But they would find out and soon.
* * *
Not having to go into the office, even for a single day, made Renee feel less claustrophobic. A shipment of dresses for a scheduled photo shoot was expected, and since the office was being painted and set up, there was no place to store them. Renee had moved into her own space, so she’d had them sent to the guesthouse. Dana had come to the city for the weekend to visit, and Renee enlisted her to help with opening boxes and hanging gowns.
“Oh, this is gorgeous,” Dana said as she pulled a gown from a box.
She’d said the same thing for each box she opened and each gown she hung. Renee laughed. Dana’s comment took her back to her consulting days. They weren’t that far behind her, yet hearing a bride find the perfect dress for her special day still gave her goose bumps.
“Renee, you have got to let me try some of these on.”
“I take it you’re not superstitious,” Renee said sarcastically.
“Not in the least.” Dana held up a dress covered in Battenburg lace. The sigh she gave was audible and appreciative. “Teddy should do this all the time.”
“It is taking more and more of her time. I wouldn’t be surprised if sooner or later, she and Diana hire someone else to do the consulting while Teddy concentrates full-time on design.”
“And with the magazine you’re doing showcasing these dresses, she’ll be busier than ever.”
“That’s the plan,” Renee said and smiled.
They had ten boxes to unpack. Seven contained gowns and the other three held accessories.
“When is the shoot?” Dana asked. “I want to be here for that.”
“It’s on Monday. Can you stay over? I could use the help.”
Dana looked at her as if she’d been granted access to Fort Knox.
“I can stay,” she said quickly. “That is, unless you have plans.” Her brows went up. “Like, is that hunk Carter coming over?”
“Dana,” Renee warned. She kept her head down, looking at the task she was performing. “I’ve told you more than once that Carter and I are history. We never really had a history, so even that may be a misnomer.”
“You have and I’ve heard you, but I’m not convinced that all is done.”
“All is done. You sound like someone out of the eighteenth century.
“It must be the gown.” Dana held up a retro dress made of delicate lace and covered in pearls. “I think I’ll die if you don’t let me try this on.”
The gown was definitely a magazine cover. She wondered which model was destined to wear it for the shoot on Monday. But for the moment, her cousin would be the first.
“Do you think it will fit?” Renee asked.
“I don’t know. It doesn’t have a size.” Dana looked for a tag. “And models are usually super thin.”
“Let’s try it.”
Moments later, Renee was holding the dress and slipping it over Dana’s head. Delicately, she helped Dana pull the gown down and Renee meticulously buttoned her into it.
“Oh,” Dana said, looking down at herself.
“You are going to be a beautiful bride,” Renee told her cousin. Renee pulled a full-length mirror designated for the shoot in front of Dana. “Look,” she said.
Dana’s hand went to her breasts. “Is that me?”
“See what a great gown can do for a bride?”
Dana twisted from side to side, looking at herself.
“Let me get the veil and gloves.”
“And my phone so I can take a picture,” Dana called. “It’s in my purse.”
The gown could have been made for Dana. The train was long and Renee pulled it out, unfolding the lace and spreading it behind her cousin almost to the length of the room. Renee found a veil and stood on the sofa to set it on her cousin’s head.
“Oh,” she sighed when she jumped down and looked at Dana. “Oh, my,” she whispered, awed by the way her cousin looked. “It’s you.”
Standing back, Renee snapped a photo on her phone.
“Take one on my phone,” Dana said. “I want to show it to my mom.”
Renee laughed and took several pictures. “Be careful with that. You know what will happen. You’ll have to explain to your mom why you were trying on wedding gowns.”
“It’s only one gown.”
“She’ll overlook that point,” Renee laughed, thinking of her aunt. “She’ll want to know who the guy is, why she hasn’t met him and whether there’s a date yet.”
Renee continued to click the shutter. Dana turned about as if she was truly modeling the gown.
“All right. Give me a happy pose. One that you’d find on the cover of a romance novel.”
Dana laughed. She pulled the veil off and held it in her hand while it dragged on the floor. Then she threw her head back and arched her back.
“Perfect.” Renee was having fun. “Send these to me, especially that last one.”
Dana took the phone and pressed several buttons.
“They’re in your email. Now you.”
“I could never look like you in that dress.”
“Not this one. I saw you looking long and hard at one of Teddy’s originals. Come on, I tried one on. You can do the same.”
“All right,” Renee said. She helped Dana take the dress off, then went to the collection they’d hung on the makeshift rack. Sorting through them, she found the one she loved. The strapless bodice was covered in Swarovski crystals shaped like flowers. Between them other crystals dripped like falling teardrops. The bottom of the gown was two layers of white satin over a huge underskirt. The bodice was covered in lace appliqués that picked up the crystals. The train wasn’t as long as the one Dana had worn, but it spread out in a perfect semicircle.
Dana found fingerless gloves that reached Renee’s elbows and again sported the dripping crystals. While Renee pulled them on, Dana placed the matching veil over Renee’s hair.
