Unravel Me by Christie Ridgway Page B

those nasty nicknames buried beneath what must have been a blanket of snow. Now, however, she was experiencing a major melt-down. He rose, a wary eye on her. “Juliet . . .”
    She ignored him, too. “Excuse me,” she said to the table at large as she grabbed a half-empty wine bottle by the neck. “And I’m sorry,” she added as she rushed for the kitchen.
    Noah got to her first. “Whoa, whoa.” Under his hands, her shoulders were stiff. “You don’t have to apologize to anyone. Not for anything.”
    Her fingers white-knuckled the wine bottle. “Not even to my—these two women who I’m sure are less than thrilled to find themselves related to an infamous widow?”
    He squeezed her shoulders. “Juliet . . .”
    “Face it, Noah. It’s ugly. Ugly and infuriating. I didn’t deserve it. Wayne deserved better.”
    Now Cassandra rose. “Nothing about you is ugly. We don’t think anything like that.”
    On the other side of the table, Nikki glared at Jay. “Look at what you’ve done. This is all your fault.”
    “Hey—”
    “If you hadn’t decided to bring up the book—”
    “ Hey —”
    “Would someone please explain to me what’s going on?” Gabe asked again.
    Crossing her arms over her chest, Cassandra shot Jay her own hostile look. “Ask Big Mouth over there.”
    He appeared wounded. “You’re usually on my side, Cassandra.”
    “You’re usually not so oafish.”
    “Would someone please explain—”
    “Fine.” Jay looked over at Gabe. “Juliet’s husband? He was General Wayne Weston.”
    “Ah. Aaah .” The dark-haired man nodded, as if understanding was dawning.
    “That’s right,” Jay nodded back. “You remember now. They called her the Deal Breaker when they married.”
    Flames shot from Nikki’s two-toned eyes. “Did you have to say that stupid name again, Jay?”
    “It’s not her fault, of course,” the man continued. “Though that Happy Widow claim was even worse.”
    Nikki and Cassandra griped together. “ Jay !”
    “Jeesh.” He held up both hands. “It’s not my fault either. I’m just laying out the facts. You girls are so touchy.”
    The two women met each other’s gazes. “He called us girls,” Nikki said.
    Cassandra waved her on with a sweep of her hand. “You’re engaged to him, so I’ll let you kill him.”
    Jay leaned away from the table as his fiancée grabbed up a stray fork.
    “Good God,” Gabe muttered. “I think I’d rather be spending the evening with Cassandra’s cats.”
    And with that Juliet started to laugh. It bubbled out of her throat and even made its way past the hand she clapped over her mouth. The brewing argument assassination subsided as all gazes turned on her.
    Nikki’s fork clattered to the tabletop. “What’s so funny?” she asked, her voice cautious.
    Temper apparently neutralized, Juliet stepped away from Noah’s hands and dropped back into her seat, still laughing. Then she tilted her head and took a healthy swallow from the bottle of wine clutched in her fist. She wiped an errant drop off her lower lip with the back of her hand. “You know what?” A smile played around her mouth. “This is the closest I’ve ever been to a family argument.”
    Nikki grinned back. “Yeah.”
    “Yeah.” Cassandra’s smile was just the same and then her gaze relighted on Jay. “And it’s even better that the three sisters can all blame it on the same dumb guy.”
    Beleaguered Jay Buchanan didn’t share the joy. Maybe he was still reeling from his near brush with death. “I think we men should do the dishes while the”—he paused—“ women drink more wine.”
    And with that, the XY chromosomes beat a hasty retreat from the dining room.
    Weathering that storm seemed to put the sisters at complete ease with each other, Noah decided as the clean-up wound down. Well, that and another bottle or two of vino. But it didn’t take a genius to realize that Juliet had held some concerns about how Nikki and Cassandra might regard