WEDDING BELL BLUES

PROLOGUE

This isn’t a wedding, it’s a merger between two powerful families, coming together to form an unstoppable empire. This isn’t love, it’s business.

  When I was informed I would marry Shaw, I didn’t bat an eyelash. We’d been ‘dating’ for over a year. Plus, I’d been raised with the understanding I was bred for ‘a greater purpose’. I was educated at the best private schools and learned about wifely behavior from my mother, all with the goal of being the perfect trophy wife. I’ve always done what my parents asked of me, without hesitation or question, and to the best of my abilities. Their happiness is important to me, even if it means mine isn’t. I’m willing to sacrifice it for the betterment of our family.

  I’m a good daughter, a doting daughter, an obedient daughter.

  My entire path has been paved and laid out before me. I’m sitting in the backseat of my own life, my parents at the wheel, while I watch the world flash past my window.

  My father, a politician from Pennsylvania with his eye on the White House, made the arrangement with Shaw’s father, Louis LeBlanc, a wealthy businessman from New Orleans who wants a hand in the political game.

  The first time I met him, he insisted I call him Papa Lou—right before he pinched my backside.

  My father wants his money. LeBlanc wants my father’s influence. Shaw wants me.

  This marriage will be one of convenience and breeding, carrying on the name and bloodline, rather than about needing to spend our lives together, not being able to live our lives without the other by our side. It’s all very technical, mechanical, methodical.

   I’m in front of the vanity, in the bridal suite of an opulent manor in the heart of the Garden District. My hair is done and impeccable, not a strand out of place. Like my life seems to be. My makeup is camera ready, a mask to hide my pain. My dress is elegant, expensive, designer, of course, like my husband-to-be.

  Over the past year and a half, I convinced my heart I love Shaw because I had to. In some faint way, I do. Or I’ve fooled myself into believing I do.

  It doesn’t matter though. Minutes from now, I’ll be his wife…whether I want it or not.

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