Free Love on a Deadline by Kathryn Springer Page A

tomatoes.
    Hollis’s cell phone chirped and her face lit up when she looked at the screen. “I’ve been tracking my wedding dress, and according to this message, it’s scheduled to be delivered at ten o’clock. I want to surprise my mother, so I should be there to sign for it.”
    â€œThat’s all right.” Mac felt a stab of disappointment. “We can finish the interview later. I should get back to work too.”
    â€œYou are working! Ethan said something about your editor wanting all the prewedding details. I would think a sneak peek at the wedding dress would qualify.” Hollis leaned forward and rested the canoe paddle across her knees. “Trust me. You’re going to want to see Mom’s reaction when I show her my wedding gown.”
    â€œBecause it’s . . . simple?” Mac guessed.
    â€œBecause it’s the laciest, puffiest, gaudiest dress you’ve ever seen.”
    For all the changes she’d seen in Hollis Channing, the girl couldn’t do gaudy. “And you . . . like . . . it?”
    â€œMom picked it out.”
    â€œBut you just said it was going to be a surprise.” Remembering details was part of Mac’s job.
    â€œOh, it will be.” Hollis giggled. “I sneaked it out of Mom’s closet before we left.”
    â€œYou’re wearing your mother’s wedding dress?”
    â€œSometimes”—Hollis’s solemn tone was a counterbalance to the laughter in her eyes—“you do crazy things for the people you love.”
    Things like delivering food in a snowstorm.
    Mac couldn’t help but feel a pinch of envy.
    â€œChange of plans, guys!” Hollis stood up and set the canoe rocking as she waved her arms to get their attention. “Time to go back!”
    Connor and Ethan waved to acknowledge they’d gotten the message, but instead of heading to shore, they paddled in Hollis and Mac’s direction.
    Hollis sat down. “Do you mind switching places with Connor for the trip back?”
    â€œSwitch places?” Panic flared inside Mac. “Why?”
    â€œThere’s something I have to talk to him about before we get to the house.”
    Mac flicked a glance at the canoe cutting toward them through the water. Connor Blake might have the sculpted perfection of a leading man with his tawny hair and sapphire-blue eyes, but Mac didn’t experience even the tiniest blip in her heart rate when she looked at him.
    But Ethan . . . well, she should carry one of those portable defibrillators in her pocket.
    Which was why Mac had decided it would be better if she avoided him.
    Unfortunately, avoiding Ethan didn’t seem to prevent her from thinking about Ethan. And thinking about Ethan had stirred up memories.
    Only this time they weren’t painful high school memories.
    They were memories of the way Ethan’s arms had tightened around her after he’d carried her over the touchdown line. The flash of heat in his eyes that raised the temperature in the air around them.
    Dangerous memories now that Mac was so close to achieving her goal of leaving Red Leaf.
    Hollis must have sensed her reluctance because she tilted her head. “Is there a reason why you don’t want to be in a canoe with my brother?”
    â€œNo.” Not one she could admit to, anyway.
    Hollis dropped her voice as Ethan’s canoe drew closer. “I’m sorry, Mackenzie.”
    Mac smiled. “For wanting to spend more time with your fiancé? I think that kind of goes with the territory.”
    â€œFor not being a very nice person in high school,” Hollis said in a low voice. “To be honest, I don’t think I was a very nice person until I met Connor. But love . . . it changes things.”

    Ethan reached out to steady Mac as she climbed into his canoe. He wasn’t sure why Connor and Mac had switched places, but the situation couldn’t have worked out better if he’d