Groom Wore Guccis

Taylor Manning

Description

Librarian Livvy Swenson lives by her notebook planner, organizing her life to the nth degree. When she decides her biological clock requires that she now get married, Livvy sets about the task with a list of what she requires in a husband. But she's forgotten one requirement--what the Ladies' Prayer Circle of Ophelia, Texas, calls "zing." Miss Daisy Hemphill and her friends pray for the right man for Livvy, but their prayers are answered by bartender Tex Braun.Livvy is attracted to Tex but is positive he can't possibly meet her intellectual requirements.Multi-millionaire Tex Braun is in hiding incognito as a roadhouse bartender to escape a high society gold-digger who wants to hook him. Tex doesn't realize it, but moving in the social circle of the roadhouse opens his eyes to the kind of woman he really wants to spend his life with--one exactly like Livvy Swenson. He's making progress convincing Livvy that he can be all she needs in a man when his ex-fiancee tracks him down and announces to everyone in the bar -- including Livvy--that she's pregnant.Tex is caught in the middle of a mess he had never imagined in his wildest dreams. And caught with him is the woman he loves. Winning Livvy back will be one heck of a lot harder than fixin' drinks behind the bar in his Gucci loafers.

Informations

• Publié par: Uncial Press
• Date de parution: 18 juin 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781601740939
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Groom Wore Guccis


