Mad Enough to Marry - By Christie Ridgway Page 0,2

suspicion—that Gabby was related to his nemesis, Elena. Though their looks were similar. Gabby appeared warm and approachable, and she'd obviously enjoyed Tyler's affection. Touching Elena, however, was like grabbing a handful of stinging nettles.

*'This is Logan Chase," Tyler told Gabby.

Her smile turned Mona Lisa-like. *'I know. My sister has, um, pointed him out before."

'*Ah." Logan nodded. So he'd been right after all. **Gabby O'Brien. Elena's sister."

*'Hey! So you know Elena?" Tyler's voice turned heartily cheerful. '*We were just going over to see her. Maybe you'd like to come along."

Logan blinked. '*You think I'd like to what?''

Tyler must really have it bad for Httle Gabby, because his cheery expression didn't change. **Go see Elena. In the kissing booth. I'm going over there to—" he swallowed **—^buy a kiss."

Logan knew he must have heard wrong. **You're going to what?''

Tyler gulped again, his face betraying its first signs of panic. '*Buy a kiss," he said bravely.

Logan laughed. '*Not and survive you're not. She'll stab a kid like you before she kisses you."

Gabby giggled and Logan looked at her, slightly ashamed for saying such a thing in front of the Frost Queen's sister. But hell. Gabby had to know it was true.

' 'Someone has to go over there and pay for a kiss,'' Tyler said stubbornly. *'Once one man, uh, survives, more customers will come along. We need that money for the prom decorations."

* *Kid..." Logan ran a hand through his hair, trying to think of how to explain the situation tactfully.

**Someone has to," Tyler insisted, looking young.

noble and not just a little bit stupid. "And I guess that someone has to be me."

Logan sighed. God. He'd tried, he really had. No one could say he hadn't. He sighed again.

"Never mind, kid." Logan inhaled a long, deep breath and wondered if the dread starting to build in his belly was what human sacrifices had felt on their way to execution. "I'll do it."

From fifty feet away, Logan gazed at the woman in the senior prom booth. If she wasn't so staggeringly beautiful, he thought, kissing her wouldn't be so bad.

Her midnight-black hair was sleek and shiny, hanging straight to her clean jawline and emphasizing her full, bewitching Hps. Her skin, fine-pored and unmarked by even a single freckle, was a golden cream color that made her black-lashed blue eyes stand out like sapphires.

If that wasn't enough to mess with a man's brain, ever since she was sixteen years old, Elena O'Brien had possessed the kind of curves that made men from 12 to 112 stop, stare then salivate.

The hell of it was, Elena had a beautiful face paired with one hot, bodacious bod. It was the kind of coupling that made a man think only of...well, coupling. But Logan knew from personal experience that it wasn't wise to let your wits wander southward when you were around Elena. While you were busy dreaming of her scratching your back, she'd be busy finding ways to scratch your eyes out.

The fiinny thing was, people genuinely liked her as a person. Women included, despite the kind of loveliness that might inspire jealousy. She was reputed to be an indefatigable employee and Logan* s new sister-in-law swore she was a terrific friend. But when a man approached Elena O'Brien as a man, she'd hiss and spit and scare the poor guy off. Sometimes off women altogether.

Rumor had it there was a guy in the next city who, after one date with Elena, had moved back in with his mother and was now raising bunny rabbits.

Inhaling a fortifying breath, Logan began strolling toward the kissing booth. As if sensing his destination, the people in front of him parted, clearing his path just the way the citizens of Dodge City cleared a path for the white-hatted sheriff in a bad Western.

He shoved his hands in the pockets of his worn jeans and ignored the chug of his blood pulsing through his veins. He hoped like hell his face was expressionless. Conventional wisdom said it wasn't smart to show fear around animals that bite.

The senior prom committee's booth was situated in the shade of mature trees and had a fanciftil, castlelike facade that was painted white and decorated with bright pink and red tissue-paper flowers. The colors framed Elena's vibrant beauty perfectly, and as Logan approached she raised her black brows in twin arches just as perfect.

He shoved his hands deeper in his pockets and curved his lips in what he hoped appeared a relaxed.

casual smile. *'Hey, there," he said,