Wedding Survivor Read Free

between them, fuss with her hair a minute, then try to see out the thick, smoky glass. But she bored of that and settled back again, turning slightly in her seat to face him. "So!" she said brightly, all her reservations apparently gone. "Your name is EH, is that right?"
    "Right."
    "
Rüight
. Do I detect a bit of a drawl? Where are you from, Eli?"
    "Texas."
    "Ah! I
love
Texas! My uncle used to live in Austin. Great place. I love the music scene, do you? And the lakes! I had the best time at that huge lake down there, what's the name? Tavish? No, Travis. Travis, that's it. So what part of Texas are you from?"
    Oh God, she
was
chatty. "West. We'll arrive at our destination in half an hour."
    "Okay," Marnie said, and picked up her bag, looking inside. "Would you like an orange?" she asked, and pulled one out, sticking it under his nose to show him. "I picked some up at the market. I figured as long as I was there, I might as well pick up a few things," she said cheerfully.
    Eh' glanced down. The orange was enormous, almost the size of the melon. "No, thanks."
    The orange disappeared. She put the bag down and straightened her blouse. She was really pretty, he thought. Not gorgeous or reed-thin like the Hollywood types he was used to working with, but a lot prettier than a schoolmarm and definitely a lot curvier.
    She glanced up, but did not seem to notice Eli checking her out. "I'm from L.A.," she said. "Born and raised."
    Eli shifted his gaze forward.
    "I used to be in high tech," she said, casually propping her arm on the melon and crossing her legs. "I was doing pretty well until my company went bankrupt."
    Eli said nothing.
    "That's why I'm a wedding planner!" She laughed. "Yep, I finally got the opportunity to jump into the wedding business with both feet when I got laid off. But I'd wanted to do it for a long time, you know. I figured the high-tech thing really wasn't for me," she said with a sniff. "I'm really better suited to planning weddings than designing Web pages. Honestly? Getting laid off was the kick I needed to jump right in there and start doing it. And then I heard about
this
wedding!" She suddenly twisted toward him again. "So how do you know them? Vincent Vittorio and Olivia Dagwood, I mean. I knew this would happen, by the way. I read in
People
that they started seeing each other again on the set of
The Dane
."
    That much was true. Eli had worked that movie, and it was the second affair they'd had. The first one had ruined their marriages. And then they'd broken up over a makeup girl. When Vince dumped the makeup girl, their second affair had been pretty much in the open, and Olivia's quickie divorce from the dancer she'd married while Vince was doing the makeup girl pretty much sealed the deal.
    "I guess it goes without saying that this would be a fabulous boost to my portfolio," Marnie waxed dreamily, and faded back into her seat.
    "So how is your portfolio?" Eli asked idly as the driver slowed for a red light.
    "What do you mean?"
    What did she mean, what did he mean? How should he know what he meant? "I guess I mean how many weddings have you done?"
    "Oh. How
many
?"
    What else would be in a portfolio?
    "Well none, technically," she said firmly. "I mean, this potentially could be my first solo wedding, but that doesn't mean I haven't been involved. Oh no—I've done
puh-lenty
of apprenticeships," she said, sweeping her arm out to show just how puh-lenty, "so I feel perfectly capable of handling
this
wedding. I interned with Simon Dupree. I bet you've heard of him. He is
the
most famous event coordinator in all of—"
    "Relax," Eli said easily. "You can give the rundown of your experience when we reach our final destination."
    "But what do you think? Do you think that sounds okay?"
    "Does what sound okay?"
    "My pitch."
    "Yeah, I guess," he said with a shrug. What he knew about wedding planning was absolutely zilch. Jack was their resident expert, because his sister had used one to plan her wedding.
They