A MATCH MADE IN MURDER (The Wedding Planner Mysteries Book 5) (11 page)

              Kitty stood on the balcony deck of the William Wallace yacht and watched seagulls swoop and squawk over the harbor like ecstatic heralds proclaiming the joys of her nuptials to come.

              The sun was shining bright on the horizon. The sky was a rich shade of blue that told her nothing could go wrong on this blessed day.

              But the sky didn’t know what Kitty Sinclair did.

              She had everything to lose.

              A warm breeze cut across the water and kicked her choppy, brown locks up, causing her to clasp the collar of her pink satin robe tightly against her neck.

              “Kitty, my love, time for your hair!” Trudy called from the bridal cabin across the way.

              She glanced at her best friend over her shoulder, smiled as if to say she’d be right there, and then took one last long look at the Greenwich Harbor. It was breathtaking. And its beauty was in perfect reflection of the life she’d built, a life she loved and cherished. A life that would soon include the man of her dreams
until death do you part.

              That was her greatest fear. Death had tried to part them and it would try again if she didn’t prove who the killer was, prove that the man with dark brown eyes who’d stared at her from across the dining hall was, in fact, the murderer who had taken her cousin’s life, and Charlotte’s, and Mary’s all those years ago.

              But that was her dilemma. Those eyes. Her gut told her that the man who’d shouted “hear, hear” was one and the same as the killer, the man who had abducted her and confided his deep, dark, tale of love and betrayal.

              How could she prove it?

              That was just it, she thought. She couldn’t.

              She’d kept the instinct to herself all night. Sterling had tossed and turned. He hadn’t seemed to trust they were safe even though Harrison stood watch outside their room at the Harbor Inn. At times, Sterling had jolted upright and grabbed for his gun, ready to kill the shadows that unnerved him.

              Kitty knew that if she’d told Sterling who she suspected, he would’ve acted fiercely and immediately and without hesitation. That’s why she’d kept it to herself. God forbid she was wrong. She’d have blood on her hands. And that’s no way to start a marriage.

              “Kitty!” Trudy barked from the doorway. “I love you to death but, honey, we got a timetable to keep!”

              “Sorry! I’m coming! Coming!”

              “Goodness gracious!” Trudy exclaimed as Kitty slunk past her. “If I didn’t know better I’d say you were dragging your feet.”

              “He’s still out there,” she said softly, as she lowered into a chair so Trudy could get on with styling her hair. “I can’t stand it.”

              “No one can,” she assured her. “But you have to let the police do their job. They’re looking into that yacht. They have your statement. They have the address from the auctioneer. They have all the information you’ve worked so hard and nearly died to obtain. You gotta trust. Let go and trust.”

              “I know, I know.” Kitty huffed a sigh as she studied her reflection in the mirror before her. “I just want him caught before Sterling and I say
I do
.”

              Trudy shot her a sympathetic smile as she sprayed Kitty’s hair down with a mixture of softening gel and water.

              “Try to focus on the positive. It’s your wedding day. Nothing’s going to stop it. You’re marrying Sterling. It’s damn near a miracle.”

              “You sound like my mother,” Kitty grumbled.

              “Hold still.”

              Trudy worked her magic, and before long, Kitty’s coif was the essence of pure perfection. And her timing couldn’t have been better.

              There came a knock on the door, and when Trudy let the makeup artist in, Kitty was ready to be primped and prodded and had all but forgotten her plans for the brown-eyed man.

              “Voila!” exclaimed the makeup artist a half-hour later, as she stepped aside for Kitty to marvel at her masterpiece in the mirror.

              “Oh, Jane, you’ve really outdone yourself! I look beautiful!”

              Trudy had all but polished off a bottle of champagne by that point so she traipsed over and examined Jane’s work with heavy eyes.

              “Ya look good, kid! Ya look fabulous!”

              “Trudy...” Kitty started. “Maybe slow down?”

              “It’s a happy day!” She threw her hands in the air and luckily Jane caught the empty bottle before it hit the floor. “Let’s get you into your dress!”

              “Not just yet,” said Kitty. “Have the guests arrived?”

              “Some,” said Trudy. “Why?”

              “I wouldn’t want anyone to see me in my gown, certainly not Sterling.”

              “I wouldn’t either, but why would they?”

              “Well,” Kitty trailed off, forming how best to entrap the brown-eyed man. “I’m nervous about the bouquet toss if you must know.”

              Trudy raised her brows not quite following where her best friend was going with this.

              “Maybe I can do a couple practice tosses out on the balcony?”

              With a sigh, Trudy knew she had no choice.

              “One toss,” she declared. “Then we pour you into that gown.”

              Kitty smiled and hopped out of her chair. She made doubly sure her satin robe was securely fastened and then grabbed a bouquet of roses from a table near the windows.

