Acquiring Trouble (23 page)

She hid behind her car and stripped
off
her suit and slid into the dress.
She took a deep breath and then coughed. Oh
G
od, the dress smelled like an old martini and the trunk of the car. She’d meant to take this dress to the cleaner two months ago.
Morgan cursed
—s
he was starting to think fate was laughing at her.

She dug around in her purse and found the small tester bottle of perfume she
bought
the last time she was at the mall.
She sprayed herself in a cloud of perfume and tied her hair into a loose bun at the nape of her neck before hurrying toward the path around the house.

“You sure clean up nice for a delinquent.”

Morgan almost slid on the stone path as she turned around
to face
the deep voice.
Pierce
sauntered tow
ard her from the parking area.

“Gee thanks. It’s so nice to be judged on who you were as a teenager. What were you like as a teenager?” Morgan didn’t remember. Pierce was
just a little kid when she graduated from high school, but she guessed very few people weren’t slightly
self-conscious
from som
ething during their teen years.

“Look, I’m sorry. But, I can’t let you into the reception
,
” Pierce said nicely, but sternly
as he stepped in to block her way
.

“I don’t care what you say, I’m going
in.” Morgan tried to push past
Pierce. He was the total opposite of Miles. He was tall and had the same hazel eyes, but he was so laid back. He always looked like he knew something you didn’t
and
was laughing about it
,
where
as Miles was always so serious.

“Morgan,” Pierce suddenly didn’t sound so laid back. He sounded just like Miles.
“This is my brother’s wedding. I refuse to let you inside and have you disrupt their special night.”

Morgan
looked up
and Pierce was no longer the young man she had seen just a minute ago. He now looked like a man, a very tall, very handsome, very strong man. “Look, Pierce, I have to. Miles’
s
safety is at stake because of me. I have to warn him.”

“Why do you care? From what I’
ve h
eard you only seem to care about yourself and your own entertainment.”

Morgan felt the verbal slap to the face and recoiled.
“Because I love him
! I always have.
I
need
to talk to him.”

Pierce rubbed his chin and looked at her closely. She almost squirmed under his review. “Why should I believe someone with your reputation?”

“What part of it?” She felt her voice start to rise, “
T
he part where I graduated high school with honors and earned a scholarship to college? The part where I worked my way through school and into a high
-
powered job?” Morgan said through clenched teeth.

“No,” Pierce said calmly, not reacting to
her
rising temper in the slight
est, “
t
he part where you caused the breakup of my brother and his girlfriend. The part where you almost got expelled from said high school when you put blue dye in the cheerleaders
’
shampoo and turned them all
into C
heer
S
murfs. Or, how about the part where your family disowned you?” Pierce leveled hi
s gaze at her and she crumbled.

Morgan felt the tears rise as she bit her lip to
keep
from
crying. She never told anyone about that night. She assumed, incorrectly, that people would forgive and forget. She
should’ve
known better. In a small town no one ever forgot anything
—e
ven people like
Pierce
who was just a kid when she was a teenager.

“Look, I’m sorry. Please don’t cry.” Pierce stepped forward and handed her a handkerchief.

“I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but I’m the one who loves your brother. The same person who had a silent crush on him for four years through high school and who only meant to kiss him goodbye. I never intended for anyone to see it. I’m also the person who left a note of apology to Miles up on the water tower to say how sorry I was if I caused any trouble. The same person who put blue dye in the cheerleaders
’
shampoo
—a
fter they wrote ‘skank’ on my locker, after they egged me as I walked home from school, and after they spilled fruit punch on my white prom dress simply because Tommy Simpson asked me
to
dance when one of them had a crush on him.”

Morgan paused. She hadn’t told anyone, even her mother, about the bullying she received in high school. Morgan had always thought of it as her secret embarrassment. She hadn’t wanted anyone to feel sorry for her. “Did you know that my perfect sister was the head cheerleader during
some of
that
time?” Before Pierce could interrupt
,
she felt the story come tumbling out, “And yes, I was disowned. I was disowned because when I came home from graduation, to a party for my sister and her boyfriend that I wasn’t invited to, I made the mistake
of
sit
ting
alone on my porch. How does that turn me into being disowned? “

“From what
I’ve
heard you made out with Pam’s boyfriend, just like you did with Miles
,
” Pierce said quietly.

Morgan felt another tear slide down her cheek, “I
was sexually assaulted by Pam’s boyfriend and no one believed me.
In fact, everyone blamed me.” Morgan closed her eyes and told Pierce the story of that afternoon on the porch. Sh
e hated to even think about it.

“Why didn’t you tel
l anyone?” Pierce asked gently.

“If my own family didn’t believe me, who would have?” Morgan dried her eyes and gave him a half smile. The pain was
still
fresh after all these years.

“Well, I do. Now tell me
,
why you think Miles is in danger?”
Morgan didn’t hesitate this time as she told
Pierce
the whole story.
Pierce stood quietly and
listened
.

