Taken by a Vampire (Vampire Queen) - By Joey W. Hill Page 0,143

other side of the house. The tall windows of the grand foyer provided a breathtaking—and brief—view of the river. Now she was in the bride’s preparation area, an area similar to the room she’d just left. From the panic in Gen’s face, and what she’d heard secondhand of brides, she expected to find Chloe in tears. However, while her russet hair was in shocking disarray, the bride wasn’t. Chloe was a lush pixie with cheerful brown eyes. At their arrival, she hopped off her stool to take Alanna’s hands in her own.

“Thanks so much. Gen is freaking out, but Marguerite said she saw Niall earlier this morning, and had never seen his hair cut so well. That queue and the feathered layers on the side . . . she says he looks positively edible. Of course, he always does. When he said you’d done it, and had done Evan’s hair besides, I knew you could fix this.”

She pointed at her brow, where it appeared a sizeable spot had been hacked out of her bangs. At Chloe’s encouraging nod, Alanna lifted the poor shorn pieces on either side of it. “What happened?”

“Chloe happened,” Gen interrupted. “Tyler said he’d bring Monica here to do your hair, but you had to do it your way. Had to leave in the middle of the day and drive an hour to go get your hair done. And wouldn’t take anyone with you.”

“You all have been wonderful today, but it’s been a whirlwind. I wanted to get my energy straight. I do that best when I’m driving. Plus, Monica had another wedding to do. She couldn’t drive all the way out here and leave the other bride in a lurch. You would have done the same thing.”

Still holding her hands as if they were close friends, Chloe turned her attention back to Alanna. “On my way back, there was this puppy in a ditch. Some total asshole had obviously thrown him out of a car. One of those idiots who believes if you release an animal in the country, it’s kinder than taking him to a shelter. Poor thing, he was starving and tangled up in trash and cut barbwire. I got into the ditch to get him out, up to my knees in muck, stumbled and went down head first. When I hit the opposite bank, someone had thrown gum out of their car, and it got stuck in my hair. This farmer working in his cornfield saw me. He came over and was trying to help. I guess he figured the best way to remove it was with his pocketknife.”

Alanna glanced at Gen. The woman nodded, pursing her lips. “Yes, believe it or not, these are the types of things that actually happen to Chloe.” She gave the bride-to-be a severe look. “Having unbalanced energy would have been far better than being shaved bald for your wedding.”

“You only say that because you’re not a very balanced person.”

Gen had a muttered expletive for that. Chloe merely shook her head at Alanna. “When I saw it in the car mirror, I cried about it. Wasn’t that stupid? That poor farmer. I’m going to bake him cookies, because I know I freaked him out. It’s a good thing Gen hadn’t done my makeup yet. It was so dumb, because Brendan wouldn’t care if I did show up bald.” She gave Gen a censorious glance.

“The most important thing is the puppy’s safe now. Robert, that’s Tyler’s gardener and Sara’s husband—and oh my God, he’s almost sixty but he’s the sexiest gardener in the world—said he could stay with him and Sara until after the wedding. I was thinking he’d be the perfect dog for me and Brendan, because he’s a rottweiler mix, which is just the best sign for how great this marriage is going to be, because the first gift Brendan ever gave me was a stuffed rottweiler puppy—”

“Chloe.”

Alanna doubted anything could stop the rush of words, but the simple utterance of her name was enough to bring her to a halt. Possibly because the two syllables were infused with the power of a warm, sultry wind, reminding her vividly of Lady Lyssa. A tall woman with moonlight-colored hair now stepped away from the wall, putting a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “It’s all right for you to talk, but we have an hour to get you ready. Let’s see if Alanna can fix it.”

This had to be Marguerite Winterman. Reputably an exceptional Mistress was an additional