Finding Grace Page 26

  He whispered again.

  “You know I don’t watch TV, and a rehearsal sounded dumb to me.” She turned to the minister. “I’ll promise what he promised.” Grace’s hands were still at her hips.

  Dagger swallowed and nodded at the minister.

  “Pay up.” Farley whispered without taking his eyes from the event unfolding at the altar.

  “Well, I’d obey him.” Trent whispered loudly and sniffed.

  “Welsher.”

  “Fine, be that way.” Trent pulled out his money clip and peeled off a crisp fifty dollar bill, giving Katherine, who sat on the other side of him, a look of apology before turning back to Farley. “I hope you’re satisfied.”

  Farley just grinned.

  * * * *

  When the minister finally gave Dagger permission to kiss Grace, he lifted the veil that reminded him just a little of a blindfold and held her face in his hands for a moment before bending down and kissing her gently, reining his passion in for later, for when they were alone.

  He’d rehearsed this kiss over and over in his mind. But he hadn’t prepared for those strong, delicate fingers lacing around his neck, holding her to him, or her soft wet tongue slipping between his lips to tease him, that low little moan only he could hear, much less for the way her body felt covered in that tight silk gown, or the way she shivered at his touch.

  Somewhere in the hazy background, he might have heard catcalls and whistles and applause, but it wasn’t until he was half way down the aisle with Grace in his arms that he remembered where he was. At that point, his brain cleared enough to figure it was only a little over a dozen strides to the limo with dark-tinted windows. It’d be hell, but he could make it.

  If anyone expected him to wait until he got Grace all the way to Edinburgh, they were dreaming.

  Epilogue

  Trent paced nervously. The Plaza’s auditorium was packed. Katherine and Grace would be pleased; it would mean a lot of contributions for the homeless benefit. All of the other acts had gone beautifully. There’d been something for everyone. And the Blackridge Giants, as Trent had come to think of them, were behaving themselves.

  The keyboard’s loud, dissonant chord made him jump. Grace had insisted on live music for her routine. The Amazonian singer frightened him as much as Jack ever had. Some of the older patrons’ pained expressions matched his own. He hoped they were almost done tuning up.

  He breathed a sigh of relief when Grace made her entrance. The plain matte silver catsuit made her look ethereal, like a fairy. She’d forgone the heavy juggling clubs for a shiny silver ribbon on a stick she picked up after allowing a good-looking man in the first row to tie the sparkly silver blindfold over her eyes. It was then that Trent’s and everyone else’s eyes were drawn, by a low growl, to the enormous man standing at the opposite corner of the mat. As all but the spotlights dimmed, he looked more beast than human, his broad muscular arms, shoulders, and chest bare but for the elaborate tattoos, the bald head gleaming, white teeth visible only because he was snarling at the man who’d put the blindfold on her. The tight jeans and combat boots completed the look Trent had envisioned.

  The first chords of Tina Turner’s “I’ll Be Thunder” echoed through the auditorium, and Trent allowed himself to become absorbed in the performance. Jack didn’t have to do much but stand there and look beastly—which he did very well of course. Grace was grace—the perfect Beauty. When her final move landed her in the Beast’s arms under the single spotlight, the applause was explosive.

  The lights came back on and Trent noticed several of the mature matrons fanning themselves and overheard one say to another, “Oh, my! Now that’s a performance I’d enjoy seeing an encore of,” to a chorus of nods and broad smiles from her friends.

  Trent found Farley in the crowd and tapped his palm. “Pay up, doll.”

  “No problem.” Farley dug out his wallet. “I don’t know how you got Dagger to do it, but I’d have traded places with him in a hummingbird’s heartbeat. Ah, Trent, you think you could show me a few moves, maybe introduce me to some of those lovely little dancers I saw earlier?”

  Trent nodded, a distracted little frown creasing his forehead. “Say, where did that beast take our beauty, anyway? Jack was supposed to set her down after the first round of applause died, not carry her off and disappear.”

  Farley grinned, “It’s a better ending this way, Trent, trust me.”

  Acknowledgments

  A huge thank you to my dear beta readers, whose invaluable support and input were so very important to getting this book off the ground and out the door: Lynda, Jeanie, and Shauna. And to the guys who braved their first romance, just for me: Bob and David.

  Extra special love to Jennifer for encouraging me to let someone read my very first story, and to submit this one to the fabulous Musa Publishing.

  My undying love and gratitude to my husband for his ruthless honesty and endless patience as my pre-editor, for putting up with far too many frozen and takeout dinners, and for taking up all of the slack my writing creates. And most of all, for giving me my very own Happily Ever After.

  In addition, I’d like to thank my wonderful editor, Louise Blaydon, for her skill, wisdom, insight, and kind words; Kelly Shorten, for going above and beyond to make the cover for Finding Grace the very best it could be; and all the folks at Musa, who’ve made my first publishing experience a dream come true.

  …

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  Cadillac Eldorado—General Motors

  Cadillac Escalade—General Motors

  Buzz Lightyear—Disney Enterprises, Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios

  Captain America—Marvel Characters, Inc., Cadence Industries

  Corporation (Marvel Comics Group)

  iPod—Apple Computer, Inc.

  (Little) Orphan Annie—Tribune Media Services, Inc.

  Band-Aid—Johnson & Johnson, Inc.

  GI Joe—Hasbro, Inc.

  Campfire Girls—Camp Fire USA

  Ferrari Testarossa—Ferarri S.p.A.

  About the Author

  Rhea Rhodan resides in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and has been telling herself stories since long before she could write. She attended the University of Minnesota with a focus on Journalism, then Brown Institute for Broadcast Journalism. After many adventures, misadventures, and a couple of short marriages, she found the love of her life in Regensburg, Germany, and has been living happily ever after since.

  She journaled those adventures extensively (some might say rabidly) beginning in middle school, but didn’t combine her writing and her story-telling until several years ago, when one of them got out of hand. As she tells it, the story grabbed her by the throat and shook her like a rag doll until she had the entire thing written down. A full-length fantasy novel with a strong romantic element, it took over a year to write and edit. Although the bones of the story were good, Rhea felt she had more to learn about the craft of writing before it could be submitted to a publisher. While honing her skills (a delightfully never-ending task), she wrote a sequel to that story, and a third of another before writing and submitting her debut romance novel, Finding Grace, for publication. She is currently writing and editing up a storm in an effort to keep up with her muse.

  Since childhood, her stories have always had a twist of magic or a touch of the paranormal. When asked why she chooses to write romance, she says, “Because I believe in happy endings. While there may be no guarantees in real life, there are certainly no real happy endings without considerable risk, effort, and faith, either. If you can’t dream it, how can you expect to live it? I want to offer possibilities for people to dream it, so they, too, can experience it.”

  She welcomes feedback and fan mail :>). You can join her on Facebook, too. Rhea is always happy to meet new friends.

  http://www.rhearhodan.com

  http://www.facebook.com/rhearhodan

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