The Marshal Takes A Bride (35 page)

Authors: Sylvia McDaniel

Tags: #A Western Set Historical Romance Novel

BOOK: The Marshal Takes A Bride

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A Scarlet Bride

Alexandra Thurston wants revenge. Revenge on the husband who wrongly accused her of infidelity and divorced her, tainting her as a scarlet woman. She vows she will reclaim her good name and never marry again. However, her father wants grandchildren to be heirs to his banking fortune and he' s determined to find her a husband. He has no luck , though, until she finds herself caught in a compromising position with the handsome plantation owner, Connor Manning.

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A Scarlet Bride

My Sister's Boyfriend

A Contemporary Romance Novel

EXCERPT:

"Never again," Jennifer Riley vowed as she stepped into the black-paneled wooden coffin outside the entrance to the Hilton Hotel in downtown Tyler, Texas. Traffic whizzed by on Main street, while she laid inside the macabre structure. She tugged at her filmy black chiffon dress, trying to cover as much of her exposed cleavage as possible. "No matter how busy Julia gets or how much she pleads, I refuse to do this again. I didn't come back to Tyler to dress up as an over-the-hill sex queen."

Paul, her sister's employee, stood quietly by, holding the lid open. "Ready?"

Jennifer took a deep breath, dreading the darkness that would engulf her. "Yes, make it quick. I hate lying inside this creepy box."

Jennifer watched the coffin lid come down, shutting out the noise and headlights from the traffic.

"You all right?" Paul asked.

"Hurry!” Her breath sounded harsh in the darkness. She felt the pallbearers lift the coffin onto the cart and roll it along the sidewalk into the hotel.

After tonight, Julia, her twin sister, would have to find someone else to jump out of coffins and sing seductively when she needed help with her business. No ifs, ands, or buts!

As the new Development Director at County General Hospital, Jennifer would be way too busy to fill in at her sister's fledgling singing telegram business. Not to mention that popping out of coffins could be damaging to her new career.

The cart jostled along the hallway of the hotel until she heard wolf whistles and loud, boisterous, voices cheering, and she knew they'd arrived at the party.

Paul rapped on the coffin lid. "Are you ready?"

Jennifer cleared her throat and searched for the button that would pop open the door. Whatever happened to women jumping out of cakes? What nut case thought coffins were funny?

The coffin lifted. She gripped the sides, trying to find her balance as the pallbearers slid the casket off the cart until the box stood upright. She landed with a jarring thunk on the floor. You just couldn't get good pallbearers anymore.

Paul tapped on the side of the coffin to signal her it was show time.

"In honor of your birthday, your friends and family have given you a gift from the other side. The other side of the hill, that is," Paul announced as the noise from the crowd swelled.

Music started to play, and Jennifer hit the button on the inside of the wooden box. The lid sprang open and she slinked out, her chiffon dress clinging like a second skin that left little to the imagination.

"Happy Birthday," she sang in her alto voice, her eyes blinded by the lights. She blinked rapidly, hoping her eyesight would adjust to the brightness of the room. When her vision finally cleared, she found herself staring into the face of the one man she'd hoped never to see again.

There before her, wearing a stunned expression on his face and a Marvin the Martian child's birthday hat on his head, sat Brent Moulton.

"Well, I'll be damned," said the captain of her old high school football team, the person voted most handsome and most likely to succeed.

Jennifer's voice cracked as she gazed into the emerald eyes of the boy who'd once been the object of her teenage dreams. A lock of dark hair lay across his high forehead. His full lips smiled as she stumbled over the words to the song she'd sung countless times.

I should never have agreed to do this tonight!

Dancing for a man who, almost fifteen years ago, hadn't known the difference between her and Julia was anything but special, but the show had to go on.

She slinked around him, her heart beating in her throat as she ran her hands along the hard, contoured muscles of his shoulders during her act. Brent must have existed on nothing but Wheaties since graduation, because his physique resembled a professional football player's, rather than that of a high school kid.

Of course, he would never remember her. She had portrayed Julia that night so long ago when they'd pulled a switch on him. Nevertheless, deep down inside, the foolish young girl Jennifer had convinced herself that he'd known which twin he was with. To her, their identity seemed apparent. Yes, they looked alike, but when someone really knew the two of them, their differences were obvious.

With a coo that she hoped resembled Christina Aguilera's crooning, she ran her fingers down his cheek as she began the last chorus of the song, the place in the act where she was supposed to lean forward and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek. She gazed at his lips, full and inviting, and remembered the feel of them against her own that moonlit night when he believed he was kissing Julia's lips.

She chickened out.

––– end of excerpt –––

Available in August

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