AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She turned. ‘Yes?’
He shrugged. ‘Sadly, now that you’ve worn it, it’s non-returnable. It’s not the vendor’s policy, of course, but my own. So you’re stuck with it.’
Speechless, she stared at him, watched a dark, wicked smile break over his face. It heated her blood and singed her insides as he tucked her arms into his and led her from the room. She was searching for an adequate comeback when they reached the double doors of the great room.
A different sort of trepidation hit her as she heard familiar voices. But that all changed when an additional voice sent her rushing in.
‘Maria!’
The whine of the electrical wheelchair sounded over the soft background music as her friend turned at the sound of her name.
‘There you are. We were thinking of sending out a search party for you.’ Dark of complexion and as strikingly beautiful as her brother was handsome, Maria Angelis scrutinised Carla’s face with wide and shrewd eyes as she rolled forward.
‘You’re a little early. Not that I mind at all.’ Carla leaned down and hugged her friend, striving not to show the heartache that lingered at the edges of her interactions with Maria.
Maria, once a talented figure skater, had suffered a crippling fall as a result of being pushed past her training capabilities by Tyson Blackwell. Unlike Carla, Maria hadn’t escaped with a simple broken wrist and a concussion. She’d severely damaged her vertebrae, resulting in permanent disability. It was the reason Draco Angelis had fought so strenuously to have Tyson Blackwell brought to justice.
Her gaze lifted past her friend’s shoulder to see Javier shaking hands with Draco. The gesture was a touch tense, but Draco’s fiancée, Rebel Daniels, made a comment that had both men chuckling.
Breathing slightly easier, Carla concentrated on her friend. ‘How are you?’
‘Much better now that bastard is on the brink of a long jail term.’ Maria’s voice held satisfaction and the same iron-hard will that had seen her through intense rehabilitation and eventual acceptance of her situation. It was the same will that had bolstered Carla when she’d been met with resistance from her father and Tyson Blackwell. ‘Thank you for agreeing to press charges,’ her friend added.
Carla shook her head. ‘No, thank you for standing by me when I needed you.’
Maria quirked an eyebrow in a move acutely reminiscent of her brother’s. ‘Not sure about the standing part, but you’re welcome.’
Shocked laughter barked out of Carla, and she leaned down and pressed a kiss to her friend’s cheek. Before she could straighten, Maria added, ‘Besides, if I could walk I’d be fighting you for your Spanish hottie. And that just wouldn’t be fair.’
Unable to stem the blush that rose in her face, she stammered, ‘I’m not...he’s not—’
She clamped her lips shut as the trio approached. Rebel Daniels smiled and enfolded her in a big hug, easing the constriction that had clamped Carla’s heart on seeing her.
‘Rebel, I owe you an apology,’ she started.
A hand sporting a huge diamond waved her words away. ‘Bygones. For everything.’ She cast an eye at Draco, then Javier. ‘I know the fuller story about your father and Blackwell now, and I’m only sorry we didn’t nail the bastard before he did that to you.’ She nodded at Carla’s wrist. ‘But if you insist, I know how you can make it up to me.’
‘Oh?’
She exchanged a bliss-filled look with Draco. ‘Come to our wedding. Draco tells me you’re out of commission for another few weeks. The wedding is next month. I’d love to have both you and Javier there. I kinda insist, actually.’ She grinned unashamedly.
Carla’s lips parted; she had every intention of making an appropriate refusal. By then she had no idea where she’d be. She would either still be with Javier, or, more likely, freshly released from her sojourn in his bed. In neither scenario could she envisage herself in a position to attend a wedding—
‘We’d love to be there,’ Javier replied in easy, confident tones.
Carla barely stopped her mouth from dropping open.
Rebel’s breathtaking smile widened. ‘Great! Now, Javier, I hear you’re seriously into your tequila. Any chance of a slammer before the hordes descend on us?’
The gaze he’d levelled on Carla after his shocking response to the wedding invitation lingered for another infinitesimal second before he nodded at Rebel. ‘Of course.’
‘Cut her off after one, Santino. I need her sober for the meeting in the morning with the wedding co-ordinator she insisted on hiring,’ Draco drawled with only a hint of exaspera
tion.
Rebel made a face. ‘Just because you’re a drill sergeant doesn’t mean you get to opt out of your own wedding planning. You’ll sample the same amount of cake as I do, and weigh in on the china patterns.’
‘Go drink your slammer now, Arabella, before I embarrass us both by showing everyone here who’s boss.’
