The Wedding Party Read online

  Table of Contents

  Synopsis

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Epilogue

  Publications from Bella Books, Inc.

  Synopsis

  Dani and Shannon are blushing brides-to-be. Shannon’s niece Amanda, along with bridal friends Claire and Jordan, will soon be witnesses to the forthcoming nuptials. Together, they’re a party of five intent on having an unforgettable week in Las Vegas.

  Though far from home, none of them can outrun the pasts that have shaped their lives. Dani and Shannon each harbor a secret that could bankrupt their wedding dreams. Jordan, the self-avowed eternal bachelor, finds herself in an unexpected high stakes game of love. Claire, a doctor still grieving the loss of her long-time partner, hits a jackpot she isn’t sure she wants. And Amanda, carrying a secret of her own, decides to gamble it all on love.

  It’s a dizzying, exhilarating week of discovery, passion and surprises, and no one knows where the spinning wheel of love will stop.

  The stakes are high, the risks life changing and the pay offs beyond measure in this latest romantic tour de force from Tracey Richardson, author of The Candidate and No Rules of Engagement.

  Copyright © 2011 by Tracey Richardson

  Bella Books, Inc.

  P.O. Box 10543

  Tallahassee, FL 32302

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  First Bella Books Edition: 2011

  Editor: Katherine V. Forrest

  Cover Designer: Linda Callaghan

  ISBN 13: 978-1-59493-234-2

  To the unbroken circle—no beginning and no end.

  Acknowledgments

  As always, thank you to all my readers—your encouragement inspires me so much. My gratitude and affection to Bella Books and all its talented and dedicated women. It has been a real honor and privilege to work with literary icon Katherine Forrest as my editor. Thanks to my fellow authors for your support, leadership and encouragement (you are a true family!). Cris S., as usual, I can always count on her unending help and encouragement. The love and support of my partner, Sandra, has given me the freedom to pursue the work I love. My everlasting thanks to my friends and family for their support and encouragement and for bringing joy to my life.

  About the Author

  Tracey Richardson is also the author of The Candidate, Side Order of Love, No Rules of Engagement, and Blind Bet. She was a Lambda Literary award finalist for No Rules of Engagement and has been a finalist several times over for Golden Crown Literary Society awards. Tracey’s Side Order of Love also won first place in contemporary romance in the Rainbow Romance Writers awards for excellence. Tracey worked as a daily newspaper journalist for almost twenty-five years and now works from home as a freelance editor and writer. She lives in the Great Lakes region of central Ontario, Canada. Visit Tracey on Facebook and at www.traceyrichardson.net.

  Chapter One

  Dani (Chicago)

  Never in her darkest thoughts had Dani Berringer imagined her life would take such a downward spiral. She was a spool unwinding, caught in a total freefall at the worst possible time—right before her wedding.

  Crap! She liked that word and found herself saying it a lot, if only in her head. It was all-encompassing and captured the irony and shitty bleakness of her situation in one simple, useful word. She leaned heavily against the huge glass window, her gaze unblinking on the distant, gray expanse of Lake Michigan. It was an incredible view most days—the John Hancock building reaching into the Chicago skyline like a black arm raised in victory, the curvy line of North Lake Shore Drive hugging the lake, the patch of brown that was the sandy beach, and then the massive lake itself. The waters on this day were gray and turgid, typical for March, and blended perfectly with the sky and most of the surrounding buildings. Blended perfectly with her mood too, but unlike the endless horizon beyond the lake, Dani’s world was closing in on her.

  Jesus. She was going to miss this place. They both would. It was their dream home, this two-bedroom, sixteenth-floor condo a couple of blocks west of Michigan Avenue and Chicago’s Magnificent Mile. It had been such a victory when they’d bought it eighteen months ago. The three-quarters-of-a-million-dollar mortgage and the five-hundred-dollar monthly condo fees were a bit of a stretch, but not beyond them. They’d made it work. Even with Shannon quitting her nursing job last fall, it was totally manageable on Dani’s bloated salary.

  Until now.

  Dani took a deep breath, panic a knife in her gut. They could hold on for maybe four, five months after the wedding. Just long enough to sell and maybe walk away with a hundred grand in their pocket, if they were lucky. Their future, once a pristine and perfectly drawn map, was barren undiscovered territory now, full of unseen dangers. Well, it wasn’t entirely unknown. The wedding next week would go ahead and Shannon would keep her appointment at the fertility clinic next month, because there was no way in hell Dani was going to see them sacrifice that. She would sell all her earthly possessions, steal if necessary, to ensure successful fertility treatments for Shannon. Having a baby was more important to Dani than anything she’d ever done, any possession she’d ever accumulated, any job title she’d earned.

