“Infine, finally,” Guliana exclaimed pulling Loraine forward and pushing her down into the chair in front of the mirror. “Quick, fix her hair and makeup. There is not time, hurry, fretta!”
She barked at the two ladies who stood behind her and they jumped into action like soldiers at a drill. Guliana had been Riana’s stylist in Venice almost three years ago. She was the one who put Riana in a golden dress for dinner that apparently had all the men’s jaws dragging the ground and women glaring daggers the entire night, or so Riana says. Her best friend didn’t exactly do over the top sexy so Loraine had a hard time believing her but the disappearance of that dress did convince her some. She’d only seen that dress once when she was helping Riana arrange her closet and Allan was the chief suspect for its vanishing into thin air. Loraine never took him as a magician but he was the jealous type. So it was probably cut up into little pieces then burned or buried.
“Do something about the bags under her eyes. They are not very attractive, molto brutto.”
Loraine turned to face her but her head was quickly turned back around. “Hey, I don’t know what that means but I have a perfectly good excuse for them!”
Loraine saw Melody, Allan’s younger sister, chuckle through the mirror, seated on the couch with Aurora on her lap. “Yeah, it’s called drinking and jetlag. Who gets drunk right after getting off a seven hour flight?”
Someone who wants to have a dreamless night, Loraine thought to herself.
“We were celebrating the last days of Riana’s freedom.”
Melody snorted. “The way you were drinking, I thought we were sending you off to prison the very next day.”
Loraine stuck her tongue out at her and Melody returned the gesture in kind. A few seconds later, Aurora did the same thing making them laugh. Loraine had always had to watch herself, especially her language, around the impressionable little girl. She had a habit of repeating what she heard, especially if the word was difficult to pronounce. She would repeat it and repeat it until she got it right.
“Anyone notice the guest of honor didn’t touch her drink?” Amy commented conspiratorially.
The brunette bombshell Amy first name Cindi, was Matthew’s wife. Apparently, she went by her middle name because of all the stupid Cinderella jokes her first name brought on. Of course, it didn’t help that her life story closely resembled the Disney princess by marriage. Matthew the hottest man Loraine had ever set her eyes on, and, to her chagrin, happily married, and was Allan’s best friend. He was the one who forcefully brought Allan back to the States from his self-imposed exile after Riana’s supposed death. They made quite a couple, like a married Adonis and Artemis and yet quite humble—something very rarely seen in gorgeous and wealthy people. And their son Mark… wow! The kid was only three and he was already a stunner.
But Loraine didn’t see any hope in his dating future. Aurora had already laid claim to him. There was no place he was that Aurora wasn’t and she made sure he followed her around wherever she went. And he would, with a resigned look on his face like he had an invisible leash around his neck. Loraine couldn’t wait to see how that would turn out once they were old enough to understand romance.
Melody gasped. “You don’t think… Loraine!”
Loraine shook her head still before the hairdresser forced it. “I don’t know a thing,” she lied, “maybe it was just nerves, and she did want to have a fresh face when she woke up.”
“Unlike some people,” Guliana mumbled under her breath.
Loraine narrowed her eyes at her and she looked back with a wide eyed innocent look. Yeah right! “Aren’t you supposed to be pulling dresses or something?”
She shrugged and walked away with a hoity toss of her head.
“Nervous? I don’t think so. Did you see how she was this morning? She was walking around like it was any other day.” Amy shook her head. “I was a nervous wreck the morning of my wedding.”
“Nervous enough to run?” Loraine joked.
She’d always wondered what went through the minds of the brides who waited until they were a few feet away from the altar before they turned around and made a mad dash for the exit. Like, at that particular moment, when her groom was looking at her with so much love, waiting for her with anxious expectation to make her his wife, she has an epiphany and realizes the mistake she was about to make. Why couldn’t she realize that a week before or an hour before and save the groom the embarrassment of being jilted at the altar?
Amy chuckled, shaking her head. “By the time I got to Matthew at the altar, I was in the middle of a panic attack.”
Loraine laughed. “Oh, he must have been impressed with that!”
“Oh, I remember that. Allan was asking around for a paper bag for you to breathe into!” Melody chimed in with a giggle.
“I thought Matthew would be angry. But he just looked at me, took my face in his big hands and planted one on me. For the few seconds he was kissing me, I completely forgot what I was nervous about,” she giggled. “Heck! I even forgot where I was,” she said with a sigh.
Loraine caught the sweet loving look on Amy’s face as she traveled down memory lane and she felt her heart twinge with jealousy. She wished she had a reason for that look too.
“Where is the bride?” Melody asked.
“Right here.” Riana stepped into view and Loraine had to stand up and turn around to get a better look.
“Oh my God,” Loraine whispered in awe as she looked at her friend. Riana looked mesmerizing in her princess ball gown dress.
The bodice was studded with small crystals in an intricate pattern. The white satin of the skirt of the dress flowed out around her and when she turned full circle, it resembled a ringing bell. She had a small tiara seated perfectly in her hair that it looked more like a hair band. Riana hadn’t liked it much but Aurora had insisted on her getting a matching one to her own little tiara and Riana folded. But the little hellion was right—it looked wonderful with her hair style. Her white veil reached her waist, covering the back of her hair and her exposed back. Her makeup was light and natural, accentuating her facial features and not acting like a mask like it does on most brides.
