had to bite her lip to keep from smiling.

      Travis was obviously uncomfortable with the conversation. “Yeah, she’s really great. With kids, I mean.”

      “I’m sure Mandy will like her.”

      “Most of the kids do.”

      He pulled his hands out of his pockets and walked over to the window. The bright light outside lighted his tall, muscular body. He was very handsome, with his dark hair and eyes. Elizabeth could see why he’d acquired his reputation. If his brothers were half as good-looking, then it’s no wonder the town found the family a great source of gossip.

      “Tell me about your ex-husband,” he said.

      She felt as if he’d thrown a bucket of cold water in her face. Every muscle in her body tensed. She had to put the photos down when she realized she was mangling them. She folded her hands in her lap and forced herself to relax.

      “I don’t have an ex-husband. I told you, I was never married.” She could feel the heat of her flush climbing from the scoop neck of her T-shirt, up to her face. It had been six months, yet she was still embarrassed to remember what had happened. Would this ever get easier?

      “You’re sure?”

      “I would hardly forget being married.”

      He walked to the sofa and braced his hands against the tall back. “The reason I ask is because when I registered Mandy for school, she got confused about her last name. When I first asked, she said it was Proctor. I reminded her that your last name is Abbott. She said that was her last name, too. So which is it, Elizabeth?”

      He was still handsome as sin, but the friendly, teasing man who had shared breakfast with her had disappeared. In his place was a probing stranger. For the first time she saw the dark side of him. No doubt he made an excellent sheriff.

      But she couldn’t tell him the truth. It was too awful, too embarrassing, too unbelievable. She had trouble believing it had happened, and she’d lived through it. Besides, she didn’t want to see that pitying look in his eyes. She didn’t want to know he thought of her as less, or stupid. No, the truth was her own secret, one she would never share. She could, however, tell him part of the truth.

      She raised her hand to flick her hair back over her shoulder. “Proctor is Mandy’s father’s last name. She used it for a while, but now she’s using my name.”

      “I see.” He drew his eyebrows together. “You mentioned you had rented a house here in town.”

      What did that have to do with anything? She nodded slowly. “I can take possession on October first.”

      “Is your furniture in storage?”

      “Why are you asking me this?”

      He moved around the sofa until he was standing in front of her. She had to tilt her head back to meet his eyes. She wished he was wearing his Stetson so she didn’t have to see the cold black swirling through his irises.

      “Is it?”

      “No. I don’t have any furniture. I left it all behind in L.A. I didn’t want to move it. Travis, why are you acting like this? Why are you asking all these questions?”

      “So you have no furniture, Mandy has very few toys. In fact, all your possessions can fit in the trunk of your car.” He wasn’t asking a question.

      Her heart pounded in her chest. She wanted to stand up and stare him in the eye, but the tension was making her side ache too much. She could only sit on the edge of the sofa and fight the fear.

      “Travis—”

      He cut her off with a wave of his hand. “I want the truth, Elizabeth. Did you kidnap Mandy?”

Chapter Five

      She couldn’t have looked more stunned if he’d slapped her. All the color left her face and her lips parted, but she couldn’t—or didn’t—speak.

      Travis noted her reactions, the cynical lawman side of him wondering if she was the genuine article or a very good actress. The male part of him, that part of his being that had reacted to her presence in his life, wanted to believe. He wanted her to be just a single mom looking for something better for herself and her kid.

      It shouldn’t matter, he told himself. He wasn’t going to get involved. It would be better for his hormonal state if she was some kind of criminal. After his marriage had collapsed he’d acknowledged the futility of ignoring the truth. As long as he had Haynes blood flowing СКАЧАТЬ