The Fairy Tale Bride Read online

  But Nancy was different. Nancy seemed a bit distracted. “What? Oh, sorry. I’m not sure.” She leaned forward and touched the fabric of the pale green dress. “That’s kinda nice.” Her head tilted to the side as she fixated on Lisa’s left hand holding the dress. She raised her gaze. “Didn’t you marry Joe Talbot?”

  Of course. The empty ring finger. It had been so long since anyone had commented that for a second Lisa was completely thrown. She stared at her finger for a few seconds. It almost mocked her.

  “What? Oh, sorry. No, I never married Joe Talbot. We broke up and he left town.” It seemed the simplest explanation and it was what most folks in Marietta actually thought had happened. Was there any possibility that Nancy knew the truth – the fact that her sister, Melody, had been the person she’d caught Joe with?

  Nancy’s cheeks flushed pink. “Oh, sorry. I guess I’m out of the loop. I’ve been gone from Marietta so long that I haven’t really kept up with things.” Her eyes flickered out towards the street. She sounded a little melancholy.

  There. She was being stupid – paranoid even. No one knew about Melody and Joe. They’d moved far enough away to be out of gossip range and neither of them had kept in touch with anyone from Marietta. Just as well. Lisa didn’t really want to keep a smile pasted on her face once everyone heard they’d got married.

  Nancy looked back to the dress. “The color is nice. Why don’t you give it a try?” she said to Ruby. But Ruby shook her head. “No way. I want something much brighter than that.”

  Polly’s top lip curled into a sneer. “I don’t like the style. I want a neckline that’s more plunging.” She gave her breasts a little shake. “After all, if you’ve got it, flaunt it. Right?”

  Lisa sucked in a deep breath. It was a classic design with a sweetheart neckline. Something that would entirely enhance their surgical assets. “In most cases you can’t really tell by looking at a dress on the hanger. It looks entirely different when it’s on your body.” She pulled back the curtain on one of her changing rooms. “Why don’t you give it a try?”

  For a few seconds it felt like a Mexican standoff. Polly glared at her before grabbing a few more chocolates and stuffing them in her mouth. “Fine.” She grabbed the dress and yanked the curtain closed.

  Nancy was standing up again, going through the rail of dresses. She pressed her lips together and gave Lisa a tight smile. As she moved the hangers along the rail the sun glinted off her massive pink diamond ring. “Nancy, that’s beautiful,” said Lisa as she grabbed her hand to look. She’d only ever seen diamonds this big in a magazine. This was pure Hollywood all the way.

  Nancy smiled. And it was the first genuine smile Lisa had seen that day. She hugged the ring back to her chest. “It is? Isn’t it? Jared surprised me. He’d already picked it when he proposed and it’s just perfect. I love it.”

  Her eyes connected with Lisa’s. This was what Lisa was used to – making a connection with a head-over-heels bride. She was relieved. For a few minutes this morning she’d wondered if Nancy was just a bag of nerves. But her eyes sparkled when she mentioned Jared. It didn’t matter what Lisa had read about him in the press. This was a bride who was genuinely in love with her groom.

  Something flitted across Nancy’s eyes and she reached over and took Lisa’s hand giving it a little squeeze. “I was in grade school with Grace,” she said quietly. “I’m really sorry about your sister. I still remember her hair in plaits on the first day of school. I loved those plaits. We have a picture sitting on a bench together with our brand new school uniforms on.”

  Grace. Melody. Nancy was bringing back a whole lot of unexpected memories today. Lisa really hadn’t had much luck with sisters. She’d completely forgotten that Nancy had been in same grade as her baby sister, Grace.

  Grace was the reason she spent so much time volunteering at the hospital. Losing her baby sister to leukaemia had given Lisa a real instinct for what people needed. Whether that was in a hospital ward, or in her bridal salon.

  Some things just never left you. Her overwhelming memories of her sister in hospital weren’t sad or painful. The staff and volunteers had been like family to them. Sometimes coming from a small place wasn’t so bad at all. There was always someone to entertain her and Melody while Grace was especially unwell. But most importantly Grace had never been alone. There was always someone to give her a hug, hold her hand, or read her a story.

