outside and the big, masculine bedroom she would soon share with Jared.She was wearing a designer wedding dress and could get pretty much anything she wanted except the wedding dress of her choice.
What a minor problem to have. Most nights when she was growing up, she’d gone to bed so hungry it felt like her stomach was eating itself. Complaining about wearing a designer gown as she married a billionaire?
How petty.
“I’m really lucky, you know,” she told Faye.“So what if I have to wear this ugly dress? So what if Jared doesn’t always understand what I’m trying to tell him? I know he loves me, and that’s all that matters. We’ll get through this and finally start our lives together, and everything will be okay.”
“Nancy, you’ve already started your lives together. The way he treats you now is the way he’ll continue to treat you.”
It was the closestFaye had ever come to remarking on Jared’s recent behavior. In the beginning, she’d oohed and aahed over every bouquet he’d sent Nancy, every fancy dinner and red-carpet event he’d taken her to.
She was on a bullet train barreling toward her wedding day, and a billion tasks, problems and unforeseen complications battled for control of her brain. But one question underscored them all.
What amI doing?
The phone rang again, a Marietta phone number popping onto the screen.
“I’m busy,” Nancy said. “No matter how many times he calls, I’m busy.”
Chapter Eight
‡
“Marriage is really tough because you have to deal with feelings…and lawyers.”
—Richard Prior
N ancy wrapped her bridal corset around her torso and forced herself to breathe. When she’d tried this corset on a month ago, its tightness had given her security, confidence—not in her body but in her future. This hand-sewncorset alone cost more than three of the mortgage payments she made on her parents’ ranch, and Jared had paid the bill without a blink. No more worrying about being the only person her parents could rely on, or whether her show would be canceled or the parts stopped coming her way. After today, her future would be just as secure as her constricted ribcage.
So why did her head spin as her mompulled the corset’s strings?
Maybe it was all the frenetic energy in the room. With just one hour left before she pledged her future to Hollywood’s favorite leading man, the room buzzed with frenetic activity. Jared’s mother, Barbara, was talking to the wedding planner in the quick, no-nonsense tones of a woman used to leading a battalion. Except Barbara had never been in the military. She’dbeen a 1970s scream queen who’d quit to manage Jared’s acting career as soon as he’d been born and then done the same for his brother and sister.
Mallory fussed with the god-awful wedding dress, shouting “No one touch it!” to anyone who made the mistake of getting too close as she hung it against the wall for the photographer. Ruby knocked back another glass of champagne—her fourth, by Nancy’scounting—and Polly was sneaking some chocolates from a local chocolatier.
And nerves did a manic jig in Nancy’s belly, some of them sneaking their way up to her throat.
“Tighter,” she said, and her mom pulled the strings behind her until all the air wheezed from her lungs. The corset jerked, and pain traveled up her spine. Oh, God, it hurt so good.
Her mom cringed. “Isn’t that painful, Nancylynn?”
“It’s not too bad.” Her voice came out breathlessly, the kind of vulnerable rasp Jared had once said turned him on even more than the sight of her naked. She didn’t know how to feel about that. “It’s actually pretty comforting. Like a hug.”
A fifty-thousand-dollar hug. The kind of hug her mom could never relate to.
A cork popped, and her soon-to-be mother-in-law poured bubbly into several glassesand handed one to her. “The corset’s stunning. I’m so glad I was able to put you in touch with Rosalie. She does such exquisite work,
What a minor problem to have. Most nights when she was growing up, she’d gone to bed so hungry it felt like her stomach was eating itself. Complaining about wearing a designer gown as she married a billionaire?
How petty.
“I’m really lucky, you know,” she told Faye.“So what if I have to wear this ugly dress? So what if Jared doesn’t always understand what I’m trying to tell him? I know he loves me, and that’s all that matters. We’ll get through this and finally start our lives together, and everything will be okay.”
“Nancy, you’ve already started your lives together. The way he treats you now is the way he’ll continue to treat you.”
It was the closestFaye had ever come to remarking on Jared’s recent behavior. In the beginning, she’d oohed and aahed over every bouquet he’d sent Nancy, every fancy dinner and red-carpet event he’d taken her to.
She was on a bullet train barreling toward her wedding day, and a billion tasks, problems and unforeseen complications battled for control of her brain. But one question underscored them all.
What amI doing?
The phone rang again, a Marietta phone number popping onto the screen.
“I’m busy,” Nancy said. “No matter how many times he calls, I’m busy.”
Chapter Eight
‡
“Marriage is really tough because you have to deal with feelings…and lawyers.”
—Richard Prior
N ancy wrapped her bridal corset around her torso and forced herself to breathe. When she’d tried this corset on a month ago, its tightness had given her security, confidence—not in her body but in her future. This hand-sewncorset alone cost more than three of the mortgage payments she made on her parents’ ranch, and Jared had paid the bill without a blink. No more worrying about being the only person her parents could rely on, or whether her show would be canceled or the parts stopped coming her way. After today, her future would be just as secure as her constricted ribcage.
So why did her head spin as her mompulled the corset’s strings?
Maybe it was all the frenetic energy in the room. With just one hour left before she pledged her future to Hollywood’s favorite leading man, the room buzzed with frenetic activity. Jared’s mother, Barbara, was talking to the wedding planner in the quick, no-nonsense tones of a woman used to leading a battalion. Except Barbara had never been in the military. She’dbeen a 1970s scream queen who’d quit to manage Jared’s acting career as soon as he’d been born and then done the same for his brother and sister.
Mallory fussed with the god-awful wedding dress, shouting “No one touch it!” to anyone who made the mistake of getting too close as she hung it against the wall for the photographer. Ruby knocked back another glass of champagne—her fourth, by Nancy’scounting—and Polly was sneaking some chocolates from a local chocolatier.
And nerves did a manic jig in Nancy’s belly, some of them sneaking their way up to her throat.
“Tighter,” she said, and her mom pulled the strings behind her until all the air wheezed from her lungs. The corset jerked, and pain traveled up her spine. Oh, God, it hurt so good.
Her mom cringed. “Isn’t that painful, Nancylynn?”
“It’s not too bad.” Her voice came out breathlessly, the kind of vulnerable rasp Jared had once said turned him on even more than the sight of her naked. She didn’t know how to feel about that. “It’s actually pretty comforting. Like a hug.”
A fifty-thousand-dollar hug. The kind of hug her mom could never relate to.
A cork popped, and her soon-to-be mother-in-law poured bubbly into several glassesand handed one to her. “The corset’s stunning. I’m so glad I was able to put you in touch with Rosalie. She does such exquisite work,
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