“Yeah, Hannah Deturk.”
Add prudish to the list.
“And you’d better be nice to her,” Mitch warned.
“Of course I’ll be nice to her. Why the hell wouldn’t I be nice to her?” Justin said, genuinely hurt by his brother’s warning, by the idea that Mitch felt it necessary to issue the warning.
“Well…” Mitch’s tone was now conciliatory. “You’ve never made a secret about how you feel about women, and I just don’t want anything to upset Maggie.”
“You sound as smitten as Ben,” he said. “You really do have it bad, don’t you?”
“I love her, Justin, more than my own life,” Mitch admitted in a quiet, but rock-solid tone.
“I hear you, and I promise I’ll behave.” He knew he’d never felt like that about a woman, not even his ex-wife, Angie, and was certain he never would.
Hell, he never wanted to experience that kind of intense emotion for any woman, Justin thought minutes later, frowning as he cradled the receiver. That path only led to pain.
First Ben and Karla, now Mitch and Maggie, he mused, staring into space, and all within one year.
Hmm. While Justin wasn’t fanciful, he did wonder if there was some type of aphrodisiac in Deadwood’s water, or maybe it was the atmosphere in the casino, some sort of love and marriage spell.
The day after Christmas, Justin set off for Deadwood, convinced he was impervious to anything like a spell or potion. He’d learned his lesson.
Hannah Deturk had not been exactly thrilled to be leaving Philadelphia at the end of the third week of December, of all times of the year, for the upper Midwest. South Dakota via Nebraska. To Hannah Deadwood, South Dakota was the back of beyond and, if possible, even more remote than the area of Nebraska where she had been born and raised.
After graduating college and relocating, first to Chicago, which was too windy, then to New York City, which was too big, and finally settling into Philadelphia, Hannah had vowed that other than brief visits home to visit her folks, she would never go back to that desolate part of the country. She certainly wouldn’t travel there in the winter months of November, December, January, February and March, and she even considered October, April and May pretty chancy.
Only a request by her parents or, as was the case, the marriage of her dearest friend, Maggie, could induce Hannah to take the three hard-earned vacation weeks she had allotted herself and spend them in Deadwood, South Dakota, of all places.
She didn’t even gamble, for goodness sake, had never even visited the casinos in Atlantic City, a mere hour or so drive down the Atlantic City expressway from Philly.
And yet when Maggie had called her to tell her she was getting married in January and asked Hannah to be her maid of honor, Hannah hadn’t so much as entertained a thought of refusing.
So, a few days into the new year, after spending Christmas with her family in Nebraska, Hannah found herself on the road, steering a leased four-wheel-drive vehicle through a blessedly light fall of snow, heading for Deadwood.
It was dark, and the snowfall heavier when Hannah finally arrived in the town made legendary by its historical reputation of being wide-open and the larger-than-life characters of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.
Those days were long-gone, as were the infamous pair. Other than having legal gambling casinos, Deadwood looked to Hannah much like any other small upper Midwest town.
She missed Philadelphia, where it would be evening rush hour and the traffic would be horrific. She even missed that.
Then again…perhaps not.
Smiling wryly, Hannah peered through the windshield to look for the turnoff Maggie had indicated in her directions. A few minutes later she brought the vehicle to a careful stop in front of a large Victorian house that had been converted into apartments.
No wonder Maggie had fallen in love with the house, Hannah thought, stepping out of the Jeep to stare through the swirling snow at the old mansion that had once been the Grainger family home. It was an imposing sight, and conjured images of a bygone era of grace and style.
“Hannah!”
Hannah blinked back into the present at the excited sound of Maggie’s voice calling her name. Her coatless friend was dashing down the veranda steps toward her.
“Maggie!” Hannah flung out her arms to embrace her friend. “Are you nutty, or what?” she asked, laughing, as she stepped back to gaze into her friend’s glowing face. “It’s snowing and freezing out here.”
“Yes, I’m nutty.” Maggie laughed with her. “So nutty and crazy in love, I don’t feel the cold.”
“Got your love to keep you warm, do you?” Hannah dryly teased.
“Yes…yes.” Despite her heartfelt assertion, Maggie shivered. “I can’t wait for you to meet him.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Hannah said, grasping Maggie’s arm to lead her toward the house. “But meanwhile let’s get inside, where I hope it’s warm.”
“Well, of course it’s warm.” Maggie flashed a grin. “Even up in my nest on the third floor.”
Releasing her hold on Maggie’s arm, Hannah turned back to the car. “You go on ahead, I’ll just grab my bags and be with you in a minute.”
“Did you bring your dress for the wedding?” Maggie called from the shelter of the veranda.
“Of course I did,” Hannah yelled back over the open trunk lid, shivering as the sting of wind-driven snow bit into her face. “Now go into the house.”
A half hour later, her bags unpacked, the special dress she had frantically shopped for before leaving Philly hanging on a padded hanger to dewrinkle, Hannah sat curled on the cushioned seat in the bay window alcove in Maggie’s warm “nest,” her hands cradling a steaming cup of marshmallow-topped hot chocolate.
She took a careful sip, and winced. “Mmm…delicious. But very hot. I scorched my tongue.”
Maggie laughed. “It’s supposed to be hot.” Her eyes danced with amusement. “That’s why it’s called hot chocolate.”
Hannah’s pained expression smoothed into a gentle smile. It was so good to hear her friend laugh again, see the glow of happiness in Maggie’s face that had replaced the bitter hurt of betrayal of the previous summer.
“You really are in love this time,” Hannah said, taking another careful sip. “Aren’t you?”
“Yes…though I wouldn’t have believed it possible mere months ago…I really am in love.” Maggie heaved a contented sigh. Her eyes took on a dreamy look. “Mitch is so wonderful, so, so…”
“Everything Todd was not?” Hannah interjected, her normally husky voice lightened by expectation.
“Todd who?” Maggie asked with assumed innocence.
Hannah grinned, finally convinced her friend was back on track at last. “Oh, you know, Todd what’s-his-name, the jerk you were engaged to marry. The same jerk who eloped with his boss’s daughter.”
Maggie grimaced. “Oh, that jerk. Yes, Mitch is everything Todd was not.” Her lips formed a soft smile. “And a whole heck of a lot more.”
“Good.” Allowing herself to fully relax, Hannah settled more comfortably into the corner of the alcove. Smiling, she studied her friend’s radiant face. “You really are genuinely in love this time,” she murmured in tones of wonder. “Aren’t you?”
Maggie laughed. “Didn’t I just answer that question moments ago? Yes, Hannah, I am deeply, genuinely, madly, desperately, deliriously…
“Okay, okay,” Hannah broke in, holding up her hands and laughing. “I believe you.”
“About time.” Maggie laughed with her. “More hot chocolate? A cookie?”
“No, thank you.” Hannah shook her head. “I still have some chocolate-” she grimaced “-and I’ve already had too many cookies. They’re delicious.”
“Karla baked them.”
Hannah frowned. “Karla?” Then, remembering, she said, “Oh, the woman whose job you took over, the one who’s going to stand as matron of honor.”