“Are you sure we have to wear masks to this thing tonight?” Clementine asked Isabella. She’d just left Sebastian to get his tux on and she and Isabella were dressing at the palace.
“Positive,” she said. “Mum was adamant about it. And you don’t want to cross my mother.”
Clementine laughed. “If Ariana’s not happy, ain’t nobody happy.”
They giggled, and the kitten must have found amusement in that because she came charging their feet out of nowhere, jumping around like a crazy creature.
“She is the funniest thing. Adorable as they come,” Clem said, pulling her gown out of its protective carrying bag. “So... you have make-up sex with Sawyer yet? I’d say that kitten is worth a couple of rounds.”
Isabella playfully smacked her on the arm. “It’s not like that.”
“What do you mean it’s not like that?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I just, well, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”
“For starters, the two of you get naked,” Clem said.
“Stop it! I know what to do there,” Bella said. “I just don’t know what to do about Sawyer in general.”
“What’s it going to take, Bell? I mean the guy’s over the moon for you. Surely you know that.”
“Yeah, but I feel sort of stupid at this point. Like it’s too late now. I just dragged my feet and now it feels weird to go backward.” Isabella slipped her ball gown on over her updo, trying to keep her coiffed hair intact.
“Well, then go forward. It’s not that hard to do,” Clementine said. “I feel like this is my cue to break out into a song that encourages you to do this, like on some children’s television special.”
“Maybe that’s what I need, some cartoon support.”
“What you need is what my father used to call a swift kick in the arse, young lady.”
“Your father never kicked you!”
“Of course not! He was referring to what the horses would do if you weren’t careful in the barn.”
“So I should get kicked in the butt by my horse?”
“No,” Clem said. “You should do what I said and go have make-up sex with the man and we’ll all live happily ever after.”
“Now that sounds like a children’s storybook.”
“There’s a pattern here,” Clem said. “The point is I’m passing on advice that has been handed down to women with blinders on for millennia, whether through television or books or I don’t know, comic books even.”
Isabella helped Clem fasten her gown: an ivory silk, jewel-over-tulle, ankle-length number with a lace illusion overlay, cinched at the waist with a satin band. With her slender neck and narrow lines, she was a veritable blonde version of Audrey Hepburn.
Clementine helped Isabella put on her tiara while Bella helped Clem with a rose gold lariat necklace that ended in a diamond solitaire direct from the palace’s Crown Jewels.
“Ooh, I love this necklace,” Clem said as she added the coordinating earrings. Instead of a necklace, Isabella had chosen pink diamond teardrop earrings, which showcased her pale pink strapless, floor-length tulle ball gown. Once Bella slipped on her Christian Louboutin white lace pumps, she spread her skirt out in front of the mirror.
“What do you think?”
“I think I wish Sawyer would be at the party so you could slip away from the party and have the best make-up sex ever,” she said. “You look absolutely breathtaking.”
“You totally have sex on the brain, you know that?”
“Yeah, well, it’s just that I’ve been having plenty of it with Sebastian and now I know what you’re missing out on.”
“Let’s not worry about Sawyer,” Isabella said. “Let’s just go have fun at this party.”
“You sure I have to wear a mask, though?”
~*~
Sawyer had put the finishing touches on his cake, hoping to God it was going to be well received by the audience for whom it was intended. It was the best he could do, and if this wasn’t good enough, well, he’d given it all he had.
This time, he loaded it in the truck himself to assure it was the correct cake and drove the truck to the palace... and personally escorted the thing to where it would be brought out. He halfway wished he’d brought along a guard dog to watch over it. Maybe Clementine’s ferocious beast of a dog would do the trick.
Thank goodness Clementine told Sawyer it was a black-tie event. Otherwise, he’d have been the only one there in a black chef’s coat instead, sticking out like a sore thumb. What she failed to tell him, however, was that he was going to have to wear a mask. And he felt like a complete idiot doing so. Who came up with these dumb ideas for parties, anyhow? Sure enough, as he arrived at the palace, he was handed a mask and told that everyone—guests and staff alike—would be wearing them, on orders of the queen, who apparently loved a good masquerade. Even though Sawyer thought a good masquerade was an oxymoron.
He wheeled the cake through the service kitchen, passing by Louie as he went.
“Don’t even go within a hundred feet of this thing,” he said to his former sous chef, half joking.
Once he got the cake set up as the centerpiece of the dessert table, his work was essentially done. Following a cocktail hour, he found his place card and sat down at a table that included Gabriella, Edouardo, and Amelie. Thank goodness he’d have familiar people to talk to.
It was a nice change to be seated during a large catered event, rather than sweating in the kitchen or running around in a frenzy trying to put out occasionally literal and often figurative fires. Instead, he enjoyed a sumptuous five-course meal paired with the best European wines and champagnes.
After dinner, a twenty-piece orchestra played and many couples got up to dance. Which left Sawyer there with Amelie, who looked beautiful in a red silk crepe one-shouldered gown with a ruffled neckline. He held out his hand and asked her to join him on the dance floor.
It was strange, twirling around a dance floor with a mask on, not knowing, though suspecting, who other guests were who were also hidden. All night long, Sawyer had kept his eyes out for Isabella, but so far he hadn’t recognized which masked woman she was. With hundreds of guests, it was easy to get lost in the crowd, even for a princess.
After a few dances with Amelie, Clementine came and passed Sebastian off to Amelie so that she could have a turn with Sawyer.
“You doing okay?” she asked him.
He nodded. “This is all a little out of my league, but I’m fine.”
“You look totally hot,” she said, tugging on his lapels. “I always love a man in formal wear.”
“I wish it was you I was trying to impress,” he said.
Just then, Isabella, dancing with a tall, redheaded man, passed by. Before Sawyer knew what was happening, Clementine cut in on Isabella and took the hand of her dance partner while passing Sawyer’s hand on to Bella’s.
And with that, Sawyer settled into Isabella’s arms, hoping like hell she had no plans to ambush him and have him taken away.