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Merida left Naomi to get dressed but, once alone, Naomi stood staring at the gorgeous dress. Beside it were shoes and a bag. Every detail had been taken care of and she had never felt so looked after before.
The deep violet of the dress and the stunning make-up brought out the blue of her eyes and her porcelain skin, and her new silver earrings gleamed at her throat.
‘My bust looks huge,’ Naomi said, and if there was one detail she could change, she wished the dress had straps because she felt as if her breasts might fall out.
‘It looks amazing,’ Merida assured her. ‘You look amazing.’
‘I need a wrap...’
‘I’ve got a black one that will go beautifully,’ Merida said. ‘Oh, Naomi, you look completely stunning.’
‘Honestly?’
‘Absolutely. Abe’s not going to know what’s hit him.’
On the contrary.
Abe had always known she was a beauty and when she came to the top of the stairs and he saw her, it was simply confirmed.
From her hair to the paleness of her arms and the spill of creamy cleavage, he drank in the view.
She lifted the skirt of her dress and on unfamiliar heels walked down and then paused. Not from nerves, more that she too could take in his absolute splendour.
The wanted-poster look might be gone—his black glossy hair had been cut to perfection and he was cutthroat-razor shaved—but she had never wanted someone more in her life.
His suit was divine, and he stood tall and elegant and utterly still except for the glint of desire in his eyes.
And when it was just them, when he looked at her like that, all self-doubt ceased.
That he wanted her, still.
That he always had, made her feel beautiful.
And when she came to the foot of the stairs and inhaled his cologne, Naomi had to dig her newly neutral, manicured nails into her palms so as not to lift her hand to feel his smooth jaw.
And then she looked down and over his left arm was draped violet velvet. Abe had taken care of every detail tonight. ‘Happy birthday,’ he said, and wrapped her in the cape she had not dared to try on that day.
The lining was silk and she felt its coolness as he draped it around her and then the weight of the velvet.
Naomi found out then how it truly felt be taken care of.
With this single moment he made up tenfold for the million lonely moments she had known in her life.
And even as she warned herself not to go there, it was way too late.
Naomi knew then that she was in love.
‘Ready?’ Abe checked.
And she hesitated, because the private realisation of the depth of her feelings was confronting, but there was no real time to examine it. Merida was dashing down the stairs with the wrap she no longer needed and Ethan had come out from the drawing room to see them off.
‘Bernard’s waiting...’ Ethan told them.
‘I can’t wait to hear how it all went.’ Merida smiled. ‘If Ava’s up when you get in...’
And her words incensed Abe.
How dared they wait up.
