The Valentine Wedding Dress by Sherryl Woods Page A

this—okay, with her blond hair tidy, not mussed from the wintry breeze outside, and without the streak of dust on her cheek—on her wedding day.
    For a moment she hesitated, tempted to try the dress on to get the full effect.
    â€œWhy not?” she murmured. Who would ever know?
    Quickly she stripped out of her clothes, shivering a bit in the attic’s chilly air. Slowly, carefully, she lifted the folds of fabric over her head, then let the dress slip into place. Her fingers trembled as she drew the zipper up in back. Only then did she step in front of the mirror.
    As she’d known it would be, the dress was a perfect fit. Gazing at her image, she felt a lump form in her throat. She looked…radiant, as if she truly were a blushing bride.
    Even though there hadn’t been a man in her life for months now, even though she had so many things she wanted to do before she settled down, Lara felt the most amazing sense that someone special was just around the corner, that it wouldn’t be long before she could wear this very dress at her own wedding. Though her family scoffed, Lara was a very big believer in destiny, and something told her that hers was about to take the most astonishing twist.
    * * *
    David Lafferty normally didn’t take on quick little fix-it jobs like the one he’d agreed to do today. In fact, since he’d reluctantly left his dream job with a major developer in Atlanta and come home to help out in the aftermath of his father’s heart attack, Lafferty Construction had been going after major contracts with some of the area’s biggest developers. He was happiest when there were major challenges on his plate.
    His father had reluctantly agreed to the business expansion, but David knew he would have been happier if the company had been some small, father-son enterprise. Usually he let David decide what jobs to take these days.
    But today, for some reason, his father had been insistent that David be the one to waste an afternoon driving to the next county to repair some wobbly steps. He’d gotten the distinct impression that his father just wanted him out from underfoot. Or maybe he was just tired of hearing David go on and on about Chelsea’s desire to get married.
    Tonight was supposed to be the big night. She was expecting an engagement ring for Valentine’s Day, but David just couldn’t work up any enthusiasm. Chelsea was a wonderful woman, but he wasn’t ready to have a wife or to start a family, especially when he wasn’t at all certain that he wanted to stay in Virginia.
    Not only that, with Chelsea, there was no spark, no magic. David wanted magic and at 25, he wasn’t quite ready to settle for anything less.
    He rang the bell at 337 River Glen still debating whether Chelsea was going to get that ring or not. When no one answered, he rang it again, impatient to get the job done and be on his way to the meeting he had scheduled to discuss a huge office building complex that would put Lafferty Construction in the big leagues.
    Suddenly he heard what sounded like a startled scream. Testing the handle of the door, he swung it open and stepped inside just as a woman dressed in a wedding gown tumbled down the stairs and straight into his arms.
    He found himself gazing into vivid blue eyes and suddenly, without warning, he knew without a doubt that this was the magic he’d been waiting for. And it had literally fallen into his life when he wasn’t the least bit ready for it.

CHAPTER TWO
    â€œAre you okay?” David couldn’t seem to tear his gaze away from the woman in his arms. Aside from a streak of dirt on her cheek, she looked none the worse for her tumble down the stairs. In fact, she looked amazing…as radiant as a bride.
    Suddenly it dawned on him that a woman wearing a wedding dress was probably engaged to another man. The thought brought on a powerful surge of pure jealousy, an emotion with which he wasn’t at