"I don't really think-"
But Torie was already pulling her toward Kenny Traveler's wife, who'd chosen a cheery tangerine shift with eyelet petals at the hem. The warm color enhanced her brown eyes and butterscotch curls.
"Lady Emma, I don't think you've officially met Meg Koranda," Torie said. And then, to Meg, "Just so you know . . . one of Lady Emma's closest friends is Ted's mother, Francesca. Mine, too, but I'm more broad-minded. Lady Emma pretty much hates your guts like everybody else."
Kenny's wife didn't bat an eyelash at Torie's bluntness. "You've caused Francesca a great deal of pain," she said to Meg in a quietly clipped British accent. "I don't know all the circumstances, however, so 'hates' is much too strong a word, but Torie prides herself on creating drama."
"Don't you just love the way she talks?" Torie gave the smaller woman a bright smile. "Lady Emma is a stickler for fairness."
Meg decided it was time to give these blunt-spoken females a small dose of their own medicine. "If being fair toward me is too much trouble, Lady Emma, I give you permission to set aside your principles."
She didn't even blink. "Just Emma," she said. "I have no title, merely an honorific, as everyone here very well knows."
Torie gave her a tolerant look. "Let's put it this way. If my daddy was the fifth Earl of Woodbourne like yours was, I'd sure as hell call myself Lady."
"As you've made abundantly clear." She turned her attention back to Meg. "I understand Mr. Skipjack has taken an interest in you. May I ask if you intend to use that against us?"
"Oh, so tempting," Meg said.
Ted stepped out on the patio along with Spence and Sunny. He wore a boring pair of tan shorts and an equally boring white T-shirt with a Chamber of Commerce logo over the breast. Predictably, a shaft of sunlight chose that moment to cut through the trees and spill all over him so it looked as though he'd stepped into a string of twinkle lights. He should be embarrassed.
Haley took her job as his personal assistant seriously. She abandoned the elderly man reaching for one of the buffalo wings on her tray and rushed to Ted's side to serve him.
"Oh, dear," Emma said. "Ted's here. I'd better go out to the pool and check on the children."
"Shelby's got three lifeguards on duty," Torie said. "You don't want to face him."
Emma sniffed. "The contest to spend a weekend with Ted was entirely Shelby's idea, but you know he'll blame me."
"You are president of the Friends of the Library."
"And I planned to talk to him first. Believe me, I had no idea they'd get the flyers out so quickly."
"I hear the bidding's already up to three thousand dollars," Torie said.
"Three thousand four hundred," Emma replied, a little dazed. "More than we could make in a dozen bake sales. And Kayla had trouble with the Web site last night or the bidding might have gone higher."
Torie wrinkled her nose. "Probably best not to mention the Web site to Ted. It's a sore spot."
Emma pulled a very full bottom lip between her teeth, then released it. "We all take such advantage of him."
"He doesn't mind."
"He does mind," Meg said. "I don't know why he puts up with all of you."
Torie waved her off. "You're an outsider. You have to live around here to understand." She gazed across the patio toward Sunny Skipjack, cool and sexy in white slacks and a powder blue tunic with a keyhole neckline that displayed an enticing amount of cleavage. "She sure is giving Ted the works. Look at that. She's rubbing her boob against his arm."
"He seems to be enjoying it," Emma said.
Was he? With Ted, who could tell? Only thirty-two years old, and he was carrying not only the weight of Sunny Skipjack's breast on his arm but also the burden of the entire town.
He surveyed the crowd and almost immediately found Meg. She felt her own internal twinkle lights begin to flash.
Torie lifted her long hair off her neck. "You got yourself a bit of a dilemma, Meg. Spence is champing at the bit to get his hands on you. At the same time, his daughter has your love object in her high beams. Tough situation." And then, in case Emma had missed the point, "Meg told Spence she's in love with Teddy."
"Who isn't?" Emma's smooth brow furrowed. "I'd better go talk to him."
But Ted had already turned the Skipjacks over to Shelby Traveler so he could make a beeline for Kenny's wife. First, however, he took in Meg with a slow shake of his head.