Ready to Run (I Do, I Don't 1)

Stacey laughed. “Yes, he would be.”

“You know him?”

The other woman’s eyes twinkled. “Honey, it’s Lucky Hollow. Everyone knows everyone.”

“Sure, but I mean, you know him,” Jordan said, fairly confident that she was right on this.

Stacey hesitated just a moment. “Yes.”

Simon’s eyes went wide as he picked up on the exact same vibes Jordan did. “Oh my,” he said, matching Stacey’s posture and bumping her hip with his. “Jordie’s right—you know him. Ex-boyfriend?”

The other woman’s laugh was a little wary but genuine. “Yes. We dated.”

Jordan was annoyed as heck by the tiny sliver of jealousy that ran through her. She shoved it aside and reminded herself why she was here contemplating renting a house in Montana to recruit a guy who didn’t want to be recruited. She needed all the information she could get on everything about Luke Elliott. Time to pry.

“So, the way I understand it, Luke’s first non-wedding happened when he was nineteen, the second when he was twenty-nine, the third when he was thirty-two,” Jordan said.

Stacey merely smiled. “You make it sound like baseball stats.”

Simon shuddered, as he usually did at the mention of anything related to sports.

“I confess, I’m a little short on details,” Jordan said, smiling back at Stacey. “I read this article in the Tanner Gazette, but it was stingy about the women and what actually happened.”

“Did you try asking Luke?”

Jordan gave her a look. “Right.”

Stacey laughed. “Well, the first thing to know is that the article in the newspaper was a guest post—by a high school student. Some kid a couple towns over had journalism aspirations, came into Lucky Hollow with one of those little reporter notebooks and everything. Nobody told him much.”

“To protect Luke?”

“More like this kid was annoying as crap. Luke doesn’t mind people talking about his past so much. Water under the bridge and whatnot.”

That might be true generally speaking, but Jordan was betting he sure as hell didn’t want anyone discussing it with Jordan and Simon.

“So were you a rebound?” Simon asked Stacey in a whisper that invited girl talk. “From one of the weddings?”

“Welllllll…”

Jordan’s eyes went wide at the other woman’s playful evasion, then she slapped her palm against the counter. “Holy crap. You were one of them! You were an abandoned bride!”

Stacey winced and straightened. “First, I’m not loving that moniker. Second, don’t tell Luke I was the one to tell you. He’ll kill me.”

“Which one were you?” Simon said. “I want all the scoop. Spare no details on the dress design either. I’m thinking sweetheart neckline?”

Stacey blinked in surprise. “How’d you know that?”

“Great boobs,” Jordan answered for him. “You were smart to show them off.”

Stacey gave a little shimmy of thank-you. “You’re flattering me into talking, and it’s working. I was bride number two. As for the scoop…there is none. It was just a relationship that didn’t work out, which we didn’t realize until it was alm

ost too late.”

“But he stood you up. On your wedding day,” Simon persisted. “How the heck are you so calm?”

“Simon,” Jordan chided. They had to have some boundaries.

“No, it’s okay,” Stacey said. “It makes for a good story, I get that.”