She's the One Read Online Free Page B

dressed in a bell-shaped ball gown made of purple silk that matched the color of her eyes, her hair mussed and her white gloves smudged with oil from the pistol she hid in her skirts.
    Dylan had to blink a few times before the image in his mind faded away.
    He couldn’t move. How long had it been since he’d had a story scene come to him? Even before Lauren’s death the words—the images that ran through his head like a movie—had dried up.
    “Oh, for pity’s sake, will you relax already?” Alexandra’s face was scrunched into a sardonic frown. “I won’t sue you if I break a nail, okay? You’ve warned me. I’ve read the brochure, and I’m not looking for a spa or five-star restaurants. So long as I have my own room and some privacy, I’ll be fine.” She held out her hand and waggled her fingers. “The papers?”
    Unable to think of more excuses, Dylan reluctantly handed the form over, swearing to himself when he saw her pale. Ah, hell. He could recognize a white-knuckler a mile away and she was definitely one of them. Unless…“It’s standard procedure. You know, next of kin, who to contact if the plane goes down. That a problem?”
    He certainly hoped it was. If she didn’t sign, she didn’t step foot on the plane.
    Alexandra swallowed audibly. “No. No, of course not. Why would it be? Just…wanted time to read it, that’s all.”
    Stifling a curse, Dylan watched as she called his bluff and scribbled her information on the sheet.
    Damn, but he hoped she hadn’t had a big lunch.

CHAPTER THREE
    W HY WOULD ANYONE NAME A PLANE after a water- loving animal?
    Alex’s nerves kicked into overdrive when she stood shivering in the thirty-four-degree cold—this was considered a warm start to winter?—and watched while Dylan and the two older men loaded the luggage into the plane Dylan referred to as a Beaver .
    Signing those papers without letting Dylan see how badly her hand shook had taken every ounce of determination she possessed but she only had herself to blame. He’d given her the perfect out and she hadn’t taken it, all because of the money required to pay David back—and her pride.
    Her brothers’ teasing and torment as a child must have really done a number on her ability to know when to toss in the towel. Like that time when she’d vowed to run away and, wanting privacy, Ethan had dared Alex to actually do it because she kept interrupting him when he was making out with his girlfriend. The oldest of the five kids, Ethan was supposed to be babysitting and playing with her, but after the disturbance he’d said some ugly things only an older brother would say. So she’d decided running away would prove toEthan she wasn’t a chicken— and get him into trouble with their parents. She’d walked halfway down the mountain in the dark before her father found her, and to this day she couldn’t hear the sound of an owl without shuddering in fear.
    Staring at her luggage being placed on board the Beaver? It was like walking down the mountain road all over again.
    The muffled sound of Ohio State’s fight song began to play and she searched her pockets for her cell, realized she’d put it in her purse last and began to rummage through it, sensing all three men’s gazes on her when they paused in the act of loading the plane to watch her frantic search when the music droned on.
    Finally she found it. “Hi, David.”
    “Hi, yourself. I’m glad I caught you. Did you get the call about your vacation tours being canceled?”
    She turned her back to the others and walked toward the end of the dock for privacy. “Yes, I got the voice mail when I landed. Not exactly how I wanted to start my trip. I can’t believe my whole itinerary is gone. I should’ve known better than to book the excursions through one company, but it seemed easier. Thank goodness I’d only paid a deposit and not the full amount.”
    “Check with your pilot and at the lodge. I’m sure they can give you some suggestions. And