Free Whose Bride Is She Anyway by Dakota Cassidy

“not really a lie” lies were going to turn her stomach into a pit of acid.
    Ms. Mary seemed to lose interest and said absently, “Well, that’s nice, dear.”
    Oy.
Tara sank back in her chair.
    “Sure wish they’d had a show like this when I was your age. I was a looker,” Ms. Mary said, resuming her knitting.
    “I’ve no doubt about that,” Tara said with a grin.
    “Oh, the damage I could have done back then. But then I met Josiah and the rest is history. ”
    “How does Josiah feel about you being here?” Tara wondered aloud
    “He’s dead,” Mary answered flatly.
    Shit. Way to score points with the jury members, Tara.
    “It’s all right, Tara. From one pretty girl to another, it’s only natural for you to assume that I’m married too. Josiah was a good man, God rest his soul. I’m sure he’d never approve of me doing this.” She clucked her tongue.
    “Mrs. DeWitt is from Indiana.” Andy changed the subject, rolling his eyes at Tara over Mary’s head.
    “Gary, to be precise,” Mary said.
    “Yep and Diana is from Massachusetts, Walter is from North Dakota and Gianni is from California.” Andy pointed each juror out to her as his gaze briefly lingered on Diana.
    “She’s pretty, ” Tara commented to him with a whisper.
    Andy blushed. “Yeah, she is. But I think she’s engaged or something.”
    “Don’t let that stop you, Andy, ” Mary cut in. “You’re a fine looking fellow. ” Leaning across Tara, she straightened the lapel on Andy’s suit jacket. “Girl like that would be lucky to have a nice young man like you. ”
    Andy groaned his embarrassment.
    Tara patted his thigh to console him. “So when do we get to see the foo…er, men we have to work with? ”
    “I don’t know, but I hope it’s soon. I’ve been waiting a long time to get a gander at all of this prime male flesh. ” Mary set down her knitting and rubbed her hands together.
    Tara took her napkin and mocked a swab on the corner of Mary’s mouth.
    Mary waved her away with a chuckle. “I’m drooling, right? It’s been a
long
time for this old girl.”
    Tara winced as if her own mother had just told her she and her father actually had sex and then laughed at Mary’s eager attitude. “I think the festivities begin tomorrow. So we’ll just have to wait until then to see what we have to work with. ”
    The band struck up a conga line and Mary’s shoulders began to bounce to the rhythm. “I just love to dance. C’mon, Andy it’s time to liiimbo!” Andy shuffled off behind her, leaving Tara to watch the spectacle that was Mary shimmy over to the band.
    This was going to be a very interesting month. Mary wasn’t going to be easy to sway.
    Tara made a point of threading through the crowd, getting to know each juror.
    Time was of the essence.
    Glancing at her watch, Tara noted the late hour and smothered a yawn. All of this time change and deceit were killing her, not to mention running into hot guys with names like August. She shivered. Tara hadn’t had this much excitement in one jam-packed day in her entire lifetime.
    Maybe she’d walk along the beach before bed. Plot Kelsey’s demise or something…and frig the damn guilt.

Chapter Six
    Everybody’s goin’ surfin’…
    A ugust was pissed off. After the plane ride from hell with a bunch of jocks who couldn’t read the airbag instructions if they had pictures on them, a ride with some native guy whose name he couldn’t pronounce and he just knew was having a good laugh at his expense, then yet another plane ride, he’d had enough.
    He should have never listened to Greg. This was about the dumbest idea he’d ever had. What was he thinking when he decided to do this? He
wasn’t
thinking, that much was clear.
    But think of Kelsey
.
All tight assed and perky breasted. She could be mine. She could be all mine, along with a bundle of cash.
His scorned high school counterpart revved its lusty engine.
    But what if she didn’t look like she did in high