“You look beautiful,” Melody sniffed.
“No! No cry. No time to redo makeup. Time for dressing.” Guliana shoved a Champaign dress at Loraine with a sarcastic smile. “I pulled your dress. Hurry, you are the only one still in your robe and the bride is the only one allowed to be fashionably late.” Then she walked away taking Aurora’s hand and leading her to the room to dress her.
The room erupted in laughter except for Loraine.
Riana stepped before a full length mirror to admire herself. “Don’t go toe to toe with Guliana, Loraine. You won’t win.”
Loraine snickered with a roll of her eyes before she stomped into her room and banged the door behind her to mute the laughter. “Damn Italian stylist!”
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She chuckled, but it was sad, pained. “I found out I was pregnant the same moment I lost it. Our first child together bled right out of me and I couldn’t do anything to save it. How could I not know I was pregnant?”Reno pulled his sling wincing at the pain from his adjusted shoulder then lowered himself next to her and gathered her in his arms, laying her head on his chest. “Loraine, you were just a few weeks along. Some women don’t notice they are pregnant until months later.”She sniffed, burrowing into his side. “I’m not some woman. I’m Loraine Larson Albury, mother, wife, daughter and best friend to the most extraordinary people in the world. I should have known. Riana knew and I was further along than her when she found out she was pregnant.”Reno wasn’t so sure about that, but it wasn’t the time to negate her. He kissed her temple. “Riana has a weak constitution. Of course it wi
Reno sat by Loraine’s bedside, watching her as she slept. This wasn’t how he’d planned waking up the morning after his honeymoon. In a hospital room where his wife’s battered body lay connected to machines and tubes. The last thing he expected that morning were the words, ‘I’m sorry but your wife lost the baby’. He felt as if his heart had been ripped out of his chest by those words. He’d been breathless, collapsing onto the bed he’d fought the doctor and Ruiz just moments before, to go to Loraine. Once he was able to breathe, once he’d had control of his emotions and staunched his tears, he’d gotten off the bed in search of his wife. He’d wanted to go alone, to think of what he would say to her but Allan had insisted on accompanying him. He’d expected some words of wisdom from his brother-in-law, seeing as how he knew the pain of losing a child, but Allan just walked with him in silent support. It wasn&rs
“Loraine, please understand I didn’t mean for you to get hurt. I just wanted you to need me, to want me, to love me!”She shook her head, even more confused. “Why would I need, want or love you when I’m married to Reno.” Loraine felt her heart jar in her chest. She took a few more steps away from him. “Before…the first time he attacked me…that’s what he meant? The princess always falls in love with her knight after he saves her, that’s what you were expecting, wasn’t it?”Jeb moved toward her, his arms open in invitation. “At first, I loved you like you were my own child. You were such a vibrant and happy little girl, before they stole that from you. And then you grew up into this beautiful young lady and that love changed.” He caressed her cheek with his fingers and she quickly slapped his hand away. “When your father made me your personal bodyguard, it felt like
He released her hair and massaged where he’d been pulling at her hair. “She is dead, I did that for you mon amour. I slit her neck when she was done giving me a blow job.” He chuckled. “I got tired of mounting her after so many hours but thinking of you would make me horny all over again so I told her to use her mouth to please me. After I sprayed all over her face, blinding her, I grabbed her hair, pulled her head back and cut my blade over her neck.” He rubbed his cheek against hers and she could hear his breath getting heavy as he breathed on her neck. Loraine held herself from turning away from him when he ran his finger in a slicing motion over her throat. It was too much!“There was so much blood, spraying all over my naked body. And the sounds that came from her open throat, mon amour. It was so arousing, too arousing not to enjoy.”“Oh God,” Loraine gagged pulling away from him but he yanke
His eyes widened, his lips spreading in a toothy grin. “You mean it?”She looked at her son and the fear in his face was all the motivation she needed. She looked up at Pierre and nodded. “I mean it. Let him go and take me. Just like you’ve always wanted. Jeb won’t stop you this time.”He let out a hoot of elation and released Tyler. She fell to her knees as Tyler ran to her, into her arms and held onto her with all his strength, his little body shaking against hers.“Mommy!”Loraine felt her heart break as she held him tighter, willing for him to stop being afraid. But how could she give him that when she was just as scared if not more?“Ssh honey, everything will be alright.” She tried to pull him away but he held on tighter with a whimper. “Tyler, please.” She whispered pulling on his arms until he finally let go. She wiped his face dry and smiled at him. A difficult task wi
Loraine was startled awake by the loud crash. It sounded like broken glass, really large glass. She turned her head to look at Reno and see if he’d heard it but he was sound asleep with a smile on his face. Smiling she traced the hard edges of his face with the tips of her fingers. He looked so much like Tyler in his sleep state—gentle, innocent and harmless. She loved this man so much sometimes it felt like her heart would burst.Another crush sounded from downstairs followed by a child’s cry. Loraine’s entire body went rigid from terror. That was Tyler. She knew every sound he made and that was one of fear. Anxious to get to her son, she pushed Reno’s muscular weight off her but before she could get out of bed, she was pulled back, a heavy hand pressed against her mouth.“Hush, don’t move,” Reno whispered harshly. “Stay here Lori. I think someone is in the house. I’m going to check things out downstairs. Kee