Carrie Vaughn - Kitty and the Dead Mans Hand (Kitty Norville, Book 5)

Chapter 1

This was embarrassing. I never thought Id become such a victim of tradition. Yet here I was, looking at the gowns in a bridal magazine.

And liking them. Wanting them. All that satin, silk, taffeta, and chiffon. White, ivory, creamtheres a difference between white, ivory, and cream, I learned. I could even wear rose or ice blue if I wanted to be daring. Then there were all the flowers and jewelry. Diamonds and silver. If only I could wear silver without breaking out in welts. Okay, gold, then. I could wear gold. Id be a princess, a vision, absolutely stunning. And all I needed was a ten-thousand-dollar dress.

I cant believe it costs this much to take a couple of pictures, Ben muttered, studying the brochure for a photographer, one of a dozen or so wed collected. All the brochuresfor caterers, reception halls, DJs, tuxedo rentals, and a dozen other services I hadnt known we neededlay piled on the table between us, along with magazines and notepads filled with lists, endless lists, of everything we were supposed to be making decisions about. We didnt even have a date for the wedding yet. My mother had helpfully delivered all this information to me. She was very excited about it all.

We sat at a table for two in the back of New Moon, a new bar and grill near downtown. I had hoped wed be out of the way of most of the diners and the noise at the bar, which was crowded with a group of after-work businesspeople. The place was busy, almost filled to capacity, and noisy even in back. Which was good, fantastic even, because Ben and I were the restaurants primary investors.

Wedding photographys big business, I said, not looking up from the magazine full of gowns that cost more than I made in a year at my first job.

Its a racket. What if we got my friend Joe to do it? Hes pretty good with a camera.

Isnt he the one whos the crime-scene photographer for the Denver PD?

So?

I shook my head. My wedding was not going to be a crime scene. Not if I could help it. Do you think I should go sleeveless? Something like that? I held up the magazine to show a perfectly airbrushed model in a white satin haute-couture gown. I wondered if my shoulders were too bony to pull off a dress like that.

Whatever you want.

But do you like it?

He sighed. I like it just fine.

Youve said that for all of them.

Im not going to be looking at the dress. Ill be looking at you.

And that was one of the things that made Ben a keeper. I got a little misty-eyed. He was thirty-four years old, a lawyer in private practice, and rough around the edges, because most of the time he couldnt be bothered with appearances. This gave him almost rebellious good looks. His shaggy brown hair was always in need of a trim, the collar of his shirt stayed open, and his suit jacket and tie could usually be found in the trunk of his car. He also had a smile to sigh over. He was smiling now.

Hed proposed only a month ago, and we were still in the first flush of it all. Once again, I was amazed at how readily I had fallen into the stereotype. I was supposed to be cool and cynical.

We might have sat there staring goofily at each other all night, but Shaun interrupted us, bopping over to our table. Hey, you guys need anything? More soda? Water?

Shaun, late twenties, brown skin and dark hair, simultaneously hip and unassuming, managed New Moon. Hed jumped in to make the place his own, doing everything from hiring staff to setting a menu. He was also a werewolf. In fact, I counted six other werewolves here tonight, all part of ourBens and mypack. This was going to be a werewolf wedding. It seemed like a formality, because our wolf halves had established us as the mated alpha pair. I wouldnt say it was against our wills, but it all seemed to happen very quickly. Our human sides had taken a little while to catch up. But they did, and here we were, getting married. We were both still a little shell-shocked.

I had wanted New Moon to be a haven for people like us. Neutral territory, where lycanthropes of any description could gather peacefully. So far, so good. The place had an interesting smellthe alcohol, food, and people smells of any downtown restaurant, along with the smell of the pack. Fur, musk, wild. My pack, distinctive as a fingerprint, and because New Moon had a touch of that, it felt safe. Here, my human and wolf sides came together, and it felt like home.

Im fine. Actually, its getting late. We should probably roll out of here soon. I started gathering up the mess on the table.

Crouching now, Shaun rested his elbows on the table and regarded the smiling faces of beautiful brides in the magazines. You pick a date yet?

Not even close, Ben said.

Shauns grin seemed amused. To me he said, Are you changing your last name?

Please. Thats so last century, I said.

Whats wrong with OFarrell? Ben said.

I glared. Kitty OFarrell? Thats not a name, thats a character in a bawdy Irish ballad.

Fortunately, I didnt have to defend myself any further, because they both laughed.

Ill catch you guys later, Shaun said, departing for other chores.

Were not any closer to making any decisions than we were when we sat down. Ben now regarded the brochures and paperwork with something like hatred.

I cant make any decisions, I said. I keep changing my mind, thats the problem.

Then why are we even doing this?

Because you asked me to marry you, remember?

But do we need the big production? We could just go to city hall and fill out the paperwork.

If we did that my mother would kill us.

Mom wanted a big wedding. These days it was really, really hard to say no to my mother, who was halfway through chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer. She hadnt been crass enough to drop I may die soon so youd better get married now hints. But then, she didnt have to. She just had to look at me, and her thoughts bore into me like laser beams.

Shed understand. Shes not unreasonable.

What does your mom say about it?

Shes ecstatic that I found someone willing to shack up with me at all.

That left me giggling. When I thought about it, Ben was right. I didnt want a big wedding. I didnt want to have to pick a caterer, or decide on an open or cash bar, and I certainly didnt want to hire a DJ who couldnt possibly do as good a job as I could, having started my professional life as a late-night radio DJ. But I did want the dress. And I wanted to do something a little more interesting than wait in line at some government office so we could sign a piece of paper.

That got me thinking. I tapped my finger on a catering menu and chewed on my lip. What if there was a way to save all the time, avoid the organizational nightmare, and yet still have the spectacle? All the fun without the headaches? I had an idea.

What are you thinking? Ben said, wary. Youve got that look.

What look?

Youre planning something.

What the hell? The worst he could do was say no, and that would only put us back where we started.

Las Vegas, I said.

He stared. Your mother really would kill you. But he didnt say no.

You can do nice weddings in Vegas, I said. It isnt all Elvis ministers and drive-through chapels.

Vegas.

I nodded. The more I thought about it, the better it sounded. Its like the wedding and honeymoon all rolled together. Wed go straight from the ceremony to the swimming pool and have a couple of froufrou drinks with little umbrellas.