A Madaris Bride for Christmas. Brenda Jackson

Чтение книги онлайн.

      “Pretty much sounds like it, but do you really want to cancel?”

      Carly nibbled her bottom lip as she thought about Heather’s question. “I really don’t know what I want. Things are happening so fast. First I kiss a guy on the hotel balcony and two days later I discover he owns the hotel. Now he wants an affair.”

      “Are you sure? He didn’t ask for one. From what you told me, all he wants to do is get to know you better,” Heather said.

      Carly rolled her eyes. “For what purpose? What guy do you know that’s not looking for something?”

      Heather chuckled. “If you recall, I thought the same thing about Joel but he proved me wrong. Maybe this guy will prove you wrong. Hey, he’s cooking dinner for you, so he can’t be all bad. And you did say he was good-looking.”

      “Too good-looking, which makes me suspicious. Why me when he probably has a slew of others who would die for the chance to get to know him?”

      “Why not you? You’re beautiful. Stop putting yourself down. You have just as much to offer as anyone else, maybe more. You’re not a parasite who plans to feed off Lee Madaris’s wealth, and I bet he’s encountered plenty of women like that and sees you as being different.”

      Oh, she was different all right, Carly thought. So different that she was brazen enough to kiss him the first night they met. That was probably what he remembered the most. He probably wondered what she would initiate if he had her in the privacy of her own home.

      “Well, I plan to keep my guard up. Nathaniel proved that some men can’t be trusted.”

      “At least you said some and not all.”

      Carly smiled. “Only because your Joel renewed my faith in some men.” And he had. Heather’s fairy-tale courtship had been special. Carly’s best friend had tried resisting Joel but he had been determined to sweep Heather off her feet and had done just that.

      “Well, I’ll let you know how things turn out. But don’t be surprised if after Thursday he decides never to bother with me again.”

      “What do you plan to do?”

      “Be myself. Then he can decide if I’m as boring as Nathaniel claims I am.”

      Heather asked how Aunt Ruthie was doing and Carly let her switch the topic, asking Heather about her parents and her brother. Heather told her how beautiful the weather was in Spain, and Carly told her about the garden she had started in her backyard. Those living in Vegas had told her that if she planned to grow anything, now was the time to plant and wish herself luck.

      Then Heather said, “I’m still checking the Miami Herald every day online and I assume you’re doing the same.”

      “Yes,” Carly said.

      Although Heather had doubts about Carly’s story about what she’d heard that night, her friend still checked the paper just in case.

      “But so far I haven’t come across anything,” Carly said. “I’ve decided to check for a few more weeks and if nothing comes up then that’s it. It’s going on six months now and I can’t live my life wondering if I’m sane or not.”

      “You’re sane, but you might have been slightly confused that night. Remember, you had worked a double the day before.”

      Carly remembered, but still, why did the sound of that man’s voice keep resurfacing in her mind? She had not dreamed that, had she?

      “You did all you could,” Heather said. “If the police had found anything it would have been in the papers.”

      Carly knew Heather was right.

      “Call and let me know how tomorrow’s dinner goes. I’m still working on Joel about that trip to Vegas that he promised.”

      After ending the call and clicking off the phone, Carly glanced around her kitchen. It seemed that Lee meant business. She couldn’t help lifting her lips in a smile.

      “Dinner should be interesting.”

      * * *

      Lee looked across the table at the three men he’d flown to Dubai to meet. They were older cousins whom he thought of as older brothers. Justin, Dex and Clayton Madaris had already been out of college and working in their chosen professional fields when Lee and his close cousins had become teens. It had meant a lot to be able to ask their older cousins those questions they wouldn’t dare ask their parents. Justin, the oldest, was a doctor; Dex, the middle brother, was a geologist; and Clayton, the youngest brother, was an attorney. All three were happily married with families.

      “I’m surprised the three of you could plan to come to Dubai on vacation at the same time,” Lee said, taking a sip of his wine.

      Justin chuckled. “Syneda planned it all. That should tell you everything.”

      Lee smiled. It did. Syneda was Clayton’s wife and was quite outspoken. She was known for the outlandish. And everyone adored her, as they did Justin’s wife, Lorren, who had been Syneda’s best friend since childhood, and Dex’s wife, СКАЧАТЬ