The Sleeping Beauty Bride

by Glenys O'Connell

  Noelia managed a weak smile. “I was terrified, but now I’m angry. I’m in a ghost-butt-kicking mood, to be honest.”

  • • •

  Noelia wasn’t just putting on the bravado—the last time she’d witnessed the frustrated anger of a ghost, she’d been terrified. But something had changed within her recently. Something profound.

  “I think I’m getting my mojo back,” she whispered to herself in the bathroom mirror that evening. “I feel brave for the first time in so long, free to have fun. And why not? My boys are grown up with lives of their own. Sure, I have a good life, with the church, my job with Kelly, my friends . . . and, of course, my rich inner life as Mimi L’Amour.”

  “I thought I was content. And then a man I hardly know kissed me and . . . well, everything has changed.”

  Just then the doorbell rang, and she pulled on her silk dressing gown and rushed to the front door, grabbing her purse on the way. Chinese food as a special treat—heaven knew, she deserved a little something after the day she’d had.

  But it wasn’t a delivery boy standing there. Dr. Nate Westbury was on her doorstep, a shocked expression on his face as he surveyed her blackened eye and bruised cheek.

  “You should see the other guy,” Noelia quipped.

  “I hope he’s in much worse shape than you,” Nate replied. “I’m sorry for staring, but whatever happened to you? That looks really sore.”

  “It looks worse than it is,” Noelia lied, stepping aside for him to come into her home. “As for what happened, well, that’s a long story. One you might be able to shed some light on.”

  “I won’t stay long. It’s late, and I was worried we’d got our signals mixed and I was supposed to come here when you texted to say you weren’t well. I thought I’d stop by and make sure you didn’t need anything.”

  Noelia’s face lit up with a smile. “That’s very sweet of you.”

  “I should apologize for keeping you up—you must be ready for bed . . . ” Oh, the sexy images that brought up!

  “I think I can manage to stay awake another couple of hours.” She led him into the living room and gestured to a seat, trying not to think of ways Nate could keep her up longer. “Can I get you a coffee? Glass of wine? Or are you driving?”

  “I’m driving, thank you, but a coffee would be great.”

  “That’s good; if you’d asked for wine I’d probably have drooled, watching you drink it. I’d love a glass, but the painkillers I took said not to mix with alcohol.”

  “Wise decision. So, are you going to tell me this long story? I honestly don’t know how I could shed any light on whatever happened, but it’s intriguing.”

  “Coffee first.” The doorbell rang. “Oh, must be my late-night Chinese food order.”

  Moments later Noelia brought the scrumptious-smelling takeout in and put it on the dining table that looked out over her garden. She couldn’t help but notice the way Nate’s nose twitched at the smell of the food. “Did you manage to eat? Because there’s plenty here for two.”

  “My mouth’s watering already. Are you sure? I had an after-hours client emergency and didn’t get to eat anything more than a stale cafeteria sandwich, hours ago, but I don’t want to steal your dinner.”

  Noelia snorted. “If I ate even half of this, I’d never sleep at all tonight.”

  As they sat down, he said, “That looks beautiful, the garden, with the little fountain, and those flowers look silver in this light. Do you enjoy working with plants?”

  Noelia nodded. “Yes, it’s always a pleasure. That’s designed as a moon garden, with plants that glow white in the moonlight. Some of the flowers only release their perfume in the evening. Very romantic.” She flipped a linen napkin onto her lap to hide the blush that rose on her cheeks. “When Mary and Troy got back together, they were eager to get married as soon as possible. You know Mary. When she sets her mind to something, it has to happen right now! But there wasn’t a venue available on such short notice, and the gardens at the Atwell Mansion are not suitable. So we held the reception here—hired a marquee and caterers—it was truly wonderful, and people still comment about how lovely the garden was as a backdrop.”

  They ate in silence for a few minutes, agreeing that the takeout was the best to be had anywhere in the area, possibly anywhere in the state. Finally, Nate wiped his mouth and asked her, “So, now is it story time? Please don’t tell me you had another encounter with that woman from the hospital café.”

