The Damsel in This Dress by Stillings Marianne

Author:Stillings, Marianne [Stillings, Marianne]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2011-05-31T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

It was nearing midnight by the time everybody had been fed and fresh linens were distributed. As Betsy placed clean towels on the sink in the bathroom she and Soldier would share, she considered calling Claire. She needed to talk to another woman, somebody she trusted. She had so many emotions crashing together inside her heart and her head, she needed a reality check, and her oldest and dearest friend was certainly someone she could count on.

Betsy knew Claire wouldn’t mind talking to her, no matter the time of night, but the problem was, she was so damned tired, she wasn’t sure she’d even be able to carry on a decent conversation. First thing tomorrow, she decided, she’d give Claire a call.

She looked up to see her mother standing in the doorway.

“Hello, Loretta. You look lovely, as always.” She meant it, but Betsy knew she herself looked as though she’d just been dragged through a knothole backward. Glancing at her reflection in the oval bathroom mirror, she saw a very tired version of herself, not clean, not fresh, not happy. A shower would repair the clean and fresh part; as for the happy part, well, that might take some time yet.

“Your young detectives are quite breathtaking, Elizabeth,” Loretta said, a flirty grin tilting her smooth lips. Her blue eyes snapped with interest. “Do me a favor, won’t you darling, and throw back the one you don’t want, hmm? In case I decide to go fishing?”

As blandly as she could, Betsy said, “They’re both nice looking, Loretta. However, neither of them is mine.”

“Well, in that case, did you notice that Soldier couldn’t keep his eyes off me? Such a manly man. You were right. The younger one, Tyler—”

“Taylor.”

“Oui. You and he look good together. He may be one of those men who actually likes the plumper type. Snag him while you have the chance, Elizabeth. You are pushing thirty, you know, dear, and I was already married and you were three years old when I was your age.”

As her mother babbled on, Betsy let her thoughts flicker to the brothers McKennitt. Taylor seemed very nice, but he didn’t make her heart do a back flip. His eyes, she’d noticed, were similar in color to Soldier’s, but seemed faded by comparison. She got light-headed and nervous when Soldier walked toward her, smiled at her. Sure, Taylor was nice and all, but it was Soldier who had captured her heart.

Betsy’s insides twisted. She was thoroughly and desperately attracted to him, and she couldn’t deny it. Didn’t want to. She felt like she had in junior high school when she’d had a crush on Jason Howard, but this was much worse. Jason had asked her to dance, and she had been engulfed in a fog of girlish infatuation. But Jason never kissed her or looked at her with eyes that short-circuited her nervous system. Only Soldier had ever done that.

“. . . lumberjack types and possibly ex-convicts. Why, when I was your age, I—”

“Loretta,” Betsy interjected, cutting off her mother’s insensitive tirade.

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