Wedding Favors by Sheri Whitefeather Page A

damned house. It had been in her family for two hundred years, and everyone from the historical society to developers wanted to get their hands on the property. So did predators like the prick Keith Girard, who wanted to marry socialite Madison so he could live in the famous house and move up the New Orleans food chain.
    She was sick to death of everyone asking about her house, sicker because both she and the property were in such bad financial straits that she might have to sell it. And that she determined never, ever to do. It was her home, damn it. The place she’d been happiest, the memories of family built up year after year like layers of paint.
    She gave Thomas a cool look. “Sorry. I think I’ll be busy ater.”
    Madison released his arm and flowed away into the crowd, but not before she caught his frown and the flash of anger in his coffee-brown eyes.
     
     
    Thomas watched Madison’s slim form as she moved down the church steps to hug Val and Leon in congratulations. She looked like a flower in the peach satin and tulle, her dark hair in a French braid that revealed her regal neck and the proud set of her head.
    What the hell had he said? Thomas had been saying the wrong thing to Madison for years, ever since their one awful date. He still squirmed when he remembered that date, and he new Maddie did too.
    Lord, she got more beautiful every time he saw her. Madison was twenty-five now, elegant and gorgeous. Those wide, dark eyes looked as though they could see straight into his soul.
    He needed to be with her, to talk to her. Thomas needed to find out why the parasite Keith Girard was fighting so hard to get his hands on Madison and her grandmother’s house. Girard was at the wedding today, invited by Thomas’s mother, because Girard’s family owned half of Fontaine. There he was now, ogling Madison and not bothering to hide it. Thomas had never paid much attention to Keith Girard, until rumors began to fly around that he was courting Madison Rainey and that an engagement would be announced soon.
    Thomas’s goal in life since then had been to find out all he could about Girard. He had decided it would be best to take Madison out after the reception, to a bar, maybe, where she could sip a clear martini, her lips lingering on the rim of her glass. He’d ask how she felt about Girard. He had to know.
    He hadn’t spoken to Madison in years, but he’d been aware of her, had seen her picture in newspapers and magazines. Madison the Crazy Hat Lady, they called her. Even in high school she’d created unusual and elegant hats, and now her hats were sold in upscale shops all over New Orleans. Everyone from celebrities to the social queens of New Orleans wore them, couldn’t get enough of them. Madison wore them herself, smiling her big, charming smile under their brims.
    Thomas hadn’t spoken to her in months, and somehow he’d managed to piss her off in under two minutes. He’d pissed her off all those years ago, too, and he’d regretted it ever since.
    No, it was safe to say he’d changed his life because of what had happened that night.
    “Your eyes are about to fall out of your head, bro.” His brother, Jean-Marc, another of the groomsmen, had come up behind him on the church steps. Marc was closest to Thomas in age, only a year younger, and the two had always been tight. “Close your mouth before you drool on your expensive tux.”
    “I don’t drool over beautiful women,” Thomas said. “I get dry-mouth, instead.”
    “Hey, didn’t you have the hots for Madison in high school?”
    “That was a long time ago. Another life.”
    “You’re not that old,” Marc said. “Neither is she.”
    Thomas shook his head. “Wrong time and place.”
    Marc grinned, his looks so close to Thomas’s that many people were surprised they weren’t twins. “Bullshit. Ask her to dance at the reception and see where life takes you.”
    Thomas wanted to. He’d love to cup his hands around her waist and pull her