Forever Wishes (Montana Brides Book 4) (23 page)

Emily chuckled to herself. “I saw how much
grow
room Mrs. Perkins allowed, and we aren’t talking single digits either.”

Nicky scowled at Emily. “Don’t talk too soon
little
sister. Your time will come someday, and I’ll be the first to remind you of your ever increasing voluptuous figure.”

Emily blew her a kiss and helped herself to another cookie. “At the rate I’m going, no one will be having babies in my house.” With a theatrical groan of desperation she said, “Where have all the medium sized, sexy men gone?”

Mrs. Perkins coughed and Nicky looked down at her. “My apologies, Mrs. Perkins. You’re doing a great job of anticipating my fuller figure and putting up with my scatterbrain bridesmaids. Pin away.”

Nicky looked across at Erin. “Talking about sexy men, how’s that hunky-spunky Jake doing?”
 

Putting her glass of orange juice on the table, Erin looked at her friends. “Do you want the censored or uncensored version?”

“Better make it the censored version,” Emily mumbled, talking around a mouthful of chocolate chip cookie, “otherwise I won’t be able to look him in the eye again.”

“Don’t worry. I’d never kiss and tell. Well, maybe just a little to you guys.”
 

“Did you wear the black lace dress the other night?” Nicky asked.

Emily’s ears pricked up at the words ‘black’ and ‘lace’ in the same sentence. “What black lace outfit? Have you guys been shopping without me again?”

“You know the outfit, Emily,” Erin laughed. “
The
black dress Nicky wore when Sam fell head over heels in love with her.”

“Oh.
That
dress.”
 

The dress in question was a floor length, sheer black lace creation, with a plunging back, scooped to the waist. The fitting under dress was flesh toned, hinting at bare skin, but giving nothing away. A few crystal beads scattered over the fabric completed a knockout dress that left every male within ten feet salivating.

Emily reached for her drink. “What did Jake say when he saw you in it?”

“It wasn’t exactly what he said, but what he did.”
 

Emily sat forward in her seat, juice forgotten. “Go on. Don’t keep me in suspense.”

“He told me I wasn’t going to any National Lawyers’ dinner in
that
dress. When I told him it was totally respectable he just gave me the ‘are you insane’ look and started hunting through my wardrobe for something else for me to wear. Of course, he didn’t find anything.”
 

“What did you do with all of your other clothes?”

“I hid my only other semi-respectable dresses in a suitcase in the garage.”
 

“Remind me to hire you when I’m looking to drive a man crazy,” Emily said. “You have a battle plan that would have made Winston Churchill look like a moose.”
 

Erin laughed. “He asked me very nicely to wear my silk wrap.”

Nicky grinned from the dressmaker’s stand. “Ha. I bet
that
really worked.”

“Yep. Through to the dancing, then it came off. Jake kept me plastered to his body for the rest of the night in case some other male got the impression I was up for grabs. I think it gave him a really big wake-up call.”

Emily giggled. “Well, it would have given
something
a really big wakeup call.”
 

At which point all four women, including Mrs. Perkins, burst into laughter.
 

Nicky wiped tears from her eyes. “I bet he never thought a librarian would stoop to something so low to get his hormones on red alert.”

Erin smiled. “He knows now.”

Jake wasn’t looking forward to the bachelor party Sam’s brothers had organized. They were going to one of the newest and most exclusive restaurants in Bozeman. That wasn’t the problem.
 

And it wasn’t the secret after dinner activities that fazed him either. What worried him the most was that the girls were going out at the same time for their bachelorette party. And Emily had organized it.
 

She seemed like a really nice, sweet person, until a man got to know her. Then you realized why Emily, Erin, and Nicky enjoyed each other’s company so much. They were as bad as each other in the time honored way women have evolved to drive sane men crazy. And not only did he have Emily’s overactive imagination to worry about, but he had Sam staying with him for the night.
 

“Hurry up, Sam. You’ll wash yourself down the drain if you stay in the shower any longer.”

The water flicked off. A few minutes later, a dripping head poked itself around the living room door. “What’s the rush? We’ve got heaps of time. We’re not due to meet the guys for another hour.”

“I want to see Erin before she heads out.”

Sam laughed. “I don’t think they’ll want to see us. Are you worried about what she might get up to?”

“More worried about what they
all
might get up to.”

“You’ve got it bad, my friend. Take it from me, you’ll be a lot less stressed if you don’t know what they’re doing.” Sam disappeared down the hallway. “I’ll be ready in ten minutes.”

Throwing his jacket on, Jake thought about Erin. So far their baby contract had been working out fine. More than fine. They’d shared breakfast, lunch and dinner most weekends, and met up after work during the week. Erin had gone with Nicky to a lot of pre-wedding appointments over the last couple of weeks, but they’d still managed to spend time together.
 

Except this last week. With Sam and Nicky’s wedding only two days away, there’d been a last minute rush of wedding arrangements that Erin and Emily had been helping Nicky with. And he’d been busy with other things the girls knew nothing about.

 
He still broke out in a cold sweat when he thought about becoming a father. But he wasn’t worried. He had months to get his head around the whole concept of family life. And if Erin decided that she didn’t need children to make her life complete, then he was more than okay with that too.

