Kari Lee Townsend - Sunny Meadows 04 - Perish in the Palm Read Online Free Page B

admirable trait to say the least. Word around town was that the inn couldn’t run without him.
    “We’re all set,” Zoe came up to me and said with pride and satisfaction. She was Jo’s cousin—a shorter, softer replica of her—and the only woman who had ever made Sean O’Malley tongue tied.
    Sean was one of my best friends and Cole’s best man. He was the one used to flustering women with his blond movie star good looks and killer dimples, not the other way around. He’d gotten Zoe to agree to be his date to the wedding, but she still didn’t buy everything he was selling, which made me like her even more. I adored Sean, but Zoe was good for him, whether he realized it or not. He would soon, though. It was only a matter of time.
    I took my place in line, right before Jo, and stared out at the audience. They stood and faced us as the music began to play. Between Jo’s guest list and Cole’s, pretty much everyone in town was there. The groom and his men were beneath the tent at the makeshift altar, waiting for the bride and her maids. We walked down the aisle one by one, smiling and nodding to our friends and loved ones. When it was my turn, my parents beamed. My father looked proud, my mother had hope in her eyes, and Granny Gert was a blubbering mess. But I only had eyes for one person.
    Detective Mitch Stone.
    The men all wore gray tuxedoes, the women wore burgundy dresses, and the bride and groom were adorned in white. Mitch had such a fierce, possessive look on his face. When his gaze settled on my eyes, a secret thrill shot through me. I smiled tenderly at him, and everything about him softened, giving me hope that this too could one day be mine.
    Father Moody performed the ceremony, with several readings by friends and family, and when the bride and groom read their vows, not a dry eye was left beneath the tent. Finally Cole and Jo were pronounced man and wife. He didn’t have to be asked to kiss his bride as he bent her over backward and planted a big one on her. I swiped a tear away, so happy for them. Cheers broke out, and the reception was underway.
    “Hey,” Mitch said, as he came to a stop beside me, standing tall and strong and oh-so-handsome.
    “Hey there, yourself.” I smiled up at him, my heart skipping a beat. “You clean up nice.” His thick black wavy hair had been tamed, his face clean-shaven but shadowed already from his heavy beard, his tux precisely cut, he smelled amazing, and…
    He was all mine.
    “You look beautiful.” He stared down at me with equally dark eyes, and a muscle in his square jaw bulged, pulsing the jagged scar that ran across it.
    “Rough, rugged, and oh so right,” I mumbled more to myself, but he heard judging from the twitch of his lips.
    The DJ began to play, and Jo and Cole danced their first dance as husband and wife. My mother had suggested a string quartet from the city that was all the rage, but I knew Jo. I’d overruled my mother on that one and gave Jo the name of a fantastic DJ I had heard of when I still lived in the Big Apple. Luckily he had been available, and Jo had sided with me on this one, much to my mother’s displeasure and my glee.
    “So, um, do you want to dance? You don’t have to or anything, it’s just, you know, I mean, we’re here,” Mitch said, and I found my lips twitching at him this time. Mr. Tall, Dark, and Dangerous so wasn’t good at the whole courting/romance thing, but I had to give him credit. At least he was trying, and it was adorable.
    “Sure.” I took his hand, letting him lead me onto the dance floor. I slipped into his waiting arms, and it was like coming home. We fit together so perfectly, it brought out my longing for something more.
    “I’m proud of you.” His soft tone broke into my thoughts.
    I couldn’t stop the warmth from spreading through me over his words of praise, especially having grown up without much of it in my life. My gaze met his as I breathlessly asked, “For what?”
    “You did