  Noelia swallowed a sip of water. “That’s a whole other story, and I think you got the gist of it at the dinner at Mary Atwell’s. No, this is something very strange that seems to involve your daughter—or at least, your daughter’s wedding dress.”

  Nate grew serious. “Well, that’s sure a mood-changer.”

  Noelia surprised herself by reaching over and squeezing his hand. She registered the little pulse of electricity that his touch set off and wondered if he felt it, too.

  He listened, looking shocked, as she explained about the young woman who she’d caught trying on Lydia’s wedding gown without asking for permission. “And then when I challenged her, she got all upset and moved to the door as if she was going to run down the street still wearing the dress. When I tried to stop her, she hauled off and gave me this shiner.” She decided she’d leave out the part about the flying wedding paraphernalia. Nate probably wasn’t ready for that yet.

  “That is strange,” Nate said.

  “The thing is, I had the oddest feeling that she knew about that dress, had seen it before. You see, it was still in the in the garment bag. We hadn’t checked it over and labeled it or anything, so it wasn’t on display in the store. But somehow she knew about it.”

  “Did she say anything about why she was doing this?”

  “She said her boyfriend had finally gotten free of a possessive girlfriend, and they were going to get married soon.”

  Nate grew pale. “Can you describe this woman?”

  “I won’t forget her in a long while, I can assure you. She was a little taller than me, with wavy black hair down to her shoulders, quite thin, her skin was very pale, and she had very dark eyes.”

  “That sounds like Lydia’s best friend, Corinne. But for the life of me, I can’t imagine why she’d want to try on Lydia’s dress. In fact, I thought the two of them had had some kind of falling out, because Corinne hasn’t been near the house, or the hospital, since before the accident. They were inseparable once. I thought it was odd she hadn’t even called to see how Lydia was.”

  “Isn’t that strange? You know sometimes, when bad things happen, some people just can’t cope, and they don’t know what to say or how to act.”

  Nate shrugged. “Corinne was Lydia’s closest friend, other than that boy she wanted to marry. I can’t understand her staying away. I used to run into her from time to time in Marina Grove, and I haven’t seen her for ages.”

  Noelia patted his shoulder. “Maybe she’ll come around now that she’s back in town and obviously planning a wedding. I’m sure it would be a good thing if she went to the hospital and sat and chatted with Lydia.”

  “Do you really think that might help? I mean, I talk to her but keep thinking maybe it’s wishful thinking, something I am doing for myself, not for my daughter. Then when Daniel turned up at the hospital—I am so sorry that I took it out on you that evening. I was just very upset.”

  A shiver raced down Noelia’s back at the mention of Lydia’s boyfriend’s name. “Did you say the boy she wanted to marry was called Daniel?” she asked. She’d forgotten Nate had mentioned that name before.

  “Yes. Why?”

  “Nothing, nothing at all, just a name I’ve always liked.” The girl in the store had said she was marrying someone named Danny. And Danny was short for Daniel, the name of Lydia’s fiancé.

  “To be honest, if I never set eyes on him again, it will be too soon.”

  “Do you really believe he could have been the passenger in her car, and he walked
away and left her after the crash?”

  Nate’s face was dark with anger and sorrow. “I’m afraid I do. And before that, I think he broke her heart. I think he told her that he was in love with Corinne and was breaking things off with her, and she was so distracted that she lost control of the car. That’s why Corinne hasn’t been to visit Lydia.”

  • • •

  Nate excused himself to find the bathroom.

  “Right down the hallway, second door on the left.”

  He found the door closed and, pushing it open, realized he’d got the wrong room. This was obviously Noelia’s study, a desk with a computer and printer, and shelves loaded with stacks of books. Glancing back and feeling a bit like a naughty schoolboy, he let curiosity get the better of him and slipped inside. Right on top of a pile of papers beside the keyboard was a letter from a well-known publisher.

  Dear Ms. Russo:

  We were delighted to receive the draft of your new Mimi L’Amour novel. As always, it is beautifully written and . . .

  He stopped reading.

  They were delighted to receive . . . ? His jaw dropped as he realized what this meant. Noelia was Mimi L’Amour?

