Dylan didnât question her, though. He merely headed for the shop door.
âFour-thirty tomorrow,â he repeated. âText me your address and Iâll bring a car with no dents and more than two seats.â
That confused her, too. But she felt so dazed by then that she thought it might have been perfectly clear to someone else.
She only nodded and watched him open the door.
As he went through it he cast her one last glance over his shoulder. He had the kind of smile on his face that said he liked what he saw when he caught that final sight of her. Then he pulled the door closed after himself and he was gone.
And that was when Abby deflated. Swallowed hard. And wondered if sheâd stepped into some other world or something.
Because somehow she didnât feel as though she was still in her own.
* * *
The Camdens of Colorado: Theyâve made a fortune in business. Can they make it in the game of love?
Chapter One
âI canât get married looking like this!â
Dylan Camden heard his sisterâs lament as he went into the kitchen of his grandmotherâs home. He was coming from an apology lunch he hoped would gain him a few more good-grace points with his family. He had fences to mend and he was trying to act on every opportunity to do that.
But the minute he set eyes on his sister he couldnât help laughing before he caught himself and agreed with her. âYouâre right, that is not good hair.â
It looked like a ratsâ nest with bows.
Lindie and Georgianna Camdenâthe grandmother they all called GiGiâturned at the sound of his voice.
âAnd this is the third try!â Lindie said. âThree different stylists from three different Camden Superstores salons. No wonder revenues in most of them are down if this is their quality of work!â
âI think I might have a solution that will kill two birds with one stone,â GiGi said. âYou know about the visit from the prison chaplainââ
It had come as a surprise to everyone three days ago when a chaplain from the state penitentiary had shown up at GiGiâs house in the heart of Denverâs Cherry Creek. Heâd come a long way with a request.
In the final week of longtime inmate Gus Glassmanâs life, Glassman had asked that the chaplain track down a lockbox of his belongings to be given to the daughter heâd abandoned twenty-eight years ago when he was incarcerated.
The incident that had caused the man to be imprisoned was something GiGi had read about in the recently discovered journals of her late father-in-law, the founder of the Camden fortune, H.J. Camden.
During their lives, H.J., his son Hankâwho was GiGiâs late husbandâand GiGi and Hankâs sons, Mitchum and Howard, had all been suspected of heavy-handed, unscrupulous business practices. Rumors and accusations had flown about ruthlessness, deceit, and callous, cold-blooded and unprincipled practices.
Nothing had ever been proven. And because GiGi and her ten grandchildren had never met with anything but loving care and kindness from the men, it hadnât been difficult to deny what had seemed like only false accusations.
Then H.J.âs journals were discovered, proving that all the accusations were true.
As a result, the current Camdens were trying to quietly seek out those who were wronged in the pastâor their descendantsâand atone in some way that wasnât disloyal to the men theyâd all loved, and also didnât open the gates to unfounded lawsuits.
Gus Glassman had been sent to the Colorado State Penitentiary for manslaughter when heâworking as an enforcer for the Camdensâhad gone too far while giving a beating to a factory supervisor who was trying to form a union. The beating was given on H.J.âs orders. GiGi had explored the possibility of making amends to the family of the man who had died, but heâd left no descendants so sheâd moved on to other incidents.
But the prison chaplain had relayed information that there was another person caught in the fallout of Glassmanâs deadly errand. An innocent whose existence was unknown until Gus Glassman revealed it to the prison chaplain.
Gus Glassman had left behind a then-two-year-old daughter.
When GiGi heard that, sheâd assured the chaplain that she would find the lockbox and Gus Glassmanâs daughter and take care of everything.
âI didnât want this to wait any longer so Iâve been looking into it since the minute I said goodbye to the chaplain,â GiGi went on, âand you arenât going to believe it, Lindieâsheâs a stylist for that salon, Beauty By Design. The one that Vonni said a lot of her brides are using instead of Camdens.â