Wedding Survivor (38 page)

"Oh, excuse
me"
Olivia said, rearing back to her heels. "Beg your pardon, Miss Survivor, but have you heard any helicopters up here?"

"No, but I—"

"And do you think those frozen lobsters will be any good after today? They've got a shelf life! They'll be shooting rancid lobsters at us!"

"I was only kidding. I don't think they will shoot the—"

"Listen, Rhys has some home-baked breads and imported Camembert cheese that he gave me—
sssh
!" She paused, her hand on Marnie's arm, and raised her head like an animal, listening intently for a moment. When she was apparently convinced there was nothing outside, she lowered her head and said, "If you align yourself with me, I will share that bread and cheese with you."

"That's very nice, but why don't you just share it with everyone?"

"Are you kidding? There's not enough for everyone! Listen, all you have to do is help me get that altar out of the water, and I'll give you a hunk the size of your head," she said, looking curiously at Marnie's hair. "I don't want Vince to win, and I don't think Rhys can. If
we
get it out, not only will we get the rainwater, but we will be eating
real
food instead of that stupid peanut butter crap!
Jesus
, you pay a million plus for a fucking wedding, and you think the least they might do is shoot something good at you!" she exclaimed with great frustration. "So what do you say?" she asked, leaning closer.

Marnie did like the idea of that rainwater. So much so that she said, "Okay. If I can go first with the rainwater. I really,
really
want to wash my hair."

"Of course!" Olivia said brightly. "I wouldn't have it any other way. So come on out when you're ready and we'll announce our team."

"But… what about Vince and Eli and Rhys?"

"What about them? They're men. They can go a lot longer without washing than women," she said blithely. "But I am not stepping back into civilization smelling like a cow."

There was something in Olivia's blue eyes that seemed a smidgen off sane, and Marnie had a moment of doubt that she was doing the right thing. But Olivia was already moving. "Okay!" she said, crawling toward the front of the tent. "I'll see you at the cabin." And with that, she unzipped the tent flap and went out.

Forming an alliance with Olivia was fine, Marnie supposed, but Olivia had forgotten one thing—how in the hell did she think die two of them would get that altar out of four feet of water? Whatever—Marnie would give it a shot. It wasn't as if she had anything better to do. Her mind made up, she reached for the tent flap at die same time Eli opened it and came in.

Marnie reared back on her heels.

"Hey, coppertop," he said.

"Hey," she said, eyeing him coolly and reminding herself not to act like a fool.

"What's up?"

"Resting."

He nodded and scratched his beard, which was, she had to admit, too damn sexy. "So listen, Marnie… I ah… I owe you an apology."

She blinked with surprise. All right, then! Stupid Cowboy had morphed back into Sexy Smart Cowboy! "Oh. Do you?" she asked, trying not to smile.

He smiled, though. "I do."

Damn that smile of his. It reduced her to mush every time. Marnie couldn't help but smile, too, and absently fingered the tail of his long-sleeved T-shirt she'd been wearing. "I sort of thought you'd see it my way."

"I didn't say
that
," he said. "But… I said some things I wish I hadn't said."

"Such as?"

"Such as…" he sighed as he pushed his hand through his hair and laughed low. "I don't think you talk too much."

"Ooh," she said, quite pleased with his admission. "Well that's really great of you to say. Frankly, I didn't think you meant it because I really don't talk that much. I mean, when I have something to say, I'll say it, but I don't go on and on just to hear myself talk like some people, not by—"

"Marnie," he said, putting his hand on her knee and sending a little bolt of lightning into her groin.

"Oh," she said, and laughed as she glanced at his big hand on her knee. She'd really like that big hand to be other places. "So… is that all?" she asked.

"Is that all?"

"I mean… isn't there anything else you'd like to say?" she coyly suggested, punching him lightly in the shoulder. "Like, maybe, you didn't mean to be such a jerk, but it's a painful topic for you, and you sort of reacted from a bad place?"

Eli gave her a lopsided smile. "I would never put those words together in a sentence, but yeah, I'm sorry I was a jerk. You didn't deserve that."

"Well, now you're just making me happy," Marnie said, and leaned forward, so that they were almost nose to nose. "You're excused," she murmured, and kissed his mouth.

"Hmm," Eli said. "I think I like being excused." He put his hand to her hair and gave her that look of affection that Marnie loved. "Excuse me some more, why don't you?" he asked.

"I can't," she said, leaning back. "I have to fish an altar out of the lake so I can wash my hair."

"With who?"

"With Olivia."

"Olivia?" He laughed. "You should have gone with Rhys. Olivia doesn't do any heavy lifting."

