His Princess - Stacy Gail Page 0,48

At the wedding singer’s prompt, he got to his feet and offered her his hand. “Now, stop sweating the small stuff and come dance with me, Mrs. Bloch. Let’s show the world how it’s done.”

Mrs. Bloch.

A dizzy thrill went through her as she placed her hand in his. “As you wish, Mr. Bloch.”

She couldn’t seem to stop smiling as they moved to the center of the dance floor. Turning into his arms, she smiled up at him and began to sway to the music, only to come to a stop to shoot the band a stunned look. “Oh, my God.”

“So you noticed.”

“This cannot be our song.” Another second went by before the wedding singer began to warble out his over-the-top emotional version of Madonna’s “Crazy for You.” She listened for another few bars before bursting out with laughter. “Holy shit, our song is a sappy ‘80s power ballad. I’m dying.”

“It’s perfect.” Laughing with her, he slowly spun her around the dance floor. “From the moment I saw you, I’ve been crazy for you.”

“Who knew that insanity could be contagious?” So touched by Gus’s surprisingly sentimental choice for their first dance as a married couple, she looked into his eyes. There she saw love and laughter and an unending joy, and for the first time she knew without any doubt that even if they’d waited a decade to get married, it wouldn’t have made a difference. This determined man who was a law unto himself was exactly what Felix had called him.

Her soulmate.

“I love you, Gus,” she whispered as the song slowly came to an end and other couples joined them on the dance floor for the next song. “Thank you for looking for me. Thank you for finding me.”

“My pleasure, my lady,” Gus whispered back, and bent his head to kiss her.

Please enjoy the first chapter from

HOUSE OF PAYNE: LOKI, featuring

Alice Halliday and Loki Colgrave!

Chapter One

Slow boil. Usually Alice prided herself in being the epitome of caution, refusing to give in to that legendary Halliday rage that burned so easily inside.

But now?

If she made it through the day without strangling someone, it’d be a miracle.

“Welcome to House Of Payne.” A tall woman approached, decked out in a ‘50s-style dress with petticoats for days, and hair as bright fuchsia as her dress. “Are you here for a tattoo? If so, I can get you checked in over there at the front desk.”

Alice didn’t bother glancing in the direction the shockingly pink woman indicated. “I’m not here for a tattoo. I’m here because I want to kill someone with my bare hands. Or at the very least, talk to him. Is a guy by the name of Loki in?”

She had to hand it to the pink lady. Her spectacularly made-up eyes barely widened. “Are you armed?”

For crying out loud. “Of course not.”

The pink woman seemed unimpressed with her indignation. “You did say you wanted to kill someone.”

“With my freaking hands, not with a gun. Guns are barbaric.” Then she took a deep breath and gripped her hands together, grappling with the horrible fury thrumming inside. Wanting to kill someone with her bare hands wasn’t cool. Saying she wanted to kill someone with her bare hands was even worse.

Considering that she was the child of a man who’d died as a rage monster, she seriously needed to get her shit together.

“Are you a woman he’s done wrong?” Understandably, the pink woman didn’t appear to be overly anxious to let Alice enter any deeper into the building, much less talk to one of their employees. “Because if you are, my sympathies, sister, and I sincerely mean that. But this is a place of business. That kind of soap-opera bullshit doesn’t get played out under this roof. You can wait to uncork whatever can of whoop-ass you want on Loki in the privacy of your own home. Dirty laundry doesn’t get aired here in the lobby, you understand me?”

“I don’t know him.” Nor did she want to, but by damn, someone had to hold the bastard accountable. “I’m not going to ask again. Is. Loki. Here?”

The pink lady took her time looking her over, and Alice was more than happy to shoot that look back in spades. They were almost the same height, though the pink chick had an inch or so on her, thanks to some wicked-looking stilettos. Flower tattoos decorated her upper chest and shoulders exposed by the dress’s scoop collar, as well as down the upper part of her arms. But, despite