 
“Can I borrow a deodorant?” Sam yelled down the hallway. “I’ve left mine at home.”
 

“Sure. There’s one in the second drawer down in the bathroom.”

“Have you got an extra pair of black socks as well?”

Jake fished a pair of socks out of his closet and walked down the hallway to the spare bedroom. “Tell me why you’re here again?”

“Don’t worry, I remembered my wallet,” Sam grinned. “The paint fumes would have suffocated me at my place long before I woke up in the morning. You helped create them, so it only seems fair that you have to put up with my snoring tonight.”
 

 
Jake stared at the overstuffed suitcase sitting on the floor. “It’s just as well you convinced Nicky to stay with Emily, otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten any painting done at your place.”

 
“It wasn’t easy, believe me.” Sam picked up his jacket, and put it on. “She thought something strange was up as soon as I mentioned her staying away from the house.”

Jake believed him. Erin had been trying to find out what they’d been doing as well. Hiding anything from a determined woman was hard work.
 

“How did the meeting go last weekend?”

“Okay. The formal dinner at the end was interesting.”

“Interesting?”

Jake flicked the curtains closed. “I took Erin. Let’s just say she made a big impression with the delegates. I spent most of the night keeping all the single men away.”

“I can commiserate with you there, buddy. At least the girls are traveling together tonight. Nicky’s mom’s going with them. She’ll keep them on the straight and narrow.”

It would take more than Nicky’s mom to keep them safe if Erin wore the black dress, and he used the term loosely, that she’d worn last weekend.
 

Sam threw his cell phone in his pocket. “Okay, buddy. I’m armed and dangerous. Let’s hit the road and see what trouble we can find.”

“Thank God. I never thought you’d be ready,” Jake growled, with a smile on his face.

“It’s just as well I’ve got a thick skin. A man could get an inferiority complex if the friend he’s known for twenty years suddenly decides he likes the company of a woman better than him.”

Opening the garage door, Jake stared at Sam. “That’s rich coming from someone who’s getting married soon. You gave up your single days months ago.”

Sam grinned. “I’ve got to tell you buddy, living with Nicky is like living with a human dynamo. She’s full of energy and has me spinning in circles. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.” With a laugh, he added, “My single days were over two years ago. It just took me a while to figure it out.”

Jake could understand that. Figuring things out wasn’t one of his strong points, either.

Erin paced backward and forward, nervously waiting to be let into Emily’s spare bedroom for the big reveal of tonight’s costumes. Emily had hired the bridal party’s outfits for the bachelorette party. Erin already regretted the impulsive decision that had given the green light to her friend’s weird and whacky imagination.

When she walked into the bedroom she couldn’t believe what she saw. “What on earth were you thinking?” Lying on top of the bed were three identical white, shiny creations, made of the sheerest satin she’d ever seen.
 

“Don’t be such a prude. Put it on and see what it looks like.”

Emily was deluded if she thought the dresses would make them look like anything other than up-market hookers trying for angelic sophistication. A white piece of fabric fluttered toward Erin.
 

“You’ll need to put this on first. It goes underneath.”

Erin held the skimpy piece of fabric in her hand. “I have dusters that are bigger than this.”

“Don’t judge the costume until you’ve got it on. You’ll love it.”

Erin wiggled out of her jeans and t-shirt, pulling the scrap of barely there material over her head. Next came the satin handkerchief she’d seen draped across the hanger.
 

Looking at herself in the mirror, Erin grimaced. At some point the dress must have started its life looking like a traditional white toga. Someone with half a brain and a sick sense of humor had slashed most of the skirt off. A diagonal hemline that went from the top of her left thigh to just below her right knee revealed an impressive expanse of skin.
 

The fabric had been chosen to cling seductively around the body of the woman mad enough to wear it. One shoulder was totally exposed and the fabric over the other shoulder was clipped together with a diamante encrusted broach.

“Put the sandals and headband on as well.”
 

Erin pursed her lips. “Oh right. As if a headband and silver sandals are going to make a difference. It needs twice as much fabric to make it decent.”

Emily laughed. “And this from the person who wore a sheer black lace dress in a room full of lawyers? Where’s your sense of adventure gone?”

“109 Trophy Bull Road.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That’s Jake’s address. I prefer to keep my sense of adventure for him.”

With a careless shrug Emily stood her ground. “Well, I must admit, you’ve got good taste. If I had a man like that I’d probably want to explore my sense of adventure with him too. Think of it as Nicky’s last night of freedom. All for one and one for all, or something like that.”
 

She gave Emily a dirty look. Muttering unladylike things under her breath, she laced the silver sandals up her calf muscles. Out of everything she had on, she had to admit that the sandals were pretty cool.
 

“Headband.” Emily passed over a wide silver band that sat across her forehead.
 

“And voila. Faith has arrived. Now I just have to get Nicky into her costume, slip on mine, and we’ll have Faith, Hope and Love in all their glory.”

“Are you nuts? I look like something, but it’s got absolutely nothing to do with the bible.”

Nicky knocked on the door. “Oh, my. Don’t you look…sexy.”