  At the bar she went to pour herself a scotch but stopped before any liquid hit the glass. These eighty-dollar bottles of single malt would have to stop. A lot of things would have to stop. Right after this wedding that was costing them a goddamned mint. Christ! Why hadn’t they gone for something low-key, something simple, the way Shannon had wanted? Just a hall, nice and quiet, with a few of their closest friends. Or even a ceremony right here in their home. But no. Dani had to be the big shot. Dani had to line up a swanky ballroom at Las Vegas’s MGM Grand Hotel for the wedding. Dani had pulled out her platinum Visa card and paid ahead for a lavish dinner and free bar for thirty of their closest friends and relatives. Jesus. Thirty grand, gone with the swipe of a piece of plastic. And that wasn’t counting flights and the two-hundred-dollar a night room for a week. There were incidentals too, like the two-hundred-dollar boxes of Montecristo cigars, the Dom Perignon, the limo. She shook her head at her stupidity. Thirty grand worth of pride and vanity. Thirty grand they could really use right now.

  She poured two fingers of scotch in the thick square glass, and wondered how much money she was about to pour down her throat . .
. seven dollars maybe? She’d never thought about that kind of thing before, but now she did. Now the nickel and diming burrowed into her thoughts regularly, like a sliver under her skin she couldn’t excise. She swirled the liquid slowly, took a tentative sip. The burning trail down her throat infused her with warmth and calm. A moment of sanity. The feeling wouldn’t last, but she would hold onto it for as long as she could.

  “Honey, do you think I should risk bringing my good jewelry?”

  Shannon emerged from the bedroom, and the sight of her stilled Dani’s heart, as it always did. After six years together, her sweetie still made her heart leap pleasurably into her throat. It was everything about Shannon, and not just her silky blond hair and gorgeous green eyes and her trim little body that fit so perfectly against Dani’s. It was Shannon’s generosity, intelligence, her sense of humor, the loving warmth in her that Dani admired so much. The right partner was supposed to make you a better person, and maybe that was true, she figured, because she tried so hard to be a better person for Shannon. Shannon deserved the best from her.

  Dani grinned at her partner, her mood much lighter now. “Of course you should. It’s Vegas, baby. Where else can you put on the dog?”

  The little frown at the corner of Shannon’s mouth was adorable. “I know, but I wouldn’t want them to get stolen. Those pearl earrings that were my grandmother’s are worth a small fortune now. And that diamond necklace you gave me for Christmas, I don’t even want to think about what you must have paid for that.”

  Neither do I, Dani thought and smiled through her sudden heartburn. It wasn’t her sweet Shannon who had the champagne tastes, it was Dani. Dani was the one who’d felt the need to show off, the one who wanted to keep her woman looking good in brand-name clothes and Cartier jewelry. Shannon was perfectly happy in her jeans and T-shirts and worn down leather boots. It was Dani who’d insisted on the Anne Kleins, the Guccis, the Armanis, the Louis Vuittons in Shannon’s closet. Dani was the one always flashing the bills and the patchwork of colorful credit cards in her wallet. Dani liked money, liked the trappings, and wanted the world to know she was a successful business executive who could take care of herself and her woman. And what the hell was wrong with that anyway? It wasn’t like she was hurting anyone; she was simply enjoying life.

  And they had been enjoying life and its finer things. Except now suddenly, they couldn’t. She could no longer even swing half of it. They’d be back to living in a row house, clipping coupons, taking the El train. Shannon back to working shifts at the hospital, maybe even having to work while she was pregnant.

  “Honey, are you okay? You look a little pale.”

  “I’m fine.” Dani swallowed and forced a smile. She could cover pretty well for herself. “It’s the greatest week of my life, darling. I’m more than fine.”

  Shannon was instantly at her side and up on her toes, planting a kiss on Dani’s cheek. “Just making sure you’re not getting cold feet on me.”

  That elicited a chuckle from Dani. “Never, my love.” She kissed Shannon fully on the mouth, spun her around, dipped her. “You are the woman of my dreams, Shannon McCarthy, and if you think for one second that I’m backing out of our wedding, you can forget it. You’re stuck with me.”

  Shannon giggled and squirmed in Dani’s arms, pretending to free herself. “I see my lasso is firmly in place around your neck!”

  Dani held her lover close. “You’ve got me hook, line and sinker, darlin’.” There was nowhere else she would rather be than in Shannon’s arms, and it made her instantly forget the wedding costs, the mortgage payments they wouldn’t be able to make much longer, their rapidly shrinking bank account. There was true shelter in Shannon’s arms and real peace. Goddamn! She was so gorgeous, stunningly so, and way out of Dani’s league. She herself was rather plain with her ordinary brown hair and unspectacular blue eyes. She still couldn’t believe her luck in snagging this woman. She’d hit the jackpot of her life, and really, any of her problems were nothing as long as she had this woman loving her.

  “Since I already have you, sweetheart,” Shannon whispered seductively in her ear, “I’d really like to have you right now.”

  Dani laughed, made a little growling noise. She was Wonder Woman and the Bionic Woman all rolled into one when Shannon talked to her like that; she could do anything, be anyone. “Guess this means we don’t have to be celibate until the wedding, right?”

