Murder of a Wedding Belle Read Free Page B

someone who was famous only for being famous?
    “My father is Mickey Canfield.” When Skye remained unimpressed, Belle added, “Of the Canfield Corporation.”
    “Okaaay.” Skye drew out the word.
    Belle snapped, “Surely, even here in the sticks, you’ve heard of Canfield Hotels and Resorts.” She shot Skye a scornful look and said, “Now can we get to work?”
    “I really don’t care who your daddy is.” Skye narrowed her emerald green eyes. How shallow was this woman to think having a famous father would get her what she wanted? “I’m not the person Riley arranged to assist you, so we won’t be getting to work.” With her ebony hair, porcelain skin, and heart-shaped face, Belle may have looked like Snow White, but Skye wasn’t giving in to a spoiled princess who couldn’t take no for an answer.
    “Yes, you are,” Belle insisted. “Riley promised me her cousin, Skye Denison, would help me with the local parts of her wedding.”
    “Riley said she talked to me about this?” Skye felt as if she were in some alternate universe. “And I agreed?”
    “Her exact words were . . .” Belle held up a device the size of a thumb, and Skye heard Riley’s voice say, “Mom talked to Grandma . . .”
    Wow. Skye stared, fascinated by the tiny machine. Heaven knows what kind of trouble I’d get into with that gadget. I can barely figure out my cell phone. Although she admired technology, she also feared it.
    Focusing, Skye listened to her cousin say, “And Grandma talked to Great-Aunt Cora, and Great-Aunt Cora said Skye will help you with things in Scumble River.”
    “Damn!” Skye was getting better at saying no to her mom, but how could she refuse her sick grandmother? “Look, I’m a school psychologist and classes don’t get out for another two weeks, so I can’t do much until then,” she explained, hoping Belle would demand that Riley find someone who was available immediately.
    “I’m guessing you aren’t married”—Belle flicked a derisive glance at Skye’s curvy frame and disheveled appearance—“or you’d understand the importance of this event.”
    “No. I’m single.” Skye refused to be intimidated by the gorgeous wedding planner. No way could her incredible amethyst eyes be real. The color had to come from contact lenses. “How about you?”
    “Why would I get married? Unlike ordinary women, I can have the whole box of chocolates. Men find me irresistible, so why should I tie myself down to a buttercream when I can hook up with a different flavor every night? I only sleep alone when I want to.”
    Skye decided that if it was pointed out to her, Belle would just ignore the contradiction of a wedding planner who scorned romantic commitments, so instead she repeated her earlier objection. “Nevertheless, I have a contract with the school district, so I’m not free for the next fourteen days.”
    “I told Riley and Nick that I would only agree to put on an event of this size, two thousand miles away from my usual vendors, if I had a local person to assist me.” Belle pulled a cell phone from her purse. She pressed a single button, waited a couple of seconds, then said, “Riley, it’s Belle. No one told your cousin about helping me, and she says she’s too busy. If she won’t help, we’ll have to cancel everything here, postpone the wedding, and move it all back to California.”
    Skye cringed. Grandma Cora would be so disappointed. She’d explained to Skye how important it was that Riley get married in Scumble River, since neither she nor her sister Dora was strong enough to travel to the West Coast. Tapping the wedding planner on the arm, Skye asked, “How about Anita? I bet she’d be thrilled to be involved.”
    “No!” Belle held the tiny phone to her chest. “I do not have any contact with mothers of the bride. Not after The Incident.”
    “I won’t ask what happened.” Skye had had her own episode with a crazy mother not too long ago, and the school lawyer was