Roman-1(Lane Brothers, Book 5)(174)
“Yeah! It only needs some minor alteration and maybe for some of the train to be trimmed! It’s great.”
When I come back and lay the lacy monstrosity on the sofa, it takes all my resolve not to dissolve in a fit of laughter. I love my Nana, I really do, but she’s seventy-three years old and her dress reflects that.
Besides being about a size or four too big — Nana used to be a pretty robust woman — it’s filled with lace and enough beading to make three dresses. I hope I can even walk in the thing, it’s so heavy.
“Isn’t it great? Oh, and I have the veil too,” I say, rubbing salt into the wound.
I watch him swallow a few times before his eyes darken.
“Han, you can’t—”
“She was so excited when I called and asked her for it. You should have heard her squeal, Greg. I swear she kept it just in the hope that one day one of her granddaughters would wear it.”
I’ve spent my whole life hoping never to have to look at it, and thinking about getting married in it makes my stomach turn, but this look is so priceless I can’t back down now.
His eyes twitch, and start doing this weird little tic thing before closing and opening with a determination that sets my girlie parts fluttering.
“I’ll have the seamstress here tomorrow morning. Eight. Sharp. We’ll fly out late tomorrow afternoon.”
Good luck with that, I think, smirking inwardly. Nana has a doctor’s appointment that I’ve conveniently forgotten to cancel.
“I’ve arranged for Nana’s appointment to be moved up to tomorrow, and Christina is taking her, so you don’t have to worry about that either. Oh, and we’re leaving for the honeymoon directly after the reception.”
Mr Bossy Boots is back all of a sudden, and I feel my delight dissolve somewhat. It’s way too easy for him to get back on track while I’m left scrambling to throw him off.
“I called Lena and Taylor this afternoon, and they said they wouldn’t miss this for the world, so you’ll have to call her and make sure their travel arrangements are sorted.”
His face drops, his beautiful mouth flapping for a second before firming mutinously.
“No.”
“No?” I ask sweetly, fiddling with a yellowed piece of moth-eaten lace on Nana’s wedding tent.
“No. I refuse to have my ex-fiancée attend my wedding-”
“But we’re friends, Greg. We got so close after spending that much time together,” I point out, keeping my look as innocent as possible.
He doesn’t have to know that I’ve spent hours on the phone letting Selena in on my plans and finding the perfect ways to rock his well-ordered autocracy.
We really are friends now, after the initial awkwardness, and I’ve come up with a fool-proof, knock-Greg-off-his-pedestal plan with her help. She knows him as well — if not better — than I do, and I know that to get my plans on track I need her expert advice.
Greg’s face reddens, and I sniffle back a laugh and pout prettily, giving him my best hang dog expression.
“Goddammit!” he finally mutters, pulling me in for a hard kiss. “You’re driving me crazy.”
I allow the delight simmering beneath the surface to break through and give him a big, glorious smile.
“So where are we on your family again?”
I’m still laughing an hour later, after some really hard sex, when he grabs his stuff and walks out the door.
Round one goes to me.
Chapter Thirty
“I’m not sure about this, Lena,” I hiss, eyeing the newly fitted and designed dress critically.
Lena had sent the original seamstress packing and had attacked Nana’s dress herself, redesigning and sewing till I am left with a truly beautiful creation of lace and silk that makes me teary.
I’d originally planned to have the refitting take so long the wedding would have to be pushed back a day or two, but Lena had warned me not to poke that particular bear too hard, so I’d let her at it and concentrated instead on the second part of my plan.
Distraction.
So maybe showing up at his office wearing a coat and nothing else had been a bit naughty, but one look at me had thrown him into near raptures, and I’d found myself ‘distracting’ him long enough that Tay could ring up the Lucases and subtly hint at the upcoming wedding.
No, I’m not stupid enough to think Greg would keep his end of that particular bargain, and I’d been right. Needless to say, after that phone call I’d been subjected to twenty minutes’ worth of Greg’s raging about his mother and her ‘teary’ diatribe on the phone.
So I’ve gotten what I want. I have his family in attendance, though I have yet to meet one of them, snooty bastards, and Greg gets to stare at a grinning Taylor all through the ceremony.