Love Rising: Spring (Mandrake Falls Series Romance Book 4) Read Online Free

my bag with me when Scout Rutherford-Dean went into labor
but I set it down on one of the pews to get shots of Michael Shannon and the
groom. In all the confusion, anyone could have slipped it inside my bag. I went
to the reception later but I kept my bag over my shoulder because I needed
fresh batteries. Sunday, I came to the office to write up my copy and that’s
when I found the notepaper.”
    “Do you still have the original?”
    “Yes, it’s in my Billing file. I have to make up an invoice
for it.”
    “Who in the blazes are you going to invoice?” Shelby was
trying very hard these days to curb her swearing for the sake of a mellow
pregnancy and she hoped, a mellow baby.
    “Jeremy Marks, who else?”
    “I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves,” Jason said impatiently.
“What proof do we have that Jeremy didn’t put the note in Andrea’s camera case?
I know the guy. He’s got a thing for Jocelyn. He told me so himself; I’m not
blowing smoke. Before we do anything in terms of damage control—or even offer it
up—we’ve got to find out if this engagement is real or not. I know Jocelyn was
Ryan’s date. Paula Dunlop was with Jeremy. What does that prove? Something
could’ve been in the works between Jocelyn and Jeremy for months and Jeremy
finally pulled the trigger.”
    “True,” Trevor said affably. “The boss here is an example of
that very thing. You couldn’t stand Sheriff McIntyre in September and by the
end of October you were married to the guy. So yep—zero-to-sixty can happen. We
don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.”
    Shelby flushed and looked down at her rounded stomach. She
and Sawyer had planned to get married eventually .
That’s the trouble with planning. Five months ago, she and Sawyer were sitting
on the edge of the bathtub holding the damning evidence of an unplanned
pregnancy. They agreed this was Dolly’s shove from beyond the grave to marry
pronto and were wed in a small ceremony on Halloween. Everyone laughs but
Halloween has to be less hilarious than April Fools’ Day.
    She sat up.
    “Hold the phone. Look at the date. Jeremy didn’t put this in
Andrea’s camera case. He wouldn’t pick April Fools’ for a wedding date, not if
he really liked her and Jase you say he likes her?”
    “Oh yeah. He likes her.”
    “So it was not Jeremy. Andrea, get the note. Maybe there’s a
clue in the handwriting.”

 
    ♥

 
    THE DOOR to his apartment rattled on its hinges under the
pounding. Jeremy pulled a sweatshirt on over his head and padded to the living
room.
    “Just a minute. I’m coming.”
    Jeremy fumbled his glasses to his nose and unlocked the
deadbolt. Almost no one locked their doors in Mandrake Falls but the theater
was on the outskirts of town and being empty at odd hours, it was prone to
break-ins. He always locked up just in case.
    Jocelyn pushed her way into the room. She was carrying a
copy of the Gazette which she flung
at him. “I hope this made you happy. As if my life didn’t suck enough, I find
this in the paper!”
    He looked at her, bewildered. “How did you get in here? I
locked the stage door last night before I went to bed.”
    “I’m in the company, stupid! I have a key, remember? Stop
trying to avoid the question!”
    “I’m not. You haven’t asked a question. What’s going on?”
Jeremy glanced at the front page to see what she was upset about. It was a full
page photo of Miss Shannon’s face with the heading: Star Upstaged!
    Risky choice of words given that Michael Shannon’s star
power drew a lot of business to Mandrake Falls. If she was pissed off enough,
she could withdraw the exclusive access she had been granting the Gazette to her story. But Shelby Porter
was notorious for stirring the pot, generating headlines out of headlines. It
must be working, Jeremy thought, because she’d kept this little county paper
going for—
    “Did you hear what I said?” Jocelyn bellowed. “Are you
listening to me at all or is