Page 47 of Mountain Trial

Something inside her clenched as she remembered Luc’s somber expression when he’d told her he wouldn’t be fathering any children.

He’d make a great dad.

She shook herself back to the present, realizing both Tess and Isolde were watching her, waiting for her to say something.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear what you said,” she apologized.

Isolde pointed at a gown on the rack. “We were saying, what about this one?”

Kat eyed the floor-length black gown cautiously. It didn’t look like it would leave too much to the imagination. “You mean for Tess, right?” she asked.

Tess laughed. “No. For you. Come on, take this one. And this one. We’ll choose a few and you can try them on at the same time.”

Kat laughed, . “Okay. Not too many, though, we don’t want to be here all afternoon.”

As it turned out, they were there all afternoon. Tess and Isolde turned out to be the perfect shopping buddies, helping Kat figure out not just what kind of gown would look appropriate for the occasion, but also which ones would allow for more freedom of movement.

Just in case.

She left the black gown for last. It was beautiful, made of some kind of lustrous crêpe material that flowed around her curves, with a plunging V-neck.

“Uh, I don’t think I can wear a bra with this.”

“Definitely not,” Tess agreed.

Isolde laughed. “On the plus side, you’ll be able to carry your gun strapped to your thigh, or wherever you like. Nobody will be looking anywhere that’s not your boobs.”

“Great. Just what I need.”

“Lift your hair like this,” Tess said, grabbing Kat’s curls and shaping her hair into a high ponytail.

“You look amazing,” Isolde whispered.

Kat looked at herself in the mirror. She hardly recognized herself.

Will Luc like it?

“You’re going to wow him, Kat.”

Kat blushed. She was pretty sure she hadn’t spoken out loud.

“Who?”

“Luc Fournier, of course. We’ve seen you together around town. That’s not a friendship.”

“Or maybe it is,” Tess chimed in. “But it seems like more than that as well.”

“It is more than that. He’s―he’s like no man I ever met before. He makes me―”

He makes me wish for things I never thought I deserved.

He sees me.

“If you can’t even finish that sentence, you’ve got it bad. Take it from someone who went through this just a few months ago …”

Kat knew Isolde and Drake had had their troubles―they’d both almost lost their lives, in fact, soon after getting together―but looking at them now, it was impossible not to imagine them together.

The situation between Kat and Luc was different. Kat paused to think about it for a moment.