The Wedding Dance (13 page)

Tears streamed down Phoebe’s face as Marge and her new husband kissed. She never cried at weddings. But then, she never normally cared.

Out on the small stage at the side, Tyce started up the music again, and Phoebe gently slid the doors closed. In a minute or two, she would have to go help with the reception, but for now it was all she could do to try and dry her tears.

She was surprised when a hand touched her shoulder. “Would you like to dance?”

Phoebe turned and saw Patrick standing close, looking at her with an impossibly sweet, heartfelt expression that wasn’t hard to read. After all, she’d seen it on two faces just a moment ago.

He was also holding a primrose.

I Can’t Live Without You.

Eternal Love

Both were the commonly accepted meanings for a primrose in the language of flowers.

At first, she was so stunned, she simply didn’t know what to do. And then, at long last, she did.

She kissed him, with all the love in her heart.

“Is that a yes?” he asked when they finally broke apart from one another.

“Patrick, I—” Phoebe began. She didn’t know quite what to say next, though.

He put a finger to her lips. “I know. You don’t have to say it. You don’t have to say anything at all, sweetheart.”

“I
want
to say it,” Phoebe said, pressing close to him. “It scares me, and it’s hard, but I want to say it.” She stared into his eyes, not wanting to hide anything from him anymore. “I love you. I’ve loved you from the start and I’m sorry I pushed you away. I shouldn’t have.”

He gently brushed her tears away. “But then you wouldn’t have been you, and it’s
you
I’m in love with, Phoebe. All of you. I know you’re scared, but can’t you see how strong you are? How brave you’ve always been?”

“I want to be brave. For you. And for myself, too.”

Patrick held out the half-crushed flower to her and when she took it from him with a teary, “Thank you for giving me my first flower,” he kissed her again before spinning her around in his arms. Together, they swayed to the sound of the music coming through from the other room.

Phoebe thought back to what it had been like dancing with Patrick the first time they had met. It had been wonderful...but this was better. So much better.

Back then he had been just a particularly attractive stranger suitable for a quick fling.

Now, he was so much more: he was the man she loved. For all that being in love was strange and frightening, it was also wonderful.

Absolutely wonderful.

Phoebe pressed closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck as they gave up any pretense of dancing. Instead, they simply held one another.

“Are we going to start making plans for the future?”

Patrick placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “Later. And trust me, Phoebe, there will be a later.”

He pulled her aside just as the doors opened, letting people spill out as held her close behind the door, where no one could notice them. Phoebe took a breath, and pulled them out into the open.

She didn’t mind if people saw them.

She
wanted
people to see them.

Marge Banning went past, arm in arm with her new husband. She saw Phoebe with Patrick, paused for a brief moment, and then smiled a wide, knowing smile. Phoebe grinned back, and held onto Patrick a little tighter.

“I’m going to have to go help with the reception in a minute,” she whispered, though she made no move to let go.

“I know,” he said. But he didn’t let go either. “Tell me, Phoebe, do you believe in miracles yet?”

“I believe in us.”

“That’s close enough.”

Phoebe nodded. It was.

Epilogue

Tyce tapped away at his laptop, making a few last minute changes to the playlist for the wedding reception as he looked around the Rose Chalet’s dance floor. Marge Banning looked great, twirling around the room with her new husband, who clearly knew exactly how lucky he was, if the smile on his face was anything to go by. All the other dancers looked like they were having a good time, too. That was one thing Tyce always prided himself on: he could always get people out onto the dance floor.

So far, he’d had a busy day. First there had been that business of taking over the final Tara details from RJ so that RJ could help out Phoebe. Tyce grinned as he saw her dancing with Patrick Knight.

It looked like he was going to need someone else to flirt with. He hoped the new permanent caterer Rose eventually found for the chalet would be pretty.

