Read Online When Honey Got Married by Kimberly Lang, Ally Blake, Kelly Hunter, Anna Cleary - Free Book Online

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    “Eve, honey…” She felt a gentle prod at her elbow.
    Remembering her manners, Eve took her turn shaking the Delacroix hands and kissing the Delacroix cheeks. Then there was Honey’s family, the Moreaus, and their spiteful cousins the Dixons, though Minna had declared she never would kiss that snake Opaline Dixon or her poisonous daughters to save her life.
    When the moment came, Eve held her breath, but Minna did at least bring herself to kiss the air beside Opaline’s richly injected cheek.
    One thing about the Fortescues, even under pressure, they behaved with grace.
    Mouthwatering aromas were wafting from inside the club. Eve could hear the strains of a band with that distinctly New Orleans timbre. How she loved a party. Any other kind of party, that was. She was straining her ears to hear what Rainer was saying to a doddery old guy in his nineties who was clinging to his hand, when Minna was seized by a gang of her old cronies and carried into the fray.
    Eve was preparing to follow in her wake when Brent’s mother drew her aside.
    “Bellefleur sure misses you, Eve.” Marie Delacroix’s blue eyes were an older version of Brent’s. Warm and sincere, although Marie’s had the added shrewdness of womanly experience. “Our little theater will never be the same. I know Brent was disappointed you left the firm, but I guess he understood you needed to spread your wings.”
    “I hope so.” Eve smiled to conceal her pang. If only Marie knew the truth. This spreading of wings was a miserable thing. Her pride would never let her admit it, though. No way would she allow anyone here to guess how much she missed Bellefleur, every day of her life, with every atom of her being.
    Just how much did Brent understand of her decision to quit her job? She’d never told him how she truly felt. Not in so many words.
    The nightmare that haunted her dreams resurfaced. Would she hold it together when she saw him and Honey? Brent gazing adoringly at his bride; Honey, beautiful as ever, riding high on her triumph?
    Or would Eve Fortescue, exiled and unloved, lonely to the core of her miserable soul, disgrace herself in public by dissolving in tears?
    Never. She must not.
    She made an effort to steady her nerves. She was a twenty-seven year old woman of the world, a bona fide New Yorker now, working in the exciting field of publishing with a whole bunch of truly glamorous people. She had an apartment of her own, admittedly not enormous, and with a nook, rather than some overblown, grandiose kitchen. She was wearing a dress she’d bought just around the corner from Fifth Avenue, stunning new five-inch heels and genuine silk stockings, and she had played Sister Maria in the Bellefleur production of The Sound of Music to critical acclaim.
    She had a reputation for success to uphold.
    In Bellefleur, anyway.
    Besides. Brent wasn’t married yet .
    Smoothing down her dress and bearing in mind the soothing knowledge of the quality of her underwear, Eve took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders, and sashayed through the grand doorway of the Magnolia Room.
    Just inside the entrance she paused, both to check the lay of the land, and on the off- chance she might be charmingly framed by the architraves.
    Just in case anyone—all right, Brent —might be watching.
    She blinked at the blaze of light. Someone must have given the chandeliers a good scrub. The restaurant section sparkled, the tables set with crystal and snowy white linen and arranged in long, inviting rows.
    Folks were standing about gossiping, glasses in hand, enjoying caviar on their canapés, voices raised a notch above the music. The classy five-piece outfit was into a mellow “Sophisticated Lady,” not intrusive, just noticeable enough to tug at Eve’s already overburdened heartstrings.
    It was easy to pick out the wedding party. They were all hanging together over by the bar, seeming a little wired with excitement.
    Eve searched breathlessly among her old friends