Silver Master

Chapter 22

“THIS IS THE HAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE,” RACHEL SAID.

Celinda smiled at her in the mirror. “You look so beautiful. When you walked down the aisle I could tell that Josh couldn’t believe his eyes.”

They were alone in the mirrored dressing room. Rachel was still in her wedding gown. Yards of white satin and gossamer netting billowed and drifted around her. She was radiant.

The formal Covenant Marriage ceremony, replete with all the ancient vows and customs that the First Generation colonists had brought with them from Earth, had lasted nearly an hour. Now the reception was in full swing in the hotel ballroom. Celinda could hear the muffled strains of the music.

“You’re the one who made it all possible.” Rachel turned and hugged her tightly. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

“I’m sure that you and Josh would have found each other without me.” Celinda hugged her back. “I speeded up the process a little, that’s all.”

“I don’t believe that for one moment. You made it happen, and we will always be grateful.” Rachel stepped back. “We both owe you so much. Now, it’s your turn. Mom says that things look serious between you and Davis Oakes. I’m so glad you’ve found someone at last.”

“Slight misunderstanding, I’m afraid.” Celinda made a face. “Davis and I got into an embarrassing little argument in the bar last night, and suddenly Mom decided we were meant for each other.”

“Don’t discount her intuition. You know it’s way above average.”

“Trust me when I tell you that Davis and I aren’t going to be sending out wedding invitations any time in the near future.” She hesitated. “Davis is not keen on the institution of Covenant Marriage.”

“You could start with a Marriage of Convenience. Let him get used to the concept.”

“You know how I feel about MCs. Not interested.”

“I know,” Rachel said. “MCs are against your rules. But if Davis isn’t ready for a full Covenant Marriage, you might want to consider one.”

“Why are we talking about Davis and me?” Celinda rezzed up a bright smile. “This is your day. We’re supposed to be getting you changed into your traveling clothes. Got a feeling Josh has had enough of the formalities. He’s ready to start the honeymoon.”

She put her hands on Rachel’s shoulders and turned her firmly around to face the mirror. Then she reached up and carefully unpinned the wedding veil.

“You love him, don’t you?” Rachel said, watching her in the mirror.

Rachel had inherited their mother’s keen intuition. Everyone in the family knew it.

Celinda went still, the pearl-studded veil in her hands. She met her sister’s eyes. “I’ve only known him for a couple of days.”

Rachel smiled. “I knew I wanted Josh the moment I met him. He says he felt the same way about me.”

“Wanting and loving are not always connected.”

Rachel wrinkled her nose. “You’re quoting your own rules again. Know what I think?”

“What?”

“I think you should burn your little book. It’s one thing to exercise common sense and discretion. It’s another thing to have so many rules that you end up missing out on life altogether.”

Celinda said nothing. Just looked at her in the mirror.

Rachel’s eyes widened, first in comprehension and then with delight.

She started to grin. “You’ve already thrown out a few of those stupid rules, haven’t you? Which ones?”

Celinda sighed. “I started with the No One-Night Stands rule.”

“Hmm. Has there been a second night?”

“No,” Celinda said. “There hasn’t. Not yet.”

Rachel chuckled. “Something tells me there will be.”

HALF AN HOUR LATER CELINDA STOOD WITH DAVIS, HER family, and the rest of the wedding guests at the front entrance of the hotel. They all watched Josh sweep Rachel through a hail of pink rose petals and tuck her into the front seat of a gleaming gray Coaster. He got behind the wheel, put the car in gear, and drove away.

There was a great deal of waving and cheering. Celinda realized that her eyes were damp with tears again. She was not alone. Both mothers, Great-Aunt Octavia, and most of the other women were dabbing at their eyes with handkerchiefs.

“I can’t believe my little sister is actually married,” Celinda whispered to Davis. “It feels almost unreal.”

He smiled. “You’re the one who matched them.”

“I know. But this is my sister we’re talking about. I mean, I remember when she went out on her first date, for heaven’s sake. I knew he was all wrong for her and told her she was wasting her time.”

“What did she say?”

“She said she knew he wasn’t the guy she was going to marry, but she wanted to get in some practice so she’d be ready when the right man came along.” Celinda smiled fondly, thinking about the past. “Rachel was always the more adventurous of the two of us.”

