Bride by Mistake Read Online Free Page A

said.
    When Zach leaned closer, Liza’s perfume caught his attention. Instead of the heavy gardenia scent she normally wore, her fragrance was light and smelled like lavender. Much more becoming, he thought.
    “For years we were just friends,” Zach affirmed. “But lately…”
    Gram’s expression brightened.
    “Lately we’ve started dating.” Zach rarely stretched the truth, so this blatant lie didn’t come easily. And he noticed that Liza’s eye twitched when he made the ludicrous remark.
    Gram smiled. “Now, isn’t that lovely. I often tell Zach there’s more to life than business.”
    Liza nodded. “So true. Some people think only of their careers. And before they know it, life passes them by.”
    Zach suppressed a chuckle. That comment was downright laughable coming from Liza O’Malley, consummate workaholic. Zach wondered if his good friend had taken a blow to the head. She seemed totally different from the woman he’d escorted to Mario’s Italian Kitchen just two weeks ago.
    “What kind of work do you do, my dear?”
    “I teach…” Liza paused, blushed, and started over. “I’m an attorney. I practice at Burns, Logan, and Grant.”
    “And you still manage to enjoy life? Even with such a high-stress job?”
    “Oh, yes. And I have many hobbies. I love the ballet and the theater. In my spare time, I paint.”
    Paint?
Zach almost shouted the word but caught himself just in time. Liza couldn’t stand still long enough to apply more than three brushstrokes. She attended the theater once every year or two. And if she’d ever seen a ballet, she hadn’t mentioned it to him.
    Gram nodded and smiled. “You’re just the girl to loosen up my grandson.”
    Zach slipped his arm around his fiancée to make their relationship appear real. When he touched the smooth skin of Liza’s shoulder, a sizzle like an electric current passed through his body. Liza turned wide-eyed to face him. Had she felt it too?
    “I try to loosen him up, Mrs. Addison, but Zach’s awfully…”
    Liza pursed her lips, which suddenly looked downright kissable. Zach gave himself a mental shake. He wasn’t supposed to get caught up in the charade.
    “Zach’s awfully intense,” Liza continued. “He takes life seriously. And while that’s a benefit in the business world—”
    “It’s a drawback socially,” Gram finished. “My, but you’re an insightful young woman.”
    Zach squirmed on the love seat and felt perspiration beading on his forehead. They’d only pretended for a few minutes and he already felt out of control. Why, Gram and his fiancée, who had just met, were psychoanalyzing him!
    “I’m not intense,” he defended, annoyed with both of them. “And I do know how to enjoy life.”
    Gram’s gaze met his head-on. “When did you last see a play, Zachary? Or even a movie?”
    “A few weeks ago.”
    “More like months.”
    “Then you’ll be happy to know that I’m taking Liza to a play tomorrow evening,” Zach announced, hoping the two of them would get off his case. He’d spotted an ad in the morning paper and decided to use it to his advantage.
    Liza caught his gaze. “You are? Where are we going?”
    “To the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival.”
    Liza’s smile practically lit the room. It lit Zach’s heart as well.
    “What a great surprise. Zach is a master of surprises,” she told Gram.
    “You seem to be having quite a liberating effect on my grandson, my dear.”
    Liza practically preened. “Why, thank you, Mrs. Addison.”
    “Mrs. Addison sounds awfully formal. Why not call me Eloise?”
    Zach nearly fell off the love seat. Gram, who always treated strangers with polite reserve, had just put Liza on a first-name basis!
    “I’d like that, Eloise.”
    “Come with me to the kitchen, Liza. You and I will get the lemonade.”
    “Can’t Ian bring the lemonade?” Zach asked, growing more irritated by the second.
    “Ian is otherwise engaged.” Gram’s cautioning tone stopped any