“Wow,” she said stepping back. “You should be one of the models. You look...” Dana stopped.
“Dana, are you crying?”
“Of course I’m not crying...” Her voice broke. “Where’s my phone?” Covering her tears, Dana found the cell phone and took several photos. “Turn around,” she said. “I want some with the train twisted.”
Doing as Dana said, Renee turned a step. Dana pushed the mirror around and Renee got a glimpse of herself. She gasped at the reflection. For a moment she couldn’t speak.
“Stand over here,” Dana instructed.
Renee moved. The dress and all its slips were heavy. Renee went up two steps and turned back.
“Right there,” Dana raised a hand and Renee stopped. “Don’t fix anything. It’s perfect.”
The camera clicked as Dana took one shot after another. “Take some with my phone,” Renee said.
“I want a romance cover pose, too,” Dana said.
“Fine, but I need a romance cover hero.”
“I suppose you’ll have to pretend Carter is holding you.”
Renee stood up straight and stared directly at Dana. “You think Carter is cover model material?”
She nodded. “Go ahead, lie to me. Tell me you don’t think Carter Hampshire could compete with any of those shirtless, airbrushed men on the books you read.”
“All right, I concede. He’d a good-looking man.”
“He’s a great-looking man. I’m sure women are falling all over themselves to get to him.”
“Do you mind if we don’t talk about Carter?”
Dana hunched her shoulders and snapped another photo.
“Enough,” Renee said. “If we’re going to make that play tonight, we need to finish this.”
Renee came down the steps and turned so Dana could unzip the
gown.
“Just a minute. I want to send some of these to myself. I can’t be the only one my mother sees in a wedding gown. Where are your contacts? Never mind—I see them.”
Setting the phone on the coffee table, she unzipped the gown and held it as Renee stepped out of it.
Renee took the dress and delicately replaced it on the padded hanger. Then she slipped it back into its plastic bag and went to the dress rack. Why did Dana have to bring up Carter? Now all Renee could think about was him holding her in that romance cover pose. As soon as Dana had said it, Renee had gone all warm inside, as if she could feel his strong hands holding her. Suddenly she wished they were holding her.
* * *
The pool water was refreshing. Carter swam his thirtieth lap, then pulled himself out of the water and grabbed a plush towel. Drying himself, he breathed hard as he flopped down on a nearby chaise lounge on the fitness center’s roof swimming deck. He could feel the sun through the overhead glass panels. It was warm and Carter relaxed for several minutes. A single note that pinged on his cell phone told him he had a new message. Usually he turned the sound off on weekends and late at night. Since he was expecting a call from his sister and she was partial to texting, he’d left it on. The ping, however, wasn’t a text. It was an email.
And it was from Renee.
He sat up straight, staring at the phone. Seeing her name and her photo was so unexpected Carter nearly dropped the phone. Leaning forward, his legs balanced on both sides of the chair, he opened the message. There were no comments, only several attached image files. Why would Renee send him picture files? And why was there no message accompanying them?
Carter checked the address. It was hers and there were no other addresses in the email indicating that it could be spam mail or a virus. Curiosity got the best of him and he clicked on the first file. It took a moment, but a photo of Renee appeared wearing a wedding gown. All the air seemed to leave his lungs when he saw her. She was as beautiful as any of the models he’d seen in the magazines.
What did this mean, he asked himself.
He opened the second file. Again, it was Renee. She wore the same dress, but her position and pose were different. Carter had the same reaction. Not only did his breath stop, his heart hammered. What was going on? Renee had rebuffed him at every turn, then out of the blue she sends him wedding photos as if she was part of the upcoming spread in a Hampshire bridal magazine.
There had to be a reason. Renee was a straight forward person. She’d told him in no uncertain terms that she wanted nothing to do with him. So what the heck was this?
Carter opened the third file. Renee’s eyes were dreamy. She had the look a photographer would give anything to capture—the look of love. Staring directly at him, love poured from Renee’s eyes, showing whoever she was looking at or thinking about that she loved him. Carter was sure it was a him. Should he read anything into these photos? He was too confused. Why had she sent them? And without a message. What was she trying to tell him?
He had to know.
His calls to Renee had been unanswered and unreturned. However, Blair told him she had a photo shoot Monday morning. Well models weren’t the only thing she was going to see that day, he thought.
Chapter 6
Monday came way too soon. Renee and Dana had relived the old days, when they were carefree and only interested in talking their dads into buying them new dresses for the school dance. They’d spent a night at a play, then followed it up with drinks at a local bar, which turned into a dance marathon. Recuperation on Sunday would have been ideal, except that Renee had to make sure all the details were set and ready for the shoot early Monday morning.
And it wouldn’t be just morning. They had to be ready before sunrise, while the mist was still in the air. They were beginning in a park north of the city. But the photographers had other places they wanted to photograph the models, including a ruined mansion. Thankfully, all the models were there on time. Renee had sent cars to pick them up to make sure. It was going to be a long day.
