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The Longest Night

Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd.

Chapter One

She took a step back, tracing slow circles at her temple while she considered the exact way to begin.

Carefully she adjusted the lights and watched the way the shadows fell. Thinking, analyzing, planning.

Finally it was time. As she smiled at Beth in the mirror, she cracked her knuckles. "You're going to look fabulous."

Beth frowned, obliviously not comprehending the talent that was at Cassandra's disposal. "I don't want to look like a tramp. I'm getting married today, not heading out for drinks."

Cassandra rolled her eyes, exquisitely made up in shades of silken taupe and almondine. "Does my makeup ever look trampish?"

Beth met her eyes in the mirror; she actually appeared to be thinking about it. "No," she answered at last.

They were alone in the church dressing room, two hours to the ceremony, and Cassandra was ensuring that one of her best friends was going to look beautiful.

She settled in to work. "Tell me why no one ever believes me."

First she dug into her makeup case and pulled out her secret weapon. Seaweed mask. "You're going to turn green, but don't worry. It'll exfoliate the skin and cleanse the pores, or exfoliate the pores and cleanse the skin. Not quite sure, but exfoliation and cleansing are definitely involved. You'll love it."

"After all that exfoliating and cleansing, I will return back to a normal skin color, right? What if I get some icky rash or something?"

"Trust me."

Beth sighed. "All right. Do your worst."

Cassandra spread the goo over Beth's face, covering the crucial areas in the T-zone. Then, while the mask was settling, she brought out her bag of cucumber slices and placed them on Beth's eyes. "This is to get rid of wrinkles. I buy cucumbers by the dozen."

Behind the cucumbers and seaweed, Beth laughed. "And here we thought it was for something else."

"Honey, there's no need for vegetables when able-bodied men are as close as the nearest speed dial."

While Beth was sitting in the chair, cucumbers on the eyes, face turning a healthy shade of green, Cassandra took out the extra two slices of cucumber and sat in the chair next to Beth. Just this morning she had noticed two new lines at the corner of her eyes. She didn't know if early onset of crow's feet ran in her family, but she wasn't taking any chances.

From the chapel area she could hear the pianist and the soloist practicing, some beautiful aria sung in a foreign language. Beth was going all-out for this wedding. Chicago would never see anything like this one again.

However, now the bride-to-be sat in the chair, quiet. Too quiet.

"Getting nervous?" Cassandra asked.

"Mmm, hmm."

"You shouldn't be. You're going to have the life you've dreamed up."

Beth worked her lips free of the mask. "No flowers or vacation on isolated beach."

Sometimes Beth didn't realize what she had. "He would if you asked him to."

"No fun."

"Wandering into the land of second thoughts?" A smile cracked in the mask. "None."

"That's my girl."

There had been four bachelorettes at one time - four college friends, approaching thirty. They were single, they were happy, so they'd sworn to stay single forever. The Bachelorette Pact.

Cassandra frowned, which made for more wrinkles. She didn't frown often, but nobody was watching right now. Two bachelorettes were married, one was hours away from walking down the aisle.

And then there was one.

Cassandra "Eternally Single" Ward.

Not that she was complaining. Much. Jessica had married Adam, who was as big a competitor as she was, not that there was anything wrong with that. Mickey had married Dominic, an undercover cop who mingled with the dregs of Chicago society, and who needed that? Now Beth was marrying Spencer, a prize-winning journalist who, despite his love for Beth, still needed to learn some manners.

Her friends could have them all, because as far as Cassandra was concerned, the perfect man was nothing but a figment.

In the business of gems you had to spot the imperfections and cleave and saw and polish until all the flaws were gone. It was great for diamonds, but hell on men.

"You get married?" Beth said, struggling to talk through the quick-drying mask.

Cassandra shook her head, her nose filling with the scent of cucumber. "Never."

"You were go marry Benedict."

"I was young, impulsive ... and stupid," said Cassandra.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from The Longest Night by Kathleen O'Reilly Copyright © 2004 by Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd.. Excerpted by permission.
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