  Now, as an adult, Lisa appreciated just how important those things were to families who had relatives in hospital – especially if they couldn’t be there every second of the day. It was why she treated her volunteer shifts like another job. The only time she didn’t do her shifts was if she was sick. And she got just as much out of her shifts as the patients did.

  She smiled at Nancy. “I’d love to see that picture sometime. I don’t have a lot of pictures of Grace at grade school – she was only there a few months.”

  Nancy nodded. “I’ll have a look when we go back to the ranch. I’m sure I know where all the old pictures are stored.”

  Lisa smiled. If Nancy could find that picture she had a frame that would fit perfectly. She might even keep it here, in the salon.

  “I hate this dress!” yelled Polly. “It doesn’t fit at all.” She flung back the curtain on the dressing room.

  Lisa rushed over as Polly started tugging at the pale green fabric. She was right. It didn’t fit at all. Polly was tiny, her waist and hips completely out of proportion with her enhanced breasts. There was no ‘standard’ size dress that would fit her. Anything that she picked would need multiple fittings to ensure it was perfect.

  “Come over here.” She waved Polly over towards a free-standing mirror and pulled the dress from behind to make it hug her figure. “What do you think?”

  Polly shook her head, her hair splaying and catching Lisa in the face. She wrinkled her nose to try and stop herself sneezing. “I hate it,” said Polly. “I’m definitely not wearing this.”

  The color actually suited her perfectly. But she pointed towards a bright red dress on the rail. “I want to try that one.”

  Ruby had finally stopped hovering near the bottle of Prosecco and was fingering a pale one-shouldered yellow dress. “And I want to try this one.”

  Lisa painted a smile on her face. It was going to be a long, long day.

  Chapter Three

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  The music was pumping and Grey’s was already packed. Adam bought a beer at the bar and fought his way through the crowd to one of the tables near the back. Dawson gave him a nod and pulled out the chair next to him.

  “Where you been?” he asked.

  Adam shrugged. “I stopped in at the hospital before I came along.”

  Jake, one of the other guys, waved his hand. “Don’t tell us. There was a patient you had to see. A prescription you had to write. I wish you gave our poker game the priority you give your patients.” He dealt the cards swiftly.

  Adam wasn’t offended by the words. As the new guy around here he was the butt of most of their jokes. He took a sip of his beer. “You wouldn’t be saying that if you were the patient.”

  Jake rolled his eyes, “If I was the patient, I’d be looking for a doctor of the female variety. And one that was a whole lot prettier than you.”

  The rest of the guys laughed as Adam settled back into his chair. Making friends in Marietta had come easy. People welcomed you here. There were, of course, a few nosey questions but nothing he couldn’t bat away with a joke or two.

  Several of the guys had already asked if they could move into ‘bachelor palace’ as they’d nicknamed his house. But most of these guys were already loved up. People didn’t seem to stay single in Marietta for long. He wondered if something was in the water around here.

  Not that he hadn’t noticed the complement of lovely ladies in Marietta. He might even have been on the odd date. But there had been nothing serious.

  Marietta was new. Marietta was a fresh start. No one here knew about his
wealth. For those not in the know, doctors were always considered well off. The truth was, most spent most of their life paying off their tuition. Adam had lucked out.

  After his face had appeared in the press in Washington he seemed to inherit a whole load of new best friends. A whole host of women who found him irresistible, and while that wasn’t exactly a crime, he would rather they found his personality irresistible rather than his bank balance.

  “Heard you were visiting my wife again today,” smiled Dawson.

  He nodded. “You might as well just sell me shares in the place and be done with it. I’m going to be a permanent fixture. And while it could easily be the beauty behind the counter that is the attraction,” he smiled as Dawson raised his eyebrows, “I can assure you it’s the cinnamon and chocolate hazelnut bars.”