By
Taylor Manning


Uncial Press Aloha, Oregon 2010
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events described herein are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 978-1-60174-093-9
Copyright © 2010 by Betty Kasischke and Kathryn Overton
Cover design Copyright © 2010 by Judith B. Glad
All rights reserved. Except for use in review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the author or publisher.
Published by Uncial Press, an imprint of GCT, Inc.
Visit us at http://www.uncialpress.com
Prologue
For the hundredth time Miss Daisy Hemphill glanced at the large-numbered watch onher wrist. Jonabelle was late. Miss Daisy frowned as Napoleon jumped in her lap, purring andpushing his head under her hand.
"Nuisance," she murmured, running her fingers through the cat's long, white coat. Whatwas the problem? Could Jonabelle have had an accident? Driving the way she did, and at herage, it was a wonder she hadn't already put half the town's population in the emergencyroom.
Across the table, Miss Daisy watched Mattie Clarke, another member of Ladies PrayerCircle of Ophelia, Texas, sip her tea and try not to look worried.
Just as Miss Daisy decided it was time to call the police, the front door flew open,slamming against the foyer wall.
"Daisy! Mattie! Oh, my. Oh, my. You won't believe." Jonabelle's excited shriekheralded her entrance into the parlor.
Miss Daisy's eyes widened. Jonabelle was running!
"You won't believe it. We finally did it!"
"Jonabelle, dear, you know we were supposed to begin at three. It is now a quarter to--"
"Oh, Daisy, for Heaven's sake, don't tell me the time! I know what time it is." Jonabellehuffed to a chair and flopped.
Miss Daisy tried not to grimace at the squeak.
"I'm a working girl, you know. I can't just leave the office if a call comes in." WhileJonabelle caught her breath, she poured herself a cup of tea and dropped in three sugar cubes."I'm sure my sugar is down." She put two cucumber sandwiches and a handful of cookies on oneof Miss Daisy's bone china tea saucers. "Couldn't you possibly manage to serve some chickensalad or something, Daisy? I need protein."
Miss Daisy cut directly to the chase. "What happened, Jonabelle?"
Jonabelle swallowed her mouthful of sandwich. "You'll never guess who called thechurch office today."
Miss Daisy exchanged an impatient glace with Mattie. "No, dear, we can't possiblyguess, so why don't you tell us?"
"Livvy Swenson, and... She reserved the church for the second Saturday inJune."
Mattie gasped.
Miss Daisy's fingers froze in Napoleon's fur. "She what ?" she managed tosqueak.
Jonabelle nodded and bit into her second sandwich. "Yes. I think we did it!"
"Let's not get carried away now, dear."
"But Daisy," Mattie said, "why else would Livvy reserve the church but for a wedding ?"
The three looked at each other. There really was no other reason.
"There is one strange detail, my dears. You know my niece, Winnie, is Livvy's bestfriend. She'd surely have told me if Livvy was seeing someone."
The three old ladies sat in silence for a moment.
"Who could it be?" Mattie said.
Another long moment of silence passed.
"I'm having lunch with Winnie tomorrow. I'll find out. But for now, it's time to get downto business." Miss Daisy picked up her glasses and set them on her nose, then raised a yellowedscrap of paper. She began to read.
"In 1864 the Ladies Prayer Circle of Ophelia, Texas, first came together to pray for aman for Annalise Gruber, whose husband Fritz died in the War, leaving her with seven little onesto raise. Since that time, the ladies of Ophelia have carried on this tradition, trusting our prayerswill be answered in the best way."
Miss Daisy smiled around the Circle. "Let's join hands, ladies, and begin."
Chapter One
Livvy Swenson sipped her beer as she waited for Hannah and Winnie to arrive for theirregular Friday night at Ginger's Roadhouse, which was packed as usual. Just the way they likedit. Crowded and friendly, so familiar it was like a second home, with its hand-hewn beamsoverhead, longhorn skulls on the walls, and autographed pictures of the country singers, most ofwhom they'd boot-scooted to on the old dance floor.
She scanned the crowd at the dart boards, pool tables, and the long bar that ran along theright-hand wall. Well, the men in the crowd--there was no need to waste valuable timejust sitting here--as she unzipped her black leather planner and turned to the first of her manylists.
PERSONAL LIFE GOALS. The first three items had been crossed off, since she'dattained them: college, library school, and specialized training in cataloging and appraisingephemera. Livvy smiled. It was so satisfying to scratch things off this list.
Fourth from the top was Marriage. She flipped to that section and reviewed herRequirements. She'd spent lots of time thinking about the items on this one.
"We're here, Liv. Sorry we're late." Winnie Davis plopped herself down next to Livvy at"their" table. Hannah Kimbrough took the other seat.
"What a day," Hannah said. "I so need a night out with you two."
Winnie grinned. "What does Logan think of his new bride taking off with the girls everyFriday?"
"Oh, he grumbled a little the first couple of times, but he's coming to terms with it. Heand Tim usually go out somewhere for some male bonding," Hannah said with a smile. "Besides,he'll get a reward later for his patience."
The three friends laughed. Hannah's happiness with her marriage and her son's newstepfather spread over them like sunshine.
Livvy smiled. Maybe her own news would make the atmosphere even happier. But itwould wait for a little while.
"Hey, Scotty, where's my beer, sweetcakes?" Winnie hollered at the bartender. "You'dthink after all the time we've been coming here, he'd be with the program"
Scotty didn't even look up. "Cut him some slack, Winnie," Livvy said. "It's so crowdedin here tonight he didn't even hear you."
"Ginger should hire some more help." Hannah frowned at the bar. "Speaking of which,who's that?"
Livvy followed Hannah's nod toward the bar. A new guy was pouring drinks back therewith Scotty.
"Oooh. Now isn't that a pretty piece of eye candy? I met him the other night. His name'sTex. Ain't that cute?" Winnie grinned and stood up and hollered. "Tex!"
The new guy didn't respond, which was certainly not because Winnie hadn't yelled loudenough.
"Tex!" She put her fingers in her mouth and whistled. When Tex turned toward them,she waved. "Yeah, over here. Bring us a round, sweet cheeks."
Tex smiled and waved.
"Winnie." Hannah's growl of Winnie's name was a regular part of their evenings. "Youare positively shameless."
"Not shameless, just direct."
Livvy and Hannah exchanged a smile and shook their heads as Winnie sat backdown.
Livvy couldn't hold out any longer. She closed her planner and clasped her hands on topof it.
"I have something to tell you both. I wanted you to be the first to know." She waited forthe expectant hush she knew would greet such a momentous announcement. When it came, shewhispered, "I'm getting married."
"You're what?" they both gasped in unison.
"To whom?" Winnie scooched closer.
"When?" That was Hannah, closing in on the other side.
"Why haven't you run this guy past us yet?" Winnie got right to the point, asalways.
"Well, actually, I haven't found the man yet." Livvy flipped open her plannerand pointed to her list. "But it's time to do it, so I'm all prepared. I reserved the church today and,Winnie, you already have your dress from Hannah's wedding. I just loved the lavender, so we'regoing to use that again. Hannah, I have you penciled in for a week from Monday for your fitting,so you'll need to take the whole day off."
"Whoa, there, cowgirl." Winnie laid her hand over Livvy's. "You reserved the churchand you haven't found a man?"
"I wanted to make sure it was available for the second Saturday in June. Don't forget toput it on your calendars, now."
"Livvy," Hannah squeaked. " You haven't found a man? "
"Why do you two keep saying that? That's the easiest part. I've got a whole list--"
Winnie sat back and rolled her eyes. "Oh, my gosh, you and your lists."
"I've allotted six months to identify him, get to know him, and fall in love with him."Livvy flipped over to "Requirements." "See? It's all right here. Education, which I will ascertainby getting him to talk about certain topics. That's the biggest thing, so I've put it at fifty percent.Then there's appearance, which I can judge for myself. Income. He has to want to stay in Texas,of course. Efficiency. Sense of humor. Those get ten percent each."
"What about zing?" Hannah asked.
Livvy turned and fixed Hannah with a confused stare. "What's zing?"
Hannah chuckled. "When Miss Daisy told me the Prayer Circle was on my case, shesaid it was the most important thing."
Winnie snorted. "As though Aunt Daisy would know."
Hannah's expression became serious. "I think she does, Win. Miss Daisy is a rathersurprising person."
"So, what's zing?"
Hannah smiled again. "Logan said she told him zing is what'll keep you going whenyour teeth are in a glass on your bedside table."
They all laughed.
Winnie frowned. "I never thought about Aunt Daisy and, you know..." She grinned."Zinging."
"How do you know when you've got zing?" Livvy, always the analytical one, said.
"Oh, you'll know when it hits you," Hannah replied with a secret smile.
Livvy waved away Hannah's words. "Zing, whatever it is, is not important.Compatibility is what you need. Look at you and Logan."
"I'd say they have plenty of zing," Winnie piped up. "Can't keep their hands off