              “I’ll go down on the deck,” Trudy detailed. “You have one toss. Then we get you back inside quick like a bunny.”

              When Kitty got to the balcony railing she wasted no time scanning the crowd below. It was thin, but she spotted Steve and Penny. There were a number of friends and distant relatives from both sides of the family. Finally she spotted her father, Ernie, joshing around with his new best friend, Grady.

              Trudy, who had made her way to the deck, was now staring up at her expectantly.

              Kitty locked her gaze on the man whose ribs had been kicked and punched. She’d have to angle the bouquet to his right—his bad side. If he was who she thought he was, then he wouldn’t be able to catch the bouquet with his right hand. He’d go for it with his left. It would be the only way to avoid excruciating pain.

              She only hoped her aim was good.

              Kitty turned around so her back was against the railing, then, with prayers in her heart, she tossed the bouquet with all her might.

              The second it left her grasp, Kitty whipped around to see the man’s reaction.

              “The hell?” Trudy muttered when the bouquet flew so far behind her there was no point in going after it.

              As expected, the man with dark brown eyes shuffled sideways and reached for the falling bouquet with his left hand.

              He smiled up at her when he caught it. She smiled down but for entirely different reasons.

              Gotcha!

              Quick like a bunny indeed. Kitty rushed back to her chamber and grabbed her cell phone.

              “Sterling!” She exclaimed when he answered with a confused grunt. “Come to the bridal chamber!”

              “I can’t do that,” he objected. “It’s bad luck.”

              “I know who the killer is!”

              He paused, shocked she presumed.

              “Sterling?”

              “How do you know?”

              “I can’t explain, just get up here!”

              “Kitty...” he trailed off, reluctant to wish any more bad luck on their relationship. “Can’t we tell Harrison after the ceremony?”

              “No!” She exclaimed. “This ends here and now. I’m not getting married with a murderer looking on.”

              Just then Grady stepped into the chamber, shut the door fast, and locked it before Trudy had a chance to enter.

              He held a large white box under his left arm and stared at her with his dark, brown eyes.

              “I believe you dropped this,” he said easily, offering her the bouquet.

              She tried to keep her cool and reminded herself that he didn’t know she knew he’d killed every woman in Sterling’s life.

              “I was practicing,” she said, terrified. Her voice was barely a thread. “What’s that?”

              He glanced down at the large white box and smiled.

              “It’s your wedding gift, of course.”

              Grady set the box on the coffee table then opened it for her, revealing a billowing, white wedding gown adorned with pearls.

              “I noticed you hadn’t yet changed into your gown, and call me presumptuous, but I thought this would do you far more justice.”

              Grady gestured to the gown for Kitty’s approval. It was certainly beautiful. It was also an antique and without a doubt the one he’d bid on when he’d gone to the auction with Mary.

              “There’s a ring as well,” he pointed out.

              Kitty feigned a smile, though she knew the gown as well as the ring were poisoned. If she put them on, she’d surely drop dead. And that was exactly what Grady wanted.

              “It would honor me greatly if you’d wear it,” he said, and then quickly shook off the notion laughing at himself. “At least try it on. I’m not foolish enough to think you’ll get married in it. It’s just that I’d always hoped to see a beautiful woman wearing these and...well...the woman I most wanted is no longer with us.”

              “Grady,” she started, hoping like hell Sterling would burst through the door. “He loves you. He’s always looked up to you. How could you do this to him? Kill his mother, his wife, and try to kill me?”

              The pleasant expression slipped off Grady’s face and his eyes turned black and steely.

              “I recognize your eyes, Grady. Your voice. It was you,” she stated with a sense of strength that seemed to come out of nowhere. “You won’t get away with this.”

              “I already have,” he sneered. “You’re as good as dead.”

              He lunged for her, and in the same breath Kitty heard Trudy shout on the other side of the door, as Sterling slammed against it.

              Kitty shrieked as soon as Grady’s hands were on her, but just then Sterling burst through the door as it busted off its hinges.

              He grabbed his uncle from behind and yanked him off of Kitty then threw Grady to the ground.

              “It was you?!” Sterling demanded, out of breath as he glared down at his uncle who lay back against the wooden floor. Sterling kept his dress shoe pressed on Grady’s chest, pinning him. “All these years?! It’s been you?! Why?!”

              “You’re my son,” he stated, pleaded, nearly cried. “I’m your father. You denied me. You spat in my face. You stole from me every happiness I could’ve had.”

              Steve barreled through the doorway. He was out of breath, but had caught enough to understand.

              “He’s not your son, Grady.”

              "You didn't see the test!"

              "I don't need a test to tell me I'm his father!" yelled Steve. "A father is a role! It's more than biology!"

              Sterling stumbled back. Tears formed in his eyes. His emotions were a sea tossing him about. Steve held him tightly.