  “Are you kidding me?” Shannon’s green eyes scolded her. “That would be grounds for calling the wedding off, my dear.”

  “Well, we wouldn’t want that, would we sweetie?”

  “No, we wouldn’t.” Shannon poked her lightly in the chest. “So that means you’d better do me right now, my betrothed.”

  Dani picked Shannon up like a sack of potatoes and swung her over her shoulder, feeling every bit the barbarian about to carry her woman off to her cave. They both laughed all the way to the master bedroom, Dani nearly tripping over suitcases on the floor before she heaved Shannon onto the bed. Shannon, excited about the week, had been packing for days.

  The cavewoman act was pure silliness, but there was nothing silly about the way Dani slowly and methodically began removing Shannon’s clothes, softly trailing kisses on bare skin with each item of clothing shed. There were times when they went at it quick and hard, both too turned on for foreplay or even romance. Sometimes they didn’t even bother to remove all their clothes. One’s hands would jam down into the other’s pants, a finger or two would slip in and they’d be off to the races. And sometimes right on the sofa or floor, one might yank down the other’s pants and bury her head between her legs. Just like that. But this was not one of those hell-bent for quick release times. This was a time for going slow, for savoring every taste, every smell, every touch, every feeling.

  Lovingly caressing Shannon’s breasts, Dani looked at her lover with wonder. She didn’t really deserve Shannon, but by some crazy karma, she’d landed her anyway. Every day, Dani tried never to let Shannon forget how much she loved and respected and needed her. She vowed to herself never to take their love for granted.

  Dani stared into Shannon’s eyes the entire time she made love to her. She loved seeing in those eyes how much Shannon loved her too. And in just over a week, their relationship would be solemnized. Not exactly legal, not in Nevada or Illinois, but they were tired of waiting. They would have their ceremony, their big wedding bash with all their friends, and in the summer they’d sneak off to Canada for a vacation and get legally married there.

  “Oh, Dani!” Shannon was breathing hard, her eyes tightly clamping shut as spasms ripped through her body. “I love you baby,” she murmured breathlessly, over and over as she basked in the waning ripples of orgasm.

  Dani’s heart swelled. She kissed Shannon’s nose, her forehead, her eyelids. It wasn’t that Shannon would cast her out or hate her if she knew the truth. Shannon loved her and she was the forgiving kind. She was also the kind of woman who would roll up her sleeves and say fine, let’s do what we need to do to get on track. But Dani didn’t want to look into those eyes and see disappointment. She didn’t want to see her own failure reflected there, and she sure as hell didn’t want pity. She didn’t want Shannon to have to go back to work at the hospital again, just so they could claw their way back up again. They couldn’t put off having a baby much longer either, not with Shannon’s biological clock ticking. Somehow Dani would just have to navigate them out of this financial quagmire.

  “You look deep in thought.”

  Dani smiled. She’d been good at covering things up the last few weeks; she needed more time. Lightly, she trailed a finger over Shannon’s stomach. “I’m hoping in two or three months there’ll be more of you to love.”

  Shannon reached down and stilled Dani’s hand. Her voice was light but there was an edge of warning to it. “We’ll see. No guarantees that it’s going to take, remember?”

  “I know, sweetie, I know. But I also know it’s going to work. Just you
wait.”

  “I’m not getting any younger, you know.”

  “Neither of us is. I’m so sorry you have to carry most of the load.”

  “Stop apologizing for that. You can’t help that you had a faulty reproductive system.”

  “I know. Still . . .”

  “Look, I’m fine with it. You know that.”

  Lately, whenever talk of having a baby came up, Shannon got a little edgy. It was nothing she could put her finger on, just a sense that Shannon was a little nervous. Which was fine. Who wouldn’t be? There was the worry of trying to conceive for the first time at the age of thirty-eight—artificial insemination, potentially painful egg harvesting and in-vitro procedures. There were other worries too—a healthy pregnancy, raising a kid in the city, parenting issues. But they’d been over everything many times. Dani tried to lighten the mood. “First things first, my love. I need to make an honest woman of you before you bear my child.”

  “Ah, you are so chivalrous, Dani Berringer. That’s exactly why I’m going to marry you. And I’m expecting you to ride into that ceremony on a white steed.”

  “Oh, yeah? What if I don’t?”

  Shannon rolled on top of Dani, pinning her arms above her head. It was a joke whenever she did this, because Dani outweighed her by probably thirty pounds and was far stronger. “I’m sure there are plenty of other hot dykes on white steeds riding around Vegas.”

  Dani threw her head back and laughed. “That I’d like to see!”

  Chapter Two

  Claire

  So much for getting a head start on packing. Claire Cooper glanced at the plain round wall clock in her office. It was after seven and she still had to eat dinner. And do laundry. And take her yellow Labrador retriever Tucker to doggie daycare. It was a list that wasn’t getting any shorter while she continued to sit in her office. Well, Claire, that’s what you get for leaving everything to the last minute.