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“No daughter of mine is getting married with her hair in such a mess.”

The “mess” hung down to Samantha’s waist in a gorgeous wheat-colored mass. The photographer swooped in for close-ups.Snap-snap-snap…

Samantha made a small, impatient sound. “Mother, please. Just let me work with it.”

“Perhaps you will permit me to try?”

All eyes turned to Estelle. Of the four bridesmaids, she was the only one who wasn’t a member of Samantha’s yoga community. Also, she was the only vampire. Her hands wrung before her, uncertain. Interacting with humans she wasn’t hunting—even having several know her true nature—was still a novelty for her, to say nothing of a photographer recording her every move. She had well and truly moved out of the shadows. “I used to style my mother’s hair, which was very similar.”

“Please do,” Samantha said with an encouraging smile.

Lillian grudgingly stepped aside and prepared to pay close attention. No matter how much attention she paid, though, she wouldn’t see the truth about Estelle, and it wasn’t because of a communal effort to keep her in the dark. Her son and his bride had offered to enlighten her about their family’s clandestine operations. She refused. “I know there are things going on in my life I don’t fully understand,” she had told Jackson. “But I understand enough to know that I don’t want to know more.”

Olivia, who had not yet met Estelle, leaned close to Cassidy and whispered, “Is she…?”

“Mhm.”

A grin spread over her face. “I love it.”

When Lillian glanced in their direction, Olivia amended, “I love what Estelle is doing.” The half-up do taking shape on the bride’s head promised to be as relaxed as it was elegant. The photographer focused on Estelle’s hands, never pointing the camera at her face. Cassidy suspected a bit of compulsion had come his way.

“I do, too,” another bridesmaid announced from the bathroom door. “Estelle, can you redo mine when you’re done?”

“But of course, Evelyn.” The vampire beamed, and Cassidy caught a happy golden flicker in her eyes.

She decided to use the cheerful atmosphere to sneak in a loaded question. “Lillian, I haven’t seen your husband yet. Is he with you?”

The mother of the bride looked pained. “He was held up with business when I left.”

I just bet he was, Cassidy thought. When Warren Striker learned about the venue and the guest list, he had put it to his stepdaughter in no uncertain terms: the wedding and reception would be during the day at the Striker mansion or he wouldn’t pay a cent for it. To her mother’s consternation, Samantha had shrugged and walked away.

“He said he might come later,” Lillian added.

Cassidy dragged a cheery expression onto her face.Packing a full-spectrum torch, no doubt.“Oh, good.”

Estelle finished her work and released Samantha, photographer in tow, to Cassidy and Lillian, who helped her with the dress. In true Samantha fashion, the gown was a thing of simple beauty that, together with her graceful new hair style, lent her an almost ethereal air.

Cassidy stepped back to admire. “You are a true vision, my friend. Étienne may forget how to speak when he sees you.”

Lillian sighed. “Not the gown I would have wished for you, but very lovely, I agree.”

A knock at the door sent an attendant scurrying to open it. Garrett eased into the room. “Security check,” he announced solemnly.

At the sound of his unfamiliar voice, Brinkley, watching the bustle from a pillow nest on the sofa, began growling quietly. The cat had finally made his peace with the permanent vampire residents of the house, but new ones were still suspect.

Garrett’s eyes narrowed at Brinkley before they found Estelle. “Is everything okay in here?”

“Security check?” Lillian exclaimed. “Seriously, Garrett. Don’t spoil the evening by being so grim.” She swept up to her brother-in-law and planted a kiss on his cheek, a gesture that made the new vampire squirm. It hadn’t been an easy transition for him. His disease had caused the process to spin out of control several times and would have killed him if his sire had been anyone less powerful and experienced than Isao.

“Just doing my job, Lillian,” he said with a dazzling smile which betrayed not a hint of fang. “It’s great to see you. You’re looking good.”

“As do you,” she said, sounding not completely sure. She had to notice the paleness of his skin, the sharper edges of his features, the clarity of his eyes, harder and colder than they had ever been. What was she thinking as she stared at a brand new vampire fighting to maintain his self-control? “It’s been an age. Where have you been hiding? In a crypt?”

Olivia covered a sputter with a cough as she went to sit beside the agitated Brinkley.

“Feels like it sometimes,” Garrett agreed. “We’ve been busy expanding our operation. I’m sure Warren told you.”

Cassidy’s brows jumped up her forehead. Was that compulsion in those last words?