Read Online Orchid by Jayne Castle - Free Book Online Page B

Preston Luce is a rainmaker.”
    “That he is. He landed two more major corporate sponsors just last month. Luce is golden at the institute.”
    Orchid wrinkled her nose as the waiter returned with a tray. “I suppose he’ll be at the wedding?”
    “Of course.” Veronica paused while her salad was placed carefully in front of her. “You know how it is at the institute. It’s a small world. One can hardly exclude a high-ranking member of the research faculty from a guest list.”
    “I guess not.” Orchid eyed her platter of hot, greasy fries with moody resignation. “I’m not looking forward to seeing him, but don’t worry. I won’t make a scene.”
    “It never crossed my mind that you would.” Veronica drizzled one tiny spoonful of dressing over the artfully arranged greens on her plate. “I know it’s never easy for you to come back to Northville and Preston being there will only make it more awkward for you than usual.”
    Orchid bit into her dripping salmon-tuna burger. “I can handle it.”
    “I’m sure you can. But I know it will be a strain for you.”
    Orchid shrugged. Veronica was right. Going home was always a source of tension for her and it was getting more difficult as the years went by. All of the kids who had been her classmates in school had gone on to get advanced degrees and doctorates in various fields related to synergistic theory. Most had taken prestigious positions at the institute. Almost all of them were married and had started their families.
    In a world where getting married was considered a social and moral obligation as well as a serious family responsibility, she had not even managed to find a husband.
    When you got right down to it, Orchid thought, all she had done thus far in life was publish three psychic vampire romance novels. As accomplishments went, by Northville standards, that did not add up to much.
    Returning to Northville was a little like going back to a high school reunion and discovering that you were the only failure in the class, she reflected. The fact that everyone believed that she had rejected a legitimate match with Preston Luce simply because she liked to rebel only made things worse.
    Veronica looked thoughtful. “You know what you ought to do?”
    “What?” Orchid asked around a mouthful of burger.
    “Bring an agency date to the wedding.”
    Orchid nearly choked. “Are you kidding?”
    “I’m serious. It would make things so much easier for you.”
    Orchid slowly put down her burger. “Veronica, I just told you, I haven’t had a single call from my marriage agency since my counselor tried to match me with Preston.”
    “So?”
    Orchid scowled, exasperated. “To put it bluntly, I can’t get a date. At least, not an agency date and, at my age, that’s the only kind that counts.”
    Veronica smiled her serene smile. “You’ve got friends. Bring one of them along and pass him off as an agency date.”
    Orchid stared at her, goggle-eyed. “I can’t believe you just said that. Bring a fake date to your wedding?”
    “Why not?”
    “I’m already having anxiety dreams. I don’t need any more problems, thank you very much.”
    Veronica frowned in concern. “Anxiety dreams? Why?”
    Orchid pushed a fry through some hot sauce. “Probably because ParaSyn contacted me again. I got a letter from them a few days ago. They want me to return for a follow-up to that ice-prism study I was involved with three years ago.”
    “The one you walked out on because the researchers wanted you to focus for some criminally insane talents?”
    “Yeah, that’s the one.” Orchid shuddered.
    The psychic talents Dr. Gilbert Bracewell, the head of ParaSyn, had asked her to focus had not been just mentally disturbed. They’d had violent criminal tendencies. She had recoiled from the darkness in them. Morgan Lambert and Theo Willis had also been repulsed by the researchers’ desire to see if ice-prisms could handle such deeply disturbed mental patients.
    It was