instinctive subservience, as she would when a vampire made himself known to her. Flustered, she managed to stop midmotion and extend her hand. Rather than shaking it, though, he closed his hand over it, pressing her fingers in warm reassurance. “It’s all right. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“This is a new situation for me.”
“You’ll do fine. You must be Evan and Niall’s Alanna.”
She liked the sound of that, far too much. So she lied and said what she wanted. “Yes, sir.” I’m theirs.
“Hmm. From what I heard from Evan, I have a feeling that ownership goes both ways. I can see why.” Before she could think how to reply to that amazing statement, he glanced up. A tidy, attractive woman probably a decade older than Tyler had emerged on the veranda.
“Mr. Winterman, don’t delay your guests. We have to make sure all the ladies are ready on time.”
“Sara, my housekeeper. She’s a tyrant.” The amber eyes twinkled, again reminding her of Niall, with some of Evan’s dry humor thrown in. “You better go, or I’ll be in a great deal of trouble.”
“It was very nice meeting you, sir.”
“You as well.” He released her hand. “I’ll look forward to seeing you in the company of your Master later.”
She’d heard similar words from vampires before, if they deigned to speak to her at all, but this was the first time she’d be serving Evan and Niall in front of others. The thought brought butterflies, not at all unpleasant.
He held the door open for her. Niall had helped her understand the notion of male courtesy, and the underlying sense of protectiveness that attended it, not as inconsistent with a Master–sub relationship as she might have initially thought. However, what had been learned over so many years was hard to forget. Tyler helped her past that hitch, ushering her in with a solicitous but firm hand on her lower back.
She had a brief impression of an open sitting room with white furniture enhanced with pale pink Japanese cherry trees before Sara took her up a dual curving staircase. She led her to a large room that had been cleared of everything but what would be useful to women changing for a formal event. Well-lighted, multiple vanities, floor-length mirrors scattered about the room and a half bath as large as a master, complete with several sinks. The room had the overwhelming female scents of lotions, hairsprays and light perfumes, dizzy and pleasant at once. Many had apparently stayed for the night, hence the need to prepare on premises.
Sara was everywhere, prepared to assist the women with any unexpected needs related to hair, fittings, a jammed zipper or lost button. The roomful of nearly twenty women, in various stages of dress and preparation, engaged Alanna pleasantly enough, but not at length. They obviously knew one another, and not her, and of course had already spent most of the day together. The bride was being prepared in another room with her immediate attendants.
Seeing that Sara was being inundated with requests for help, Alanna quickly donned her shimmering gray thigh-high stockings, silver dress and heels, adding the silver braid necklace and earrings she’d bought to accentuate them, and put the final touches on her makeup. Then she stepped in to assist Sara where needed.
The housekeeper was grateful for the help, especially when a harassed woman with bright green eyes and her hair scraped back from her face with a plastic band called her away to deal with a situation in the adjoining room.
Alanna fixed a torn hem and freed a zipper from the organza it had snagged. When she managed it without the smallest tear in the delicate fabric, she was hugged for her trouble. Before she could react to that shock, Sara was back.
“Alanna? You know how to do hair, right?”
She straightened as all eyes turned to her. “Yes.” She had trimmed and shaped both Evan’s and Niall’s hair, Evan taking over at the wheel of the RV to navigate the nighttime traffic while she did Niall’s, but she wasn’t sure how that was general knowledge.
“Great.” The green-eyed woman with the frazzled look pressed up urgently behind Sara. “Chloe—our bride-to-be—just got back from the hairdresser. It being Chloe, something went wrong between here and there, and not only is she forty-five minutes late, we need something to happen fast. Come with me. I’m Gen.”
Her hand was seized. Alanna hurried to keep from being dragged down the hallway. It opened up into a carpeted catwalk that crossed to the