Healed with a Kiss (Bride Mountain 3)

Looking at the broad grin on Ninja’s broad, brown-and-black face, Alexis wasn’t so sure, but she didn’t bother to argue.

“Oh, what a beautiful dog!” Josie Kempshall hurried down the steps from the deck, followed more slowly by her fiancé, Ted Beecher. “He’s part rottie, isn’t he? I had a rottie when I was growing up, and I adored him.”

Though Alexis suspected Logan was in a hurry to return Ninja to his yard and get back to work, he lingered long enough to let the bride-to-be fawn over the dog, who happily allowed himself to be hugged and admired. After a moment, Josie straightened and dusted off her hands. “Sorry, but I just love dogs,” she said with a la

ugh and a toss of her long blond hair. “Especially rottweilers.”

“Ninja is my brother’s dog,” Kinley explained. “He’s not usually out without a leash, so he won’t disrupt your wedding Saturday afternoon.”

Josie grinned and waved a hand to indicate her lack of concern. “He’d be welcome, as far as I’m concerned.”

Ted chuckled. “Josie’s still hoping the ghost bride shows up as a guest. Having a dog crash the party wouldn’t even make her blink.”

Alexis saw Kinley’s smile waver at the reference to the inn’s resident legend. Logan made a sound that might have been a swallowed groan. The Carmichael siblings had never been enthused about exploiting the tale of the ghost bride for their business.

Alexis knew the tragic story, of course, as did most people from around these parts. It was said that long before an inn was built on this mountain, a young bride had died here the night before her wedding to her one true love, after overcoming many challenges to be with him. Ever since, she had haunted these grounds, revealing herself only occasionally—and only to couples who were destined to love each other until death. Bonnie had confided to Alexis once that her great-uncle Leo and his dear Helen had seen the bride on the night they became engaged. Logan and Kinley had never believed the story, but she always had, she’d added with a misty smile.

Logan didn’t like talking about the ghost. He’d told Alexis once that the whole thing was just a sentimental old story no rational person could possibly believe, but he tried to be polite when guests of the inn referred to the legend. She knew how difficult that must be for him, when she was sure he’d rather have scoffed openly.

“If you’ll excuse me,” he said, “I need to take the dog to my place, then get back to work.”

Alexis told herself it was okay to watch him walk away because the others were, too. But maybe they were paying a little more attention to the dog gamboling happily at his side than to the sexy way Logan moved.

She made herself turn away to focus on the meeting with her clients, considering their last-minute requests, assuring them that all the vendors had been contacted and were ready to go and that all their wishes for the wedding would be fulfilled to the best of her ability, a sentiment echoed by Kinley on behalf of the inn. She gave her entire attention to her work during that discussion, pushing thoughts of Logan to the back of her mind. There would be plenty of time to think about him later when she was at home alone with her cat.

She was tired and hungry by the time she set a plate of stir-fried vegetables and rice on her table that evening. Sinking into her chair, she sprinkled soy sauce over her dinner, picked up the chopsticks she was using just for fun, then glanced at the cat, who sat on the floor beside her, cleaning her face after finishing her own dinner.

“By the way, I think Ninja sent his regards,” she said, breaking the silence in the room.

Fiona glanced up at her a moment, her pointed ears cocked, then went back to her grooming.

Alexis took a bite of her food, her thoughts wandering as she chewed. She thought about her schedule for the next day, about the Saturday afternoon wedding, about the list of things she had to see to beforehand. She thought of a message she’d received from Paloma earlier, about a new boy toy in Paloma’s life, and she promised herself she’d call after dinner to catch up with her friend.

Funny, the longer she spent here in Virginia in her new career, it became harder to remember the life she’d pursued before. Living in her tiny studio, shuffling through city crowds, attending endless classes, auditions and parties, working part-time florist jobs to pay the bills. There’d been a man—one who’d dazzled her and entertained her and promised to love her forever. Despite her disillusioning experiences with such promises in her own family, she’d almost let herself believe him. She’d hoped he cared enough about her to support her in whatever goals she pursued, but when she’d told him she was giving up performing to open her own business, he’d dumped her like a hot potato. It turned out that Harry had been more enamored of her profession, and of the exciting acquaintances and activities that had accompanied it, than he’d been with the real Alexis.

Maybe she’d have stayed in New York had things worked out with Harry, though it would have been more of a challenge to start a successful enterprise there with so much formidable competition. Instead, she’d bought the established company here, telling herself it would be easier to begin an all-new life by putting her old one completely behind her. And she’d been right. The business was going well, she was making new friends, though she’d put in so many hours at work that her social life had most definitely suffered, and she was confident that she’d made the best decision.

After the initial pain and disappointment had faded, she’d realized she hadn’t been irreparably heartbroken by the end of her relationship with Harry, but it had only reinforced her skepticism about the validity of most cases of so-called romantic love. Give her honesty and clear-eyed realism any day over the deceptive throes of rose-tinted infatuation!

And speaking of bluntly honest realists...

She glanced at the phone that lay beside her dinner plate, wondering if Logan might call tonight. Probably not, since she’d seen him earlier that day. She wasn’t sitting by the phone waiting to hear from him. She had quite a lot of paperwork to handle that evening, and she’d scheduled the next three hours or so to take care of that—after a lengthy chat with Paloma, of course.

Perhaps it was just as well that Logan hadn’t jumped to accept her offer to join her in Seattle. Though as far as she knew they had no mutual acquaintances who would attend the seminar, and it was unlikely anyone would see them together and report back to their families, still it would probably change the dynamics of their easy, nebulous relationship to spend several days—and entire nights—together that way. They’d never even woken up together, she thought, toying with the remainder of her food.

Maybe all in all, it was better not to take the chance that she would like that just a bit too much. Remembering the debacle with Harry had reminded her of all the reasons she was being so careful not to fall for Logan, a man whose own emotional barriers were glaringly evident. She wanted to believe she was too wise these days to simply open herself up to potential heartbreak.

She had just turned off her computer and dressed for bed when her phone rang. Though she’d convinced herself he wouldn’t call, she knew it was Logan even before she glanced at the screen. “Hello?”

“Hey. I hope Ninja didn’t mess up your bag earlier. Because if he did, I’ll—”

“No, it’s fine. Just had to wipe off a little doggy drool. He was very careful with it. He was just playing with me.”

“Yeah, I was hoping Kinley wouldn’t pick up on how comfortable he is with you.”

She forced a smile, though he couldn’t see it. “Right, we wouldn’t want that. But it was okay. She accepted that he was just fooling around.”

“So, how did the rest of your day go?”