“I believe you and I understand why you need to see Miles.” Morgan let out a sigh of relief. It was such a simple statement, but no one had ever believed her before. “Except, we need to do this carefully. I don’t want anything to ruin tonight.”

“Of course. Believe it or not, I’ve always liked your family. What do you want me to do?”

Miles waved his empty glass toward the bartender and waited for him to refill
it
with red wine. The wedding had been
spectacular
. He’d never
seen his brother so happy. The
Wyatt
s
had turn
ed
their historic estate into a
beautiful wonderland. Tiny white lights
sho
ne
bright
ly
over the dance floor they had built in the backyard
under the magnificent white tent
. Beautiful red lanterns hung from the limbs of the massive trees
outside and lined the inside of the tent
. White lights covered the bushes and smaller trees
,
while red roses sat on every table.

Unfortunately, all he could think about was seeing Morgan.
He wondered what she’d look li
k
e
in a wedding dress. He took another sip of wine and berated himself for such fanciful thoughts. First he needed to get to the bottom of
this and then he’d think about Morgan. He’d been thinking about her so much he actually thought he saw her.

When his mother gasped Miles realized he wasn’t hallucinating. “What is she doing here? She’s going to ruin everything!”

“Ma
, s
he’s not going to ruin anything. I can’t believe
you’d
say something like that.” His mother had the good manners to look chagrined.

“Miles!” Pierce
waved his hand at his brother when they got closer. The crowd had parted to let them through. “I’m sorry I detained your date. I was just having such a wonderful talk with her
that
I’m afraid I made her late.”

Miles kept his eyes on Morgan as she walked nervously toward him. He felt the rumble in his chest at the sight of her delicate hand on Pierce’s arm. All he wanted to do was pull h
er to him and claim her as his.

“Your date?” His mother hissed under her breath.  Miles ignored her and rolled his eyes when he saw Paige out of the corner of his eye coming to stand next to his m
other as t
he united female front. Morgan was in for a hard time.

“Hello, sweetheart.
” Miles reached out and took Morgan’s hand away fr
om Pierce and placed it securely
in the crook of his arm. “I’m so glad you could make it.”
He leaned over and kissed her gently and reassuringly on the lips. “Do you know my mother, Marcy? And of course you know my sister.” Miles leveled the women in his life with a hard stare as Morgan turned to say hello.

His mother and sister attempted a smile and he watched as Morgan nervously complimented them on their dresses and tried to engage them in conversation.
He felt the light poke in his
ribs and turned to find Pierce
standing grimly behind him.

“We need to talk,” Pierce whispered.

Miles nodded and then ordered a glass of white wine for
Morgan. As he handed it to her
he let his fingers linger on hers and gave her a reassuring smile. “I’ll be back in just a minute. I’m trusting you all to take good care of my date.” While he said it with a smile he knew his mother and sist
er heard the command within it.

“Aren’t we always nice to all your women?” Paige said too sweetly. Miles narrowed his eyes and his sister just rolled hers. He
must’ve
really lost his touch
with
the
intimidating glare he had perfected
during his service
. He shrugged his shoulders in confusion as he followe
d Pierce f
a
rther into the yard.

Morgan kept a shaky smile on her face as she turned back toward Marcy and Paige. She was totally lost. Miles
had played the perfect date but
the last time she saw him he’d been irate. Who knew with men?

“Morgan! Don’t you look beautiful! I’m so glad you came
,
” Annie smiled warmly as she came to stand next to her. Morgan smiled a real smile and felt such gratitude she was sure Annie could read it in her eyes.

“It’s a beautiful wedding. I’m so glad Miles invited me. I’m just sorry I’m late.”

“Too busy painting the water tower?” Paige mumbled.

Morgan felt Annie tense up and knew the woman would jump in and defend her if Morgan wanted. She didn’t have a chance though.
Kenna
and
Dani
came to stand with them and everyone turned to coo over
Kenna’s
sweet little
d
aughter
.

“Morgan,
” Miss Lily said softly from bes
ide her. Morgan jumped a little. S
he hadn’t heard Miss Lily and her Easy Spirits coming. “I wanted to ask you something.”

Suddenly her peppy little group went quiet. Even little Sienna,
Kenna’s
daughter, stopped laughing and twirling around
nearby on the dance floor
. “Yes?” Morgan turned to Miss Lily and hoped to keep the conversation private. She was sure she was going to be reminded of
trampling
Miss Lily’s roses and subsequently
getting
thwacked with
her
broom.

“I was wondering, that night I caught you in my roses,” Morgan suppressed
the desire to clench her teeth together. “W
hat were you doing in my yard?”

Morgan thought about it for a minute and then decided she had nothing to lose. She’d just tell the truth. “My father kicked me out of the house for something I didn’t do and I had no place to put my things I stole out of my house before I could hitchhike to Lexington later that night.”

“After you committed vandalism and blamed it on my brother,” Paige mumbled again.