Free The Perfect Bride by Kerry Connor Page B

Jillian’s expression, Emma leaned forward and met her eyes. “I’m not trying to scare you off, believe me. It would be good for the town if the Suttons were able to get this wedding business going. They’ve talked about hiring part-time workers as needed and peoplearound here could use those jobs, and it would generate a lot of revenue for local businesses. Which is just more reason why I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
    “But you think there’s enough of a chance of that happening that you wanted to warn me?”
    “No...” Emma shook her head. “I’m probably just being foolish. Look, I hope your wedding goes perfectly and is everything you dreamof. But there’s always been something a little strange about that place and the folks up there. So it couldn’t hurt to be careful. Watch out for yourself. Just in case...”
    * * *
    I T WAS GETTING dark when Jillian finally left the library. She continued to turn Emma’s words over in her mind as she started the drive back to Sutton Hall.
    Knowing that even one person thought there wassomething suspicious about Courtney’s death, someone who didn’t have a personal stake in it, gave her fresh confidence that she wasn’t wrong. Something had happened to Courtney, something that may have been done to her by one of the people at Sutton Hall.
    You have to wonder exactly why it is they’re hiding....
    Emma’s words could have been nothing more than small-town suspicions of outsiders,people who chose to live separate from the rest. And maybe that was part of it. Except Jillian had already been wondering what secrets the Sutton Hall staff were hiding even before she’d spoken to the woman.
    And it wasn’t just the staff. It was the Suttons themselves. Emma knew even less about them, but they were mysteries just as much as the people who worked for them. Meredith Sutton, withher nervousness and skittish eyes.
    Adam Sutton, with his dark warnings and cool aloofness.
    A mystery she had to solve, even as the thought of the man sent a little tremor through her.
    She’d just turned onto the winding road leading up the mountain to Sutton Hall when the engine began to sputter. Frowning, she glanced down in confusion at the instrument panel. The light illuminatingit began to flicker, the gauges starting to waver, then dip ominously. She didn’t even have time to consider steering the car onto the side of the road before it came to a complete stop.
    She sat there in confusion for a few moments, not understanding what had just happened. With numb fingers, she reached out, turned off the ignition, then tried to start it again.
    The engine chugged,groaned and refused to turn over.
    A few more tries only yielded the same result. The car wasn’t going anywhere.
    It had been running fine on the way into town, not to mention on the long drive from the airport yesterday. Suspicion sparked in the back of her mind. Was it possible someone had tampered with it? But for what reason?
    Maybe to do exactly what had happened and strand heralone in the middle of nowhere, she thought with a flicker of unease. She stared at the long, dark road before her, then back toward the stretch she’d just come down. She couldn’t see anything up ahead in either direction but trees and road. Darkness was falling quickly, long shadows already stretching across the pavement. It wouldn’t be long before it was completely black out here.
    Suppressinga shudder, she pulled out her cell phone and checked for a signal.
    Nothing.
    Of course. She grimaced. She was out in the country, on a mountain of all things. Cell phone coverage was probably the last thing she should be counting on.
    Grabbing her bag, she climbed out of the car. Raising the phone in front of her, she turned in a slow circle, trying to get even a hint of a signal.After turning around several times and failing to summon a single bar, she had to concede it wasn’t going to happen.
    Lowering the phone, Jillian glanced in either