“All right people, let’s do this,” the photographer shouted. The first group of models came out of the temporary dressing room, each holding her dress and train to keep them clean.
Dana sidled up to Renee. “Excited?” Renee asked. “Have you ever been to a shoot before?”
Dana shook he head. “This is fascinating. I wish I could model that gown I fell in love with.”
“You’ve got the pictures,” Renee told her.
Dana pulled her phone out as a model emerged wearing the dress. Both women looked at the phone and then at the model in front of them.
“That is one gorgeous dress,” Dana said. “And she’s wearing it to death.”
“She doesn’t look any better in it than you did,” Renee chided with a smile.
“She’s had a hairstylist and a makeup artist work on her, plus she’s tall as the Empire State Building.”
“But how did you feel in the dress?”
“Like it was my day.”
“Wait, here comes your dress. Let me pull up the photo.” The two of them watched as image after image of Renee flashed by. Dana frowned and started the sequence over.
“What’s wrong?” Renee asked.
“Some of them are missing.” She went through her photos again. Renee peered from next to her.
“Where’s the romance one?” Renee asked.
“You sent it to yourself. It should be in your email.”
“Right,” Dana said and pulled up her email. Renee saw her name in the unopened messages. Dana opened the file and clicked on the photos. The two of them looked as Dana smiled for the camera and her cousin. “Wait, these are the ones of me. I opened the wrong file.”
She went back to the inbox. There was no other message from Renee.
“They’re on my phone.” Renee pulled her phone from the pocket of her jeans and opened her email. “Here they are.” Again the two of them looked at the photos and at the model wearing the gown.
“Wait a minute,” Dana said. “Why don’t I have those on my phone, too?”
“Check your sent folder,” Dana said. “Maybe the files are still in your outbox waiting to process.”
Renee opened her sent folder and froze. There was the email Dana had sent from Renee’s phone. But it wasn’t addressed to Dana. It was addressed to Carter.
“Oh, no!” Renee wailed. Everyone in the yard turned to look at her.
“What’s wrong?” Dana asked.
Renee could barely speak. “You didn’t send those pictures to yourself.”
“I did,” Dana defended. “You were standing there when I sent the message.
“Look.” Renee held up her phone and pointed to the message in her sent folder.
Dana gasped. “I couldn’t have done that.”
Renee understood what had happened. Carter was in her address book and Dana had had a hard time finding the contact list. When she’d pressed the small key for her contact information, she’d probably hit Carter’s instead.
“I’m so sorry, Renee. I never intended to send those photos to him.”
Renee didn’t say anything. She nodded to her cousin. As much as Dana teased her, she would never have sent those photos without Renee’s knowledge.
“What are we going to do now?” Dana asked.
“It’s my problem,” Renee said.
“I can explain it to him,” Dana said. “It was my mistake. I can fix it.”
“You can’t,” Renee said quietly. She took Dana’s arm and squeezed it, letting her know she understood it was an error. Renee should have removed his number from her contact list years ago. But she hadn’t.
Suddenly, Dana grabbed Renee’s arm and squeezed it so tight it hurt. Renee cried out in pain and Dana loosened her grip, but did no
t release her. “Don’t look around,” she whispered.
“Why?”
“He’s over there. Behind you.”
Fear raced through Renee, cold and heavy. “Who?”
“Carter Hampshire.”
* * *
Renee was tired. Strain from finding Carter staring at her and her need to direct the shoot warred in her mind and body. Life had been a whirlwind for the past three weeks and it culminated with her needing to explain the misdirected photos.
“Let me go tell him what happened,” Dana said for the second time.
Renee shook her head. “I’ll do it.”
Giving Dana a quick smile, she turned and went toward Carter. His face held the slight reflection of a smirk. She wondered if he knew how uncomfortable she felt.
“Great photo,” he said the moment she was within earshot.
“I can explain that.”
“Don’t. I’d rather imagine it. I wish I could have been there,” he teased.
“Carter, I need you to delete those pictures.”
He crossed his arms and planted his feet. “Now why would I do that?”
Renee knew only the truth would do. “The gown I wore is the centerpiece of our first issue. I need to make sure it’s not unveiled until the launch.”
Carter looked at the sky as if he was thinking.
“I know you won’t use the dress to embarrass me.” She appealed to his sense of honor.
He slipped his phone from his pocket and punched in his security code.
Renee held her breath, hoping his intent was to comply with her wishes.
“Is this the one?” He turned the phone so she could see the display.
Renee nodded, although she was sure Carter knew that was the one. Dana had only sent one message to his address.
Going back to the message, he clicked the file to select it. His finger hovered over the delete key. Before pressing it he looked at her.
“What do I get for doing this?”
Renee stepped back as if the question pushed her. “You want to negotiate for the photos?”
“Seems like a good time to me.” His smile was white and irritating.
All He Needs Page 10