Picture Perfect Wedding Read Online Free Page B

hand?”
    Blue eyes narrowed. “Is that useless fluff ball of yours going to bite me?”
    She wanted to growl at him just like Maggie-May. “Put it this way. If I let her go so I can get up on my own, she just might. If you help me up while I hold her, she won’t.”
    Without a word, he extended his hand. She slid her palm against his and as she gripped his hand, he wrapped long, work-hardened fingers firmly around her wrist. A vortex of tingling shimmers spun up her arm and then exploded like fireworks in her chest before raining down and spreading through her like the warmth of mulled wine, and stripping her limbs of their strength.
    Damn it. As lovely as it was to have a man make her feel like this, Luke Anderson wasn’t the guy of choice. She locked her knees against the boneless feeling. It wouldn’t be a good look to rise to her feet only to fall. The feminist in her definitely didn’t want that to happen.
    “Brace yourself against me,” he said.
    Yes , please. She shook her head against the wanton hoe the mud seemed to have released.
    Luke sighed and frustration played over his lips. “Just do as I say or we’ll both end up back in the mud.”
    She quickly preempted and stomped on any outrageous comments her girly parts might make on that visual and said, “Ready when you are.”
    He pulled and with a departing slurping sound from the bog, she found herself nose to shoulder with him. “Thank you.”
    “You’re welcome.” The perfunctory words sounded weary and lacked the backup of their true meaning. It was more along the lines of, You’re a complete pain in the ass.
    She gazed down at her new-season but now mud-stained silk top, horrified to see it was not only see-through but clung to her like a second skin. She hastily brought Maggie-May up against her chest to cover her black lace demi-bra which this morning had seemed the perfect choice but was now hiding absolutely nothing. She bit her lip, hating what she knew she had to ask. “Is it at all possible for me to use your shower?”
    Luke Anderson seemed to be staring so intently at her shoulder that she glanced to her left but all she could see was more mud.
    “It’s possible, Miss...?”
    Oh, God, she hadn’t even introduced herself. “Erin. Erin Davis.” She wasn’t prepared to volunteer anything more until she was clean and wearing clothes that didn’t expose her breasts to the world.
    “Well, Erin Davis, it doesn’t look like your car is going anywhere without the help of my tractor.” Resignation clung to his words. “I suppose you can take a shower at the house while I pull it out.”
    An image of him naked with water sluicing down his body slammed into her so hard she swayed. Oh man, who knew falling in mud messed with hormones.
    This guy is business not recreation , she told herself firmly. Besides, the hostile way he was looking at her—as if she was one giant problem that had to be solved—left her in no doubt that even if they’d met under better circumstances, he wouldn’t be interested in her at all.
    “Thank you, Mr. Anderson.”
    He quirked a brow but it wasn’t accompanied by even the hint of a smile hovering on his wide mouth. “My father’s Mr. Anderson.”
    She waited for the call me Luke , which would be the logical progression of his sentence, but it didn’t come. It left her unable to read him and that in itself was unsettling because she normally had no problem doing that with people. Using her “keep everyone happy” voice, she said, “A shower sounds wonderful,” and she grabbed her overnight bag from the backseat and locked the car.
    “Seriously? You think someone’s going to go to the effort of pulling your aging vehicle out of the quagmire and stealing it?” Luke’s face wore the bemused expression of someone who thought he was dealing with a fool.
    “I’ve got a lot of valuable—” She stopped herself milliseconds before mentioning her cameras. “My laptop’s in there.” She adjusted