  His pulse gave a little jump. Like just about every man in Marina Grove—in the world, for all he knew—he’d secretly glanced through these hot romances to see what the big attraction was. And he’d been, well, moved to say the least by the seductive descriptions of really hot sex . . .

  Is that what Noelia, aka romance writer Mimi L’Amour, was used to?

  Suddenly the fantasy ending to the evening that he’d teased himself with bloomed hotter. The image of her in bed, her hair tousled, looking sleepy and satisfied, leapt into his brain and caused his pulse to quicken.

  Feeling guilty for prying, he slipped from the room and found the door to the bathroom. While washing his hands, he gave his image in the mirror a talking to. You’ve only just met her. Take it slowly. You know so little about her. Don’t scare her away.

  When he returned to the kitchen, Noelia was loading the dishes they’d used into the dishwasher and generally tidying the kitchen. She gave him a searching look, and for an awful moment he thought his lustful thoughts might be written on his face for her to discern.

  But she merely asked, “What was it you wanted to see me about tonight? You said there was something you wanted to discuss.”

  Nate handed her the last of the dishes from the table, noticing that her eye was even more swollen and rapidly turning a painful looking blue-black. There was no way he was going to burden Noelia with the weird nighttime happenings at his house, not after the awful day she’d had. “It can wait. I think I should leave you to get some rest.”

  They walked to the door, where Nate turned and reached for her. Their lips met in a kiss that sizzled down to his toes and all other points. He was suddenly hard and filled with a need for so much more than a kiss. He wanted to feel her skin, her soft curves, hear her moans of pleasure. . . .

  Letting her mouth go with reluctance, he murmured into her hair. “We need to take it slow. I don’t know where this is going, Noelia, but I don’t want to damage it by rushing anything.”

  But good lord, that was so difficult, when she was melting under his hands, so warm and so womanly . . . With a huge effort he contented himself with a brief kiss to the tip of her nose.

  He felt . . . what? Real. That’s the word. He felt real for the first time in so long. And joy—another forgotten emotion—now gave him a whole new worldview.

  The strength of his attraction to a woman he hardly knew—yet felt as though he’d known for years—left him buzzing with an odd mixture of joy and need.

  • • •

  Noelia took a few moments to catch her breath. She leaned against the cool wood and glass of her front door, feeling the kiss she’d shared with Nate tingling through her and setting off all sorts of little fires all over her body. “Gosh, I feel like a high-school kid again, the first time I was kissed.”

  Then she remembered what she had learned from Nate about Corinne and Lydia and Lydia’s fiancé. A boy named Daniel, Danny for short, which was the name Corinne had given as the fiancé she claimed was about to marry her. That could explain how the woman, if she really was Corinne, had seen Lydia’s wedding dress before.

  Maybe just a coincidence? Still, she hadn’t wanted to put that on Nate, as it could have resulted in all kinds of hurt. He already thought Daniel was abandoning Lydia to marry her best friend, any confirmation of that would reignite the pain he was trying to work through. And there was definitely something off in the young woman’s behavior, so it would be wrong to jump to conclusions about Daniel’s part in all this. Still, was it possible that Daniel really had broken Lydia’s heart that cold, icy night by announcing his intent to break up with her and marry her best friend?

  That would certainly lead to Lydia being distracted enough to skid . . . or, God forbid, drive directly at that tree . . .

  Chapter Twelve

  The following day was Noelia’s afternoon off, and she had toyed with the idea of taking the whole day rather than try to deal with customers who would no doubt be fascinated by the bruises on her face.

  “I look like I went twelve rounds with dear old Muhammad Ali,” she muttered to herself in the bathroom mirror that morning.

  But duty called. She knew Sasha was off on some private project to do with her new career as a realtor, and that Kelly had a home visit with a bride and bride’s mother who were having all the daughter’s wedding arrangements done through the store. It would be a lucrative event and a real boost for the store’s bottom line. With all the work Kelly had put into creating Wedding Bliss, Noelia really wanted to see it become a huge success.

