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Even more than that though, for Liam, she was an echoing memory of Tessa. The woman he’d made a damn fool of himself over. It was as if the Universe had reached out to slap him with this living reminder of how badly things had gone the last time he’d tried being with a woman like this one. And standing there listening to Ellen, Liam felt a pang of shame again for letting himself get sucked into Tessa’s orbit.
“Okay, thanks for letting me know,” Chloe was saying and as she tried to take Ellen’s arm to steer her farther away from Liam.
“But I’m not finished. I have more news.” She deftly avoided Chloe’s hand. “You’re dirty. Remember?”
“Fine.” Chloe took a deep breath, and sent Liam a look that clearly said, go away.
He didn’t.
Chloe shook her head, pushed her hair back from her forehead, leaving behind a streak of dirt, and said, “What else did you want to tell me?”
Ellen, too, shot Liam a quick look as if silently ordering him to walk away. He folded his arms across his chest, braced his feet wide apart and let her know he wasn’t going anywhere. She frowned, then ignored him again.
“This!” She waved her left hand toward her sister, and displayed a diamond the size of Galveston. “I’m engaged! Isn’t my ring gorgeous? I swear, he just about knocked me over with this diamond. All my friends are so jealous—Well, Tina would never admit to it, but I saw her eyes go all wide when she saw my ring and I know it’s just killing her...”
Liam shook his head. The stream of words and the high-pitched tone they were delivered in were like the scratch of nails on a blackboard. Idly, he thought Ellen might be worse than Tessa, though once upon a time he would have said that would be impossible.
“I want you to help me find the perfect dress,” Ellen ordered, completely ignoring her sister’s shocked expression. “You’re good at sketching, and I’m actually thinking about designing it myself to be sure it’s one of a kind because I don’t want anyone else to have a dress like mine, because then it wouldn’t even be special. I’m thinking strapless with maybe some lace, and there has to be sequins so the light will catch on me while I walk down the aisle—”
“To who?” Chloe asked.
“What?” Ellen stared at her ring and sighed.
“Who gave you the ring?” Chloe said each word clearly and slowly.
“Oh.” Ellen laughed. “Well, Brad, of course. Brad Tracy. You know I’ve just been crazy for him for six whole months and he’s so perfect. Tall and handsome and he looks so good in a tux and you know how important that is. He’s working for his father in Dallas, so we’ll move there after the wedding and his father’s going to build us a house in the perfect neighborhood and I get to pick everything out because Brad doesn’t care, so...”
“Brad?” Chloe repeated the man’s name, and even Liam could hear the distaste in her voice. Ellen, of course, didn’t.
“Yes. Brad.” Ellen frowned slightly. “Honestly, Chloe, you didn’t used to be so slow. It’s being out in the sun too much, isn’t it? Your skin is just going all brown and that can’t be good. Are you wearing sunscreen at all?”
“I’m fine, Ellen,” Chloe said tightly. “But you’re right. The sun’s so hot, you might get burned. You don’t want that.”
“True, can’t risk it. I’ve got the engagement party Saturday night and—”
Liam was watching Chloe and saw so many different expressions flash across her features and dance in her eyes, it was hard to keep them straight. But the upshot was, she wasn’t happy about her sister’s engagement.
“Saturday?”
“Didn’t I tell you?” She laughed and said, “I know it’s short notice, but it’s just so wonderful I didn’t want to wait. It’s just so thrilling, you know? The party, oh, then my shower! You’ll have to give it because otherwise Tina will want to and she’s just terrible at that sort of thing. Then we have the wedding, the honeymoon... Anyway, the party’s at our house. Saturday. Come at eight, okay? You will come, right?”