  Dawson glanced at the cards in his hand and gestured towards the dealer. “Card. I also heard you met Luscious Lisa.”

  “Who?”

  Jake, Bruce and Mark all put their elbows on the table. A collective curious hmmmm went around the table.

  Adam shook his head and laughed. “You’re worse than a bunch of old women. Who is Luscious Lisa?”

  He knew exactly who they were referring to, but there was no way he was letting on.

  Jake gestured towards the bar. “Lisa Renee, owner of Married in Marietta. Also known as Luscious Lisa, The Fairy Tale Bride, or sometimes just the Lady in Black.”

  Adam glanced towards the bar. Was she here? But the place was packed and he couldn’t see her at all.

  “How many nicknames can one girl have?”

  Dawson’s eyes lit up. “Ah ha. So you do know who we’re talking about. I take it you’ve met her at the hospital?”

  He nodded, doing his best not to appear too curious. These guys were ready to pounce. “I met her for the first time last night. I was covering the kids’ ward last night and she was reading fairy tales to some of the kids.” He looked over towards the bar again but still couldn’t spot her. “What’s her story anyway?”

  “No story,” said Dawson quickly, glancing at a few of the other guys. “She’s just Lisa. Was engaged a few years ago but he left town. She’s dated, but nothing serious.”

  Adam nodded. Why did he get the impression there was more to the story? They finished the hand and Jake shoved a tray towards him. “Your round. Get the beers in.”

  Adam grabbed the tray and weaved his way through the crowd to the bar. As he elbowed his way through he found himself positioned next to a tall, leggy blonde in a bright blue top who shuffled off her bar stool as he slid in next to her.

  Her eyes flickered over him as she shot a smile at her friend. “Guard my cocktail. This guy looks like one to watch.”

  He grinned and shook his head as she disappeared into the crowd. The friend leaned forward and their eyes connected. Lisa.

  Her dark hair was loose and her curls spilled over her shoulders. She was dressed in black again, but somehow she didn’t look anything like how she did the last time he saw her.

  All he could focus on was the amount of skin he could see. Lisa was wearing a black sequinned strappy top and tight-fitting black trousers that hugged all her natural curves. Her pale blue eyes were highlighted with some black that only emphasized them more. His automatic reaction was to glance around to see if any other guys were staring at her like he was.

  If she noticed his reaction she never said anything, just lowered her eyes and stirred the straw in her cocktail. Someone jostled him from behind and he slid onto the vacated bar stool and signalled towards the bartender. “Can I have five bottles of beer and,” he said, waving his hand, “whatever the ladies are having.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Ah…the chocolate stealer is feeling guilty.”

  He leaned a little closer. It was noisy in Grey’s. Music was playing in the background and voices were chatting all around them.

  He shrugged. “Just a little. But then again, that raspberry truffle was worth it.”

  She nodded in agreement. “They definitely are.”

  He pointed to her pink drink. “What is it that you’re drinking?”

  Her eyelashes were thick and dark, framing her pale blue eyes perfectly. This time when they connected with his gaze he felt…something. It wasn’t that he hadn’t been relaxed at the hospital. It was just that – in this situation – he was more relaxed. He wasn’t the only guy on duty with a page that could go off any second.

  Lisa Renee wasn’t just a little attractive. With this much lightly tanned skin showing she was a knockout. There was a thin gold chain around her neck, with an oval locket nestling between her breasts. A pale blue stone the same color as her eyes adorned the front of it.

  “It’s a strawberry daiquiri. I save them for special occasions.” She moved a little closer in a conspiratorial whisper. “I count them as one of my five a day.”

  “It’s a special occasion?” He expected to see a birthday cake appear from somewhere.

  She shrugged. “This is the bad-day-at-work drink. I don’t have them often – but when I do – only a strawberry daiquiri will do.”

  He shifted in his seat as the barman presented one pink and one orange cocktail along with five bottles of beer. He pushed the drink over towards Lisa as something clicked in his brain.

  “The celebrity wedding?”

