Mad Enough to Marry - By Christie Ridgway Page 0,34

broke up with me."

*'Hell, Cynthia." Flummoxed, he pushed both hands through his hair, not even thinking about the sawdust covering them. He'd thought she'd taken their breakup so well. "Why didn't you say anything?"

She shrugged. "You talked about it as if it was a mutual decision we were making. I had too much pride to tell you that my mother had already booked a room for our wedding reception and that we had started shoppng for wedding gowns."

Logan's jaw drc^ped. "What?"

Her shoulders moved up and down again. "Places to hold wedding receptions for a thousand guests are hard to come by around Strawberry Bay. You have to book over twelve months in advance."

A thousand guests? He shook his head. "I—^I don't know exactly what to say." Marriage? To CyntWa? The idea terrified him.

She smiled. "Say that you'll hold the first Saturday in February next year free."

He stopped himself from immediately declaring that in February of next year he'd be deep in training with the French Foreign Legion. "Tell me...tell me you don't mean..."

Her smile widened. '*rm getting married.'*

He backed up so quickly he tripped over his own feet. ''You're..."

Cynthia laughed. *'You should see your face!"

Logan pushed his hands through his hair again. **rm not following you."

"I'm engaged to marry Nicky LeGrand."

Logan stared. "Nicky *Let Me Care for Your Lawns' LeGrand?"

She lifted her chin. "You have a problem with that?"

"No! No, of course not." Except that the notion of Cynthia marrying someone else made him almost faint with reUef. "I didn't know that you and Nicky were even acquainted, much less dating."

Her pale complexion flushed bright red. "He's been taking care of the grounds at my parents' while our regular man recuperates from back surgery."

Logan bit back a grin. The only daughter of Peter and Meredith Halstead was engaged to marry the gardener! "I wish you the very best, of course, but...but..."

"How are my parents handUng it?"

He nodded.

Cynthia's smile turned mischievous. "To quote my father: 'At least he's not the pool man.' My mother appears immensely relieved I'm not pregnant and don't plan to be before the wedding. My cousin DeeDee just took her new baby and eloped with the driver of the diaper service truck, so I look positively saintly in comparison."

Logan laughed. *'The beauty of a small town— someone's private business is always more jaw-dropping than our own.'*

"That's one of the reasons I'm here," Cynthia said.

'*You came to tell me about your cousin DeeDee?"

She shook her head. "No. I came because I heard that Elena O'Brien is living with you."

"She's not living with me," he corrected hastily. If that got around, Elena would skewer him. "She and her sister are staying in a separate apartment from mine."

"Oh." Cynthia looked disappointed. "I thought we could exchange congratulations. And I wanted to thank you, too."

"Thank me for what?"

"For showing me what passion is." She grinned.

"/showed you?"

"In a backhanded sort of way. I thought the comfortable relationship we had was something to build a lifetime on. But then I found Nicky...." Her face glowed. "It's not comfortable, it's not even easy, but he makes me feel so alive,'^

Logan shook his head. Cynthia had always been as cool as the cucumber masks she slathered on her face every Sunday night. It should be impossible to consider her a passionate woman—^if he hadn't seen the look in her eyes when she mentioned her fiance's name.

"I'm so happy for you," he said, though her definition of a "not comfortable" and "not easy" pas-

sion made him distinctly wncomfortable. "Come here and give me a hug."

If Logan had wanted to make Elena's life miserable, he couldn't have done anything more than offer himself up—and then leave it to her to decide whether to take him.

She hadn't slept a wink the previous night and she'd been distracted all day long.

At noon, she'd run from her day job to the high school for a meeting with the senior prom committee. What a waste of time that had been. She couldn't recall a thing they'd decided and she was going to have to remember to abase herself to the ferocious secretary of the conmiittee to get a copy of the meeting minutes ASAP.

For all she knew, she'd volunteered to chaperon, and she'd promised Gabby she'd do anything but that.

Now, here it was, a beautiful May evening, and she was no nearer to a decision regarding Logan. She hesitated at the bottom of the steps leading to the Victorian's wide front porch. Something told her he'd want to know her decision