of each toe, she felt a warmth spreading through her middle.
Uh-oh.
With one look, Bill had made her aware of him as a man. He wasn’t supposed to be a man—he was supposed to be her business partner. It was understood that the man/woman thing wasn’t a part of their agreement. At least, that’s what Beth understood.
Bill? Maybe not.
His blue eyes had gone molten and heavy lidded with desire. Yes, desire. For her. Without saying a word, he was changing their relationship and she didn’t know if she wanted that.
Still he watched her as he massaged her foot and ankle, and moved up her calf, stroking and kneading.
Those hands…the confidence with which he touched her…their strength…the caring…
A tiny sound escaped her. It could possibly be considered a sexy sound, if one wanted to think of it that way. Which she didn’t, but judging from Bill’s flicker of a smile, he did. He had a nice mouth. Why had she never noticed his mouth before? Why had she never noticed him before?
“Come play with me tomorrow.” His voice was deep and husky and vaguely erotic.
She couldn’t just take off. And even if she could, she wasn’t sure it was wise. “I can’t. We’re booked.”
“The weekend. Let’s rent a paddleboat and spend some of this nice spring weather on the lake.”
“Monica Teague is coming in. I should be here.”
“She’s not booked for the whole weekend.”
“Cara Brantley’s bridesmaids can’t come in during work hours.”
“What about Thursday? Friday? We can have lunch in the park.” The man just would not give up.
“The Indian-doctor couple is coming in,” she reminded him. “You have an appointment with Dr. Sharma, remember?”
Instead of backing off, Bill leaned forward until he was inches from her face. “Then you pick a time.” His eyes blazed.
Beth smothered a totally unexpected flare of attraction. “It’s difficult to plan—”
“Pick. A. Time.”
No. She was not aroused by this new forceful William—Bill. She was not that kind of woman. Well, maybe a little bit. Okay, all the signs were there—the heart going bippity-bip, the heated cheeks, the urge to close the distance between his mouth and hers—but she absolutely could not let him know. Because—because she wasn’t ready.
“If we dress the entire Brantley-Varnell bridal party, it’ll be our biggest wedding ever and something to celebrate,” she hedged.
“Good.” Bill leaned back. “I’ll take you to dinner.”
“I’ll let you know—”
“No, Beth Ann.” His smile was an intriguing promise. “I’ll let you know.”
1
UNSTRUNG
“THE NEW SYSTEM SEEMS to be working. So far, no glitches.”
Lia Wainright smiled in satisfaction at the comment from her boss, Elizabeth Gray, owner of Elizabeth Gray Bridal Salon. Honest to Pete, she’d been trying to get the woman to go electronic for the past two years.
Elizabeth was all about elegance and class and to her, nothing said class like the thick bridal-white paper she and her staff used to write up orders or “record selections.”
Lia got the whole upscale theme. And she agreed that the tone of a bridal salon influenced which designers would allow their gowns to be sold there, but maintaining the appearance of class and sophistication so important to Elizabeth Gray had become problematic. Lia didn’t think the payoff was worth it. The thick paper they used for orders took up a surprising amount of file space. The copier didn’t like thick paper, either. And all the information had to be duplicated onto an order form because the paper was too thick to make multiple copies.
The extra steps had caused errors more than once. Elizabeth caught most of the mistakes because she knew the design and stock number of every dress she carried. They should be doing so much business that Elizabeth couldn’t memorize all the numbers.
Elizabeth felt electronics weren’t elegant. But then Lia had found these beautifully sleek silver and charcoal-gray electronic-input tablets and carefully and painstakingly introduced them to her boss.
Why did it matter to Lia whether or not Elizabeth Gray Bridal Salon went electronic? Because efficiency meant increased stock turnover, which meant more profit, which meant eventually, Elizabeth Gray would need help. Lia’s goal was to provide that help and, ultimately, become a partner.
Elizabeth Gray had the ideal setup here in Rocky Falls, Texas. Lia was that rarest of people—a Rocky Falls native. Her parents owned the Wainright Inn, a local institution that had seen its share of weddings over the years.
Lia liked Rocky Falls, the Hill Country weather, the scenery and the artsy shops catering to weekend tourists. This was where she wanted to live, and she wanted to support herself away from her parents. Working at the Wainright had been great for after school and summers between college, but Lia needed to prove she could develop a business on her own. The salon wasn’t hers, but she’d been Elizabeth’s first employee, and immediately had seen the potential.
The falls and the carefully lush landscaping of the park surrounding them were an increasingly popular choice for outdoor weddings. Elizabeth had the right idea to have a high-end bridal salon in the area and it was genius to partner with Tuxedo Park, the formal-wear store next door.
But Lia knew they could do better.
“The staff has made the transition to the input tablets without any problems,” Lia assured her boss. Input tablets sounded more elegant than remote terminals.
The staff, all but one members of the iPod generation, had been thrilled to abandon the pen and paper. They’d made the transition in a matter of minutes.
“Another week or so and I think we can forgo paper backup,” Elizabeth said.
Lia merely nodded. Elizabeth thought they were still using the pen and paper and then entering the information in their units, but Lia had been printing backups from the computer—not exactly what Elizabeth had in mind.
Elizabeth was being overly cautious. Inefficient. And so help her, a bit of a fuddy-duddy for somebody only in her early thirties.
She needed to loosen up and she needed to loosen up with Bill—William—her partner, the owner of Tuxedo Park. The man had it so bad for her and the toe-curling looks he gave her when he thought no one was watching made Lia bemoan the lack of eligible single men in Rocky Falls.
Where all these brides found all these men to marry was a mystery to Lia. But she wasn’t going to settle and she wasn’t going to worry about it. She was only twenty-five. She had plenty of time.
“Did you
