Finding Grace (34 page)

The woman staring back at her wasn’t flawless by any
measure, but she was beautiful. And she’d always been there, just
waiting to be recognized. Thorne knew that now, in this perfect
eternal moment, knew that she’d found Grace.

* * * *

A collective gasp went up in the chapel as Paul
walked up the aisle with Grace on his arm. Even Farley was
speechless. But to Dagger, she looked the same as she had the first
time he’d seen her at Trent’s studio, wearing a leotard and bathed
in a sheen of sweat: breathtaking and irresistible. And he was
about to lay claim to her in front of God and everybody. He shifted
nervously.

He’d be eternally grateful that Grace had agreed to
a small, short, traditional ceremony that could be arranged
quickly. Once she had that second ring on her finger, the one that
bonded the other and her to him, he’d feel a lot better.

When the time came, he repeated the vows the
minister spoke to him. He held his breath. Now it was Grace’s
turn.

“…
Love, honor and what?” Grace’s hand were on
her hips.

He leaned over to whisper in her ear.

“No, I didn’t. I’ve never been to a wedding. How was
I supposed to know traditional meant patriarchal?”

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