âHave you no shame at all?â
âMy conscience is quite clear, thank you, Alex,â Hope replied crisply.
âDo you like playing games with people?â His icy glare impaled her.
âA girlâs got to amuse herself.â
âIs that what you were doing with me?â
The flicker in Alexâs hooded eyes made Hope feel uneasy, but she wasnât going to backpedal now. âWell, Iâve got to do something for the next month, and I do find older men so attractive,â she confided with her best come-hither smile.
Alex reached out to her, and glimpsed shock in her wide blue eyes before he kissed herâ¦.
Wanted: three husbands for three sisters!
Anna, Lindy and Hopeâtriplet sisters and the best, the closest, of friends. Physically, these three women may look alike, but their personalities are very different! Anna is lively and vivacious, Lindy is the practical one and Hope sparkles with style and sophistication.
But they have one thing in common: each sister is about to meet a man she will tantalize, torment and finally tame! And when these spirited women find true love, theyâll become the most beautiful triplet bridesâ¦.
Turn the page to enjoy the third Lacey sisterâs story as Hope meets her match!
âAUNT Beth didnât cry at all.â There was implied criticism in the soft voice. âI always cry at weddings.â
Hope didnât think the lace-edged handkerchief her fellow guest shook gently would have been much serious use. On closer scrutiny she couldnât detect any tell-tale smears in the smooth, matt make-up.
âIncluding your own, I expect.â She regretted the dry comment the moment she made it; the shaky condition of her cousinâs marriage was well known. The trouble was she didnât like Tricia and never had; she was shallow, pretentious and totally lacking in spontaneity. Being in her company solidly for the past half-hour had worn her tolerance level down.
âRoger is in Geneva; he has business there.â The brittle defences were clearly on show. âI miss him, but I donât expect you to understand about the special closeness marriage brings.â
Hope let the insult wash over her; sheâd weathered worse over the past weeks. Besides, this time sheâd deserved a reprimand. Youâre a cow, Hope Lacey, Hope told herself with disgust. Rogerâs âbusinessâ was a ten-years-younger version of his wife, and everyone knew it. Two bright patches of colour had emerged on her cousinâs cheeks.
âThen weâll have to take lots of pictures to show Roger how gorgeous you look, wonât we?â she said, her generous personality reasserting itself. âSmile,â she instructed brightly. âAnna has instructed me to point this thing at everything that moves. She insists that the official photos never give an accurate impression of any occasion. Too cosmetic.â
âAnna always has been a bit odd.â
Hope bit back the instinctive scathing retort that hovered on her tongue. âWell, she certainly has appalling timing. Fancy giving birth to twins twelve hours before your sister gets married.â
Hope knew that Annaâs absence had been the one cloud on Lindyâs horizon today. The triplets had a close relationship, and on today of all days Rosalind had wanted them all to be together.
âTwins!â Tricia shuddered, and from her expression Hope instinctively knew she was about to receive a detailed history of her cousinâs own labour.
âWell, itâs less dramatic than triplets.â Hope heroically fixed an interested expression on her face as Tricia launched into a detailed account. She found it hard to keep the glazed look from her eyes.
The story she was hearing didnât do much for her own maternal instincts, such as they were! It could be Iâm meant to be a maiden aunt, she reflected. Her smile faltered. Tricia hadnât even got to the part where her waters broke yet. This might be a long haul! Look on it as penance for that catty remark, Hope, she told herself severely. Poor Tricia. Considering how many women she knew who, like Tricia, were hanging on for grim death to the shreds of miserable marriages, she wondered that the institution was so popular.
Twenty minutes later Hope had her long silk skirts in one hand and a fortifying glass of champagne in the other. She was heading towards the small marquee set on her parentsâ lawn from where the foot-tapping music emanated.
Her attention was diverted before sheâd reached her destination. He wasnât the tallest figure standing in the small group, but he was easily the most arresting. As he began to speak, using his hands to emphasise a pointâno wide, sweeping gestures for this man; his hands inscribed economic, precise gestures in the airâHope pulled the camera from around her neck and began clicking.
When he turned his head and looked directly at her, for once Hopeâs poise deserted her. She turned quickly away, guilty as a child caught spying on her elders.