The Bride-In-Law by Dixie Browning

Author:Dixie Browning
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-05-27T00:00:00+00:00

Seven

It wasn’t all that bad. It wasn’t all that good. “I’d call it a draw,” Tucker said after saying good-night to the newlyweds some forty-five minutes later.

“But we’re right back where we started. I don’t think your father even wanted to hear our suggestions.”

“What’s with your cousin and television?”

“Remember that old show where secret agent Maxwell Smart had a cone of silence? Television is Bernie’s cone of silence. Whenever she doesn’t want to hear something, she switches it on.”

“Every try sending her to her room? Grounding her?”

Tiredly Annie shook her head. “I always thought I was good at dealing with people, but you know something? I’m not. And the worst part of it is that sometimes—a lot of the time lately—I don’t even feel like making the effort.”

They had reached her car. Tucker leaned against the door while Annie stood there, hands in her coat pockets, studying the tip of her shoe. Tonight, in honor of impending spring, she was wearing lowheeled tan spectators. Against all reason she’d felt so hopeful when they’d started out this evening.

Although if she were honest with herself, she’d have to admit that part of it—most of it—was simply being with Tucker. Having dinner with him, talking about nothing in particular, they way men and women did when they were skirting around the edges of a relationship of some sort. Testing the waters.

The trouble was, she was beginning to lose sight of the fact that the only relationship she shared with Tucker Dennis involved two other people. Bernie at least had the courage to reach out for something to hold off the loneliness.

Annie had once tried to do the same thing. Now, four years later, all she had to show for it besides nagging calls from a would-be mother-in-law and Eddie’s rare letters, which were more like travelogues, was more loneliness.

Tucker eased his thumb under her chin to lift her face. “Hey, it’s not so bad. At least we got ’em to thinking about it.”

“I can’t believe they haven’t considered where they’re going to go from here. Not even Bernie is flaky enough to think they can spend the rest of their lives in a motel.”

“I think maybe Harold was waiting for me to suggest something.”

“To suggest what?”

He shrugged. “Who knows? Anyhow, once we come up with a suitable place, I’m pretty sure they’ll fall into step.”

“Any place I consider suitable, Bernie will hate.”

“Harold’s pretty reasonable.”

“That makes one of them.”

Tucker studied her face, unnaturally pale in the blinking blue light. He felt the damndest urge to kiss her. To kiss her and wrap his arms around her and tell her everything would be all right.

Mostly he just felt like kissing her.

God, how long had it been since he’d felt like kissing a woman, much less thought about taking her to bed? And he’d thought about it, all right. Too many times lately when he looked at her, the first thought to streak through his mind was, what would happen if a man ever broke through

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