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ALEXIS LEMOINE DREADED this day for quite some time. She’d tried to talk her parents out of the arranged marriage between her and Dominic St. Germaine for the last six months, but they refused to listen. They kept telling her it was a tradition that would be upheld. They didn’t want to upset the St. Germaine Family after what they had been through recently. Besides, the marriage was arranged at their birth.
Alexis had hoped with the death of Saul St. Germaine, Dominic would see reason and inform her parents that the arranged marriage need not take place. He, however, was just as set on traditions as her parents. He told her that they would marry and at the end of the year he would freely give her a divorce.
At least the next year wouldn’t be as bad as she first feared. Dominic St. Germaine was a handsome man and maybe her mother was correct, and she would come to love Dominic as much as her mother loved her father.
She must admit that Dominic had been loving and respectful while courting her as their parents planned the wedding. Since the death of Mr. St. Germaine, the original wedding date would be postponed to allow Dominic time to adjust and the Family time to grieve. That was fine with Alexis; the additional time gave her a chance to get to know Dominic better.
The wedding ceremony would take place at the cathedral with the reception taking place at the St. Germaine plantation. From there they planned to honeymoon in Bora Bora before coming back to the plantation to live in wedded bliss, if there was such a thing.
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DOMINIC SHOULD BE WOOING his future bride, but he could not get his mind off of the girl he saw the other day. He noticed her walking down Bourbon Street and followed her into the little shop. He also saw her in a bar one night, but she was talking to Alfonso Scarcelli. A few nights later, he and his friends met up with her in that same bar. He would love to steal a girl away from that man. Bianca Honore was not only an attractive woman, but also exactly the person he needed to put his plan into motion. He would avenge his father’s death, and he suspected that she could help him. When talking to her, he could tell that they were kindred spirits. He did a little digging on Bianca Honore. From what he ascertained, she liked to hang out with some questionable characters in New York when living there, people known to practice voodoo, especially black magic. He could barely contain the exhilaration of all they could do together.