  She used makeup to cover the worst of the bruising, but it was still very noticeable. She sighed and hurried in to work. Fortunately, there weren’t many customers, and she was able to take advantage of a lunchtime lull to spend a little time brushing her hair and redoing her makeup in the store bathroom. After all, she was heading out to the hospital later, and, well, you never know who you’ll meet . . . Nate had renewed his invitation to her to visit him at home, and she planned to take him up on it that very evening. It didn’t sound like a suggestion for a romantic visit, but something was obviously troubling him, and helping was in Noelia’s nature. But should I tell him about Corinne’s statement that she was about to marry her boyfriend, Danny? What if that was just coincidence and nothing to do with Lydia and her ex-fiancé? I don’t want to cause him unnecessary hurt.

  • • •

  “Yes! We got the whole shebang, right down to arranging the honeymoon trip!” Kelly strode through the door with a delighted smile on her face.

  Noelia paused as she grabbed her coat from its hanger. “Isn’t that something that’s usually left to a travel agency? I didn’t know we took the wedding arrangements so far.”

  “Oh, well, this is different. The bride’s father apparently owns a dude ranch in Wyoming, but he and the bride’s mother are divorcing and hardly on the best of terms. In fact, they’re not speaking except to fight over splitting their assets, and the father says he won’t let the mother try to use this honeymoon trip to try to grab more of his property.”

  “Sheesh, that could be some wedding if the father is there to give the bride away . . . ”

  “Fortunately, he’s not coming. He wants the happy couple to repeat their vows in a small chapel at the ranch, a sort of second wedding where he can give her away. That’s the reason he wants his daughter to have her honeymoon at the ranch, so he can spend some time getting to know the groom.”

  “Ouch, that does not sound exactly like a lovely honeymoon experience . . . ”

  “Well, he’s filthy rich, and she’s his only child, so she wants to stay on the right side of him. Because of the conflict between the parents, the bride asked if I would act as a go-between and make the necessary phone calls and travel arrangements. Apparently, the father has offered the bride a t
hree-week stay in a luxury cabin as a wedding gift, and they just need someone to finalize the details.”

  “It takes all sorts, I suppose.” Noelia shrugged and pulled on her light spring jacket. “I’m off to the hospital on a three-hour volunteer mission. My friend Ellie Mae will be back in a couple of days, and my stand-in duties will be over.”

  “You’ll be relieved to be done with that, won’t you? Between that and the extra work here, and all the other things you have going on, you must be ready for a break.” Kelly gave her a hug.

  Noelia was late leaving Wedding Bliss, and her stomach reminded her it had been a long time since lunch. As she was passing the hospital cafeteria, she decided coffee and a muffin were called for before she began her volunteer stint. She’d only just sat down with her snack and opened her book when she heard her name called. Her heart beat fast when she saw Marco and his wife heading toward her. Good lord, the last thing she needed was another humiliating conflict with the woman!

  She braced herself for a scene, including taking a quick look around to check that there were no easily accessible glasses of water or other handy projectiles nearby, and then noticed that Marco was smiling and Marianna carried a pretty bouquet of flowers.

  “Noelia, Marianna has something she needs to say to you,” Marco said, pushing his wife forward.

  Marianna thrust the flowers toward Noelia. She coughed to clear her throat and murmured. “I owe you a huge apology for the horrible conclusion I jumped to about you and Marco. I know now that you’re not the kind of woman who’d play around with another woman’s husband. You have no idea just how sorry I am.”

  “And you have no idea how humiliated I was by that little scene, in front of people I know and respect. Do you know how damaging that could have been to my reputation? And how insulting it must have been to your husband, that you should have so little trust in him?” Noelia wasn’t about to let the woman get away with a few words and a bunch of flowers.

  Marianna colored and tears hung in her eyes. “I realize that now. It’s just that Marco had been away so much, hardly ever home, and he kept telling me he was working overtime. I couldn’t fathom why we needed all that extra money, why he should be working so hard . . . Then I was here at the hospital, visiting a friend’s daughter who just had a new baby, and when I saw him with you instead of being at the job site, well . . . I’m afraid I lost it. I am so, so sorry.”