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Ah, the joys of matrimony

Damian forced himself to concentrate on the minister’s words

“And now,” he said, in an appropriately sole us who can offer a reason why Nicolas Skouras Babbitt and Dawn Elizabeth Cooper should not be wed, let that person speak or forever—”

Bang!

The double doors at the rear of the church flew open and slaainst the ashed walls There was a rustle of cloth as the guests shifted in the pews and turned to see as happening Even the bride and groo around in surprise

A woht of the spring afternoon The wind, which had torn the doors from her hands, ruffled her hair wildly around her head and sent her skirt swirling around her thighs

A h the church The minister cleared his throat

The woht and into the shadowed interior The excited ain

And no wonder, Daht The latecomer was incredibly beautiful

She looked familiar, but surely if he’d et a woman who looked like this

Her hair was the color of autuold, and curled around her oval, high-cheekboned face Her eyes idely spaced and enormous They werewhat? Gray, or perhaps blue He couldn’t tell at this distance She wore no jewelry but then, jewelry would only have distracted from her beauty Even her dress, the color of the sky just before a storht of as violet but the fashion police surely had a better na, full sleeves and a short, full skirt, but there was nothing simple about the body beneath the dress

His gaze slid over the woh, rounded breasts, the slie coh the innocence was certainly manufactured It had to be She was not a child And she was too stunning, too aware of herself, for it not to be

Another gust of wind swept in through the open doors She clutched at her skirt but not before he had a look at legs as long and shapely as anyblack and lacy

The crohispers grew louder Soh The wo ehtened her shoulders and her lovely face assumed a look of disdain

I could wipe that look froht suddenly, and desire, as hot and swift as molten lava, flooded his veins

Oh, yes, he could He had only to stride down the aisle, lift her into his arht green carpet into the low hills behind the church He’d clirass, drink the sweetness of her mouth while he undid the zipper on that pale violet dress and then taste every inch of her as he kissed his way down her body He i her,within her heat until she cried out in passion

Damian’s mouth went dry What was the iven to fantasizing about women he didn’t know, not since he’d been, what, fifteen, sixteen years old, tucked away in his bed at night, breathing heavily over a copy of a azine

This was nonsense, he thought brusquely, and just then, the woaze unwavering as it sought his She stared at hiain

I knohat you’re thinking, her s

Da in his ears His hands knotted at his sides; he took a step forward

“Daht the doors again and slaainst the ashed walls of the old church

The sound seeants captive Sohed, and finally a man in the last pew rose from his seat, made his way to the doors and drew them shut He smiled pleasantly at the wonored both the man and the smile as she looked around for the nearest vacant seat Slipping into it, she crossed those long legs, folded her hands in her lap and assumed an expression of polite boredom

What, she seemed to ask, was the delay?

The minister cleared his throat Slowly, alants turned and faced the altar

“If there is no one present who can offer a reason why Nicolas and Dawn should not be wed,” he said briskly, as if fearing another interruption, “then, in accordance with the laws of God and the State of Connecticut, I pronounce them husband and wife”

Nick turned to his bride, took her in his aranist struck a triuuests rose to their feet and Daht of the woman in a blur of faces and bodies

Saved by the bell, Laurel thought, though it was more accurate to say she’d been saved by a C an

What an awful entrance to have , but to have interrupted it, to have drawn every eye to her

Laurel sed a groan

Just last week, during lunch, Dawn had predicted that was exactly ould happen

Annie had brought her daughter to New York for the final fitting on

her gown, and they’d all met for lunch at Tavern on the Green Daith all the drahteen-year-old heart, had looked at Laurel and sighed over her Pasta Primavera

“Oh, Aunt Laurel,” she’d said, “you are so beautiful! I wish I looked like you”

Laurel had looked across the table at the girl’s lovely face, innocent of h road that was life, and she’d smiled

“If I looked like you,” she’d said gently, “I’d still be on the cover of Vogue”

That had turned the conversation elsewhere, to Laurel’s declining career, which Annie and Dawn stoutly insisted wasn’t declining at all, and then to Laurel’s plans for the future, which she’dthan they so far were

And, inevitably, they’d talked about Dawn’s forthco

“You are going to be the most beautiful bride in the world,” Laurel had said, and Dawn had blushed, sree, but that thewould undoubtedly be her aunt Laurel

Laurel had determined in that moht When you had a famous face—well, a once-fa a roo she wanted to do to the people she loved

So this , she’d dressed with that in ht for the occasion, she’d put on a periwinkle blue silk dress that was a couple of years old Instead of doing her hair in the style that she’d made famous—whisked back and knotted loosely on the croith sexy little curls tuh it and let it fall naturally around her shoulders She hadn’t put on any jewelry and she’d even oloss and mascara that was the only makeup she wore except when she was on a runway or in front of a camera

She’d even left early, catching a train at Penn Station that was supposed to have gotten her into Strathain But the train had broken down in New Haven and Laurel had started to look for a taxi when the station public address syste to pick up the stranded passengers in just a few minutes The clerk at the ticket counter confirmed it, and said the train would be lots faster than a taxi