“Could have fooled me.” Davis took her arm and drew her back into the lobby. “Plotting the cold-blooded execution of the next boss of the Frequency Guild strikes me as fairly adventurous.”

She looked around swiftly. “Good grief, Davis, keep your voice down.”

“It’s okay,” he said, mouth curving faintly. “I like that in a woman.”

She felt as if he’d picked her up and dropped her into a pool of glacier-melt water. Reality returned with an unpleasant jolt. Rachel’s fairy-tale wedding was over. Now they had to go back to Cadence to face the problems of the missing relic and a sociopath Guild man.

“I didn’t think of it as adventurous, you know,” she said.

“Yeah? How did you think of it?”

She considered the question closely. “More like a necessity. Just something that had to be done in order to keep my family safe.”

“Point taken,” Davis said quietly. There was a world of understanding and approval in his eyes.

In the lobby, the wedding guests mingled, exchanging good-byes and offering more congratulations to the parents of the bride and groom. Those who were not spending the night at the hotel prepared to collect their cars and drive home.

Davis checked his watch. “Eight o’clock. Time for us to hit the road. If we leave now, we’ll be back in Cadence before midnight.”

Celinda saw her mother coming toward them. She had obviously overheard Davis’s comment.

“Are you sure you want to make that long drive tonight?” she asked. “You’re welcome to come back to the house with us. Or you can stay here at the hotel and go home tomorrow.”

“I have to go in to work tomorrow morning, Mom,” Celinda said quickly. “I’m still the new person at the agency, you know. I don’t want my boss to think I’m unreliable.”

“I understand, dear. Well, at least take some of the leftover hors d’oeuvres with you to eat on the road.”

“Good idea,” Newell said, coming up to join them. “I think I saw a lot of those little cheese and cucumber sandwiches left on the buffet table. Plenty of cookies, too. Hate to think of them being thrown away, given what I paid for ’em.”

Walker sauntered over. “There are some crackers and chips left, too.” He surveyed Celinda’s pink gown and grinned. “I’ll bet you never wear that dress again. You look like a big slice of the wedding cake.”

Celinda raised her brows. “That might be amusing if it wasn’t coming from a guy in a pink cummerbund.”

“Shows how much you know,” Walker said. “Pink is the new black for men this year.”

Davis smiled and tightened his grip on Celinda’s arm. “Let’s go see what’s left on the buffet table.”

“I’ll come with you,” Walker said. “I want some more of those little cheese twist thingys.”

“Help yourself to as much as you want,” Newell said. “It’s all nonrefundable.”

They walked back through the lobby and along a wide, paneled hallway. The glittering ballroom was nearly empty. The only people inside were two uniformed members of the hotel staff, a man and a woman, who were starting to pick up the silver serving trays. The cleanup process had begun.

“We’d better hurry,” Walker said. “They’re starting to take the food away.”

A scream rang out, so high and shrill, Celinda was amazed it didn’t shatter the glass in the chandeliers. It emanated from the female member of the hotel staff.

“What are those things?” the woman shrieked. She dropped her tray and leaped back from the table. “There’s one in the cake. Oh my God, there’s another one in the champagne fountain.”

The other staff member stared first at the cake and then at the fountain. “What the hell? They look like dust bunnies.”

“I’ll go get the manager,” the woman yelped. “I don’t get paid enough to deal with stuff like this.”

She set out at a dead run, heading toward a set of swinging doors at the far end of the room.

Celinda got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She looked at the buffet table. “Uh-oh.”

“Hang on,” Walker said, pulling out a small flash-rez camera. “I want to get a picture of this. Too bad Rachel and Josh missed it.”

On the buffet table Araminta was deep into what remained of the four-tiered pink and white wedding cake. She was nibbling on a pink icing rose. There was more pink and white icing matted on her fur.

Max was perched on the edge of the multilevel glass fountain that had been used to display and serve the pink champagne. He seemed to be wobbling a little. As Celinda watched in horror, he swayed back and forth and then went headfirst into the fountain bowl, splashing champagne everywhere. He started swimming.

“Little guy can’t hold his liquor,” Davis explained.