“Maybe,” she said again as a wave of dizziness rushed through her.
From the other side of the doorway she heard the clerk say, “Wait! You can’t go in there.”
Lucy recognized Axel’s voice instantly as he said, “I’m sorry, but this is an emergency. Valene? Are you in here? I need my truck back—”
From her perch on the pedestal in front of the mirror, Lucy looked toward the doorway as Axel raced through it, the clerk right on his heels.
The moment he whooshed into the room, she could smell his unique scent. She felt light-headed. She tried to turn to see him better, but missed the next step and wobbled on her perch, arms spinning wildly as she tried to catch her balance. It didn’t work.
She let out a little scream as she launched gracelessly off the pedestal.
Before she hit the ground, Axel scooped her into his arms, pulling her up and cradling her against his chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck.
No one said anything. It was as if everyone held their breath.
“You look absolutely amazing,” Axel said, his gaze directed into her eyes and all the way to her soul. Lucy couldn’t speak. She couldn’t breathe. She wanted to kiss him and scream to the world that she loved him. Francine’s face popped up in her mind, cooling her ardor.
The champagne reduced her ability to think clearly and resist him like she should. Lucy expended the rest of her pent-up energy trying desperately not to kiss him in front of his sister or the bride-to-be in the next room.
Lucy’s eye caught on their reflection in the three-way mirror. He looked, too. If anyone else had witnessed that look, they’d know their secret.
It was written plainly on their features. They were in love with each other. Luckily, Valene was behind them.
One heartbeat later, Francine came out of the dressing room in a silky pink robe. Unlike Valene, she got a very good look at both of them and their very obvious mirrored expressions.
Oh no.
Chapter Twelve
“What on Earth ever possessed you to come in here when you knew we were trying on wedding dresses, Axel?”
Valene’s demand broke the tension and Axel jerked back to his senses. At least he’d been granted the opportunity to hold Lucy in his arms and stare at her with unfettered desire. He wasn’t ready to let her go, but when Francine came out in a pink robe, he quickly put Lucy down and turned to face his sister.
He only hoped Valene and Francine hadn’t noticed their lovelorn looks.
Lucy wobbled and fell into him again. He put a steadying arm around her shoulders, wondering why she was so unsteady on her feet. His eyes landed on the champagne bottle in the ice bucket.
Axel didn’t really have a huge emergency, only seized an opportunity to see Lucy free from her mother’s watchful eyes. He’d noticed Adeline and Harrison Duvall heading into a restaurant at the way station just as Valene texted him to say she was stealing his truck to take his future bride to the Mission to Marry Bridal Boutique.
Turned out, he needed his truck and her little car wasn’t big enough to hold the cargo.
“I need my truck to make a delivery.”
“Since when?”
“Since always. I just forgot about it, okay?” He purposefully looked at his watch. “I brought your car here. It’s out front. I need to be on the road pretty quick to get out to the warehouse to pick up and then deliver on time. How much longer are you going to be?”
“I don’t know. This is not a regimented process.”
Francine pulled on Valene’s arm, leaned in and whispered something lengthy in her ear.
Valene nodded. “Right. Good idea. Lucy, go change out of the maid of honor dress. I think that’s the perfect one, regardless of the wedding dress we select, which you aren’t allowed to see, Axel.”
He wanted to say he’d already seen exactly what he wanted to see, but remained silent.
Lucy left his side and walked slowly and unsteadily toward a door with a little sign above it that said, “Dressing Room.” She shot him a forlorn glance.
