Page 38 of Priceless

“Then no,” she said with a smile. “I don’t think they’ll be offended at all.”

Taking a shaky breath, I pointed to a stone that was a bluish purple. “I’ve always loved stones like this. The color is gorgeous.”

Geneva wrote notes on her tablet. “Perfect. That will look lovely with your skin tone as well.”

I smiled, but my breath was tight. Damn corset. “These are all a little…” I glanced at the man who’d brought the briefcase. “Much? For me. I love swirls. Filigree. Simpler. I don’t really love circular or square stones.”

“Metal?” Geneva asked.

“White gold.”

“That is perfect. We can definitely work with that.” She glanced at the man. “I’m sending a copy of the notes over to you. Thank you.”

The briefcase was closed, and he was gone in what felt like seconds. “They can make a ring in this kind of timeframe?”

Geneva led me back into the main section of the salon. “Darling, with enough money, you can do almost anything. Now, I’ve already had them pull some dresses for you based on what we talked about at lunch. But we can go from there.”

We’d met Geneva early to talk through things, including colors. I didn’t want to do my own flowers, but I wanted a hand in picking them, and their meanings, but I didn’t say the second part out loud in front of Laura. The last thing I needed was her looking into the meanings of all the flowers I’d ever done for her and Frank.

But the colors were similar to the ring I’d requested. A lovely bluish purple. Periwinkle. And white, with black accents.

Holy fuck, I was getting married. And nothing solidified that fact like walking into a room full of frothy white dresses.

“They own this place, right?”

“Yes, the DuPonts own Caesura. It goes hand in hand with Cheria. Their lingerie brand. But don’t worry. They don’t get to see the dress until you walk down the aisle. Even if they’re paying for it.”

The thought of them seeing me for the first time in a dress like these made butterflies whirl in my stomach. It shouldn’t. But I couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off my face.

Until I saw Laura sitting on a white couch with her arms crossed and a sour look on her face, clearly pissed at being set aside, even though there was a glass of champagne sitting on the end table next to her.

Well… too bad.

The woman who’d brought her over here extended a hand to me. “I’m Ashley. I’m going to help you today.”

“Hi—”

“I’ve already told her you need a dress that’s corseted. And one that’s not too form fitting.”

Ashley’s smile froze on her face, and she blinked a couple of times. It always amazed me how clueless Laura was about how people perceived her, and was then shocked when people didn’t react well to her rudeness.

“I have some picked out for you. Why don’t you come with me?”

“Thanks.”

We walked out of sight, and I glanced back just in time to see Geneva glaring at my aunt. Part of me wished I could see that showdown.

The dressing room was bright and cozy, with several dresses already hanging on the walls. “Now that we’re here. I do have several corseted dresses in your selections. But because they lined up with what Geneva told me you wanted, and not because of your aunt’s requirement.”

“If that’s all she’s going to push for, then that’s fine,” I said. “If it will keep her happy, do it.”

“Well, if that’s what you want. But I’m here to make you happy. So let’s start with one and see how you feel, okay?”

“Okay.”

I hated the first dress. It was a poofy mess of tulle and lace that made me look like a cross between a marshmallow and the abominable snowman. I didn’t even bother going out into the salon with it on, because I knew I wouldn’t wear it, and I didn’t need to hear the comments.

“This is already better,” Ashley said, clipping me into the sample of the next dress. At my size, they didn’t have the dresses available, so they put you in something smaller and used various clips and ties to keep it in place so you could see what it looked like.

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