Page 10 of Cursed

Chapter Four

Edeena stood in front of the gracious, free-standing mirror in her bedroom, scowling at herself. She looked ridiculous.

“This is such a bad idea,” she muttered.

“It’s not a bad idea, it’s an amazing idea, and I don’t feel even the slightest bit badly that I badgered you into it.” Marguerite sailed into the room, looking effortlessly perfect in a skin hugging black mini-dress and sky high platform heels. Silver hoops hung in her ears and jangled on her wrist, and she looked far more suited to a big-city nightclub than a low-country resort buried in the middle of nowhere.

Caroline followed behind her, and Edeena’s brows lifted. Caro was dressed with an equal flare, but in a flaming pink dress that set off her beautiful coloring and her softer-toned, honey-brown hair. But she was smiling, even laughing, as she fixed a glittering rhinestone earring to her ear, and Edeena couldn’t help but stare.

“You’re good with going tonight, Caro?” she asked, wishing despite herself that at least one of her sisters would say no.

“Are you kidding? It couldn’t be better,” Caro said with a happy smile. “We’ll be as safe as can be with our bodyguards there, and they get a night out, away from the kids.”

Edeena frowned at her. “Away from the . . .?”

“They have kids!” Marguerite said triumphantly, as if Edeena was the last to know—which she was. “Rob told me all about it. He and Cindy have been friends with Vince since they were all grade schoolers, and after the two of them grew up, got buff, and got hitched they both worked on Vince to hire them until they wore him down. And they are the cutest, don’t you think?”

“They are, and you both you look great,” Edeena said, trying to shake away her negative thoughts. Why was she so nervous? Tonight wasn’t an actual date with an actual man. Vince was her security detail, the height of professionalism. He hadn’t even referenced her impromptu embrace in the middle of the Cypress pool area in broad daylight again after they’d left the resort. He’d taken it solely for a ruse to distract Janet—not as Edeena simply angling for a way to kiss him.

And thank heavens for that. She needed to stay professional with him from now on. This wasn’t her vacation, after all—she was here for her sisters. Not to ogle the security guy, no matter how ogle-worthy he was.

“I’m so glad you think so, because you need some work, girl.” Marguerite interrupted her reverie, and Edeena blinked as her younger sister called to someone standing outside the door. Then a member of Prudence’s housekeeping staff entered, carrying a half-dozen outfits.

“What’s this?” Edeena asked.

“An intervention,” Marguerite said succinctly. “You look like you’re our mom, not our not-so-older sister, and you need to relax.”

“I am relaxed.” Edeena looked down at her loose, filmy shift, a knee length black chiffon overlay that drifted around a tight black sheath. “What’s wrong with this dress?”

“Nothing, if you were three months’ pregnant. Wait, are you?” Marguerite stopped pawing through the dresses to turn and stare at her, and Caro burst into giggles as Edeena lofted a pillow at her youngest sister.

“I didn’t think so,” Marguerite grinned. “But seriously, that dress doesn’t do anything for your figure, and you work out too much to hide it.”

“I don’t—”

“You do,” her sisters said in tandem. They draped three other options over her—an electric blue sheath, a mini tank dress in aquamarine, and a deep crimson above-the-knee number in a fabric that seemed to cling and gather everywhere.

“That one,” Marguerite said.

Edeena frowned. “I don’t know. It feels like it’s hugging me a little too snugly, and I haven’t even put it on yet.”

“Trust me, that’s not going to be a problem. Nothing’s going to crowd you any closer than Prince Vince.”

Even hearing the nickname made Edeena stiffen, but Caro immediately jumped in.

“I think he’s doing a wonderful job. Having Rob and Cindy as escorts is perfect, because they’re a couple. It doesn’t feel like we’ve got the palace guards with us, yet it’s perfectly appropriate. Even Father couldn’t fault us, with chaperones who know self-defense.”

“I don’t think Silas would be a fan of the Cypress Resort.”

“I know, isn’t it perfect?” Marguerite said, throwing her arms out as if she was preparing to hug the whole of Sea Haven Island to her. “Everyone was having so much fun, totally without a care in the world, because they were on vacation! Not only vacation, but vacation in an adults-only hideaway where they have absolutely no worries except what their next drink is going to be. I’m so glad I chose the Cypress, I had no idea of the special section of the resort.”

She said this last so quickly that Edeena misdirected the earring she was trying to hook in place and ended up jabbing herself in the head. “Ow! So that’s official then? Count Matretti’s intercession was for the Cypress?”

“They were the first to respond, and I jumped on it.” Marguerite said. “I’m supposed to meet with HR tomorrow, but I already told them via email that no job was beneath me, as long as it interacted directly with the public.” She grinned. “Think about it. I could be a bartender!”

Caro coughed out a short laugh. “Drinking a wide variety of beverages doesn’t exactly equip you to make those beverages, sweetheart,” she said wryly, and Edeena blinked. Since when was Caroline so at ease ribbing her sister?

“Okay, then I could clean—”

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