Page 2 of Things Good Girls Don't Do (Rock Canyon, Idaho 1)

By Codi Gary

An Excerpt from Less Than a Gentleman by Kerrelyn Sparks

An Excerpt from When I Find You by Dixie Lee Brown

An Excerpt from Playing the Field by Jennifer Seasons

An Excerpt from How to Marry a Highlander by Katharine Ashe

Copyright

About the Publisher

Chapter One

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IT’S IMPORTANT TO always be a nice girl, Katie. Otherwise, people won’t want to let their kids play with you.

Katie tried to remember her mother’s childhood advice while organizing the Rock Canyon Independence Day Extravaganza, the annual parade, fair, and fireworks show celebrating the Fourth of July. The only drawback was that she had to work with Mrs. Marcie Andrews. And Mrs. Andrews was trying her patience in a big way.

“I just don’t understand why the tattoo booth is set up next to the kissing booth. Those drill noises are going to be distracting.”

Katie took a breath. Sometimes Mrs. Andrews acted like she was in her eighties instead of her early fifties. She was a dairy farmer’s wife, had four kids, and attended church every Sunday, but even Katie’s mother had called her a “gossiping windbag,” and her mother had rarely spoken ill of anyone. Katie, taking a calming breath and channeling her mother’s patience-is-a-virtue mentality, said, “There won’t actually be any real tattoos being done, Mrs. Andrews. It’s going to be henna tattoos. Mr. Trepasso is just handing out his cards and giving people samples of his work.”

Mrs. Andrews harrumphed. “Why Merve rented that space to a tattoo parlor, I’ll never know. It always just seems to draw the wrong element.”

And the two bars in town don’t? Katie didn’t say that, though. She just smiled and said, “I’m sure it will be fine.”

Mrs. Andrews seemed to realize that Katie wasn’t going to agree with her and dropped the subject. “Now Katie, I know that the town council appointed you for this job, but I am co-head of this committee and I have more experience with this event since I’m a bit older than you. I just want to make sure you appreciate my advice, and don’t disregard it out of turn. I know how you young people like to think you know everything.”

“Of course, Mrs. Andrews, I completely value and appreciate your help. I am so honored that they picked me to help run things, but I am sure there is a lot I can learn from you.”

That seemed to pacify the older woman, and she preened. “All right, then, so your shift for the kissing booth is from three to three thirty, and we’ll start the fireworks after the Canyon Queen Pageant. I really don’t know about doing a big fireworks display. It’s a waste of money and so very dangerous.”

Katie wrote some notes in her binder, ignoring the fireworks subject for the sixteenth time, and closed it with a forced smile. “Okay, I think that’s it! We should be set for Thursday.”

Mrs. Andrews frowned a little and worried aloud, “Are you sure there’s nothing else? You have your dress for the Canyon Queen float?”

Of course she had her dress. In a small town like Rock Canyon, everyone knew everyone else’s business and you didn’t mess with town festivities and traditions. At least six people a day asked her stupid questions like “Are you ready to retire your crown?”, “Are you excited about riding the float again?”, “What’s your dress look like?”, and “How’s Jimmy doing?”

That last question was enough to make her throw everything her mother ever taught her out the window and unleash the fury on someone. Jimmy Lawrence, her boyfriend of seven years, had broken up with her eight months ago. Actually, broken up was too mild a term. The dirty, lily-livered jerk had dumped her for a girl six years younger and twice her bra size. She’d tried to just smile and act like it didn’t bother her by participating in the Valentine’s Day singles auction—where she’d ended up spending the Sweethearts Dance with Carl Anderson, a nice enough guy when he didn’t think his rotten-egg farts were hilarious. After that, she’d gone out with a few men from church, but the men of Rock Canyon were just so . . .

She couldn’t come up with the perfect adjective to sum up the disgusting, irritating, and even boring antics of the six dates she’d had.

So Katie threw herself into one project after another, and this parade was only the latest. She tried to keep busy at the salon, and it helped that Jimmy and his new girlfriend had moved to Twin Falls, so she didn’t have to see them walking around looking happy and in love. If she had to suffer through that torture on a daily basis, she might drive her car into the canyon—after running the cheating bastard and his little tart over with her 4Runner first.

Was she bitter? Well, no one could blame her. She had put her heart and soul into a relationship that had gone nowhere. All the years she’d spent grooming Jimmy, supporting him, and now someone else got to enjoy the benefits.

Which brought her here, listening to Mrs. Andrews go on and on about the marching band, when a deep voice interrupted, “Excuse me, ladies, I just wanted to hand over my check for my rental booth.”

Katie’s gaze snapped up to meet a pair of steel-gray eyes. She could hear the disapproval in Mrs. Andrews’s voice as she drawled, “Mr. Trepasso, we were just talking about you.”

Those amazing eyes didn’t stray from hers as he replied, “Please call me Chase, Mrs. Andrews. I hope you ladies were saying good things about me?”

Katie’s gaze shifted away from him to Mrs. Andrews, who looked like she’d smelled something vile. Katie, afraid the older woman would open her mouth and tell him exactly what she’d said, smiled, took his check, and quickly said, “Thanks, Chase, and of course it was good. I was just telling Mrs. Andrews what a wonderful job you did on my friend Stephanie’s rose tattoo. It’s lovely.”

Chase’s handsome face, with his slim nose, sensual mouth, and dimpled chin, lit up with a wicked grin. His brown hair was short, spiky, and a pair of studs adorned both of his ears. “Then why haven’t you been down to see me, Katie?” He lowered his voice and leaned closer. “I can do something really small and feminine, where no one would ever see it.”

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