Page 5 of Drop Dead Gorgeous

“Ah. I get it. My deadline.” He sounded very self-satisfied about his deadline; it had accomplished exactly what he intended, which was to galvanize me into action so I would ride roughshod over everyone else’s conflicting schedules. I knew him well enough to know he meant exactly what he said, too, otherwise his galvanizing tactics wouldn’t have worked.

“Because of your deadline,” I continued sweetly, “I probably won’t have time to eat for the next month, much less go out for a leisurely meal. I have to find a wedding dresstonightso there’ll be enough time for alterations. You do have a black suit, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

“That’s what you’re wearing for the wedding then, unless it has frayed cuffs, in which case you’d better go shopping, too, because if you wear frayed cuffs to our wedding none of us will ever forgive you for it, and I swear I’ll make your life miserable.”

“I could always divorce you if you tried.” Lazy amusement was in his tone now. I could just imagine his green eyes glinting.

“You could alwaystryto divorce me, because I’d fight it tooth and nail, and I’d hound you to the ends of the earth. Siana would hound you, too. And Mom would get all her sorority sisters to hound you.” Siana’s a lawyer and that maybe gave him pause, but he’s around lawyers all the time so they’re no big deal to him. On the other hand, he has a healthy respect for my mom, based on real fear. Shewouldget all her sorority sisters to hound him.

“So you’re going into this for life?”

“You bet your ass I am.” I waited a beat and added, “Your life, anyway.”

It was really annoying when he laughed at something I’d meant to give him food for thought. “I’ll check those cuffs,” he said. “What color shirt?”

Okay, hehadbeen taking notes, after all. “White or gray. I’ll let you know.” I didn’t believe in the groom taking attention away from the bride. Yes, I know it would be his wedding, too, but all he cared about was making it legal so I’d finally consent to live under the same roof with him and have his kids, though I’m pretty sure the kid part wasn’t his most immediate concern.

“Make it easy on me. I already have white shirts.”

“Make it easy onyou? After what you’ve done to me with your stupid deadline?”

“Other than having to shop tonight, exactly what have I done to you?”

“Do you think invitations order themselves? Or send themselves? Or that refreshments just magically appear?”

“So hire a catering firm.”

“I can’t,” I said even more sweetly than before. “Catering firms are booked months in advance. I don’t have that kind of time. Ditto on the wedding cake. I have to find someone who can do a wedding cake on a moment’s notice.”

“Buy one from a bakery.”

I pulled the cell phone away from my ear and stared at it, wondering if it had somehow connected me to an alien. Putting it back to my ear I asked, “Did you doanythingfor your first wedding?”

“I showed up and stood where I was told to stand.”

“You’ll have to do more than that this time. You’re in charge of the flowers. Get your mother to help you. I love you, gotta go now. ’Bye.”

“Hey!” I heard him yelp as I ended the call.

I entertained myself for the rest of the afternoon imagining his panic. If he were smart, he’d call his mother right away, but even though he’s a very smart man he’s first and foremost aMan,so I figured he’d instead maybe ask the sergeants and detectives who were married if they actually remembered anything about their weddings, and if so what kind of flowers was I talking about? By the end of the day he’d have figured out the flowers in question weren’t the kind planted in pots of dirt. He’d maybe think I was talking about my bridal bouquet, which I wasn’t—no way would I leave that to a man, no matter how much I loved him. Sometime tomorrow one of the guys would remember some sort of arch with stuff on it, maybe roses, and sometime tomorrow Wyatt would also find out that I wasn’t free tomorrow night, either, and the awful truth would be dawning on him: his sex life was ruined for the next month, all by his own doing.

I just love it when a plan comes together, don’t you?

Not that I left something as important as flowers totally to chance. I called his mother, who is so cool I can barely believe my own luck in getting her for a mother-in-law, and filled her in on the details.

“I’ll keep him hopping,” she promised. “There’ll be all sorts of emergencies and delays, but don’t worry, I’ll make certain everything is what you want.”

With that taken care of, I finished my workout, showered and dried my hair, did a fast swipe with mascara and lipstick, and changed clothes. Lynn had everything under control, as usual, so I ducked out earlier than normal and drove to the better of our two malls. There were several formal-wear stores scattered around town, but I might find what I wanted in one of the higher-end department stores in the mall. The formal-wear stores took forever on alterations.

There was a parking deck at the mall, as well as ample outdoor parking. Everyone tried to park in the deck, of course, which usually left some prime parking spaces free in the outside lots. I cruised around, my little black Mercedes convertible taking the corners like an energetic cat, and located one of those prime spaces just outside one of the department stores. I whipped into the space, smiling a little at the handling. Nothing drives like a Mercedes.

There was a little skip to my step as I entered the department store. There’s nothing like a challenge to get me revved, plus I had a mission that involved trying on clothes. Sometimes all the planets are in alignment or something, and these little bonuses just happen. Color me happy. I wasn’t even particularly upset when the first store didn’t have what I wanted, because I’d been prepared for a long search. I did find a pair of shoes that were just what I’d envisioned, strappy and comfortable, with a two-inch heel that I could wear for hours. Best of all, they glittered with gold sequins and crystals. I like a shoe with some pizzazz to it, plus I really needed the shoe I’d be wearing for the wedding so I’d know if the dress, when I managed to find it, would need hemming or not.

I was looking for a gown in a pale champagne color. Nothing white, not even off-white or cream, because, let’s get real, shall we? White does still carry the traditional message, which seems really silly in a second marriage. Besides, I look really good in champagne, and since the whole idea was to make Wyatt blind with lust…

I gave it the old college try. I shopped myself into the ground, stopping only for a quick salad for dinner in the food court. Along the way I found some fabulous underwear sets, some earrings that I just had to have, another pair of shoes—killer black pumps, this time—a great pencil skirt that fit just right, and even a few Christmas gifts since my gift-buying this year would be double what it had been before, with Wyatt’s family added in, so I needed to get an early start.

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