"No, it was all her idea," Marnie said, and started to move past Eli. "She's definitely going to help. She doesn't want Vince to win."

"Wait," Eli said, catching Marnie's arm. "What do you mean, her idea?"

"Her idea to be partners because she is mad at Vince. I help her, and if we win, she shares her bread and cheese and I get to use the rainwater first."

"How did she get bread and cheese?" Eli asked, shaking his head. "Listen, don't align yourself with Olivia. She's bad news."

Okay, here they went. Sexy Cowboy had turned into Mr. So Not a Wedding Consultant. "Thank you, but I
think
I know my bride." Rule number one for the successful wedding planner: Know your bride. Duh.

"I don't think you do," he said. "Olivia is the kind of girl who will cut you the first moment you aren't useful to her."

Okay, apology for being a jerk aside, Eli was treading dangerously close to being a jerk again. "That's not very nice," she said.

"I don't mean to be a jerk, Marnie-—"

"Seems to me you've got it down to a fine art."

He frowned. "I just know her."

"Really?" Marnie said, pushing past him. "I don't think you know her at all… unless you crawled inside and looked, right?" she said, throwing his words back at him. She rolled out of the tent and went in search of Olivia, more determined now than ever to win.

She found Olivia sitting on the porch with Rhys and marched up the steps, stood in front of the megastar, and said, "
Game on
."

"Yippee!" Olivia cried, and jumped up. "I can't wait to tell the idiot," she said, and skipped into the cabin.

ON the edge of the water, Olivia and Marnie argued about how best to proceed and finally decided they needed Eli's rope. He was more than happy to provide it—he stood with his weight on one hip, his arms crossed over his chest, watching them with the same interest with which he might watch a round of bull riding. Marnie pictured him doing just that, the smug bastard. But why did he always have to look so damn good, even when he was annoying the hell out of her?

Her lack of focus was probably why Olivia won the argument. "I'm too small," she said, pushing Marnie toward the water. "Look how tiny I am and how big you are. You have to do it."

It was hard to argue with that—Marnie did indeed tower over the diminutive star. So she waded into the lake, whimpering with each step as the ice-cold water seeped into her clothes and touched her skin. They had decided—well, Olivia had decided—that Marnie should wrap the rope around the altar. Then they'd both pull it upright, and together they'd move it to shore.

"You sure you want to do it that way?" Eli called from the bank once Marnie was already up to her knees in ice-cold water.

Hell, no, she wasn't sure, but it was a little late now, wasn't it? She gave him a withering look, then shifted her gaze to the altar. It was submerged only a foot or so from the edge of the lake. She leaned down and put her arms in the water, too. "
Yikes, yikes, yikes
," she whimpered through chattering teeth. The water was so cold she could hardly feel the rope in her hands. It didn't help that the legs of the damn Arc de Triomphe were bobbing around her and knocking into her.

"Don't do it like that!" Olivia said from her dry and much warmer spot on the edge of the lake. Marnie bit her tongue to keep from telling Olivia to jump out here and do it herself, and kept struggling to get the rope under the altar.

"Marnie! You're going to mess it up!" Olivia cried.

'Then how the hell should I do it?" she asked sharply.

"God, you don't have to cop an attitude. I'm just trying to help."

Marnie paused to glower at her and noticed that Rhys and Vince had wandered down to watch.

"It might go a lot faster if you'd just use your hands," Eli said.

Great. More free advice. "Thanks for the tip, Popeye, but it's too heavy!" Marnie shouted.

"It only weighs about fifty pounds," Eli said.

Marnie glared down at the stupid altar that they had to have flown in especially for Princess. Behind her, the plastic arch bumped her in the butt, and Marnie leaned down, grabbed the edges, and gave it a yank. It came up with a little bit of force. Dammit! She glanced over her shoulder—Eli had lowered his head and was laughing.
Laughing
.

"Fine!" she shouted. "At least I win!" She wrapped her arms around the stupid altar and dragged it out of the water.

When she reached the edge, Olivia gave out a "Woo-hoo!" and did a little victory dance around Vince. Marnie let the stupid thing fall over, Eli wrapped her in a quilt. "You need some dry clothes."

"
Really
?" she snarled, and yanked die quilt tightly around her, ignoring Olivia's victory dance and taunting of Vince, ignoring how Eli picked up the altar, hoisted it onto his shoulder as if it weighed nothing, and walked away with it, leaving a trail of alpine lake water behind him as he went.

The rest of them followed Eli, Olivia shouting after him about the rainwater. "Thanks for all your help," Marnie muttered, and marched in the opposite direction, toward the tent, squishing with each step.