“Am I?”
“Yes. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. Maybe instead of starting from zero, I can simply alter one of the dresses your mother brought along to make it more to her liking.”
“From what I’ve seen, I’m sure you have the necessary skill to work magic with the dresses she has. If I were a woman, I would definitely want to shop here.”
It was a stupid thing to say but somehow seemed to hit the right note, anyway. She gazed at him, eyes wide again but this time with a stunned, luminous happiness. “Thank you for saying that.”
“You’re welcome,” he said gruffly.
They stared at each other long enough that it began to feel awkward. He cleared his throat. “Right, then. Shall I fetch the dresses?”
“Yes. Please. And thank you. A thousand times, thank you.”
It was a small thing to feel heroic about but he decided to take his small victories where he could find them. He unlocked the vehicle where the dresses were hanging. As he reached in to grab them, a man approached him.
“Need a hand with anything?”
He frowned at Gemma’s fiancé. “What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be anywhere in the vicinity. Gemma is inside trying on her wedding dress and you know she’ll have a fit if you see it before the wedding.”
Josh Bailey made a face. “Where am I supposed to go exactly? Haven Point isn’t that big and my store is just across the street. I spotted you from inside a few moments ago when you showed up with your mother.”
“Anywhere but inside Samantha’s shop is fine.”
“Have you had breakfast? I was just about to head over to the café to grab something and would love to have you join me.”
Ian considered his options. He wouldn’t mind sitting on that conveniently placed bench outside the store with his book. On the other hand, he had been hoping for an opportunity to become better acquainted with his sister’s fiancé. Every other time they’d been together had been with Gemma as a buffer.
“I already had breakfast with the children this morning but I wouldn’t mind a cup of coffee.” He was going to say tea but decided coffee made him sound a little less British. “I only have to deliver these dresses to Samantha inside the boutique.”
Josh looked confused. “Don’t people usually take dresses away from the boutique, not the other way around?”
“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you about it over coffee. You had better wait out here. I’m afraid if you walked into that shop right now, there might not be a wedding and all this fuss over dresses would be for nothing.”
“Probably wise 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
