Silver Master

Chapter 44

Ten Days Later…

“ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER WEDDING,” DAVIS GROWLED.

“What do you expect?” Celinda laughed. “It’s the season. Besides, you shouldn’t complain. You look terrific in a tux.”

They stood together with the other guests and watched the bride and groom take the floor for their first waltz as a married couple. The new Mrs. Boone looked spectacular in an old-fashioned wedding gown and a veil that fell all the way to her heels. Her husband, Cooper Boone, looked every inch the powerful Guild boss that he was in his formal uniform adorned with the insignia of his position as head of the Aurora City Guild.

The ballroom was filled with high-ranking Guild men and Guild families from all four city-states and a lot of the small towns in between. Everything about the wedding had been old-style Guild traditional, right down to and including the quartz-green and amber-yellow floral arrangements and the towering wedding cake trimmed with amber and green roses. Green champagne flowed freely from a half-dozen fountains scattered around the brilliantly lit chamber.

Elly and Cooper Boone circled the floor, clearly lost in each other.

A perfect match, Celinda thought. She dabbed her eyes. Other couples were taking the floor now, including Lydia and Emmett and Tamara and Mercer Wyatt.

“You just met Cooper and Elly today,” Davis said, amused. “You hardly know them. Why the heck are you crying?”

“I can’t help it.” She blinked away the tears. “I’m a matchmaker. It goes with the territory.”

“Are you going to cry at our wedding?” he asked with grave interest.

She sniffed and tossed the tissue into a nearby container. “No, of course not. Brides never cry at their own weddings. They’re too busy making sure everything is under control.”

“Good.” He caught her hand, gripping it tightly. “I wouldn’t want anyone to think you were having regrets at the last minute.”

“Never.” Satisfaction welled up inside. “You’re Mr. Perfect, the man I’ve been waiting for all of my life.”

He laughed and drew her out onto the dance floor. “I’m a long way from perfect,” he said, taking her into his arms. “But what I feel for you is absolutely perfect. I love you, Celinda.”

She glowed in the sweet certainty of his love.

“I love you, Davis,” she whispered.

A SMALL GROUP OF UNINVITED WEDDING GUESTS SUR veyed the happy scene from the cover of a buffet table draped with amber and green. Each was dressed for the occasion. Fuzz wore an amber-yellow ribbon. The bride’s special pal, Rose, glittered in a sparkling bracelet draped around her neck. Max and Araminta were adorned with gleaming paper clips that secured little tufts of fur on top of their heads in a rakish fashion.

From the perspective of a bunch of hungry dust bunnies, the glorious wedding cake loomed a mile high, and the champagne fountains flowed like rivers.

If the humans would rather dance than eat, that was their problem. Dust bunnies knew what to do with a fully loaded buffet table.