Page 9 (1/2)

"I don’t know" She glanced at a silent Chase "Maybe four…?"

Her rinned and shook his head "What a wino," he said

Madison made a face and then turned As far as the eye could see, there were grape trees and rolling hills under the bright glare of the sun and blue skies Luckily the conversation turned froht, there would be a rehearsal, since the bachelor and bachelorette parties had been held the week prior There was a busload of wedding progra to be of so, Madison offered to do it before dinner

"Thank you!" Lissa exclairateful "You’ll probably need sorams, plus the little card holders I’m sure some of the other brides the s she should be doing and she actually wanted to And the other girls had done so much, stepped in whenever Madison had needed their help "It’s okay I can do it Let them relax"

Lissa relented, but she passed a look to Mitch

Madison loosened her grip and s across froh he hadn’t said more than tords to her since she crawled out of bed, she could feel his eyes on her

Last night… Dear God, he’d had to help her change out of her dress and she’d admitted that she slept naked Well, she definitely added another notch to the hulance at hiuide stopped by a large stone building Everyone unloaded in a rush Mitch and Lissa in the front, their ar around each other’s waists Her parents were just as cuddly Like Chase had said earlier, they were treating the trip like a honeymoon They hadn’t had a real one after theyso much romance and fun

"Here," said a deep voice

Madison looked up, surprised to find Chase beside her, holding a bottle of water She took it, offering a tentative sed "I’ve seen overs worse than what you have, but the water should help"

Chase would know, she thought, unscrewing the lid and taking a drink Besides running three clubs where liquor poured froe, and then there had been his mother… Chase and his brothers had probably learned how to treat a hangover at an early age She always found it strange that Chase had gone into the nightclub business, but he was clearly determined to be "like father, like son," she supposed His dad had owned dozens of bars and nightclubs It seemed only natural that one of the brothers would’ve followed suit

But Chase… He wasn’t like his father, not really He wasn’t as cold as the elder Gah Madison as she recalled the few times she’d been in the Gamble house Once when she was just a kid and then when she’d been seventeen Both tiid Hisfrom one wine bottle and prescription pill to the next The woman had loved the boys’ father to the point of death and their father…he hadn’t see at Chase froain how out of the three brothers, Chase was the one who reseirls, and the success, he was the least like hi like he was

When he glanced at her, she looked straight ahead Why was she even thinking about this stuff? It didn’tattention, she’d tu them down into the wine cellar where thousands of bottles were racked and stocked fro was different about Chase today as he joked with his brothers and Mitch Like a tension in his shoulders that hadn’t been there yesterdayon that terrible couch

The air was several degrees cooler in the wine cellar, and she rubbed her are wasn’t ofthe maze of bottles

Good Lord, if she were claustrophobic, being down here would be a probleht and narrow and tall the racks were

Her flip-flops smacked on the cement floor as she tried to read the names on the bottles Most of therave before she had another sip of that stuff

The voices of the group faded off as her fingers trailed along the chilled bottles She wasn’t a big drinker, obviously Last night had been out of the norlanced over her shoulder, suddenly realizing she couldn’t hear anyone anyht she’d left them, but no one was there

"Crap," shedown an aisle

This wasn’t happening They did not leave her Tightening her grip on the water bottle, she barrelled around the corner, sht off a hard chest, and almost landed on her ass

Chase snatched her arm before she ended up on her rear "Whoa You okay?"

Blinking, she nodded "I didn’t know you were there" She took a step back, ignoring the sudden increase in her heart rate Her reaction was ridiculous "Why are you here?"

He cocked his head to the side "The group ison to lunch"

"Oh?" Since she wasn’t bouncing around in that horrible truck, her storin appeared "It’s a picnic, I hear, out in the actual vineyards"

That sounded incredibly tasty and ro aside, Chase let her walk by He followed behind her silently, and she wished he’d say soain, she had no idea what to say, either The aardness that had developed between them sucked Proof positive why friends of any sort should never cross that invisible line… At least not unless they planned on crossing all the way

When they reached the entrance, Chase swore under his breath "Where in the hell is everyone?"

A horrible sensation snaked its way through the pit of her stolanced up and down the empty aisles There was no sound other than Chase’s soft breath and her pounding heart