Sinful Rapture by Alexandra Ivy, now you can read online.
CHAPTER ONE
The wedding was perfect.
Or at least it should have been.
After months of planning and a bottomless budget, Holly Sullivan had made certain nothing was overlooked.
Choosing to set the social event of the year in the gardens behind the elegant Las Vegas hotel, she’d decorated the marble grotto in white silk with accents of gold. At the altar she’d placed huge banks of white lilies and gilded roses. Even the candles had been personally hand-dipped to include Holly’s favorite lavender scent.
A glorious backdrop for her white sheath gown that was closely fitted to her tall, slender form with gold thread that had been hand-embroidered on the sleeveless bodice.
It was even a perfect spring day.
A cloudless blue sky. A soft breeze.
There was only one thing missing.
The groom.
Standing in the center of the grotto, Holly watched in numb disbelief as the uniformed employees hurriedly stripped away the gold bows that were tied to the rows of chairs.
Had it really only been three hours ago that she’d been waiting in the vestibule in the back of the hotel? She’d been surrounded by her bridesmaids and her father, Vigo Angeli, who for once had looked pleased with his bastard daughter.
It seemed like a lifetime had passed.
She blew out a weary sigh.
Maybe she shouldn’t have been surprised that she’d been jilted, she wryly conceded.
The past six months hadn’t been her finest.
Not only had her father sold his casino conglomerate after he’d all but promised that she would one day take his place at the head of the family business, but he’d sold it to Liam Conner.
A gambler, womanizer, and all-around pain in her ass.
She’d gone from loving her career as Vice President in charge of Marketing, to dreading each day spent with Liam.
He was too raw, too unnervingly sensual for her taste.
Nothing at all like Ted.
She abruptly grimaced.
Ted.
Or Theodore Wentworth Junior.
The eldest son of the Wentworths, wealthy investment bankers. He’d proposed to her nine months ago.
The man who couldn’t be bothered to show up for his own wedding.
Bastard.
Pain sliced through her numbed disbelief.
She’d just been completely humiliated in front of two hundred guests.
But far worse than that was the gut-wrenching sense of being found unworthy in front of her father.