              Grady got to his feet, but Harrison along with two police officers crossed through and took to cuffing his hands behind his back.

              When they hauled him off, Sterling could only glare. His heart swelled with grief and irreconcilable betrayal.

              Steve held Sterling's face between his hands. “It’s over. Son, it’s finally over.”

              He nodded, trying to accept the truth, though nothing hurt him more than to know the man he’d always looked up to and loved had been gunning for his destruction his entire life.

              “You have to marry this woman,” Steve told him, shaking him, dousing him with the toughest love he needed now more than ever. “You have to put this behind you, walk down that aisle, and show the world that Kitty Sinclair is the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”

              Sterling laughed, but it was also a cry, and then he nodded his head, knowing that in his heart of hearts nothing was closer to the truth.

              Kitty took Sterling in her arms when Steve stepped away. She gazed deeply into his eyes.

              “Let’s get married,” she said.

              “Yeah,” he whispered. “Let’s do it.”

              When Kitty Sinclair had first opened Happily Ever After she could’ve never imagined it would lead to her very own
happily ever after
with Sterling Slaughter. But it had. And if Kitty didn’t pinch herself every now and then she’d think it had all been a fanciful dream.

              But it wasn’t a dream. It was real. All her dreams had come true.

              As soon as Grady had been hauled off the William Wallace yacht and her wedding ceremony had gotten underway she knew her life was just beginning.

              Sterling had gazed at her with love so deep and true it brought tears to her eyes. Every word of his vows had been heartwarming, and to this day he’d lived up to each and every one of them.

              She was the luckiest woman in Connecticut, and never again had she faced another mystery committed in the midst of her determination to bring happiness and joy to anyone and everyone who set foot in her store.

              Kitty pulled a roast from the oven, being sure not to tip or rustle the dish between her oven mitts as she set it on the counter. She gazed out at the wintry darkness beyond the window, steam rising all around her.

              She pulled off the mitts and slapped them on the counter then she took to undoing the apron bow at her back. Trudy and Ronald were expected any minute, and by the sound of Sterling bumbling around in the bedroom, they had less than a prayer of being ready.

              Padding up the hallway, she removed the apron then draped it over the doorknob when she reached the bedroom.

              Sterling was standing in front of their closet. Partially dripping with shower water and somewhat dressed, if you could call boxer-briefs and one sock
dressed
. He seemed to be rifling through the hanging clothes, frustrated that the right ensemble wasn’t jumping out at him.

              She had every intention of making suggestions but couldn’t help drinking in the sight. His long, muscular back, strong arms covered in tattoos, and the way he stomped and stammered at the task was too cute to ignore. His gray hair was a mess of damp cowlicks that he ran his fingers through time and again as though that would prod him into making a decision.

              Kitty glanced down at her wedding band, a strip of sterling silver snugged under the sparkling engagement ring she had no intention of ever taking off. Sterling was the man those rings represented, in all his grumbling glory.

              Sensing her presence, he groaned, “I have nothing to wear.”

              “Just wear what you always wear.”

              “You’re not going to glare at me sideways?”

              “When have I ever glared at you sideways?” she demanded, hands flying to her hips.

              He shot her a look that was as much of an answer as he was willing to give. His dark eyes said
when have you not?

              “Worn out jeans, black tee shirt, and if you feel like being generous, throw on a belt,” she instructed.

              He beamed a smile back at her and pulled out the garments, shaking his head as though she never ceased to amaze him.

              “For Trudy’s birthday?” he questioned, eyeing her. “I thought you’d only let me get away with my sloppy clothes on
my
birthday.”

              She laughed. “That too,” she agreed.

              Kitty locked eyes with him as soon as he lifted his gaze from the ratty articles of clothing he’d laid on the bed.

              His eyes turned hungry and his brow rose with sudden interest.

              “How much time do we have?”

              “How much time do you need?” she countered.

              He chuckled at the challenge, as she stalked toward him.

              His skin felt warm from the shower. Beads of water rolled down his firm chest, as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

              “Have I told you that you get more beautiful with each passing day?”

              Kitty smirked.
What a way with words he has, if only he wouldn’t lay it on so thick.

              “I’m a sure thing, you know,” she teased.

              “Oh, I know. I wouldn’t have married you otherwise.”

              “Come here,” she whispered.

              Their lips met, his firm, hers soft, and both in flawless compliment of the other.

              This was the life. To have and to hold. ‘Til death do they part.

              Kitty urged him back and stared into his smiling eyes.

              “I love you,” she whispered.

              “I love you, too, Mrs. Kitty Slaughter.”  

              "Let's go with Catherine Slaughter," she giggled and he joined in once his suggestion sunk in.

              "You got it, Doll. Whatever you want."

              ###

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