On top of RJ’s duties, Tyce had had the string quartet to manage, which had meant writing out parts for a new viola player who was filling in, and then making sure that the set list was properly set up to run, not to mention having to quickly rewire one of the speakers on his amplifiers. All in all, he’d been so busy that he’d barely been able to enjoy the party. And he
always
enjoyed the party. He had a reputation to uphold, after all.

He looked out over the reception again and saw that Marge was done dancing and was waving him over. What could the beautiful woman want with him?

He picked his way through the dancers with the ease of long practice in clubs. “Hi Marge. I hope you’re having a good time.”

“I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. Everything is perfect.”

“You do realize that today is a sad one for all of us single men, don’t you?” Tyce gave her his saddest expression, which got a brief laugh from the vitamin heiress.

“It’s just as well I planned ahead then, isn’t it?” she said, taking his arm. “Come here, let me introduce you to my bridesmaids. They’re all my nieces.” Marge winced theatrically. “I’m still not used to the idea of being old enough to have nieces, let alone grown up ones. Please flatter me by saying I don’t look it.”

“Will your new husband be angry if I say that you’re the most beautiful woman in the room?”

“Not since we know you say that to all the women.”

Marge’s bridesmaids had congregated in one corner of the room, forming, thanks to the theme for the wedding, a cluster of blue taffeta.

“Now, girls,” she said. “There’s someone I’d like you all to meet.”

Tyce found himself being scrutinized. Marge’s nieces obviously liked what they saw, because they moved forward slightly, obviously eager to say hello. Well, all except the one at the end of the line who was hanging back a little. Who could blame her, when Marge was clearly in a mood to set him up with one of them?

For the next few minutes, Tyce smiled and made jokes with niece after niece. There was Annette, and Georgia and…no, he couldn’t remember more than that.

“So, Tyce,” Marge asked after she’d introduced him to a few of her bridesmaids, “what do you think of my nieces so far?”

“They’re all very lovely,” Tyce said automatically. The truth was that any one of them might have been good to go on a date with sometime, but he half suspected that giving one of them his number would only spark some kind of feeding frenzy. And it would be difficult to make a quick getaway with so many wedding guests in his way.

“Now, Tyce,” Marge said, “I just have one more niece to introduce you to. Don’t hide at the back there, dear.”

Marge stepped forward, taking the woman’s arm and bringing her forward firmly.

“I’m afraid this niece is strictly off limits, Tyce. She’s getting married here herself four months from now.”

Tyce thought he remembered Rose saying something about Marge being responsible for nearly a quarter of the chalet’s income, what with her own weddings as well as those of her friends and family, and readied his best smile. He was prepared to say something about how he hoped that her upcoming wedding would go as well as this one.

Then he finally caught sight of the final niece’s face.

He stopped, frozen to the spot, unable to say anything. For what seemed like an eternity, he couldn’t do anything except stare into the deep green eyes in front of him. Eyes he remembered perfectly.

Eyes he had
never
thought he would see again.

~ THE END ~

Don’t miss Book #1 in the Four Weddings and a Fiasco series

THE WEDDING GIFT

Watch for Tyce and Whitney’s love story in

THE WEDDING SONG

Coming June 25, 2012!

* * *

Please enjoy the following excerpts from Lucy Kevin’s books...

THE WEDDING GIFT

Book #1 in the Four Weddings and a Fiasco Series

© 2012 Lucy Kevin

After Julie Delgado’s restaurant closes, she temporarily takes over the catering position at the Rose Chalet, a full-service San Francisco wedding venue. She plans to dazzle the bride and groom so the Chalet’s owner will keep her around, but fate has other plans for her when the bride’s brother shows up for the first food tasting
.

Andrew Kyle is not only the Cuisine Channel’s Edgy Eats host and chef, but his recent review of Julie’s restaurant was the final nail in its coffin. Once he meets Julie at the Rose Chalet, he’s certain she’s playing it safe. And he wants nothing more than to be the one to break her guarded passions loose.

