Free The Best Bride by Susan Mallery

mighty good. Of course he was a much older man.”
    â€œOf course,” Elizabeth murmured. Louise was certainly a little left of center, but Elizabeth found herself liking the other woman.
    â€œAnd his uncles. Hell-raisers all of them. I don’t think they were ever faithful longer than a minute. Heaven help the women who tried to tame ’em. Of course the Haynes men did give this town something to talk about. Then when Earl went ahead and had four more boys of his own, there was even more talk. Do you know there hasn’t been a girl born to the Haynes family in four generations?”
    â€œTravis mentioned that.”
    Louise laughed. “Travis is the most easygoing of the four boys. Not like Jordan. That one’s always been a mystery. But Travis knows what he wants and gets it.” She winked. “Maybe he’ll decide he wants you.”
    Elizabeth shook her head. “I’m not interested in a relationship. Certainly not with a man like him. The last thing I need is some Don Juan upsetting my life.”
    â€œOh, you can’t believe everything you hear about him. He’s not exactly the heartbreaker everyone says. Despitewhat he thinks, he’s nothing like his daddy.” Louise grew serious. “You can trust me on that one, honey. I know for a fact.”
    It didn’t matter how much of Travis’s reputation was real and how much hype. Enough of what Louise had said was true for Travis Haynes to be trouble.
    Sam had been a charmer, too. His easy smile and quick wit had seduced her in a matter of hours. Of course she’d been a willing participant. And young. Far too young for a man like him. She’d never had a clue as to what was going on. She’d known the relationship was in trouble, but even that hadn’t prepared her for the police showing up at her doorstep in the predawn hours of morning. If she lived to be a hundred, she would never forget the feeling of horror when the Los Angeles Police Department officers had taken Sam away. Thank God Mandy had slept through it all.
    Louise leaned forward and patted her leg. “You feeling better?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI thought you might be a little down, what with missing Mandy’s first day at school. You feel better now?”
    Elizabeth looked at Louise, with her bright makeup and dangling earrings. The left one was a teapot, the right, a cup and saucer. “You probably don’t want to hear this any more than Travis, but I think you’re nice, too.”
    Louise gave her hand a squeeze 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.
    â€œTravis, is something wrong?”
    â€œNo. 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.
    â€œThese might help,” he said as he walked toward her. He held out several instant photos.
    â€œYou took pictures?”
    â€œI 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