The Bride Collector (49 page)

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Authors: Ted Dekker

Tags: #FIC030000

“If you find someone to love, maybe then you want to be with them.”

It was a tender expression of her love for Brad. They all seemed to understand and appreciate the breakthrough Paradise had
made, but they were still courting their own delusions.

Unwilling to let an opening go to waste, Cass broke the silence. “And you know that I can help you with that, Andrea. If you
want to be in love or make a man fall madly in love with you, I need only a day or two. They’ll be crawling all over you.”

“See, now there you go, spoiling a perfectly good moment,” Andrea cried.

“I can’t help it. I’m mentally ill.” But Casanova was smiling.

“Aren’t we all,” Brad said.

And that did silence them all, this time with a kind of finality that none of them wanted to upset. They were the same, he
was saying. And there was nothing kinder he could have said to them.

Brad kissed Paradise on the top of her head. He caught Allison’s eyes, smiled gently, and winked.

She returned the wink.

And that, she thought, said it all.

The End

Sixty queens there may be,

and eighty concubines,

and virgins beyond number;

but my dove, my perfect one, is unique,

the
favorite
of the one who bore her.

The maidens saw her and called her blessed;

the queens and concubines praised her.

SONG OF SOLOMON

SIX

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TED DEKKER
is a
New York Times
bestselling author of more than twenty novels. He is known for stories that combine adrenaline-laced plots with incredible
confrontations between good and evil. He lives in Austin with his wife and children.

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