  She nodded her head solemnly as she focused on her drink. “Oh yeah. The celebrity wedding.” It was obvious she was trying to be discreet but Adam was curious.

  “Tough customers?”

  Lisa pressed her lips together, as if contemplating what to say. She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. “The bride – is lovely. A local girl done good who just wants to marry the man she loves.”

  So, that was how Lisa played things. It was what she didn’t say that was important.

  He took a sip out of his bottle of beer. “But Sage’s chocolates didn’t win around the bridesmaids?”

  Lisa gave a shudder and rolled her eyes. “I’m going to have to buy a whole lot more chocolates. I may have to fight you for all the chocolates in the store. Round two is on Tuesday.”

  Adam’s tiny self-preservation streak kicked in. He kind of wished the whole wedding would take off to another state. But Lisa looked worried. More than that, she looked exhausted. Most Hollywood stars were notorious for being demanding. She’d probably spent all day running after people who showed no appreciation.

  For the first time he actually stopped to think what a wedding like this might mean to the people of Marietta. It wasn’t really so surprising that they’d want to help a local girl celebrate her wedding. And what might this actually mean to small-town store like Lisa’s?

  “Are you up for Round Two?” he asked, “or would you rather throw in the towel?”

  “What?” She sat up straighter and looked horrified. She waved her hand. “No way.” There was a glint of determination in her eye. “I make a promise to every woman who steps over my door that I’ll find her her dream dress.” She pointed her finger at Adam and pursed her lips. “Even if they don’t know what that is.”

  He gave her a cheeky grin and leaned forward, grabbing her straw and taking a suck. “Wow.” The sharpness of the daiquiri struck his taste buds. “Those sound like fighting words.”

  She batted his hand away. “Hands off the drink, Dr. Brady. You’ve no idea how much I need this tonight.”

  There was something about the way she said the words. As if this wasn’t just about a bad day in the bridal store. The cheeky grin fell from his face as he leaned a little closer. Close enough that it felt like no one else was around. Close enough that when he inhaled he sucked in the spicy aroma of her perfume. Close enough that all the background noise seemed to cancel out.

  From here he had a close-up view of her perfect skin. The tiny freckles across her bare shoulders and décolletage playing havoc with other parts of him. Close enough to realize just how tantalizing those pale blue eyes were, or how plump her pink-st
ained lips were.

  Their gazes meshed and for a few seconds he thought she was going to say something else. It was almost as if the words were hovering around the edges of her perfectly formed lips. Then, there was a flash of blue in his peripheral vision and a little jolt at his hip.

  “You’re in my seat, cowboy,” the beautiful blonde quipped. Her eyes widened as she spotted the fresh cocktail. “Oh, great.” Her eyes ran up and down Adam and then back to her friend. “If he’s buying the cocktails then he’s made the first cut.”

  Lisa gave a little smile. “Magdalena, this is Dr. Adam Brady, he started at Marietta Hospital a couple of months ago.”

  Mags raised her eyebrows then lifted her glass towards him. “Finally, someone who isn’t a cowboy around here. Thanks for the drink, Dr. Brady.” Her eyes darted between Lisa and Adam. It was clear she’d picked up on something. He just wasn’t exactly sure what it was.

  The moment between him and Lisa was gone. Lost in the blink of an eye. But now he was curious. For the first time in a long time, he wanted to find out a little more about the woman in front of him. Had she been about to share something else? There was no chance of that now. It surprised him just how much that piqued his interest.

  He picked up the tray of beers. “Enjoy your cocktails, ladies. Lisa,” he said, nodding his head at her, “I guess I’ll see you around the hospital sometime.”

  He gave her one final glance before elbowing his way back through the crowd with his tray of beers. A cheer erupted from the poker table. “We thought you’d got lost!” shouted Jake.

  “We’re dying of thirst here,” added Dawson. “Got waylaid by a pretty woman?” It was a loaded question and there was no way Adam was going there.

  Life was good in Marietta. Life was simple. A woman would only complicate things. And complications were things he didn’t need.