advice. I’ll wait right here and keep my gaze carefully averted.”
Ian had to admit, he liked the man. Joshua Bailey seemed smart, centered and chill, exactly what Gemma needed.
When he pushed open the door to the shop, he saw his mother and Gemma had come out from the back room but he only had eyes for one woman.
Samantha’s features seemed to light up when she saw him, her hazel eyes looking more green against the colors of the store. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if he could put that look on her face all the time?
“Thank you again. This is perfect. Brilliant,” she said.
“I don’t know if having these dresses will help,” Margaret said.
“Well, if nothing else, it will give me some insight into your tastes. Something must have appealed to you when you bought them.”
“Right now as I look at them in your shop surrounded by all these lovely clothes, I have no idea.”
Sam smiled as she took the dresses from Ian. He tried not to notice the scent of strawberries and clotted cream that swirled around him.
“These aren’t bad,” Sam said, studying them carefully. “Not bad at all. Margaret, why don’t you try them on while I finish Gemma’s fitting and then we’ll see what we can do.”
His mother took the dresses with a sigh and turned to head into a dressing room he could see at the rear of the store.
“I bumped into the groom-to-be outside,” Ian told Samantha. “He and I are grabbing coffee at the café down the street. He’s waiting outside, as I knew none of you would like it if he followed me inside.”
“Good thinking,” Samantha said.
“Have Mother call me when she’s ready to go,” he said to his sister.
“I can drop her off, if you have other things to do,” Gemma said, just as he suspected would be the case.
It would be easy enough to say yes, go outside and tell Josh never mind on the coffee. He could head back out to the lake and perhaps log more salmon heading up to the Chalk Creek redds. But he was here and had already blocked off the morning to play chauffeur.
Besides, when he returned to pick up his mother, he would at least have another chance of seeing Samantha again.
“I don’t mind,” he said quickly before he could change his mind. “Besides, why would I pass up an opportunity to interrogate your intended?”
“Behave yourself,” Gemma said, her voice stern.
He always did, unfortunately.
Maybe it was time he tried misbehaving once in a while.
* * *
“OH, MY DARLING. You look exquisite.”
Margaret’s reaction to seeing Gemma in her wedding dress was everything Sam would have hoped for. The older woman’s features were soft, almost tearful, as she looked at her daughter.
“I do, don’t I?” Gemma gazed into the mirror with a shocked expression, almost as if she didn’t recognize herself.
Sam smiled as she adjusted the neckline a little more solidly on Gemma’s elegant shoulders and smoothed the small train that rippled out behind her.
“It’s so much better than the pictures, which I thought were amazing enough. Oh, Samantha,” Margaret breathed. “It’s a masterpiece. An absolute masterpiece. What a marvelous dress.”
She had to admit, she had outdone herself on this one. It looked like something out of a medieval fairy tale, with a scooping neckline, snug bodice and flaring skirt, all made of hand-embroidered fabric.
No one else would be able to wear this dress so well. It highlighted Gemma’s ethereal features perfectly.
“When he sees you in this, Josh is going to think he’s the luckiest man in the world,” Margaret said.
“As he should.” Gemma spoke with a confidence Sam hadn’t seen in her before.
“Oh, quite,” Margaret said tartly. “And you never want to let him forget that.”
She had to smile at the woman’s tone. She genuinely liked Ian and Gemma’s mother. The past hour of working with her had been sheer delight. She was funny, kind and had a keen eye for fashion.
“What about you?” she asked the older woman. “Are you happy with our plan to alter the peach dress instead of starting from scratch? I think those few changes we talked about to the neckline and the sleeves are all you really need to make it work for you.”
“After seeing what you’ve done with that wedding dress, I have complete faith that you know exactly what you’re talking about. Gem has sent me pictures of her gown all along the way, from the time you showed her the first sketches, but I’ll admit, I didn’t