But despite the undeniable sparks between Julie and Andrew–and the fact that he seems to believe in her when no one else does–can she afford to be taking risks with her cooking, with her career…or with her heart?

Enjoy the following excerpt for THE WEDDING GIFT...

It wasn’t easy trying to finish off the main courses and desserts, knowing all the while that Andrew Kyle was probably out there telling the Rose Chalet’s owner exactly how awful Julie’s food was. And Rose would listen, of course, because what else would she be able to do in the face of a triple whammy: celebrity chef, the groom’s brother, and great dimples?

Enough about the dimples
, Julie ordered herself.
Just remember what he did
.

It was pretty hard to forget. One review from the city’s most prominent TV chef, and her business had come crashing down around her ears. The faint trickle of new customers Julie had hoped would widen into a stream dried up completely. Her entire dream went south in a matter of weeks, all thanks to the man who was currently sampling Julie’s seafood platter.

Well, she couldn’t let him ruin this dream too. Which meant Julie couldn’t do anything horrible to his food, even if a small part of her wanted the revenge.

The truth was, the best revenge would be to show him just how wrong he had been. All she had to do was present him with the best plates of food in her life, and then force him to eat his words.

Easy.

Though if it was that easy, why was her hand shaking while she finished the duck? She needed to focus, take her time, and—

“Is everything okay?”

Julie jumped at the sound of Andrew’s voice, almost slicing a finger open in the process.

What was he doing in her kitchen? Had he finally realized who she was? Had he come to gloat?

Or, maybe, to apologize for what he’d done?

Knowing anything she really wanted to say to him would get her instantly fired by Rose, Julie settled for, “I’m not sure you should be in here.”

“No, it’s fine—”

“Julie,” she reminded him, like he hadn’t just been told her name a few minutes ago. “Julie Delgado.”

Was there a flicker of recognition in his eyes? Did he even vaguely remember her name?

Then again, why would he? He was a famous chef. She was a nobody who couldn’t keep her own kitchen open and was now cooking for scraps at a wedding venue.

“I asked Rose before I came in to see the kitchen where the food for the wedding might be prepared.”

“
Might
be?”

“My brother and his fiancé deserve the best. I promised I’d cast my chef’s eye over it as my wedding gift to them. Which is why I’d appreciate it if you could bring the desserts out with the main courses and stay with us as we go through everything.” He flashed that brilliant smile of his. “After all, I’m sure the two of us will have a lot to talk about.”

For a moment, Julie wondered if he meant the review, but those darn dimples of his were turning her brain just enough to mush so that all she could manage was, “Will we?”

“Sure,” Andrew replied, with another smile.

Oh my God, after all he’d done, was he actually flirting with her?

Julie just barely resisted the urge to hit him with the nearest thing on hand, but only because it happened to be a saucepan full of steadily reducing plum sauce. Of all the arrogant…

Again, Julie forced herself to take a deep breath and reminded herself that since she obviously wasn’t important enough for the big star to remember, why
wouldn’t
he try out the charm that had everybody else fooled?

“I’d be happy to bring out everything at once,” Julie said, if only because it seemed like the quickest way to get him out of her kitchen. “Just give me a minute or two.”

Actually, it was more like ten, but at least for those blissful minutes, Julie didn’t have to worry about anything more serious than whether her gateaux had set properly, and how she was possibly going to balance everything. As fun as it might be to dream of ‘accidentally’ tripping and covering Andrew Kyle with food, Julie knew perfectly well that she wasn’t going to do it.

In the end, she was surprised when Andrew got up to help her with the plates and even made a trip to the kitchen to carry out the desserts.

Once they sat back down, Andrew examined the plates with a critical eye. Beside him, Rose’s expression was indecipherable. Of course, she was probably as concerned as Julie was that this should go well, and if she’d ever watched
Edgy Eats
–or read one of Andrew’s restaurant reviews–Rose would know how harsh his judgments could be.

Taking a spare seat at the table, Julie looked at the plates that held the first course. What reception had Andrew given them?