Bachelor at Her Bidding (Bachelor Auction Book 2)(3)
It was a little more complicated than that, but no way was Rachel giving the town gossip any juicy titbits. The last thing she wanted was for anyone – even her sister and their closest friends – to think that her life in Marietta was anything less than perfect right now.
“Your job isn’t going to keep your bed warm at nights, Rach,” Dayna pointed out.
“A hot water bottle and a down-filled comforter will do that just fine,” Rachel said firmly.
Susie, Rachel’s sister, sighed and shook her head. “I know Nick hurt you, honey, but he couldn’t see past the end of his nose. He was a total idiot and he wasn’t good enough for you in the first place.”
“Thanks for taking my part, Susie, but that subject’s closed,” Rachel said, fixing her smile in place. She knew her sister’s views on her ex-husband – and she hadn’t even told Susie the worst of it. Because it made her feel too ashamed. “I’m not interested in dating ever again and there’s an end to it, OK?”
She was relieved that the pizza delivery boy rang her doorbell only a few seconds later. With food on the table, her friends might just chill out and let her be.
“You’re not saved by the bell,” Dayna warned, almost as if she’d been able to read Rachel’s mind, “but we’ll shut up for now.”
After pizza, conversation turned to the weekend.
“You’re not on call on Saturday night, are you, Rach?” Lexy asked.
“No-o.” Where was she going with this?
“Good. Then you’re coming with us to the Bachelor Auction,” Lizzy said.
Rachel wrinkled her nose. “I want to support the fundraiser, and I’m more than happy to donate something for the raffle as well as buy a ticket to the auction, but I can’t really see myself actually going to a Bachelor Auction,” she said. “Like I said, I’m not interested in even looking to date anyone – and isn’t that the point of the auction, to buy yourself a date?”
Dayna rolled her eyes, “You don’t have to bid for anyone, Rach. Just drink margaritas with us and look at all the gorgeous men.”
“Don’t forget the huckleberry pie,” Susie added. “Jason Grey’s donating the food for the evening, and the pie at Grey’s is to die for. And I second looking at the gorgeous men.” She gave Rachel a cheeky wink. “I’m married, yes, but I’m not dead. I can still appreciate good eye candy.”
“And then there’s the red velvet cheesecake,” Lexy said.
“Thirded on the desserts and the men,” Hannah said, “and it doesn’t matter that I’m happily married and…” She patted her bump and grinned. “Well, I’m with Susie. We can still look and enjoy. So can you. Come on, Rach, it’ll be fun.”
Now she’d already admitted to being off duty, Rachel was fresh out of excuses.
“It starts at eight, so we’ll meet at seven downstairs in Grey’s. I’ll get our names down with Lily Taylor for a table for six, and we’re going dress up and drink margaritas – that’s virgin margaritas for you, Han – and then we’re going to enjoy some serious eye candy,” Susie said.
And what could Rachel do but give in? “OK. I’ll do it.”
Chapter Two
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Saturday night saw Rachel walking arm in arm with her sister down Main Street toward Grey’s Saloon.
“It’s picture-postcard perfect, isn’t it?” she said to Susie. “With a fresh sprinkle of snow on the sidewalks and all the shop fronts lit up, Marietta has to be the prettiest town in the West.”
“Sure is.” Susie squeezed her arm. “Rach, are you sure you don’t regret moving back here from Missoula? I mean, don’t you miss all the bright lights?”
“Absolutely not, to both,” Rachel said with a smile. “I always loved coming home to Marietta. And now I get to do the job I love among the people I love. It doesn’t get better than this.” She wasn’t going to admit the loneliness she sometimes felt. That was nothing to do with Marietta and everything to do with what Nick had said to her – words that were branded across her heart. You’re just not enough for me. You’re not her.
How stupid she’d been, to marry a man who didn’t even love her.
She pushed the thought away and concentrated on the building on the corner. Grey’s was one of the oldest buildings in Marietta, and although it was a respectable saloon nowadays it had once been the town bordello. And it hadn’t really been updated much since it had first passed to the Greys in the 1800s. “Hey, Susie, did you know that the bordello girls used to walk up and down on that balustraded balcony to parade their wares?”
“Who told you that?”
“Chelsea Collier.”
“Figures. What she doesn’t know about the history of Marietta isn’t worth knowing.” Susie smiled at her. “Come on. Time for margaritas.”
They pushed through the swing doors together and stopped in front of the long wide bar so they could scan the room for their friends.
As well as the booths down the long wall opposite the bar, there were a dozen extra cocktail tables with fold-out chairs. Clearly the team organizing the fundraiser was expecting a big turnout. Which wasn’t so surprising – Marietta looked after its own. In back was a makeshift stage.